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This Chick’s Audio Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

College sweetheart couple Harriet and Wyn have been broken up for five months but haven’t yet told their close group of friends. When Harriet and friends plan a vacation visit to their favorite beach cottage she is surprised when Wyn shows up. Stuck together for a week while being on a couples vacation is a hardship but all of this close contact reminds them of their chemistry and how much they miss each other. Happy Place is Emily Henry’s love story between this couple but it’s also about growing older, growing apart, and still finding those commonalities that will make you hold on to the ones you love.

I look forward to Emily Henry’s novels every year so when Happy Place was released I immediately checked the audiobook out from the library and started it up. Narrated by the uber talented Julia Whelan who has voiced Emily Henry’s other novels, I’m immediately drawn to these six characters but especially to Harriet and Wyn. This cottage at the beach is resident doctor Harriet’s happy place, especially since she and Wyn broke up, and Wyn promised her that he would stay at home for this vacation with their friends. So, when she arrives and finds him there plus that they’d have to share a room she is furious. She doesn’t want to put on a happy face with their friends and carry on this facade. However, they made their bed and if they don’t want to spoil the impromptu wedding of two of their friends, they need to fake it til they make it. Easier said than done.

This second chance romance was heart-rending. Their love story was told in flashbacks so the contrast between their falling in love and preparing for their life together and the current situation is so drastic it really helps build the tension between the two characters. Julia Whelan who voices every character did such a great job, I was totally enmeshed in this story and wanted desperately to know how it ends way just to end my torture. I will admit that I cried through about four hours of this audiobook. The build-up had such heartache, coupled with the great friendships and knowing how those change as life goes on. Oh my gosh, I loved this book for what it made me feel, but hated going through all of those feelings. I think it took two days for me to recover and my eyes to un-puff. I kid you not.

If you love slow burn romances then you need to read Happy Place. The characters are developed so well, not just our two main characters but all six of these best friends. You come to care for them all and as an older person myself, really appreciating what these 30-somethings are going through because I’ve gone through the change in friendships myself. Feeling those emotions again was agonizing and so real and true. Despite my going through a box of tissues I wouldn’t have missed reading this book. Happy Place was a gem. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Happy Place

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.

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This Chick Read: To Have and To Heist by Sara Desai

Simi Chopra is buried in student loan debt, can only find entry level jobs despite her BA, and is constantly being set up with men by her South Asian parents who mean well but are too involved in her personal life. When her hacker best friend Chloe gets set up as the fall guy when an expensive necklace is stolen from a museum, Simi doesn’t hesitate to run to her aid, and meets Jack while hiding in the bushes. Jack proposes a scheme to steal back the necklace and help get she and Chloe’s off the police’s short list of suspects. Hilarity ensues.

This is my first novel by Sara Desai and I’m unsure if the style of this book is her norm but OMG Simi was sooo funny! Her inner commentary about her life and those of the people around her were laugh out loud hilarious. This novel was not at all what I was expecting. Needless to say, I loved Simi. She was a complete wild card and I really didn’t know what she was going to say next. Her crew that she pulled together for the heist were all definitely outside the spectrum of normal that it made for some really fun reading.

I didn’t really know what to think of Jack. Simi was a pretty luscious lady and she not only had her eye on Jack, but also the detective charged with solving the museum robbery and I wasn’t really sure who she was going to settle down with, they were both kind of sweet. For me, there were some problems with a Simi- Jack pairing as he seemed to always have his own agenda and for a girl who was always left on her own I wanted a lot better for her. However, he sure was charming and their scenes were a lot of fun.

The side characters in this novel were a large part of what made it so successful. Rose, her over lusty landlord was a hoot and I loved the secondary love story between Chloe and Gage. There was a lot going on in this novel but these characters didn’t make it hard to keep reading. What fun! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* To Have and To Heist

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.

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It’s Monday, what are you reading? (7/17/23)

JUST FINISHED

My first novel by Sara Desai and I had so much fun with it! It was silly, irreverent, charming, and emotional. Everything you could ask for a weekend read. This book comes out tomorrow!

JUST STARTED

Book #3 in the Grey Gates series by Vanessa Nelson. I am loving this fantasy series. Party investigative, part magic – it’s everything I’d hoped for!

What books are you reading today?

Have a great Monday and happy reading!

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: The Prince & The Apocalypse by Kara McDowell

Wren Wheeler has anticipated her school trip abroad for years but when it finally happens she finds the experience wasn’t what she dreamed of at all. Sick with the flu, a fight with her best friend, and missing her family all contributed to her just wanting to be at home. On her last day in London she decides to grab a quick breakfast at a restaurant her sister recommended and finds herself saving the crown prince from the paparazzi making her miss her flight back home. When news gets out about a meteor strike heading towards the Atlantic, flights ground to a halt and the only person she has to turn to is the crown prince himself.

