Paris Carter

In the far future, the world is on the brink of collapse and people barley live due to climate change and global warming from the early 21st century and man not doing enough to stop it. Well the idea and message the novel leaves behind is strong,but it's story telling leaves much to desire.

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to. Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love. This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.

The Here and Now follows Prenna as she time travels back in time under the supervision of her mother and many others and they form a community that meets with one another and discuss the problems that they face. They follow a strict rules that restrict them to have little contact with the native humans in the region that they are in, but when Prenna starts to become friends with Ethan, well we have a pretty settled plot that'll follow the two of them unmasking the mysterious of their past.

The Here and Now, puts a romantic, mysterious twist on a aging cliche and fails to actually capture your attention. The novel from start to finish felt as if it was missing something. Yes, we have characters that are interesting and yes, the plot is a solid piece of fiction, but I feel a lack of actually caring too much for the novel. No amount of Brashare's fluffy, amazing writing was going to get me interested into the story.

I would recommended this novel to readers who love young adult fiction, but be warned you aren't going to experience the amazing plot that'll keep you up all night. The novel will be another read to quickly capture your attention and fade on your bookshelf with all your other reads.

Final review score: 3.1/5

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note: I received this novel in exchange for an honest review.

For me Torn was one of my first experiences with the New Adult genre second to Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A Tucker and easily follow suits with it in characters and plot, and from my general experience with novels in general, Torn felt lacking in several areas and the plot itself felt mundane and reused so many times. Here's the synopsis.
Chloe hasn't had the best life. With a mother who is gone more often than not, she has had to raise herself. After graduating high school, she leaves to start a new life away at West Virginia University with her best friends Amber and Logan, determined to leave her demons in the past.

On her first day, she meets a stranger who takes her breath away at first sight. Until she met Drake, no one had ever sparked her interest. Now this tattooed and pierced bad boy is all she can think about, no matter how hard she fights it.

Falling for Drake was never part of her plans, but when it happens, things seem to do anything but fall into place.

Dealing with a tragic past, Drake has never cared about anyone else but himself and his band. But when Chloe takes the empty seat next to him in class, things start to change. Instantly drawn to her, he begins to wonder if one girl can take a cold hearted womanizer and change every part of him?

Long hidden feelings are revealed and friendships tested to the brink.

Already from reading the synoposis you can see some of the cliches that are riddled through out the novel the cocky, bad boy guy that the innocent good girl is after. Not including the best friend, who wants to protect her. The novel feels like a weak drama that will rerun on Lifetime. These cliches don't effect only the main characters but see their way into all of the minor characters making all of the characters uninteresting, boring, and downright annoying. It's hard to sit and listen to a character complain about their problems when you couldn't care less about them.

These cliches are also found in the plot, with the plot being the classic good ol story you would find in a romance movie from the 70's. It almost as if K.A Robinson watched a bunch of movies, took all of the weak plots, annoying characters, boring settings, and a haunting past to make her main character sound more mysterious and put them into one story.

I could go on about how the prose is simplistic for middle scholars and talk about the non-existing description, but the novel is honestly not worth the long explanation. Definitely a skip, even if it was on sale for half off. You've all read this story before, so don't waste your time on a novel you already read a million times. But surprisingly, K.A Robinson managed to turn this novel into a series with a fourth installment due sometime in 2014.

Final score: 2.3/5

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Originally posted on Paris Carter

The summer I Found You is one of the first books by Jolene Perry that I've ever read, and it's by far won't be the last. The Summer I Found You is one of those quirky romances that you tend to enjoy in small doses, but could never really love or hold it as one of your favorite novels. Here's the synopsis below.
All they have in common is that they're less than perfect. And all they're looking for is the perfect distraction.

Kate's dream boyfriend has just broken up with her and she's still reeling from her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Aidan planned on being a lifer in the army and went to Afghanistan straight out of high school. Now he's a disabled young veteran struggling to embrace his new life. When Kate and Aidan find each other neither one wants to get attached. But could they be right for each other after all?

