Carries Book Reviews

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Title: On Fire Island

Author:  Jane L. Rosen

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: May 23, 2023

Page Count:  318

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

About the book:

A book editor spends one last summer on Fire Island in this sparkling and surprising new novel from the author of A Shoe Story.

As a book editor, Julia Morse lived and breathed stories. Whether with her pen to a manuscript or curled up with a book while at her beloved Fire Island cottage, her imagination alight with a good tale, she could anticipate practically any ending. The ending she’d never imagined was her own.

To be fair, no one expects to die at thirty-seven. So when the unthinkable happens to Julia, rather than following the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, she chooses to spend one last summer near those she loves most.  

As she follows her adoring, novelist husband Ben to their—unexpectedly full—home on Fire Island, she discovers the ripple affect her life has had on the trajectory of so many: her baseball loving, young-at-heart neighbor who believes it’s best not to go it alone, two bright-eyed teenagers eager to become adults, and her best friend who must shake off heartbreak for a new chance at love.

With poignant comedy and insight, On Fire Island is an ode to the stories all around us and to the brightest types of loves…for the people closest to you and the places that shape you.

On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen is a contemporary women’s fiction title that comes with a side of a supernatural twist to it. The story in On Fire Island is narrated by the main character who happens to pass away shortly into the novel.

Julia Morse spent her life being a book editor and marrying the man of her dreams which she met through her job. Ben had written a novel and turned it into Julia’s publishing company where Julia read it and fell in love with the story and later after meeting the author of that story.

Julia and Ben were married and had a wonderful life together but one that ended way too soon when Julia found out she was terminal. At thirty seven Julia wasn’t ready to let go of her life when she died so instead of passing on into her next she chose to stay one last summer on Fire Island and look over Ben and all of their friends and family.

Knowing that the main character in On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen is actually dead as she narrates the novel one is pretty safe to assume this is an incredibly emotional tale with grief at the forefront. The other characters in the story do go through a lot of healing after their heartache though and of course some character growth along the way too. I did enjoy On Fire Island once I settled into to it but with this unique perspective it did start off rather slowly for me so when finished I rated this one at three and a half stars and will give this author another try.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:
JANE L. ROSEN is an author and Huffington Post contributor. She lives in New York City and Fire Island with her husband and three daughters. She often takes inspiration from the city she lives in and the people she shares it with. In addition to her writing she has spent time in film, television and event production and is the cofounder of It’s All Gravy LLC, a web and app-based gifting company.

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

My Enemy’s Boyfriend
Linda Kage
(The Seven, #2)
Publication date: May 23rd 2024
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

CAN YOU TELL IF YOU’RE BEING POSSESSED BY A GHOST?

It was no mystery why I hated Genesis Gusano. She liked to take other people’s things. The bitch stole a pair of my cutest shoes along with my favorite necklace and a school paper I’d written, which had nearly gotten me expelled from Haverick University entirely. But the last straw came when she dared to take the one thing I’d been pining over for two years.

Him.

I had craved Hudson Ivey in a way I didn’t even know craving was possible, and that was before I’d learned his dang name.

He had no idea he’d become a possession that two enemies were warring over. All he wanted to do was graduate with his culinary arts degree and become the best chef possible.

But now he’s stuck in Genesis’s sick game until a ghost from his past changes all the rules, possessing him in a whole new, far more dangerous way.

I promised myself I was done with the paranormal life. I was determined to be a normal, everyday, average girl. But I can’t just stand aside and watch him be destroyed. So I guess it’s time for a little Faith to step in and save the day.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

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EXCERPT:

“What the hell are you wearing?”

“Huh?” He glanced down at himself, then added, “Oh. Yeah. I had my six-month evaluation at work this evening. Didn’t get a chance to change out of the monkey suit before I had to leave home again.”

I wanted to ask him why he’d had to leave home so unexpectedly in the first place, but…

He was wearing a suit.

Unable to get past that, I backed myself into the nearest wall and stared, basically forced to gawk unashamedly.

“Suit,” I whimpered, no longer operating with brain cells but supercharged by hormones alone.

He sent me an amused squint as he slipped his hand down his tie and stepped close. “Yes, I’m in a suit,” he answered before he grinned suddenly and winked at me. “And I look good in it, too, don’t I? But, uh…” He motioned his finger around me. “Why are you hovering against the wall like that?”

I shuddered, and all my self-discipline crumbled. “To keep myself from doing…this.”

Reaching out, I grabbed his tie and yanked him forward with it, intent to crush his mouth against mine.

But the man had super reflexes. “Whoa. Hey!” he cautioned, slamming his palm against the wall near my face to brace himself from getting tugged all the way in.

Our noses were about five inches apart as he grinned and shook his head. “Down, girl. I thought you were an all-looky, no-touchy kind of stalker.”

“What in God’s name made you think that?” I demanded, scowling slightly as I tugged experimentally on his tie, only to find his resistance firm and unwavering. “I never agreed to that.”

“It’s part of this unspoken thing between us,” he argued, looking amused as his attention strayed down to my mouth.