This novel was a fun bit of fantasy! Wren is not impressed by Prince Theo’s star status at all which makes for some fun dialog, and there’s nothing like an end of the world scenario to bring two people together that would never normally hang out. As they travel across Europe to Greece where a private plane can whisk Wren back home these two grow closer. Is it circumstance or are they really drawn to each other’s personalities? That’s a question the second book can and I hope will answer.

If you like young adult novels that aren’t realistic but are fun to read then The Prince & The Apocalypse may be the right novel for you! I certainly enjoyed this fun flight of fantasy remembering my own young dreams of meeting my own prince. It’s only in a book where that man could be the Crown Prince of England! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Prince & The Apocalypse

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.

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This Chick Read: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery wakes up to a temporary condition called “facial blindness” making painting portraits absolutely impossible to do. She is determined to find a way to paint her entry to the North American Portrait Artists competition, a chance to make a name for herself with her art. As she is navigating this new world she is also falling in love with not one, but two very different men. Her life is a mess and her family one big drama so she’s used to overcoming obstacles but this one might be more than she can take.

Katherine Center strikes again! Hello Stranger is more than a romance novel, it’s really about a woman trying to find her way in an obstacle filled life. Her facial blindness is just one more problem, but when she meets a very sharply dressed veterinarian she’s determined that they are the perfect match. Until she meets her very helpful neighbor. Unable to identify anyone by their faces she has to rely on all of her other senses which makes for some great comic relief. Sadie’s sad story becomes heartwarming and that humor makes a kind of unreal problem feel very real indeed.

I thought it a very clever tool to write a novel where descriptions of people’s faces just don’t happen. Just like Sadie, the reader is totally reliant upon the clothing people wear, their perfume, or even what they eat to identify friend or foe. This novel was really different and although I wasn’t surprised by where it led me I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the journey. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Hello Stranger

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.

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This Chick Read: Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu

International Popstar Winter Young is at the top of the charts and one of the most watched stars in the world. He should be flying high but his insecurities and some trauma from his past has him looking for something more. Enter Sydney Cossette, a member of a secret government agency, who is assigned to be one of Winter’s bodyguards when he performs for a European oligarch’s daughters birthday party. Winter’s on stage persona makes him the perfect foil to gather top secret info and stop an illegal arms deal from going through. Of course, not everything goes as planned.

Marie Lu’s novels are written for one purpose, to entertain her readers. Stars and Smoke delivers on this promise! Winter Young is a very interesting character,he’s the youngest son of a mother who never paid him much attention, favoring his older brother who reminds her of happier times. When that brother dies, Winter is left feeling like she wishes it had been him instead, so when he’s approached by the agency he has a couple of reasons to help them, but he never figures that he would be good at what they’ve asked him to do.

Sydney was kind of a wildcard character. She lived to succeed at her job and didn’t think much of this superstar with whom she was paired. She quickly finds out that he is not the person who he portrays on stage and has some serious skills that translate well into his new career as a spy. I loved how these two characters interacted and the chemistry they had as partners and possibly something more.

Stars and Smoke was a very fast paced story that was a movie in my mind. I could very easily visualize everything I was reading on the page and easily connected with the main characters. It was fun to read, which is one of the best compliments I can give to a book.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Stars and Smoke

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.

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This Chick Read: The Dane of My Existence (A Bard’s Rest Novel #2) by Jessica Martin

On the rise lawyer, Portia Barnes, is in her hometown of Bard’s Rest on a summer sabbatical before starting her job as managing partner in Boston. While everyone else in her small town is obsessed with the bard, Portia kind of couldn’t care less. That doesn’t mean that when she spots a land developer’s interest in the island where the big production is set every year, she’s not going to do her damndest to stop it. Cozying up to the competition is not beneath her, but she doesn’t expect to fall for Benjamin Dane’s kindness and lack of arrogance.

This is the second novel in the Bard’s Rest series, and I liked it even more than the first novel. There’s something about the heroine, Portia, who disdains her kitchy hometown, but still tries to save it’s legacy theater. Seeing her walls crumbling under Ben’s charm was fun, but it was really her strong sense of family that won me over. I could imagine being that woman who wanted to leave Bard’s Rest behind her, but then finds that it means more to her than she ever understood. This story had a lot of heart!

I’m somewhat obsessed with the idea that there may be a real town out there like Bard’s Rest, but at least I know that there’s another sister who has yet to have her love story told. Can’t wait! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this novel to purchase this book!* The Dane of My Existence

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.

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This Chicks Sunday Commentary: My Top 5 Most Anticipated Book Releases- July’23

It’s that time again when I take a look at all of the book releases for the upcoming month. I feel like I say the same thing every month but there’s quite a few that I need to read and didn’t know were coming out. Chime in in the comments with your own Top 5.

#5 BOOK RELEASE

A heist book that has a bit of romance? Sold!!! This sounds like a fun book.

Synopsis: To exonerate her best friend, one woman must mastermind a jewelry heist during the wedding of the season in this hilarious romantic-comedy caper from the author of The Dating Plan. 

Simi Chopra is on a bad-luck streak. She’s lost yet another job, her student loan debt won’t stop growing, her basement apartment is a certifiable flood zone, and now her best friend has been accused of stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond necklace. To put it lightly, she’s desperate for a break—that’s right when Jack waltzes out of the bushes and into her life.

Jack is just as charming as he is mysterious. When he offers to help her find the missing necklace and steal it back, Simi jumps at the chance to clear her friend’s name and collect the substantial reward. But every good heist needs a crew. All she needs to do is transform a ragtag group of strangers into an elite heist crew, infiltrate a high-society wedding and steal the necklace from a dangerous criminal before the happy couple say “I do.” Meanwhile the bride is keeping secrets, a detective with a slow-burn smile keeps showing up at her door, and the ultimate robbery might not be the wedding con, but the way Jack is stealing her heart.

Click this link to purchase this book!* To Have and to Heist

#4 BOOK RELEASE

This one was not on my radar at all, but it looks like it could be a cute rom-com with an older pair of protagonists. I’m definitely intrigued!

Synopsis:

Maggie is an unapologetically grumpy forty-eight-year-old hermit. But when her college-aged son makes her a deal—he’ll be more social if she does the same—she can’t refuse. She joins a new online gaming guild led by a friendly healer named Otter. So that nobody gets the wrong idea, she calls herself Bogwitch.

Otter is Aiden, a fifty-year-old optimist using the guild as an emotional outlet from his family drama caring for his aging mother while his brother plays house with Aiden’s ex-fiancée.

Bogwitch and Otter become fast virtual friends, but there’s a catch. Bogwitch thinks Otter is a college student. Otter assumes Bogwitch is an octogenarian.

When they finally meet face to face—after a rocky, shocking start—the unlikely pair of sunshine and stormy personalities grow tentatively closer. But Maggie’s previous relationships have left her bitter, and Aiden’s got a complicated past of his own.

Everything’s easier online. Can they make it work in real life?

Click this link to purchase this book!* Role Playing

*Amazon associate- if you purchase one of these book through the link I’ll receive a small stipend!

#3 BOOK RELEASE

I’ll admit, I’ve already read this novel and it’s so cute! I love the setting of Bard’s Rest and can’t wait for the third book in the series.

Synopsis:

Portia Barnes is the youngest managing partner in her law firm’s history, and she and her stilettos are poised to step into the role of her dreams—leading the firm’s new Boston office. But first she’s taking a summer sabbatical in her hometown of Bard’s Rest, New Hampshire, where she discovers something’s rotten in the midst of the town’s annual Shakespeare festival.

Hotshot commercial developer Benjamin Dane is sniffing around Bard’s, and while Portia isn’t necessarily a Shakespeare fanatic like the rest of her family, she’s not about to let him bulldoze the town’s beloved outdoor theater. Yet to Portia’s dismay, Ben proves as skilled as she is when it comes to outworking, outmaneuvering, and one-upping the competition. While she’s never hesitated to wage war against hyper-successful alpha males, Portia is caught off guard by Ben’s openness and lack of arrogance. As her own long-constructed walls start to come down, Portia begins to wonder if he might be more than an archnemesis.

With her heart on the line and the future of the town hanging in the balance, Portia faces an impossible decision—Ben or Bard’s?—unless she finds a way to broker the merger of her life, and ensures the curtain falls on a happy ending for everyone.

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Dane of My Existence

#2 BOOK RELEASE

You can’t go wrong with a book by Katherine Center. Her book sometimes make me laugh and sometimes make me cry, but I know I’m going to connect with the characters and be completely entertained.

Synopsis: Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life―placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition―the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into―love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?―with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Hello Stranger

MY MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FOR JULY 2023

I love, love, love Jane Porter’s novels. The characters are close to my own age and the story always hits that emotional button. I can’t wait to read Flirting with Fire, I just know I’m going to love it.

Synopsis: Love isn’t just an act in this captivating and flirty romance by New York Times bestselling author Jane Porter.