Jolene Perry takes a simplistic approach in her writing style opening the novel up to people of younger ages, but the plot itself is still one that should be experience by an older audience. Perry's writing simplistic writing styles tackles the difficult, somewhat challenging, plot greatly and makes the novel easier and a better experience.

Kate and Aidan are two greatly written characters and make the story all the what memorable. Kate, unlike other female, isn't an annoying character who keeps talking about her problems the entire novel, but she kinds of holds her problems on the inside and as the reader it makes an amazing experience watching as she collapses towards the end. But Kate's viewpoints is where I have a problem with. She views her diabetes as a flaw and that it sets her apart from society and that other people will look down on her due to it, but I feel as if that's not the case, because that's as if looking down on someone due to them having asthma. This is where Kate starts to come off as an annoying characters seeing a problem that's not really a problem. Aidan is also the same way, but is more isolated than Kate is. Aidan's part of the story is little bit more enjoyable in my opinion as it covers a little bit more of a mature subject matter.

But The Summer I Found You only has one fatal flaw. It's plot is a little bit uninteresting. To me, the plot feels like a rip off of a lot of other novels as two uniquely created characters like each other, but can't date each other because both of them are either insecure or their problems get in the way. The same premise of another popular novel The Fault In Our Stars, and so many other novels. As much as Aidan is interesting, he can't hold up the entire novel by himself and this is where the novel starts to become uninteresting.

Jolene Perry is still an interesting author in my opinion and I would most likely be going deeper into her other works. But I wouldn't recommended this novel due to it's alright characters and mediocre plot.

Final Score: 2.7

My reaction as I pull the Lorie Ann Glover's new book from out of it's cardboard shipped box.

At the wake of her father's death in a coup, Laila a 15 year old is forced to flee her war torn home in the Middle East to live in the United States with her younger brother and mother. She battles constantly with her mothers communication with CIA agents, making new friends, and the cultures differences between her old home and her new home.
The Tyrant's Daughter is the debut novel by former CIA officer J.C Carleson, and packs a mean emotional punch about the culture differences between two sides of the world. The novel will leave you both astonished and amazed by the deepness of the young adult novel that holds no boundary lines.

The entire novel is told in first person from, Laila's point of view and you get to understand what it's like to live in America through the eyes of an outside. Along the way Laila meets some pretty memorable characters who both deepen the plot and emotional stakes and widen the readers attention to the story. The characters that J.C Carleson sprinkle into the novel add emotional values to the story. Each character has something they are trying to cover up and when their secrets spill.

J.C Carleson manages to write a plot that's straight forward and to the point with a few plot twist along the way to the end. The plot is short and the novel isn't as long as your average book, but that doesn't cut away form the quality of the read at all.

I highly recommend this novel to any one who is interested in reading, and even thought the genre may be Young Adult, adults of all ages will still find this one enjoyable.

Originally posted on Paris Carter

After a tragic accident leaves Mark stranded on the harsh weather Mars. All of is crew mates believe he’s dead, there’s enough food to last him a little over a year, and NASA doesn’t have any plans on sending anybody back to Mars until four years.

Andy Weir strikes gold in this amazing sc-fi survival story of Mark Watney stuck on Mars with no plans of going home. The novel is told through third person and first person through Mark’s logs.

Through the many logs, we get to become close and live through the skin of Mark Watney as he tries his best to not kill himself while patiently awaiting for NASA to send help. If they ever found out he’s alive. The novel also jumps over to Earth and we get to the chance to meet several people as they constantly work on finding out if Mark’s alive or not.

Weir tells the novel through a layer of wit that can easily transform back into seriousness as the life threatening conditions commence. He also does an amazing job on immersing the reader into the world of science fiction by Mark doing equations and calculating how to survive, and firing away with the physics that goes into space missions. If any of it was true or not, it still delivers on making the story more believable.

