Tag: amazon

This Chick Read: The Bright Spot (Sunrise Cove #5) by Jill Shalvis

Luna Wright runs the happy but struggling Apple Ridge Farm with her motley crew of friends. They’ve made a place for themselves in the community with their farm to table cafe, a menagerie of rescued animals, and some small boutiques run by her grandmother. When the owner of Apple Ridge Farm dies and leaves Luna half of the property to be run with his investment manager Jameson Hayes, she finds that the old man had a lot of secrets. Can she keep her family together and the doors open?

Luna not only collects homeless animals, but she seems to collect quirky friends and family members. Something that she must have in common with the author because she excels at writing about circles of friends and eccentric family members. My favorite moments in this story did revolve around Luna and her rag tag group of friends. Those relationships showed off Luna’s strength of will and love for her friends. The fact that she wanted to take on the world and protect her little family was nice but got a little tiring. I loved her resolve but wanted the resolution to come about a little quicker. The addition of Jameson into their group as her partner and love interest added some emotion to the story. I like him a lot and liked the way he settled her. She was a lot to handle!

I read Ms. Shalvis’ novels because I know I’m going to get fed some comfort food. Interesting characters, an envious circle of friends, and a lot of heart. This book delivers all of that plus a good-hearted love story that rounds out the novel really nicely. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Bright Spot

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: The Lily of Ludgate Hill (Belles of London #3) by Mimi Matthews

Lady Anne Deveril is the unofficial leader of her group of friends and she has slowly seen them fall in love. When her father died many years before, she chose to leave that chance of love behind and followed her distraught mother into mourning. Her childhood friend, Hart, was the one she left behind and ever since their relationship has become antagonistic. However, when she needs a favor he is the first person she turns to, but being the difficult man that he is, he wants something in return. He wants Anne to attend a house party at his grandfather’s estate and to forego wearing her mourning colors.

Mimi Matthews historical romance novels often have interesting situations and diverse characters which makes her novels really enjoyable to read giving them a realistic feel that a lot of historical novels just don’t achieve. In this case Anne makes a difficult decision to stand by her mother in her many years long of mourning her father, wearing black and putting herself in a difficult place with her peers. A young woman is supposed to be trying to catch a husband, of course, and Anne has zero interest in achieving that goal. Hart, however, is tired of waiting on the sidelines and decides to push her towards her future, which includes him.

Of the three novels in the series this one is my least favorite only because of its more straight historical romance path. It was interesting to see how Anne and Harts past was intertwined as we had no inkling before this novel and only saw their antagonistic behavior towards each other. However, they were both in the upper echelon of society so there wasn’t really any diversity, and the only difficulty was the fact that a distant cousin inherited her father place in society which leaves she and her mother reliant upon him. An unfortunate part of our history but I found it interesting to see how they dealt with being victims in a world ruled by elite white guys. To me that was the best part of this novel.

Despite it landing in the my number three spot in the series, I still enjoyed this novel. Mimi Matthews is truly a talented writer and creates really interesting characters that you want to know more about. If you’re a fan of historical fiction, pick this series up. Although this novel can be read as a stand alone I think you’ll get more out of it if you’d read the other two novels first. They will give you a feel for this author’s writing and you’ll understand a bit more of the characters you’ll be reading about. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Lily of Ludgate Hill

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Recipe For a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden

American Chef Georgia May Jackson is close to achieving her goal, running a restaurant in Paris. She’s on the cusp of success when it all falls apart during one very bad day. At the same time, she loses her sense of taste, everything tastes bitter. When her absentee mother reaches out from the West Coast and offers her a place to stay she jumps at the chance of getting to know her mom and somehow recover her sense of taste. When she arrives on the island she goes on a journey of discovery that just may help her regain her magical skills.

