Tag: book review

This Chick Read: Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh

Manny Dogra, CEO of Breakup, a company that helps break the news gently through email, is successful and beautiful. She’s also engaged to Adam, a hard-working architect and entrepreneur. Of South Asian descent, Manny was raised by her parents to be All-American where working hard can help you capture your dream, but when she finds herself on a magazine cover that has edited out her heritage by lightening her skin tone she finds herself having an identity crisis. Sammy Patel wants to use Breakup’s services to temporarily break-up with his girlfriend so he can go to his brothers wedding and not have to deal with his family’s being upset that he has a non-Indian girlfriend. Manny and Sammy strike a deal. She’ll help him out if he brings her to the week-long festivities so she can see what being in a big Indian family is really like.

I love a strong hard-working female protagonist and Manny is all of that, plus she’s kind-hearted and a good friend to her co-workers and friends. Her search for her heritage was colorful, fun, and dazzling. She fit right in and found herself, which was a really neat thing to read about and explore through her eyes. I liked her story a lot. I don’t usually love plots where our main character has a boyfriend, or is engaged to another man and then finds a new one before ending the old relationship, but Sonya Singh does a great job of making Adam somewhat unavailable to both Manny and the reader so you never build a connection to him. When Sammy enters her life and fills it with color you don’t feel too bad and that’s before you catch on to plot details and character defects that sway your decision one way or the other. So, nice job Ms. Singh on taking that trope and making it work. Other authors have made me cringe but this book didn’t at all. Whew!

The story definitely took off when you got to Sammy’s family and Manny’s eagerness to fit in. I fell in love with all of the characters, the clothes, and how Manny finally found herself. I do wish there had been more scenes between Manny and Sammy so that I could feel like she fell in love with him as well as falling in love with her heritage and subsequently him because of that but there were enough subliminal feelings to convince me that this could be a love story. The heat factor was very mild to almost non-existent the moments between our two main characters were more sweet and supportive than sizzling chemistry. For those of you who like a light (less heated) romance Sari, Not Sari will be a perfect hit. While I am not an erotica reader, I do like a bit of chemistry and heat in my romance novels and I was a little bit disappointed.

Sari, Not Sari is the debut novel by Sonya Singh. I loved her writing style which was very easy reading. The plot flowed really well and the characters had depth so the reader understood them very well. The only thing missing for me was a little heat so that their love didn’t feel so much like insta-love. Despite that, I would still highly recommend this novel for the fun South Asian parties, clothes, and characters. Sari, Not Sari is sweet and so easy to like. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley or my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this novel!* Sari, Not Sari

Copyright 2022 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

It’s Monday, what are you reading? (4/4/22)

My sister has brought up this fantasy series on Kindle Unlimited multiple times. She only recommends books if they were really good and I made the mistake of starting book #1 last Thursday and boy did I get sucked in! So I’ve spent all my free time reading this series this weekend. I’m on the last book in the series, immediately picking up the next when I finished the previous book. I both love and hate finding great new authors like this. Love it because she has a lot of books I can read, but hate it because I forget about all my other obligations and only want to spend my time reading. I’m going to list the first and second books below if you’re interested.

Thanks again to The Book Date for opening this conversation to book bloggers to talk about the books they read over the last week. It’s a fun conversation, join in!

JUST FINISHED

This fantasy novel series is fast paced with an underdog heroine. Arrow has been rejected by her people, treated horribly, but is the strongest War Mage her people have seen in over a century. This series shows Arrow fighting for peace between the Taellaneth, humans, and shifkin. There’s a lot of action, great character development, and world building. Be prepared to want to read all of them at one time1

JUST STARTED

Book #5 is the last one in the series, whew! What a fabulous series! I’ve stayed up late reading every night and have been hooked in by these characters and Arrow in particular. It’s been great to see her growth into a woman who has confidence. She has come a long way. If you love fantasy novels you need to read this series. Seriously good.

This is what I’ve been reading for the last few days. Are there any books you’ve gotten hooked by?

Happy Monday and happy reading!

