This Chick Read: Rolls and Rivalry (Gaming and Romance #3) by Kristy Boyce

When Hazel’s former best friend, Max, moves back to town she thinks her plan for her Senior year is all set, but he’s not the boy she remembers. As color guard captain, she’s determined to lead her team to an award winning season. Max, joins the band in the drum unit, and for some reason he’s copping attitude and leads the charge in the rivalry between their two units. Needing a distraction from the stress, she puts her second plan into play. She wants to lead a D&D game. She recruits her best friend, and in a moment of madness asks Max and another drummer to join. Playing the game outside their rivalry helps she and Max get closer and reignites the crush she had on Max when she was younger. Is this the start of a new friendship?

I’ve enjoyed this series by Kristy Boyce despite being totally outside the target demographic. Hazel and Max’s high school rivalry and D&D games brought back old memories, even though I wasn’t in the band or played D&D myself. It reminded me of how our high school friendships were the linchpin of all of our emotions and are a huge part of molding us into who we are as adults.

Hazel’s expansive friend group, her role as leader of the guard, and her budding friendship/romance with Max added to the stress she was already feeling from her family. I liked the way the author didn’t whitewash Hazel’s first instincts to lead the color guard in a rather strict way and the lesson she learned about uniting together as a team and still having fun along the way. I also liked how Hazel was open to communicate with her peers, Max, and her parents and it was through that communication that she achieved her goals. A great lesson for someone of any age, which is probably why I enjoy these novels. That and the peek into the D&D world, which is totally alien despite my love for fantasy novels.

You’ll enjoy this book, as well as the others in the series if you, too, like stories that are uplifting where the heroine learns life lessons. Or even if you just love marching bands and Dungeons & Dragons.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest.

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This Chick Read: Stranger Things Have Happened by Kasie West

Sutton is back in her hometown to take care of her grumpy, ailing mom. When she runs into her best friend from childhood, Tara, she gets dragged into a bet. She and another stranger are going to pretend to be engaged and go to couples therapy. If the therapist guesses they aren’t a real couple her friend’s fianceé will agree to go to his own couple’s therapy with Tara. Sutton and Elijah head to their first therapy session as strangers but come out knowing a little bit more about each other and a homeworks from the therapist. As they continue to attend these sessions Sutton and Elijah seem to only be proving one thing this true connection forming between them is threatening to unravel everything Sutton thought she knew about family, friendship, and her own heart.

You can rely on Kasie West to create characters that you can identify with, draw you in, and make you think “yes! I have felt the same way”. When I read this story I could totally identify with Sutton and her situation. She and her mom don’t have the best relationship. Her mom’s injury makes her grumpy, but she’s always been very critical of Sutton’s choices in life. As Sutton goes through her therapy sessions with Elijah she uses some of what’s she’s learning about herself to deal with her issues with her mom too. Lesson learned? Therapy is good!

Elijah was a sweetheart. Adorable, friendly, flirty, but he also seemed to care a lot about Sutton as the novel moved forward. There was some great chemistry between the two of them and despite all of the things they are both dealing with in their lives, they connect on a real level. The author’s portrayal of their story was so seamless that I sped through this novel relishing the way it ended. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGally for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* Stranger Things Have Happened

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This Chick Read: Happy Ending by Chloe Liese

Thea and Alex met when Thea was going to pick up her dog from her recent ex-husband’s home and Alex was going to pick up his daughter at his recent ex-wife’s new boyfriends home- Thea’s ex. Both a little off guard by the situation they find themselves in, they spin a little tale about being childhood best friend’s. What starts as a little prank, two years later, grows into a true friendship. When their ex’s ask them to take a group family vacation they realize this friendship might be growing into something more.

This is a tough review for me because I love Chloe Liese’s novels. She always has realistic characters who are slightly challenged by life. Happy Ending’s characters are challenged by a situation, but as characters they didn’t really hold my interest. I like a friends to lovers romance, and the plot set this one up nicely, but for me, something was missing. Thea’s pining for Alex was kind of annoying and his not so secret crush on her was equally irritating. These two people who claimed to be best friends just didn’t communicate at all. They each subverted their emotions so they could continue this lackluster friendship. It was well written, but I just found the story boring. I hope she gets back to writing interesting characters on the next novel!

❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved.