Remember The Martian because I can easily see it becoming a summer blockbuster one day in the near future. The idea is genuine, fresh and is utterly entertaining. This novel is definitely a must read for any fan of the science fiction genre, and even if you are considering buying it, you couldn’t go possibly go wrong.

Final Score: 4.8/5

Note: I receivedthis novel from a publication for a honest review.

Originally posted on Paris Carter

Written as a crap load of letters to Mr. Knightley, a pen name for a donator helping Samantha Moore get through graduate school, Dear Mr. Knightley tells the tale of Samantha as she tries to get through grad school and all of the endeavors she gets into along the way. With references to the many works of Jane Austin. The letters she writes accounts her struggles with passing her journalism class, helping Kyle another orphan, trying to hold a steady relationship, and most importantly trying to find out the many secrets that Alex, a successful novelist holds.

Dear Mr. Knightly can easily be described as a romance with many Jane Austin’s asides throughout the novel. This novel will make any Jane Austin fan coo over the references to the first page all the way to the end. But even if Jane Austin isn’t your favorite author or that you haven’t read any Jane Austin book in your entire life, don’t worry this novel still has a lot to offer to you.

The plot is amazing and filled with twist and turns that will leave you’re guessing the entire way, and all of the characters that you get to meet along the way makes the surprises and the twist even more enjoyable. The ending is by far nothing you will ever imagine.

Throughout the span of the 328 pages, you’ll fall in love with the many characters who feel realistic and have problems of their own that Samantha try her best to solve. But your main joy will come from watching Samantha relationships grow, collapse, and revive themselves.

This is Katherine Reay’s debut novel, but she already has an amazing voice and can make any scene come to life, a promising author in the romance genre. This novel is a must buy to any Jane Austin fan and a must read to anybody who is a fan of the romance genre.

Final Score 4.2/5

Note: This review was given to me from Thomas Nelson for a open honest review.

Originally posted on Paris Carter

Bird With The Heart of A Mountain In another one of Barbara Mariconda brilliant novels we are transported back to Spain during the Spanish Civil War during the 1930’s, where we learn the story of Drilla a young girl who’s trying to find her identity as a gypsy or as a Spaniard in the middle of a nation that’s battling between the nationalist and the Federalist.

Bird With The Heart of A Mountain is a poignant novel that follow Drilla all the way to finding herself in a nation that’s at war. On one side of the story you learn about Drilla and her caring personality and how much she struggles to keep herself together after everything she loves is taken from her, and you learn about the violence and the innocent lives that are taken during warfare. It is a story that will touch readers of all ages young and old.

Drilla is a beautifully written character and as you are glued to page after page you read more about how strong she is as a character, and how much she has had endured. All of the other characters in the novel as Drilla’s grandmother, Renato, her father, and her step mother, are all beautifully written and every character was fascinating. Whenever there was a life or death situation you feel even more glued to your favorite character in the fear that this might be the last you read of them.

The one thing that makes this novel so beautiful is the conflict of it all. Reading about how Drilla’s fear of become a professional dancer over the fact that her mother might not approve of it, and the fact that no matter where she is living with gypsies, or with the Spaniards, she’s forced to feel like an outsider. Not to mention that all of Spain is forced to choose a side, and

we get to see neighbors turn into criminals and entire families’ murder. The reader gets to see the actually war with their own eyes.

Even if you don’t know anything about the Spanish civil war, this novel is a great way to learn more about the deep history that flows through the Spain. The novel doesn’t go deep into the detail about the civil war, so if you are new to this time period all you need to know is there are two sides fighting. The Republic being backed by the Soviet Union, and the Nationalist being backed by Nazi Germany and Italy.

The only thing that made me angry with the novel was the terrible ending that felt forced and slapped on to the end to get the novel out of the door. The ending was with quick haste, and there seems to be no sequel in sight, there are hundreds of questions still stuck in my mind that go unanswered.

But with the bad ending aside, Bird With The Heart of A Mountain is a wonderful novel that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about the Spanish Revolution, and the culture of Flamenco dance style.