This story really surprised me because there was so many sub-plots. The most important that drove the story was of Georgia and her mother Star. They have been estranged since she was five years old and her absence left a big hole but when she left she had instilled a love of cooking in her daughter that drove her to leave home and explore the world. The second plot was her potential love interest Cole. They were drawn to each other but his past is filled with secrets and drama and Georgia is only on the island temporarily so their story is a slow burn. The third plot is Georgia’s need to achieve her dream of running a restaurant and getting her mojo back. That’s the plot that to me was the most interesting, although all three meshed really well and created a solid novel with a great story.

There was a magical element to this story that made the book really fun to read and I looked forward to all of the little hidden four leaf clovers, the magical setting, and Georgia’s returning mojo. The pace was perfect and I was rooting for Georgia to reach her magical happy ending.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Recipe for a Charmed Life

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Riley has huge aspirations for her future.. she wants to direct a Broadway musical. When she takes her mom’s car to the city to see a show without her permission, she’s grounded and has to work at her dad’s gamer shop in her free time. When she finds out the spring musical has been canceled, she is determined to save it, but she’s stuck at the game shop with her nerdy (but cute!) co-worker Nathan. They strike up a deal, she’ll flirt with him to make his girl crush jealous and he’ll act as her boyfriend at school to get her ex off her back while she works on the musical. As they spend more time with each other she finds out that she likes the Dungeons and Dragons role playing almost as much as she likes spending time with Nathan.

I’ll admit that I’m a little older than the target demographic for this novel, but I love occasionally reading young adult novels. The emotions are so pure and in the case of Dungeons and Drama, the plot was too cute. I enjoyed this novel very much! The story mixed humor, nerdiness, and great family dynamics. I felt for this cute teen girl who’s parents are divorced. She has drifted apart from her father and isn’t sure she can handle working in his store, which she sees as the catalyst for her parents divorce. When she enters that gaming universe she’s definitely a fish out of water which creates some pretty funny scenarios. Her interactions with Nathan and the other boys who game D&D in the back room are pretty great, the dialog is spot on and so funny!

The romance portion of this novel was very sweet and totally PG. A lot of young adult novels read like an adult romance but in this novel the heat was very mild and was totally appropriate for young readers. In fact, I was so surprised at the emotions this novel wrung out of me considering my age in comparison with the demo target. This author did a great job of writing for all ages!

If you love sweet romances that make you reminisce about your high school days, pick up this novel! The writing was great and the story was fun and engaging. You can’t ask for much more than that!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Dungeons and Drama

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chicks Audio Review: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Maelyn Jones hates her life. She is in a dead end job, living with her parents, and just made a huge romantic error. The only thing going well is that she is in her happy place at the cabin in the woods where her family spends the holidays, along with her parents best friends and their kids. As the weekend implodes and Mae drives away she makes a wish that changes her life, or at least starts the weekend all over.

I thought this Groundhog Day-esque rom-com was wonderfully well done. Patti Murin’s narration was spot on and she did a great job voicing all of the different characters… and there were a lot of them! I listened to the book leading up to the holidays and it set the write note of family drama, holiday traditions, and love gone comically wrong. I laughed with Mae, and then fell along in love with her lifetime crush, Andrew. Everything does go horribly wrong but it’s fun to watch Mae try to turn what she knows will be a disaster into a positive.

I’ve read a couple of reviews that said they weren’t a fan of Andrew’s (our romantic hero) personality. I actually thought his calm demeanor was perfect for the somewhat chaotic mess that was Mae. He did remind me of some of the gentlemen from my southern California roots so I must like a more laid back fellow. Well, to read about anyway. LOL.

If you’re looking for a fun holiday rom-com and haven’t read this novel yet pick it up or better yet take a listen! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* In a Holidaze

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick’s Audio Review: The Graham Effect (Campus Diaries #1) by Elle Kennedy

Gigi Graham is working hard to make the women’s US hockey team. Something she hopes will help her step out of the shadow of her famous father. She needs to improve her game behind the net and ask the new co-captain of Briar’s men’s hockey team for the help. Ryder is eager to take her up on the favor since he needs one in return. He wants her to put in a good word for him to her father to help him get the job at her dad’s training camp. The only thing standing in both their ways is the sizzling chemistry between them, and it’s very hard to ignore.