Forty-nine-year-old Margot Hughes has lived and breathed theater for the past twenty-five years. After a devastating breakup with her playwright fiancé, she wants nothing to do with the industry. She has sworn off New York, theater, actors—all of it. She returns to her hometown on California’s central coast and takes a job in real estate, where she manages significant investment properties. But Margot’s suddenly thrown back into the theater world when Sally, her friend and boss, who had been restoring and funding Cambria’s historic theater, has a heart attack. Before she knows it, Margot is tapped to take over the troubled summer production of Barefoot in the Park.

But the play is no walk in the park—the leads and director have all quit, and Margot struggles to find new actors…until Max Russo arrives. Forty-five-year-old Max is a former soap opera star turned rugged cowboy on TV’s most popular western series.  Max has a huge following and is the perfect hero to step up and save the play, provided Margot stars opposite him.   Although adamant she would never return to theater, Margot enjoys the long hours of rehearsal with a professional like Max, who is charming, witty, and passionate. But when the curtains close, can Margot allow herself to fall for Max when he represents everything she left behind?

Click this link to purchase this book!* Flirting with Fire

July will be a romance reading month for me! What books are you looking forward to being released?

Have a great Sunday!

Deb

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This Chick Read: Magic Claims (Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years #2) by Ilona Andrews

Kate and Curran are living their “retired” lives in their new home outside Wilmington. When they receive a guest at their door who asks for their help in saving their small town from evil, they decide retirement might not be their purpose in life and accept the job and the offer of a large chunk of land in the forest. This job will forge a path to a new beginning, a keep for the new Wilmington Pack, and embracing their true nature’s and what that will mean in raising their son, Connor.

If you are a fan of Kate Daniel’s books, then you most likely did as I did and downloaded a copy as soon as it came out on June 13th, and then voraciously read it. The Wilmington Years is an offshoot of Kate’s original series and continues the story of she, Curran, and their son Connor, who they are trying to raise “normally” in a large home on the shore near Wilmington. However, normal is not who they are and despite their best efforts, they keep heading off to save the locals, or fight the unruly, not really giving a hoot that they are blowing their cover. Kate is the daughter of Roland, who once ruled the world and despite not wanting to rule as he did, she does have a boatload of power that she lets loose in small amounts. Her mate, Curran, used to be the alpha of the Atlanta pack and despite his “retirement” the shapeshifters in their area still consider him to be their leader, and he really doesn’t do anything to negate that impression. Instead he embraces it. Both of them make for interesting parents to Connor, who has inherited his father’s shapeshifting and strength, and his mother and grandfather’s magic. Their efforts at parenting are often hilarious and make for some great reading material.

This novella takes up right where Magic Tides left and Kate and Curran’s decision to help the town of Penderton means that they are about to make a decision that will alter the way they live their future lives, and Connor’s. I loved how both of them made their own decision, supporting each other, and owning what was to come in the future. I just wish that that future was now and that I had the next book in hand. I am that eager to see where this new fork in the road takes them.

As with all Ilona Andrews novels, this one was chock full of action sequences, witty reparteé, and much needed humor to break up the gore. I loved every moment! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Magic Claims

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: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

From the author of 2022’s bestseller, The Dead Romantics, this new novel provides the magical setting of an apartment that allows it’s inhabitant to slip through time and fall in love with a man seven years in the past.

Clementine thought she knew what she wanted in life. Her job at a publishing firm, her small circle of friends, and her once a year trips with her beloved aunt Analea. When her aunt dies, she inherits an apartment that reminds her of that loss daily until one day she comes home and a strange man is staying in her apartment.

It isn’t just the magical apartment that makes this story so wonderful, it’s also that she took the time to fully develop our main characters and gave the reader insight into their feelings both happy and sad. Clementine, when she meets Iwan is pulled into this magical moment in part because she is feeling lost and needs this magical moment to help balance those emotions after losing her aunt. Iwan is also one charming young man, and almost in spite of herself, Clementine needs his warmth to bring her out of her darkness. Unlike Iwan, the reader is aware that these moments are a slip in time but it’s so easy to get lost in their developing love. You almost forget that there is going to have to be conflict and that that seven year difference will need to take place before our characters can have their hea.

If I had read this novel before reading The Dead Romantics I would have absolutely loved it. My enjoyment was slightly dimmed because my expectations were set kind of high. However, putting my love for that previous novel aside, I can say that this story is just as good, just in a slightly different way. The element of surprise was lacking a bit because the reader was on the journey with our main characters in real time, but at the same time I loved how we saw that contrast between Iwan of seven years ago and the man he became. It helped give a contrast to Clementine’s character and who she needed to become in order to find happiness. I thought that growth was so well done and the story very satisfying.

If you love a little magic in your romance then you need to pick up this novel! I promise, you will love this novel. These characters are so special. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Seven Year Slip

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.

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