4.7/5

Ten Tiny Breaths the first novel in K. A Tucker’s ground shattering series, we follow Kacey as she tries to repair her life my moving to Miami with her little sister, Livie, after a life altering event robs them of their mother, father, her boyfriend, and best friend.

Ten Tiny Breaths was a novel that I wouldn’t like from reading the first few of the pages, but after continue reading I was won over by the next few pages. The novel is poignant as we follow Kacey as she tries to make a new life for herself and her sister Livie in Miami after they had to leave their aunt and uncles house.

We meet a wide array of characters who have their own personalities and have their own past that most of them would like to keep hidden to themselves. But the most intriguing character besides Kacey,

Livie, and their neighbor, Storm, is Kacey’s love interest Trent who is also her neighbor. Trent is another well written character that has his entire past written that he tries so hard to keep away from Kacey at the risk of hurting her.

The plot is by far outstanding and is filled with numerous twist and turns that you will never see the ending coming until you are a few pages away from it, and even after it ends you will be wanting more. The pacing is quick and fast and the novel by itself is not that long, but every inch of the novel is amazing and I would recommended this novel to anyone looking for a great book to read in the romance, new adult fiction genres.

Ten Tiny Breaths is the first of a series by K. A Tucker called the Ten Tiny Breaths series with four altogether.

In Kim Fu’s vivid debut novel, you learn about the life of Peter Huan, who is the only boy out of his parents four children. But even though Peter is the only boy in the household and his father wants him to grow up and follow in his footsteps at being a strong man, Peter wants nothing more in the world than to be a beautiful woman like his oldest sister Adele.

For Today I’m A Boy, suffers from slow pacing, with little to nothing going on throughout the exposition and then becomes slightly more interesting in the middle, where you find comfort in Peter’s life as a mid-adult trying to make new friends. But the slow part last for the first one hundred pages, where you have to sit and read about Peter’s life from when he’s born all the way up to his forties.

Kim Fu’s style of writing reminds me a lot of the way Khaled Hosseini wrote his debut novel The Kite Runner. They both look at the a single character and you watch them grow up as the novel continues on, but the only thing that separates the two novels is that in The Kite Runner the setting is alive and there’s tension in For Today I’m A Boy you just sit and wait around as you feel as if something’s missing.

The only thing that saves this novel from its slow pace, is the interesting, well developed characters who keep you glued to the novel. When the story begins you start off with Peter and his family of his six sisters and his father and mother, but as the story keeps going and Peter starts to grow up and get a job, there starts to be more characters who you get to meet and the plot starts to pick up and become more interesting.

Description in this novel is solid and comes in small doses that are injected in all of the right spots that make you coon for more.

Kim Fu writes with an intriguing style that I can’t wait to see where it takes her in the literary world with her next novel. I recommended this novel to anyone who thinks they can sit through a boring spell to get to the good parts.

Originally Posted at Paris Carter

In Cecilia’s Gray newest novel, we are following young teenage girl, Sasha, who has been passed from foster family to foster family as her gift to make anybody tell the truth with just a simple question becomes a burden hindering any long term home. But when the CIA recruits her away from her foster mother for three years, she’s sent to Brussels, Belgium to take down the notorious street-art kid.

Drawn by Cecilia Gray is great young adult novel that captures great characters blended with the struggles of actually being a teenager.



Even though Drawn sounds like a young adult novel centered around espionage and action packed, you won’t find too many heart racing, adrenaline filled scenes in this novel. Most of the focus is set on Sasha as she tries to adapt to her new life living in Belgium, connecting with the local kids at her high school. So if you were expecting a action packed novel, you might want to turn the other way.

An annoyance that bother me throughout the novel is the description that was great at the beginning part of the novel at the start as Cecilia describe Georgia in detail, but the moment the novel went to Belgium the description ran south and disappeared from the novel completely.