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This Chick Read: What Lasts by J. Bengtsson

As a fan of J. Bengtsson’s Cake series, I was intrigued by her news that she was writing a prequel about the couple that created all of our favorite characters…Michelle and Scott McCallister, the parents. After six books about the McCallister siblings, you’d think the reader would know everything about Michelle and Scott, but I learned that my knowledge only brushed the surface. What Lasts takes us back to the 80’s and the beginning of it all.

Michelle has grown up in privilege and when she meets Scott, someone who is not among the privileged (at all), she embarass’s herself in front of him, and yet Scott is intrigued. Not thinking she’ll ever show up, he invites her to his gig that night and surprisingly she shows up. This is just the beginning of Michelle showing up for Scott. As we learn from the other novels, Michelle wants more from her future than to marry whomever her parents deem appropriate, so she gives it all up for a single dad who works three jobs in order to be there for his boy, Mitchell. What follows are a couple of decades of having and raising kids, living in poverty, and Scott trying to live up to what he thinks Michelle needs.Then comes the backbone of all of Cake’s novels. Jake’s kidnapping, return, and skyrocketing career to rockstardom. How do Michelle and Scott handle all of the above? The details are in the novel so I’ll let you see if you like how their story is told. I’ll admit, I found it kind of lackluster.

I love these books, but what I really like about them are the relationships between all of the siblings. Was I curious about Michelle and Scott? A little bit? Scott was obviously a character so it was kind of cool to see where all of his unusualness came from. Michelle always came off as a bit of a cool customer. I knew she came from a wealthy background but even after learning about their struggles, and how as a mother she felt during all of the kidnapping trauma, I just never really warmed up to her. So, for me, I didn’t find their story that riveting. What it did do though, is make me want to read all of the sibling novels again, so really it did it’s job! I’ve read them all at least twice as well as listened to the audiobooks. I have my favorites, but I think this time I’m going to read them in order.

❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much for allowing me to read an early copy! I’m a SoCal girl who grew up in Ventura County, so I always love to read stories that take place in that area. I’m looking forward to going back and taking a visit to SoCal with some of my favorite characters.

Click this link to purchase this book!* What Lasts

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

Layla Bailey spent the last year telling herself she’s moved on from her divorce with her college sweetheart. Wanting to stay amicable she accepts an invitation to her ex-sister-in-law’s wedding in Paris, the place where she and her ex spent their honeymoon. No problem, she tells herself, even though he’s bringing his new girlfriend. She spends the first night having a fun dinner with the bride then wakes up the next morning to find that something she innocently said has caused the bride to doubt following through with the wedding. It’s up to she and the taciturn best man, Griffin to make sure this wedding happens.

I did kind of cut to the chase on the above synopsis making this sound like a bit of fluff, when it absolutely was not. The Paris Match shredded my heart. I loved Layla, and the more we all got to know Griff and his heartbreaking back story, the more I came to love him as well. While they tried to figure out the reasons why the bride starting having doubts they both did a lot of soul searching. Layla on why she was trying so hard to be “amicable” with her ex and his family. Yes, she’s a very nice and loving woman, but there are limits to what she’s going to allow. Griff who maybe should’ve been named Gruff, hit his limits pretty quickly- on her behalf. I’ll admit there’s nothing I love better than someone who is a protector, and despite not understanding his feelings on why he felt so deeply, Griff was her support.

Layla was such an easy character to like. She tried to do all the right things, be pleasant, kind, professional (she was a doctor), but at the same time kind of let people walk all over her. As the novel moved forward you could see her backbone straighten. She needed to take this trip back to the city she loved so much and had all of these memories from her past life- face them- and make new ones. I’m a big believer in learning from your mistakes and moving forward. It took her a little while to see and accept them, but ultimately she was able to do that- with Griff’s help. Griff had his own troubles he needed to face and Layla was just as much a supporter to him as he was to her. A perfect partnership if they can get past their pasts and face the future together. This was a lovely story and I really enjoyed reading it- even though I left a wad of tissues by my bedside.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Paris Match

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: Family Lies (San Diego #4) by Karen Rose

When a woman calls her sister Akiko out of the blue claiming to have information about her birth mother, detective Kit McKittrick is immediately suspicious. Kit has a bad feeling and insists on going with Akiko to the meeting. When the woman doesn’t show up they go to her house they are fired upon and seek refuge in the house where they find her dead body. Although she’s on medical leave, Kit can’t leave the investigation up to anyone else and breaks the rules to keep searching for answers. Was Mary Sherman Akiko’s birth mother and why did she wait so long to reach out to her? As Kit investigates and more bodies turn up, Kit wonders if this secret should be left buried.

This was by far my favorite book in the series to date. Kit has been a hard protagonist to get to know, and in this novel she not only opens up about her family and her relationship to Akiko, but she also opens up to Sam, the man she’s in love with and just started to date seriously. Kit has come a long way from the isolated, cold woman in book one. I love Kit 2.0, she is easy to like and relatable!

The mystery of Akiko’s parentage was a fascinating read. You always hear stories about adoption and the wondering of who a real parent might be, in this case Akiko would’ve been much better off never learning anything about her family. The tale is tragic, sad, and kind of scary. Beyond that, I’ll not reveal any of her secrets, you’ll have to read it yourself! Needless to say, I enjoyed this novel a lot and am giving Karen Rose her first five star rating from me. This tale was entertaining, emotional, action-packed, and absolutely gripping! You all will enjoy this one!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Family Lies

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchased this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying #1) by Ilona Andrews

When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn’t take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she’s been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.

Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters’ ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she’s coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.

I am obsessed with this book. I’ve read it twice and am finding new moments to love and marvel at with each reading. One of my favorite series that this author duo has written is the Kate Daniels series, and there are a few similarities. Maggie, like Kate, has a huge heart. While Kate swings a sword and has huge magical skills that evolve over all of that series, Maggie enters this world kind of as a newborn. She does have a skill, although it’s not warrior like, she has knowledge of what will happen to characters in this world she’s been dropped into, and she can use that knowledge as currency to move herself from homeless street person, to “Lady” Maggie. Like Kate, Maggie’s huge heart means that she makes connections with characters who she will move the world for- or in this book, attempt to save their world. Also like Kate, Maggie will sacrifice herself for her loved ones. Other characters in this book provide the weapon-wielding and action, and while Maggie is at the center of it all, she is the strategist behind all of their actions and some of those actions are self-sacrificing. Kair Toren is a big chess board, and Maggie knows all the moves but they don’t always work out the way she thinks they will. Hence the “Undying” moniker. She does make mistakes and those mistakes result in her knowledge that she can’t be killed- or at least not yet.

Note before reading- this novel is much darker and more gruesome than Ilona Andrews other books. There are definitely light-hearted moments as well as humorous ones, but they are trying to save their kingdom and there’s not a lot of time for fun. Maggie has a great sense of humor and I hear these author’s voices when she has an inner monologue. Ilona Andrews has a snarky humor that takes you out of a dark moment and adds a little lightness and clarity that works beautifully in this context. I can’t wait to hear the audio for this book. I just know it will be superb and those snarky thoughts even more funny in someone else’s voice. Although I do a great job in my head.

Maggie has a love interest sub plot or maybe not so sub-plot, that is intermingled in the main story. This love story is dark, brooding, filled with distrust, lots of emotions, and of course conflict. Some of this conflict comes in the form of adversaries whom our hero thinks may vie for Maggie’s heart and other obstacles he unwittingly places himself. Our hero, is very possessive, very powerful (an amazing swordsman!), and of course, doesn’t want to share. All the things that make a romantic fantasy fun to read. Their journey is not an easy one, after all they are trying to save their kingdom- and there are many things standing in their way. I can’t wait to see how all of this gets resolved in book two!

If I could give a 10.0 rating I would.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

Copyright 2025 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: A Deadly Inheritance by Kelley Armstrong

When Liliana Chamber’s mother dies, her estranged grandparents swoop in and send her off to Westdale Academy, a school for privileged children and the life her mother ran away frrom. The first person she meets is the mysterious Maddox Moreno and then Hollywood golden boy Theo Dubois. As she gets to know them she see’s there’s more to this school than elite level networking. Something deadly. As she starts investigating the murders of students from the past she wonders if they have anything to do with why her mother ran from Westdale. When a fun night out turns bloody Liliana must connect the past to the present to prove Theo’s innocence.