I scowled. “There’s no unspoken thing between us.”

His gaze shot back up to mine, and when his eyebrows crinkled in a really? kind of way, I started to melt.

“Sure there is,” he murmured in a silken, hot voice that made my freaking ovaries start to sizzle.

And those eyebrows…

Oh God, he was using them on me, and it was the most amazing thing in the world.

I begged him with my stare, pleaded with him to change his mind and just kiss me already.

In return, his features softened. His head swayed toward me, loosening to the pull between us. He was giving in to the idea, I could see it on his face.

So I whispered…

Author Bio:

Linda writes romance fiction from YA to adult, contemporary to fantasy. Most Kage stories lean more toward the lighter, sillier side with a couple meaningful moments thrown in. Focuses more on entertainment value and emotional impact.

Published since 2010. Went through a 2-year writing correspondence class in children’s literature from The Institute of Children’s Literature. Then graduated with a Bachelors in Arts, English with an emphasis in creative fiction writing from Pittsburg State University.

Now she lives with hubby, two daughters, cat Holly, and nine cuckoo clocks in southeast Kansas, USA. Farm girl. Parents were dairy farmers. Was youngest of eight. Big family. Day job as a cataloging library assistant.

Harry Potter House Gryffindor, Patronus White Stallion, character match Hagrid. Supernatural Team Dean. Game of Thrones Team Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister. The Walking Dead Team Daryl. Outlander Team Jamie Fraser. Teen Wolf Team Stiles. Avenger

Team Thor…or Hulk (can’t decide). Justice League Team Flash. Arrow Team Stephen Amell. Stranger Things obsessed. Heard Laurel, not Yanny.

Started out reading with the Baby-Sitters Club. Then moved to Sandra Brown, Linda Howard, Julie Garwood, and LaVyrle Spencer in high school. Now all over the place with her romance reading tastes.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Twitter / Instagram

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So Hectic
Eve Dangerfield
(Silver Daughters Ink, #3)
Publication date: May 23rd 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

A Super Spicy, Enemies to Lovers, Playboy, standalone romance from critically acclaimed author Eve Dangerfield

Tabby DaSilva’s life sucks. Her dad’s AWOL, her Prosecco-themed music festival ‘Sparkling Whine ’bombed, and her big sister’s pregnancy means she’s officially transitioning from ‘youngest kid ’to ‘weird aunt. ’But hardest to take is her best friend Toby Tennant becoming pure evil.

Relieving him of his virginity was supposed to seal their alliance. Instead, Mr Nice Guy vanished only to resurface as a full-blown finance douche, complete with Lamborghini and a podcast shilling creatine every five minutes.

Frankly, it’s a fate worse than death.

But Tabby has the perfect solution: run away! All she needs is enough cash to start a new life in Colombia, and since Toby’s petitioning for her to tattoo him, what’s a girl to do but slowly inject ink into her enemy’s rippling Ken doll torso?

Little does she know that her ex-best friend doesn’t really want a tattoo. Toby wants her, mind, body, and soul. He’s spent the last two years becoming the Sugar Daddy of Tabitha DaSilva’s dreams, and he’s finally ready to show her that he can take care of her and dominate her in ways she can’t even imagine…

SO HECTIC is a full-length contemporary novel and is the third and final book in the Silver Daughters Ink Series.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks

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EXCERPT:

Tabby had had a bad feeling about the Belle, but she’d dismissed it like she always dismissed bad feelings when she was seven drinks in. She’d wandered up to the bar, and instead of finding a decent range of tequilas and limited chemical relief, she found Toby Tennant having a public threesome. Well, almost… He was sitting in a leather booth across from the bar, his arms around two stunning blondes, both of whom were sticking their tongues in his mouth.

For a second, slower than all the unboiled kettles in the world, Tabby watched them, her heart pumping bile. Running into him after all that time always would have sucked, but he looked so… good.

Everything about it did.

It looked like a fashion shoot: Toby in his hot pink and blue shirt, the girls in matching green dresses, and the bottle of vodka in front of them. Tabby’s mind had unwittingly formed an advertising slogan.

‘Chopin Family Reserve; it’ll get you sucked off two at a time!’

She’d watched the three of them writhe around, none of them concerned that banging in public was still very much illegal. She’d wanted to be mistaken. Wanted to be dead. Wanted to believe Toby had set up this sleazy scene just to hurt her because the alternative—that this was just how he lived now—was too painful to comprehend.

But she didn’t know anything about pain, not yet, because before she could pull her jaw off the floor, Toby disentangled himself from his paramours and looked straight at her.

The memory still had more knives than a butcher shop. Unlike her, Toby’s surprise rapidly morphed into amusement. He’d scanned her body like she was a topless waitress, and Tabby had just stood there, dumbfounded. He’d always been cute, but in the Village Belle Hotel, he’d looked amazing. He’d put on at least ten kilos of muscle, and his fuckboy haircut perfectly showcased his pale blue eyes and killer cheekbones.