I love sports romances and when I saw Teddy Hamilton’s name as one of the narrator’s I spent that credit and didn’t look back. He’s a big talent and I love his voice! CJ Bloom voices Gigi’s character and is a new favorite after hearing her bring Gigi to life in this novel. The two of them together were fantastic.

I’ve never read a book by Elle Kennedy, but she was recommended to me and I’m always looking for new authors who have a trunkful of novels I can dig into if I like them. Did I like this novel? Yep! And I’ve already read four more of her books in less than a week. Now, I will say that these are VERY spicy novels! The heat is high and caught me a little off guard when listening to this book, but the plot was addictive and the cast of characters were a lot of fun. Ryder was a grumpy hero who slowly opened up to Gigi over the length of the novel. Gigi was much more open and carefree. She was very secure, sassy, and somehow able to get Ryder to open up to her, which made this duo so interesting! His back story was dark and she brought the light into his life. I loved that.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Graham Effect

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick’s Audio Review: Nightfall’s Prophet (Aileen Travers #6) by T.A. White

Aileen Travers has come to grips with the fact she’s a vampire. In fact, she is gaining her independence by starting her own house with her “brother”, and is kind of ok with the fact she has to drink blood to survive. She has also sort of made up with her human family and is trying to retain some sort of relationship without letting them know she’s one of the undead, of course. When she starts hearing voices and having nose bleeds her vampire family is concerned but not as much as they are when they realize the patriarch of their family seems to have taken an interest in her and is stalking her. Add in a visit by the vampire council and an attempt at a coup and Aileen wonders if things will ever be normal or is this just her life.

T.A. White has written some of my favorite fantasy novels and series. I’ll admit it took me a little while to warm up to this one but I’ve now bought into this vampire series and have enjoyed seeing Aileen’s character grow. What I keep forgetting is how much I dislike the narrator for the audio books for this series, which is funny because she didn’t bother me at all in the pathfinder series. Maybe it’s just her attempt at narrating male vampire’s that I find offensive. I’m not sure, but I’m not going to let a bad narration spoil a good romantic fantasy/paranormal novel. This series is finally getting good!

There are many plots and subplots in this book and some of them are intertwined so I don’t want to give any details away. Just know that there is plenty of action, Liam is still her hot vampire love interest, and her family dynamics (both vampire and human) get revved up. It was hard to press the stop button and actually go work for a living!

If you’re a fan of vampire novels, or even if you aren’t and just like a good romantic fantasy, I think you’ll like this series. You’ll need to slog through the first novel, it was the hardest to read, but after that these characters really start to grow on you. I’m now eager to see where they will be in the next iteration and want to read them through to their conclusion. You will too! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book! Nightfall’s Prophet

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Knockout (Hell’s Belle’s #3) by Sarah MacLean

Lady Imogen Loveless has a love for experiments and explosives, which comes in handy when she and her counterparts in the Hell’s Belle’s are investigating some bombings in the East End of London. Private Detective Thomas Peck keeps running into Imogen in suspicious circumstances, most recently at the site of one of the bombings he’s investigating. When she turns up missing, he’s assigned to find and guard her giving him access to this woman whom he finds so fascinating.

This is not the first time we’ve come across Tommy and Imogen. They’ve crossed paths in the first two novels and the author has given readers hints of how exciting their own story would be. I wasn’t disappointed at all. Lady Imogen, who is the sister of an Earl, uses her rank to keep close to some of the more reprehensible members of society and helps feed Det. Tommy Peck clues that have helped him bring some men to justice. Imogen’s love for explosives has made her a really unique heroine in this historical romance genre and it was interesting to see how two people from two walks of life find commonalities and surprisingly explosives seems to be one of those things. When Tommy decides that Imogen is his there is a shift from he needs to keep her out of trouble to he must protect her at all costs, which adds some tension to their romance plot that kept things very interesting!