Kelley Armstrong has such a deft hand at writing mysteries. I’m not surprised at all! I’m a fan of her fantasy novels, the worlds she builds are always so detailed and the world within Westdale Academy was so different. I was absolutely caught from the very beginning and sped through this novel in a few hours.

There was a lot to like in this novel. Liliana, obviously was my favorite. She is grieving her mother and lands in the place where her mother used to live. This is a chance for her to learn more about a life she never even knew her mother had lived. What she finds turns out to be eye-opening. I also loved her budding relationships with both Theo and Maddox- there’s more than what meets the eye and what is revealed is wonderfully different. Nope, I’m not going to give anything away!

If you’re in the mood for a fun, mysterious, tale with a lot of twists and a hint of romance get this book. It held my attention, was entertaining, and had a very satisfying conclusion. Loved!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book! A Deadly Inheritance

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This Chick Read: Toe to Toe by Falon Ballard

Allegra Hart has been working her whole life towards being a principal ballerina. When her director announces he’s choreographing a brand new ballet and will be holding auditions for the leads, Allegra knows she will be auditioning, however when she approaches her director he tells her that she doesn’t have the sex appeal to play this character. That evening she goes to her sister’s bachelorette party at a male revue club and is gobsmacked by the lead dancer. Determined to gain his help in training her she approaches Cord Donovan and appeals to him for his help. When he agrees she’s not sure of the direction this training will take, but is sure it will take her outside her comfort zone.

I don’t usually read reviews before I write my own but I was curious what other people thought of this book. There were some triggering subject matters. An example-Allegra worked in a ballet company where she was sexually harassed by her director.. and she ignored it in order to keep her job. Some readers were pretty pissed off that the author wrote a story where the protagonist didn’t stand up for herself, other women, and pretty much all things sexually harassed related. Yes, I noticed these things as well but I’m just going to throw this idea out there. While I would kick scream and shout to the world about what was happening, not everyone handles situations in strong outspoken ways. Sometimes the fight happens when that person is ready. Do I wish that Allegra had forsaken all that she’s worked for in her career to scream about harassment to the world? Nope. As a woman of a certain age who works in a not at all related field, let me just say that you deal with all sorts of things that you have to weigh and decide what’s best for you at that moment and for your future. I wasn’t mad but I could see how some readers might be.

I enjoyed the push and pull of Allegra and Cord’s slow burn romance. Despite their instant attraction they were both committed to their careers and didn’t really want to cross that line, but while they were getting to know each other those dance scenes sure did create some great tension. As a non dancer I really appreciated how I could visualize their dancing too. Kudos to this author for doing her research and writing some great numbers.

Cord and Allegra’s relationship was not perfect but it did feel real and it brought up that age old issue. Do women need to compromise their wants and needs, the future they were building, in order to live happily ever after with a man? I know my answer but if you want to know Allegra’s read the book. 🙂

❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* Toe to Toe

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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This Chick Read: In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer

When Nieve’s boyfriend Carter dies trying to save her from drowning in a river she is devastated. Blaming herself for his death she’s too depressed to continue on with school and heads home to her Grandmother’s house where she grew up. Her Grandmother’s always been a bit odd with her strange stories, uncanny happenings and magic. The following morning when Nieve wakes up a year in the past before Carter’s death she has to make a decision. Does she go on as she did the previous year, or does she do things differently putting a little distance between she and her ex. Deciding on the more difficult route of giving him up draws her closer to his best friend Max but in order to change her past she must embracer her future.

This was one of those stories that could’ve gone either way- love or hate. Luckily, I was in the right mood to read a quirky story filled with interesting characters, a rivetiing plot, and perhaps a little bit of magic.

Is it possible to love someone you used to hate? As this story goes on and Nieve becomes closer to Max she realizes that maybe all wasn’t as it appeared the previous year. Maybe she was overcome with her love for Carter and didn’t see clearly through that haze of first love, but Max is not at all what she remembered him being. Is it weird that I was rooting for her to give Max a chance? Despite all the twists and turns in this story I was intrigued by he and Nieve’s possibility’s and wanted to see where this story was going to take me.

I’ll admit that if I wasn’t in the right frame of mind it’s possible that I wouldn’t have liked this story as much as I did. But the timing was right, I loved all the Groundhog Days and I appreciated the well crafted storytelling. Well done!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase this book!* In Time With You

Copyright 2026 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

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