Autonomous was an interesting book filled with funny and serious parts. It simultaneously addresses social media and an AI like program while taking the reader and characters on a trip cross county in a self driving car. 

Otto is a self driving car that is learning human behaviors and emotions(perhaps not for the grater good) from its inhabitants. Otto has learned all the negative behaviors humans exhibit and perceives them as normal and harmless. This raises the question 'if AI existed would humans be able to direct it toward good, or would follow some negative example and turn evil?' 

Autonomous is a truly intriguing book and I would love to see it in a series!

The premise of Nyxia is a few teens are chosen to compete to venture to another planet to mine a powerful substance called Nyxia. Ten are in the program, only eight will be chosen.

I really liked the main characters. They seemed so life like, each one with a different personality type. It was kind of like a game show; the ones with the highest scores win. Emmett, the character whose perspective we follow, has the conflict and personality evolution necessary for a main character. Unfortunately some of my favorite characters died or where cut out of the competition. I hate when this happens because I have to stop reading the book for a few days to process. This was such a fast paced book that had me reading ahead and constantly going back to check each characters scores and compare them to one another. It was a si-fi book that seemed as though the characters where living normal lives until they got chosen. This made it seem more realistic and as though something like it could happen in the future. I really loved Nyxia and am probably going to add it to my favorites.

The lies are definitely all over this story. I couldn't tell who was lying and who wasn't between this couple. Then there is someone who you don't know doing some background narration and saying all kinds of things. It was cray, cray. Then when the author lets you in on the narrator of the background . . . YOWZA!! I didn't see that coming.

Cray, cray with lots of action and lots of twists, I definitely enjoyed this one.

Thanks to Harlequin and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I liked this book but not as much as I had hoped that I would. I decided to read this book after seeing a few really good reviews. I love a good thriller so I decided to give it a try. I decided to take a peek at the first few pages of this book late one night and ended up putting other books aside so that I could focus on this one. Unfortunately, the book became much easier to set aside the further I read. 

I love a good thriller with a lot of twists and turns. This book takes some pretty ambitious twists that could have been really exciting if I had been even a little surprised. All of the big twists in this story were fairly easy for me to predict and ended up being quite disappointing. I had the urge to set the book aside for a bit whenever there was a bit reveal in the story which was unfortunate.

I didn't have any really strong feelings about the characters in this story. I don't think that took anything away from the story though. I think that this is the kind of book that being unsure of the characters actually works well. Ethan and Sutton both had characteristics that were hard to like but understandable because of the things they have been through.

This was a very easy book to read. I think that it had a nice overall flow and I found myself reading big sections of the book in a single sitting. I liked the short chapters that kept the pace of the book feeling quite rapid. I thought that alternate perspectives were worked into the story exactly when they were most effective. My biggest issue was the fact that I was really let down with every twist that proved to be very predictable. These usually happened just as the focus of the book shifted and I found myself setting the book aside a little easier.

I do think that many readers will enjoy this book a bit more than I did. It is a fast paced story that has quite a few exciting moments. I would definitely pick up more of J.T. Ellison's work in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from HQ Digital via NetGalley.

Initial Thoughts
I didn't fall in love with this book but I did like it. There were a lot of twists in the book. Unfortunately, I found those twists to be pretty predictable. I liked some parts of the book quite a bit and found other sections to be just okay.

My Book Box mystery selection.

I want to thank My Book Box because I doubt I would have picked this up on my own. So whoever made the selection, good job.

Ellison's novel ties the story about two relatively unlikable people who struggle though a rough patch in thier marriage. Neither Ethan or Sutton is particularly worthy of the title hero, though anti-hero would be apt. The character you root for is the cop Holly, who is caught up in thier lives simply because it is her job.

It's a brave book because of that. I like the format with the chapters that shift focus.