I love how this series keep giving us unusual heroines and heroes who have met their match despite the differences they may have, both societal and upbringing. I also like how the characters reflect real life people, in this case a slightly overweight woman who likes explosives. Haha! The explosives part isn’t that normal but the overweight insecure woman certainly is. I love a good historical romance and Sarah MacLean always seems to deliver something unique and different. And fun! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Knockout

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: Caught Up (Windy City #3) by Liz Tomforde

Single dad MLB pitcher, Kai, has just fired his fifth nanny in as many months. Miller Montgomery is a top bakery chef and has just won the highest accolade possible and is home for a break to visit her MLB manager dad. When she gets roped into spending her two month hiatus nannying for Kai she is determined to not get attached while at the same time introducing him to a little fun. This opposites attract plot was supercharged by emotional zings and a lot of humor, and one too cute little baby boy.

I’m a sucker for a great sports romance and this series is pretty high on my list for hitting all the right notes. Caught Up is the third installment and the first MLB hero. The other two books featured pro hockey and basketball. I love how this author has mixed it up and created a group of guy friends who quietly support their friends and find love. Kai is the All-American baseball hero, at the top of his game when an ex-girlfriend dumps a surprise baby on him and leaves, not wanting to be a mother. Kai steps up and changes his player mentality and becomes responsible. Maybe a little too responsible. When Miller shows up with her tattoo’s and irreverent living out of her van lifestyle he is intrigued. He finds her seriously hot, but he thinks he needs to concentrate all of his attention on his baby boy. What he doesn’t realize is that Miller fits in perfectly with their little family. If only she wasn’t leaving at the end of two months.

I think some of my favorite scenes were with Miller and Max. Miller is only 25 so Kai is a bit older at 32. She’s never really been around kids and isn’t at that point in her life where she’s even thought of having a family. However, she and Max develop a bond that is so sweet. The author did such a great job of slow building that relationship that I think Max tugged on my heartstrings just as much as Kai did, which is totally apropos as they are a matched set. The dynamics between the three of them were just adorable and I also loved how Miller’s slight edginess and humor only added to the romance and wasn’t a distraction. This was such a feel-good romance! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Caught Up

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Rainy Day Friends (Wildstone #2) by Jill Shalvis

Six months a widow, Lanie Jacobs finds out that she wasn’t her husbands only wife. Destroyed by his infidelity, Lanie goes back home to Wildstone and takes a temporary job at the family owned Capriotti Vineyard. Being enveloped by this warm and welcoming family makes Lanie feel a little uncomfortable but she quickly settles in while maintaining boundaries. Deputy Sheriff Mark Capriotti and his two adorable twin girls get past her guard until River Green makes those walls come back up. River, young, pregnant and obviously out of money also gets embraced into this welcoming family and makes friends but is keeping a big secret.

This Wildstone series is a little different from Jill Shalvis’s contemporary romance novels. They read a little less romance and more drama, but the reader is still able to relax into a story filled with friendship. Something that Jill Shalvis is especially great at portraying. River and Lanie’s friendship is rocky because of secrets and lack of trust but as the novel goes on they become closer until that climax where the reader is clued into the big reveal. It’s not especially surprising due to the basis of the plot being about a philandering spouse, but I did like both of these characters and wanted to see them come through the drama with their friendship intact. The romance portion of this book was slow and steady. The two little girls breaching Lanie’s line of defense with humor, charm and giggles. I swear, you can’t beat cute kids in a romance novel for helping to break down barriers. Their Dad wasn’t too bad either.

The Capriotti family were in your face, kind, knowing, and warm. I loved their dynamics and had hoped that this series would follow a couple of these characters. They were so interesting! I’m still getting through the series so I haven’t lost hope yet. This fictional family is worth the read alone, but I liked the other sub-plots too. This was a well-rounded story! ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Rainy Day Friends

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads