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Three Remain

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Mysterious, Three Remain is one of those books you must read. A great storyline with well=crafted characters makes you feel as if you are right there alongside the characters.

Brought together by circumstance, the three confront bizarre, life-threatening challenges as they try to unravel the mystery. Great job!!

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A rag tag, mixed bag of three strangers find themselves in a 'world gone quiet' - what a brilliant premise. We follow the trio as they try to solve the mystery as to what has happened to the world, with plenty of twists and turn to keep you guessing, I flew through this read.
The real gem for me was watching the relationships blossom and they band together.
This really was a brilliant read with some brilliant characters and a brilliant mystery.

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This was...odd. Not in a bad way. While I wouldn't say I loved it, I didn't hate it either. I did love the plot twists though! The characters were interesting, and the situation they find themselves in is terrifying. Definitely a page-turner that will have you wondering just what is going to happen next.

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Honestly this book was crazy! Especially considering what we are going through in our world today. I love finding books that feel like that could possibly happen. I felt the characters meshed very well and the story was seamless. I enjoyed how intense and different it became towards the end. Not typical. I like a story that keeps me on my toes.

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Author R. A. Andrade (https://www.raandrade.com) published the novel “Three Remain” in 2019. This is Mr. Andrade's second novel.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story takes place in the contemporary US. There are three principal characters. Sara, Traci, and Glen.

Glen wakes up at his rural home to find himself without power or communications. Sara wakes to find herself in a wrecked car and without any memory. Traci, a 13-year-old, falls asleep in the movie theater and awake to silence.

The three come together and find that they are alone. Before long they discover themselves faced with one obstacle after another. Then they realize that these are not random occurrences. They are being tested.

I enjoyed the 6+ hours I spent reading this 261-page young adult science fiction novel. While not labeled young adult, it has that feel to it. I do like the plot, though it seems to be simply implemented. I give this novel a 3 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

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The book started out strong...3 strangers who are the only people left alive after who knows what happened to the rest of the world! I was so interested to see where this book was going to go. However, my biggest problem were the three main characters. They were very stereotypical and quite frankly annoying. I struggled to finish this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

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Staci was at the movie theater and all three of her friends were late. The boy behind the glass counter and herself were the only ones in the lobby. Traci did her best to suppress her sense of disquiet frustration mixed with uncertainty connecting the deserted lobby with her missing friends and with the empty seats behind her in the theater, she sensed all was not normal. Her tongue suddenly numb and her eyelids drooped. She was struggling to stay awake. Glen sat at the table drinking a Corona. Reaching to take another swig with his lack of focus, he knocked the beer over. As he went on his hands and knees to clean up the mess he saw a racoon pawing and biting at the vinyl covering of the outside door. Glen went outside to check the damage. A meteor flashed overhead. His thoughts slipped into his solitary life. Glen vowed never to love another person again because of the inevitable pain and misery. He hoped to see another meteor. He did and it was big. Not merely a streak of light but big enough to discern the solid sphere. A second later it exploded above his head. Hundreds of miniature fireballs fell to earth in an umbrella of streaking lights and smoking tails. He searched for the telltale signs of fire, but saw only ordinary nighttime silhouettes of treelines and fields. Glen went back inside and checked his phone for any news of the meteor and then went to bed. Glancing at a map on her phone, sara read the estimated travel time to her destination at under five minutes. Dispatch had civen no sensible reason why she was assigned to tail this guy. His record was unblemished. “ Just stay close and report anything unusual” dispatch said last night. Her eyes glanced at the map, in an instant, she felt the car swerve. She saw a tree instead of the road rushing toward her. About to wrench the steering wheel to the left, her world changed with a deafening bang and a punch into her chest. Sara pushed the airbag out of her way, opened the door, tumbling onto the ground. Queen Anne’s Lace and dominated her senses, as consciousness slipped away. Glen woke up looking at his dark clock radio. Then he tried to turn on the light, greta no power. His cellphone didn’t have reception either. He rushed to his car with his laptop bag and folder of the most recent patent cases at work. Traci opened her eyes to darkness. Wiggling forward she unexpectedly dropped to the carpet and heard her phone skittering across the floor. She found her phone and used the flashlight mode and made it to the lobby where there was sunlight. Traci decided to get out of the place if she could. Than she would text her friends than finally call her parents. Neither of her parents had called, that was weird. Glen started to work but then came upon the sight of a Buick crashed against a tree. He found a woman lying in the tall grass. Than she asked him to give her a hand. Her leg was gashed open but the bleeding cut above her right eye worried Glen. he offered to call an ambulance. The woman said she was fine just help her up. He helped her to his car. Glen turned on the radio and all he got was static on every channel. He started back to his house to change his clothes, she went right to the door and waited for him. She said she didn’t remember her name or where she lived and then she seem to remember how to use a canopen . She asked him not to leave her alone. Than Glen checked and found eh ahd no internet connection and he was disappointed. He named her Sunshine for now. Traci explored the surrounding town and found it completely deserted. Traci to tremble uncontrollably. She struggled with thoughts of what to do next. Her phone was dead. She was scared more than she’d ever been before in her thirteen years. Glen finds Traci in the store and after she realizes he’ not a threat . he tells her she should stay with him and Sunshine until he could call her parents.
I don’t usually go for science fiction that much other than paranormal but this book was great! I didn’t want to put this down and only did when I had to. I liked the thriller part of it also. I loved the pace and plot. I loved Glen and Sunshine/Sara and Traci as they learned to care about each other, protect each other and to become a team and a family. I loved Glen wouldn’t leave Sunshine behind even after told she was half machine. I loved the challenges they had to conquer to survive. I loved the action, intrigue, and suspense in this book. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I highly recommend it.