Sasha, our main character, is a well thought out character whose background propels her as a touching and moving character. But the well thought out characters go beyond Sasha into all of the other characters, who also are well thought out and are both relatable and lovable.

The novel is short and I was able to read the entire novel in less than four hours, but even for it being a quick novel it still pack a punch. I would recommend this novel to people who are looking for a great characters with an intriguing plot, but who aren’t looking for an action novel.

Final Score- 3.5/5

Originally Posted on Paris Carter

In Alessandro D'Avenia young adult romance White Like Milk, Red Like Blood, we follow Leo a sixteen year old boy, who sees the word through the eyes of color. White being the boring bland of the world why red is the brightness and beauty it has to share. The novels main focus on Leo as he starts to fall in love with a girl in his class Beatrice with the help of his best friend Silvia. But when Beatrice becomes ill with leukemia their future together might be all but over.

White like Milk, Red Like Blood is an beautiful romance novel written about Leo a strong well thought main character as he tries to fight and battle the al but true feelings of adolescent.

The plot is fun to read and watch as the multiple plot twist come underway, and all of the sub plots add to the novel making it all the more better to see Leo as he tries to talk to Beatrice. The plot with its twist and turns lets the reader see the good and bad sides of all of the characters have to offer.

The characters are the main part of this story. Each one of them are energetic and fun to watch as the plot unfolds. All of the characters both major and minor are well thought out and add to the novels greatness each having their own witty saying and traits that make them unique.

I would recommend White Like Milk, Red Like Blood to any young adult romance looking for a beautiful love story centered on a boy.

Final Score 4.7

Reverb by J. Cafesin weaves both romance and psychological thriller together faultlessly under the same cover. Telling the story of James as he grows his relationship with Elizabeth and her son Cameron.
Synopsis: James Micheal Whren is brilliant, beautiful, rich, and taken—with his genius for creating music. He's desired by many, yet commits to no one but his muse. Just twenty-eight, and at the pinnacle of his career, on the eve of his brother's funeral his father shatters his life, and James is left abandoned in hell with no one real to save him.
His odyssey to freedom takes him beyond the looking glass, to the reflection of friends and lovers. Humbled and alone, James escapes to the Greek island of Corfu. But instead of finding solace there, loneliness almost consumes him.
Until Elisabeth, and her son, Cameron.
Reverb is a love story, a psychological thriller paced with romantic suspense. The story chronicles intricately woven characters fraught with frailties that possess us all, and that linger long after the read. It is a tale of redemption—the evolution of a modern man from solipsist to integrated awareness, and the journey that inadvertently awakens his capacity to love.
Spun from The Magus, also about a man who learns to love someone other than himself, and way beyond 50 Shades of Gray, Reverb is told like Crime and Punishment--modern, clean, edgy verging on sharp. Like nothing you've read, guaranteed.
As the novel and the plot roll you learn more about James a rich, wealthy boy from a prestigious family. But there’s more to James than his families wealthy with his tortured past. The more you get into Reverb, and the more you start to learn about James, the more you start to connect with him.
The plot will focus on Elizabeth, James, and Camron, and these characters are written beautifully and you are able to feel all of the emotions they have and be able to connect with them as the story moves forth.
The novel is written well with J. Cafesin sentences that won’t fall short to mesmerize and you get you hooked to the pages of the novel. J. Cafesin does a miraculous job getting you hooked to the story switching between first person and third person, making Reverb feel one hundred percent original and new.
There are so many other things that make Reverb into the perfect novel for any Romance or thriller fan. I would highly recommend this noel to any one with the slightest interest in reading this fast paced, romance novel. (Amazon, Barnes and Noble)

In this classic reimaging of the beloved fairy tale, Snow White, Dave Meredith, puts a spin on the tale focusing on Snow White as she is older and her daughter is getting married to a prince, but she is still coping over the loss of her husband Prince Charming.