Deb

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This Chick Read: The Storm’s Whisperer (The Broken Lands #5) by T.A. White

Eva is the Kyren’s chosen Ambassador to broker an alliance between their two races. At their invitation she and Caden take a group of Trateri into the herd lands to form a colony and become the bridge between the two groups. Evil follows them and threatens the threads of their alliance. Eva must figure out her new abilities in order to save the man she loves and the two people’s her duty calls to her to protect.

It seems a simple synopsis but there was a LOT happening in this novel! Eva is the Kyren’s chosen Ambassador, but when trouble knocks on the Trateri’s door, her alliance seems to dissipate leaving Eva reliant upon the Trateri’s strength and her own uneducated skills as a Caller. Despite the dissipating alliance with the Kyren, Eva still finds strength in her friends and shows incredible leadership when it comes to her responsibility for other side characters like Brisa a young Tenrin who becomes attached to both she and Jason, her apprentice and future Trateri warrior. These subplots are what ultimately bring the book together and give it the meat it needs to reach its conclusion.

I mention Jason, above, because despite the love story between Eva and Caden, Jason’s character shows the most growth in this story arc. Eva has her calling and sometimes seems to struggle finding the strength and will to overcome her obstacles. Jason acts as the impetus to drive her character. As her apprentice and responsibility it’s through her interactions with him that we see her “become” her destiny. I liked that for him as a character because despite his whiny self-involved beginnings he has turned into a strong character and has become one of my favorites.

Did I like Storm’s Whisper as much as the previous novel? No. Despite it reaching its conclusion I didn’t feel the tension of the first novel, or any of the first three in the series. Even so, it was a decent story, and showed knew aspects to the world these stories reside. So to me it was worth the four or five hours of reading. I do hope she picks Jason as the next character to follow in the series. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase!* The Storm’s Whisper (The Broken Lands Book 5)

Copyright 2022 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 TBT- An Interview with Faith Hunter

This throwback Thursday post links to my interview with Faith Hunter, author of both the Jane Yellowrock and Soulwood series. At the time, her third Soulwood novel, Flame in the Dark was released and I was (and still am!) obsessed. Soulwood is a spin-off series to Jane Yellowrock and at the time Dark Queen, book #12, had just been released. That series will have the 15th book released this fall. A HUGE urban fantasy fan, I stumbled upon Soulwood having never read one of the Jane Yellowrock books. Yeah, I know, big miss! However, I quickly figured out this author’s talent for the supernatural and dove into Jane’s series and at the time of this interview I had read three books of each. I knew I was missing a lot of context about a couple of the main characters but thought I did a pretty good job of delivering thoughtful questions about her characters. After having re-read it just now and being caught up in both series I’m surprised to say that I think I succeeded!

My interview with Faith Hunter was released on December, 3, 2017, which seems so long ago, but it took me that long to catch up on the Jane Yellowrock series that now sits at 15. You see, I fell in love with the audiobooks and would listen to each one with a great patience, enjoying all of those action scenes and Khristine Hvam’s voices for each character. If you’d like to read my interview, please follow the link below!

An Interview with Faith Hunter author of the Faith Hunter and Soulwood Series

If you’d like to read my reviews of the Jane Yellowrock and Soulwood series here are a couple to get you started. You can search at the top by author to find all of the others. I hope you enjoy this throwback to 2017!

Blood of the Earth (A Soulwood Novel)

Raven Cursed (Jane Yellowrock #4)

I truly can’t say enough good things about both of these series. If you like urban fantasy and haven’t read these you are totally missing out.

Enjoy this blast from the past!

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Always Jane by Jenn Bennett

Every summer Jane works with the domestic staff of a famous rock producer at a music festival in the mountains. She has been long-distance dating Eddie Sarafian, the son of the family who runs the festival and she’s excited to finally be in close confines. When he jets off to do business in the Philippines she finds out things that makes her question that relationship and brings her closer to Fen, his brother. Over the next few weeks they go from antagonistic friends to falling in serious like throwing a serious loop into her summer plans.

When Jane and Fen first meet he is dark, disturbing, and seems to be the black sheep of his family. We soon discover that the Sarafian brothers may not be what Jane thought and the more time she spends with Fen the deeper their attraction grows. I’ll admit, I loved Fen, but boy is he a dark soul! He is tall, dark, and handsome and has been obsessed with Jane since he saved her when she fell in the ocean two years ago. He has even commemorated that accident with a tattoo. As she gets to know the Sarafian family she is drawn to how “normal” they seem but as she gets to know them she sees the problems that reside at their roots which lead her to making some difficult choices.