Their gaze met—had his lashes always been a foot long?—and he’d smirked. Smirked. Smirked at her like he’d punched her v-ticket.

She wanted to be disgusted, but a fluttering heat had licked through her like flame, and all she could think about was his weight on her body as he thrust hard and fast. “That feel good, Tabby? You gonna come on it again?”

Author Bio:

Eve Dangerfield’s novels have been described as ‘genre-defying,‘ ’insanely hot ’and ‘the defibrillator contemporary romance needs right now ’and not just by those who might need bone marrow one day… OTHER PEOPLE! She lives in Melbourne with her beautiful family and can generally be found making a mess.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok

GIVEAWAY!

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Title: If Something Happens to Me

Author:  Alex Finlay

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Page Count:  322

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He’s put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali’s car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

In classic Alex Finlay form, If Something Happens to Me is told by several distinct, compelling characters whose paths intersect, detonating into a story of twist after pulse-pounding twist. The novel cements Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

If Something Happens to Me is another suspenseful thriller novel from author Alex Finlay. The story in If Something Happens to Me is one that is told by changing the point of view between three central characters in the novel and takes place in the present time which is five years after a fateful event that is now coming to light.

Five years ago Ryan Richardson was with his girlfriend Alison Lane alone at night while parked in their car when suddenly Ryan is dragged from the car and hit over the head all the while hearing nothing but Ali’s screams. Ali was never seen again and of course the police looked at Ryan as the suspect but with no evidence to prove he might of been lying Ryan was never charged.

Now five years later Ryan has changed his name and after finishing college he’s headed to Europe before tackling law school. It’s while traveling Ryan gets the next Ali’s car was found but with two strangers dead inside and only a note from Ali marked “If something happens to me”. Deputy sheriff Poppy McGee is then determined to solve the cold case from five years ago and find the truth of that night.

If Something Happens to Me is the fourth thriller novel I’ve read from author Alex Finlay and the one thing I say after each one is if you haven’t tried one of those thrillers yet you really should. This latest novel was full of all of the fast paced excitement that I expected with so many twists and turns to keep readers on their toes that as usual it is hard to ever put the book down and not want to continue flying through the pages until the very end. I do know that I will continue to return to Alex Finlay’s thrillers and do hope others give them a try too.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:
Alex Finlay is the author of the 2021 breakout novel, EVERY LAST FEAR, the 2022’s GoodReads Choice nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller, THE NIGHT SHIFT, and his latest 2023 release, WHAT HAVE WE DONE. His work has been an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thrillers of the year. Alex’s novels have been translated into nineteen languages and are sold around the world. All of his books have been option for film and television, and EVERY LAST FEAR is in development for a series on a major streaming service. Learn more at https://alexfinlaybooks.com/

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**

Title: Holly Horror

Author:  Michelle Jabès Corpora

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Publication Date: Aug 15, 2023

Page Count:  321

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

A beloved classic reimagined with a dark twist.

After her parents’ painful divorce, Evie Archer hopes that moving to Ravenglass, Massachusetts, is the fresh start that her family needs. But Evie quickly realizes that her new home—known by locals as the Horror House—carries its own dark past after learning about Holly Hobbie, who mysteriously vanished in her bedroom one night.

But traces of Holly linger in the Horror House and slowly begin to take over Evie’s life. A strange shadow follows her everywhere she goes, and Evie starts to lose sight of what’s real and what isn’t the more she learns about The Lost Girl.

Can Evie find out what happened the night of Holly’s disappearance? Or is history doomed to repeat itself in the Horror House?

Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora is the first book in the young adult horror series by the same name. This new series is based on the old Holly Hobbie character which was cute and cuddly but this series definitely puts a nightmarish twist on the character.

Evie Archer and her family have moved to Ravenglass, Massachusetts for a fresh start in their lives and are hoping their new home and town are just want they needed. Evie quickly finds out though that her new home is known by the locals as the Horror House and thought to be haunted after events of the past.

Evie doesn’t start off scared of her new home as much as just wanting answers to the local rumors. Looking further Evie finds out that Holly Hobbie mysteriously vanished from the home one night and when Evie starts seeing and sensing things around her new home she questions whether it’s real or all in her imagination but is determined to get answers.

First thing I would mention with Holly Horror by Michelle Jabès Corpora is that while I did label this as young adult with teen characters I do think it falls on the young side of that reading range but not quite middle grade either, so somewhere at the end of one to the middle of the other range in ages. As for the story here though it’s a pretty good haunted house tale with plenty of scarier moments involved for the horror fans of this age. The story was somewhat wrapped up in the end but also left some bread crumbs laying around to entice readers onward to book two.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:
Michelle Jabès Corpora is a writer, editor, community organizer, and martial artist. In addition to working in the publishing industry for more than a dozen years as an editor and concept developer, she has ghostwritten five novels in a long-running middle-grade mystery series. American Horse Tales: The Dust Bowl was Michelle’s first novel under her own name. Her second novel, The Fog of War: Martha Gellhorn at the D-Day Landings (Pushkin Press), published in 2021.