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Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. DNF. Some elements of a story like this must be explained, or at least hinted at, to keep the reader interested. The title is not correct as there are soon others involved, with little explanation. The three main charcters exist without reason. How they put up with each other is beyond belief.

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Thank you to Selladore Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At 25% I considered putting this book down and moving on with the many other books I have on my TBR list but decided to give it one more chance. The synopsis had me curious and it sounded like something I would really enjoy, so I kept going. At 40% I decided that I wasn't wasting any more time with this book, it is just too all over the place for me. Events in the book seem to be totally random and not in any way related. There isn't enough foreshadowing for you to even guess what might be in store for the characters, none of whom I had any connection with and found to be very annoying.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this book but not something that I can recommend to anyone.

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yesssssssssssss. I loved this book and the entire premise. It's weird, it's twisty, it's full on unlikeable people.

This isn't about zombies or the fires of hell. this is about people and the horror of what happens with modern convenience is gone.

It is NOT what you think. Nothing is what you think. This...this is.....good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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This book just really wasn't for me. I think there is a certain audience for it. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review it.

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This was a good story of three people who band together after a meteor changes the world as they know it. Glen finds Sunshine (Sara) in her car that hit a tree and the two bond and stay together when they find no people anywhere they go. They discover 13 year old Tracy and she sticks to them after being alone. They are trapped in a weird fog and eventually discover the cause of their problems.The plot is pretty good and the three adjust and survive with a little humor and excitement. Sci/Fi fans will love it, young and old. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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This book was certainly way out of my wheelhouse. While it was not my favourite book to read, I did enjoy the story and the various twists and turns but couldn't relate to the characters. They were not as well developed as I would have liked and they were kind of neither here nor there. Apocalyptic stories are not the type of books I gravitate to and there are very few that I've read that I've truly enjoyed. Unfortunately this book does not fall into the category of the ones that I've enjoyed. And thank you to NetGalley and Selladore Press for giving me this ARC in exchange of my honest review.

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This book started out great, post apocalyptic nightmare, all people have disappeared, but Three Remain. But it just tries to be too many things at once. Is it apocalypse, magic, aliens, the military? There's enough good stuff here that could be expanded to make several different novels with the same beginning....or maybe it could have been a Choose Your Own Adventure.

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*Received via NetGalley for review*

I was excited to read this: people enrolled in intergalactic competitions and battles and such are right down my alley, but this book is terrible. Seriously awful.

The writing is clunky, the dialogue and characters are cringy, and nothing is subtle. Immediately the reader is told that Susan/Sunshine is young, fit, and attractive, whereas Clint is older. Susan/Sunshine make jokes about it constantly (and I mean constantly), flirting and bantering even though they have no chemistry and Sunshine has amnesia. Right away she starts calling him "daddy" (gross) and when a teenager (who is stereotypical dumb, annoying, and self-obsessed) joins them, Sunshine immediately refers to them as a family. It's all so heavy handed, rushed, and implausible.

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Three Remain is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller and tells the story of three strangers thrown together who have to learn to work as one in order to remain alive.