I was surprised by the dark undertones in this book. The synopsis made it sound like it would be a young adult contemporary with a bit of a romance and it was, but there was also quite a bit of angst and pain. Not a bad thing but just unexpected. Fortunately I really liked both Jane and Fen. The more that was revealed about each of them the more their quirks made sense and I wanted to keep getting to know them.

I’m a sucker for books that have a music theme. Not that I know that much about music, I don’t! I just love that vibe and creativity. That Jane and Fen got to know each other through their love of music gave them a commonality that was fun to read and was a good contrast to the dark themes throughout the novel. Have you read a lot of Jenn Bennett novels? I’ve read a few and thought I knew what to expect but this novel surprised me. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase!* Always Jane

Copyright 2022 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

It’s Monday, what are you reading? (3/28/22)

If you’re an avid reader like I am you will fit in time for reading despite having a busy schedule. This week was a performance week which tightened up my schedule even more but I found time to read some light and fun novels. Let’s jump right to it!

Thanks again to Kathryn from Book Date who started this fun conversation and allows us to share what we are reading each week.

JUST FINISHED

I was in the mood to read a rock star romance and I turned to the author of a series I love, Kylie Scott. Her Stage Dive series was a lot of fun and very well written so I thought I’d start on the spin-off Dirty. I really enjoyed these characters and the story that was much more character driven than rock star drive.

JUST STARTED

I am about a third of the way in on this ARC I received for Sari not Sari and I am loving this debut author’s writing style!

What books are on your nightstand waiting for you to finish working and get back to reading?

Happy Monday and happy reading!

Deb

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This Chick Read: Aurora Burning (Aurora Cycle #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Squad 312 has been declared terrorists and everyone in the universe is looking for them. That makes it extra hard to purchase a ship and find the weapon that will put an end to the Ra’Haam who want to send its spores into every crack in the universe and pull people into its hive. Chased by the Hive and Kal’s creepy sister they head back to where it all began. Hadfield is the ship that Aurora was on when she was brought out of stasis, changed. It’s black box may have the answers that they need to complete their mission.

As with the first novel Aurora Rising, this second installment had a fast-paced plot, witty dialog, and some great action. It played out in my head like a movie, which is what I’ve come to expect from this writing duo. All of the Squad 312 characters were so connected and I enjoyed reading about those interconnections so much that their being separated for most of the book threw me. Yeah, I know, they needed to move the plot forward and it was probably easier to do that in separate stories, but I’ll admit that all of those narration changes made my head spin. I’m hoping the third novel completes a few of these stories so that we can concentrate on the main arc instead of all of the side journeys.

Despite the head spins from changing character perspectives every chapter, I did enjoy where they took the story and I’ll admit that in most cases those stories evolved those characters helping readers pick and choose who to root for and identify with. For me, the least interesting was Aurora’s and considering she’s the title character that probably isn’t a good thing. There’s still one more book to see how this plot resolves, and I definitely am not waiting another year to read it.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle Book 2)

Copyright 2022 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 Audio Review: Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr #12) by C.S. Harris

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, has become aware that someone is preying on the cities children. After a young boy has been found mutilated and his younger sister missing, Sebastian starts to investigate, uncovering a sadistic world among London’s brothels. Following a trail of rare books by the Marquis de Sade he finds the killer may be among his peers.

There are many things that I love about these audiobooks but first and foremost is the narrator, Davina Porter. She is a talent beyond compare, narrating all of the voices in these novels, handling multiple accents from different countries and even different parts of London. I forget that it is one woman that I’m listening to as I immerse myself in these very well written mysteries.

As this is book twelve in the series, I am completely invested in all of the regular characters. We have seen Sebastian grow from a youthful love for an actress, to an honorably married man and father. What hasn’t changed are his skills as an investigator, which are greatly tested in Where the Dead Lie. This is the first novel where his investigation is taken on because of who he is as a husband and father, not because of his place in the peerage. I found that an interesting contrast as he didn’t throw his title around as much as he’s done in previous novels, in order to get an answer to his question. In fact, that wouldn’t work, would it? His frustrations at being unable to get answers made him dig in even harder and truly use every skill in his toolbox. This made the novel stand out for me, which is hard to do because this author has written a series of great novels.