Dave Meredith’s version of Snow White is mostly told in flashbacks as Snow White stares into the magical mirror and reflections on her past life. The novel is filled with vivid description that paints the world well and leaves it magical and mystical in the reader's mind. You won’t forget any of the scenes as the wild descriptions used will bounce throughout your mind, even when you put the novel down.

Snow White, in this version of the fairy tale is older and her character has developed over several years. With the extra time Dave gives her to live, we see her actions, mistakes, and success echo out and carve her into a totally different being than we remember from the classic fairy tale. Not to mention that all of the added characters in this tale have their own past that makes them wonderful additions that add to the novel.

Dave Meredith does an amazing job keeping the entire fresh and exploring the different parts of Snow White’s life that we haven’t seen all of the time in the fairy tale, while adding in a solid plot and characters to make the story even more memorable. I would recommend this novel to anyone who is interested as the novel is a great read.

Originaly Posted on Paris Carter

In Sigmund Brouwer’s latest installment of his Merlin’s Immortals series, we follow Thomas as he escapes Magnus after a group of Priest of The Holy Grail come and take his kingdom. Thomas is only able to make a narrow escape with the help of Gervaise his lifelong friend. But on his journey to win back his kingdom Katherine and Hawkwood, two of Merlin’s last remaining protectors, follow closely behind him.

Martyr’s Fire the third book in the Merlin’s Immortals series is a fast paced medieval, action novel set in England on Thomas’s journey to win his kingdom back. Marty’s Fire is also acceptable and completely understandable to any of those who haven’t read the two earlier books in the series The Orphan King and Fortress of Mist.

The novel is short and only will take a few hours to read, but the plot makes up for that as it is always moving and advancing to the next scene and if you miss a few of the pages or skim through skipping paragraph you will be left behind. The fast paced action suits this novel well as a lot of events are able to happen within a small number of pages.

Thomas and Katherine are two well written characters and its interesting watching their relation grow and evolve as the journey moves forward, and they find themselves and terrible and undesirable conditions.

The plot is a sometimes dull and boring, but when the plot picks up the novel is amazing to read and it’s easy to get lost in Brouwer’s tremendous description as you venture through towns, villages, boats, and forest.

Martyr’s Fire is a great read for any of fantasy fans, who are tired of reading the usually long novels that come with the genre. The novel is only a few hours long, but is still able to provide a great fantasy experience.

Final Review: 3.5

Originally posted on Paris Carter

After waking up without a clue of where she is, Sia finds herself in the middle of a park without knowing her name. She lives homeless with the help of Carol, another homeless woman who’s nice enough to watch after her, as she lives the next few days of her life on the road. But when she gets hit by a car and her parents found out where she’s been living, her life returns from living on the street to living in a mansion with her famous movie director father and model mother.

Sia by Josh Grayson is a young adult novel about changing lifestyles and being the best you can be of yourself. But the characters we are both flat and undeveloped with a plot that barley captures the attention of the reader. The first two chapters are written wonderfully using an original and interesting story, but after it takes a turn for the worse and the reader is hit with cliche after cliche to the very end.



The characters in the novel our both flat and interesting. The main character, Sia, is slightly more original and brings some life to the novel, but doesn’t make up for all of the other lack luster minor characters. As in all other high school novels, you have the trio of girls who rule over the entire school, and date the star high school quarter back. Sia's friends fill both of the cliche with one being the queen bee, and the other one the nice person underneath her layer of cruel.

The plot is a simple liner novel without having much suspense, or any surprises that’ll catch you off guard except for the few in the beginning of the novel. The weak plot makes the lack luster characters stand out more. From the first chapter things seem to be at a wonderful start, but everything from Sia getting back with her parents starts to go downhill.

In conclusion, Sia isn’t a must by and even though it’s not the worst book I ever read, I still wouldn't recommend it as a purchase.

A little on the side note, the cover design of this novel is beautiful and everything from the light blue in the background to the 'Sia' written in the crisp san serif font. Whoever worked on this cover art did a wonderful job. (Amazon)

Final Score: 2/5