First, we meet Glen, who works in insurance and has witnessed a strange meteor shower just before he has gone to sleep. Then we have Sunshine (so named by Glen obviously due to her sunny personality—or not) who has awoken after a car accident with no memory and no clue as to her identity. Lastly, we have Traci, a pre-teen out at the movies who has woken to find everyone is missing and there is no signal for her phone (horror of horrors). The three land up meeting each other and realise they are trapped in an area surrounded by a fogbank. With no power and no means of communication with anyone else, they are forced into strange circumstances and have to make decisions they might never have even contemplated before. Could it really be the end of the world or are they pawns in a larger game?

I was drawn to the book by the description and the start really pulled me in. Then things went south. This is one book I actually struggled to finish. The idea behind the beginning of the book—great. The idea about the multitude of plot changes—getting fishy. The ending—oh, come on! You would get to a section where the characters were pushed a ‘la “Truman show style” and sort of buy into it, and then they would be pushed somewhere else and then somewhere else. Each time I kept asking myself—surely not? There is fiction and imagination and then there is just plain silly. It’s almost an insult to ask the reader to swallow some of it. From tanks to androids and dolphins to sex robots to aliens – it’s like someone looked at some interesting ideas and said hey, why not use all of them in one book?

There were initially only three characters to concentrate on so you would think that a lot could be said about them and you could really get into their stories. I didn’t find this at all. Sunshine was the most annoying and whiny character and I honestly felt more irritated than sorry for her. While Glen was trying to be the perfect gentleman around her she harped on and on about him not looking while she was changing or telling him he was too old for her and never stood a chance or just being flat out rude to him. Traci was not much better and her moaning about her phone not working got on my nerves. Her attitude and actions jumped constantly from a pre-teen to one much older and the inconsistency was jarring. The supposed “mother and daughter” dynamic between Sunshine and Traci that was meant to be a big part of the story fell flat to me, and I found some of the interactions between the three unnerving.

It’s sad when a book makes such a negative impact on a reader and the silly dialogue and ludicrous situations overshadowed any positives. I’m sure if it had been developed correctly it might have been a good story, but all I remember are the negative parts. The one thing I can say, though, is that barring a few punctuation errors, the proofing was very good.

Unfortunately, this is one I wouldn’t read again. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review the book.

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Let me start by saying that I almost gave up on this book several times. The first several chapters were all over the place and the dialog between characters was stilted at best. The writing made 2 of the 3 main characters so unlikeable that I hoped they would meet an untimely (or timely) end. However, for some reason I stuck with it and I was glad I did. The writing got better, the dialog improved along with the characters.
The plot was another problem altogether. Lots of internal, "are you kidding me?" But somehow I never gave up. I sat back and went along for the ride. I suspended disbelief and just accepted the author's vision for the story and ended up liking it. I may be in the minority, but I'm rooting for a sequel.

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Interesting and engaging!!! The interaction between the characters and their own personal growth makes this arrogant it is!

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*Thank you, Netgalley, for providing an e-arc of Three Remain. This does not, in any way, affect my review/lack of a review.*

Wow. This is actually a first for me, not finishing a book. I got to around 80% of the book and just decided that this isn't for me.

Upon reading the synopsis, you'd think that it was just another post-apocalyptic book. When I started reading it, I felt that the book had a potential and left me quite excited to find out what really happened in their world and was like "Hey, maybe it's not like many other books with the same trope".

I was mostly not enthused, especially when the Martians were introduced. That's when I got turned off by the book. Now, don't get me wrong. I love books that have some otherworldly creatures. It's just that the way they were introduced made the aliens out-of-place.

I honestly had a theory that maybe this is like a Truman Show kind of world where everything is orchestrated to gain specific results from the test subjects.

It also didn't help that I was annoyed at Sunshine (a twenty-something woman) and Traci (a teenage girl) A LOT OF TIMES. From the start until around the middle of the book, they kept on assuming and implying that Glen will harass or maliciously touch/molest Sunshine despite Glen doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to hint that he will do anything remotely close to that. All Glen did was help them and think about their survival. It's one thing to be careful around men, but it's another thing to always be unnecessarily accusatory of innocent people.

In my opinion, this could have worked if there were different point of views so it would have been easier for me to connect with the characters.

Anyway, this book isn't for me, but I hope it'll be a match for someone else.

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I went into this book expecting a typical apocalyptic story but was surprised by the path the story took. Our three main characters, Tracy, Sunshine and Glen, are mismatched but the dynamics of the trio worked so well within this book. I don't want to spoil anything as the book moves quickly but its a page turner and will keep you on the edge of your seat!

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