As Sebastian searches for the killer, his wife Hero undergoes her own interviews of these orphan’s, hoping to write a book to help bring light to their plight as they try to survive on the street. She often pays them for their time speaking with her and I can feel her helplessness as she gives them a little bit of money for their time. I’m sure she’d like to give away all of her money in order to open up a home and I’ve often wondered why she hasn’t done this already as this theme has continued through a few books. Interestingly her interviews often bring to light small nuggets that help Sebastian understand a situation better, or in fact gives him an answer. Despite not wanting her to be in danger he should think of using her more because she has serious skills!

This novel had a gruesome topic and again dredged through London’s darkest corners, which I both love and hate. These dark corners do make a great contrast to the glitter and glam of the peerage and help strike home that some of this world’s cruelties are wrapped up in pretty paper to help disguise it’s dark center. C.S. Harris is an amazing writer crafting a novel where you are both disgusted and made to feel hope at the same time. I think that’s why I keep coming back. Well that and the talent of this author and the estimable Ms. Davina Porter who brings the characters to life in audio form.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to order this book!* Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery)

Copyright 2022 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? (3/21/22)

Isn’t it awesome when you have a bunch of free time and can read just any ol’ thing you want? I’ve been going through my library wishlist and checking out what sounds good as well as taking a look at what’s been on my Kindle and have read through a few great books over the last week. It’s been so fun!

Thanks again to Book Date for starting this conversation and allowing us all to share what we’re reading.

JUST FINISHED

I saw this book on a Goodreads list about great romances of 2022 and thought I’d give this author a try. It’s the third book in the series but I didn’t miss not reading books 1 and 2. It was a different kind of historical novel that I actually really liked. I may go back and read the other two books!

JUST STARTED

This book has been on my Kindle for over three years. I didn’t read it during the Pandemic because it’s about a virus that kills off a majority of the world’s population but I picked it up yesterday to give it another try. It is very Nora Roberts in writing style and it was easy to get interested. I’ll admit, it’s kind of weird reading about a deadly virus but I’m going to power through and see where this book leads me. I know it’s a three book series so I’ll make my decision later on whether I continue reading the other books.

Have you read either of these books? What did you think? If they aren’t books you’d see yourself reading, please share what’s on your coffee table.

Happy Monday and happy reading!

Deb

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This Chick Read: Homecoming King (Three Kings #1) by Penny Reid

Rex McMurtry, pro football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, has a reputation for dating a woman and having the next person they date marry them. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride, Rex is tired of the journalists poking fun at him. When Abby finds her high school crush sitting quietly at the bar where she works, she silently serves him two drinks not realizing that he is blind drunk. Feeling responsible, she has a few friends help get him into her car where she plans to drive him home. His throwing up all over the both of them derails that plan and she decides the safest place for his famous face is on the blow up mattress in her apartment. When he wakes up and realizes she took care of him he makes a proposition that she unfortunately just can’t refuse.

I loved Abby! She is more than slightly distrustful of people and so guards her heart very tightly, but Rex was her childhood crush. She couldn’t really refuse any request he’d make of her, even if it was to be his fake wife. She was the perfect mix of innocence and arrogance. After a failed marriage and a brief stint in prison I don’t blame her for not trusting men. Her ex was a dirtbag! Despite Rex’s fake marriage proposition she feels like she knows him because she semi-stalked him all through her youth. Truthfully, he isn’t much different than he was back in high school, putting a wall up between he and anyone who wants to get close. Abby has a way of disarming him and soon she becomes one of the most important people in his life. Once again, Penny Reid writes a charming, different type of romance novel that is just fun, funny, and really damn appealing.

Most of Rex’s friends have gotten married, all to ex’s of Rex’s. LOL. However, there are two friends who’ve remained single and dare I guess that they will be King #2 and #3? While not War and Peace, Homecoming King is utterly charming and the series has promise. I can’t wait for the second to come out. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Homecoming King (Three Kings Book 1)

Copyright 2022 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