Tag: book review

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.

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This Chick Read: The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Catalina Martín is the Maid of Honor in her sister’s wedding and she just found out that her ex will be bringing his new fiancée to the wedding. This was not a relationship that ended well and in fact contributed to Lina moving from Spain to NYC. Ever since their break-up she’s had trouble trusting someone enough to let them into her life and has remained single, but the last thing she wants to do is go back home as “poor Lina” for her sister’s wedding. She needs a date! Enter Aaron Blackford, her handsome and cold work frenemy, who volunteers to be her plus one. Despite the signs for a disastrous trip, Lina agrees to pull off this Spanish Love Deception with Aaron. What she doesn’t expect is for that frenemy chemistry to shift until she sees him with new eyes. Was she wrong about him all along?

This novel won Best Debut of 2021 by Goodreads readers and I can certainly see why! It’s reminiscent of all of the best enemies to lovers novels, including one of my favorites from last year The Love Hypothesis but this author steps up the chemistry a little earlier with a “fake date” that has Lina questioning her hatred of Aaron mid book instead of making us wait until the very end for her to realize he’s the one for her. I’m not saying that their fait accompli is not still drawn out, but at least there is some hesitancy to hate, which for me made all of the difference.

Is the plot of needing a date for a wedding overused? Yes, I think it is, however Lina’s charming Spanish family more than made up for any tiredness. I loved how everyone wanted Lina’s happiness and how they stood by her despite her ex being the groom’s brother. I also loved, loved, loved Aaron. He gives some swoon-worthy monologues that makes this fantasy novel shoot to a ten on the emotional scale. If he wasn’t already fictional, I’d certainly think he was too good to be true! Not to say he didn’t have his faults, he never strayed from his cool as a cucumber persona, but he was all mush when it came to Catalina. It was so sweet.

This was true escapism at its best. Easy reading, great characters, lots of depth of character, and a magnificently steamy love story. The fact it’s this author’s debut novel is astounding and boy… I can’t wait for her second. Ummm, when is it coming out? ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* The Spanish Love Deception: A Novel

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 Chick Read: The Wind’s Call (The Broken Lands #4) by T.A. White

After escaping her village Eva stumbles across the Trateri and decides to join with them, becoming a Herd Mistress, taking care of the animals she’s always loved. Kind of a loner she is close to only a few, relying more on her horses than she does people. When she discovers a winged horse caught in a net, she risks her life to save him earning his regard. Her ability to hear the Kyren’s mind speech puts her in the middle of a fight with evil that could bring war to the Broken Lands.

The main characters from books 1-3 are put on the back burner so we can follow Eva and Caden, Fallon’s 2nd in command into the Highlands to follow the Anatari’s hope of brokering an alliance with the Kyren. I liked Eva as a side character and grew to like her straightforward personality even more in The Wind’s Call. This is a person who doesn’t have a hidden agenda, speaks all truths, and may be a difficult person to love but her self-sacrificing tendencies give her heroic qualities that instill confidence in others and are the traits of a true leader. Caden, as Fallon’s 2nd, is all warrior. He looks death in the face and kills with an instinct reserved for the soulless. However, Eva calls to him and shows a different side of his personality. Together they make a pretty awesome couple, complimenting each other’s strengths. The funny thing for me is that neither of them are romantic or mushy and yet their romance was very sweet!

I love that in a fantasy novel you can have wonderful characters with humanistic character traits who are not human in the least. Take Sebastian, they Kyren with whom Eva bonds. Kyren are not pegasus, or angelic horses with wings, they are beings with human intelligence and can communicate with the help of a Caller, such as Eva who can her their words in their minds. Just as humans are, they can be good or evil and seeing behind what they look like is part of the fun of reading a good fantasy novel. The Wind’s Call has some awesome secondary characters who are a big part of the plot but who are not “human”. My favorite is Eva’s horse Caia, who will not deal with anyone but Eva and has the biggest personality of all of the dragon-like characters in this book.

I thought it interesting to choose new characters to write about yet keep the books in the same series as Shea and Fallon’s novels. I’ll admit, it was fun to see what Shea was up to and how she and Fallon’s relationship has progressed. The Broken Lands has been so much fun to read and explore that I’m hoping after Eva and Caden’s story is completed that this author can pick another character to carry on this lands story. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series because the knowledge of the world this novel takes place in really builds from book to book and I feel like your experience will be more well-rounded. However, this is the first novel in these two characters story and could be picked up and read as a stand alone.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Wind’s Call (The Broken Lands)

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 Chick Read: Crowbones (World of the Others #3) by Anne Bishop

Set in the world of the Others made famous by Anne Bishops’s novel Written in Red, we return to The Jumble. The setting and characters that we got to know in Lake Silence. Vicki, as proprietor of the Jumble, a kind of vacation spot deep in the territory, has friends and guests over for Trickster Night. A kind of Halloween inspired evening where you get tricks or treats. She is firmly on the treat side of that line not knowing what some of her more creative guests might declare a trick. A knock on the door isn’t surprising but what is on the other side puts her Crow friends in a panic. Crowbones, a kind of boogeyman for the Crows, stands on the other side rattling a gourd. When Crowbones arrives that means someone will die and in this case it’s the imposter portraying Crowbones and Vicki needs the help of her human friends to help solve the mystery before the Others decide to intervene even further, with all of their deaths.

I’ll admit that when Anne Bishop released Lake Silence, the spin-off novel from her fantabulous Others series, I had a hard time connecting with these characters. Since that initial first read, I’ve listened to Lake Silence as well, and didn’t have any trouble at all diving deep into the horror-fantasy of Crowbones. Vicki as a main character, has gained strength, or “sand” as she calls it. Choosing to believe that her previous blood transfusion from the sheriff garnered her some of his stoicism and calm regard. She draws on this strength to stay calm for her guests, knowing that her position in The Jumble lends her some importance because she has the most friendships and the Elders are fascinated with her. Don’t get me wrong, she doesn’t go all Nancy Drew, leaving the investigation to the professionals, but she did seem to have more of a back bone, not being led by her fear as much as she did in Lake Silence.

The Crowbones story had many intricacies. As noted above, there is the relationship between the Others and their human townspeople, a town that has grown by 100 people since the last book. So there were many strangers to get to know. Our favorite characters were still around and it was nice to get to know them again and gel my feelings towards this ragtag group of hero’s be them Others or human.

Anne Bishop deftly wrote the mystery in this novel, but it really wasn’t that hard to figure out, with one small red herring. I didn’t mind though because the characterizations were so fun, albeit grisly. I really enjoyed how Sheriff Grimshaw and Ilya Sanguinati, one human the other vampire, now worked together as a team. They both need this outpost of intermingling folks to work, neither wanting another human culling.

I think despite this being titled #3 in the World of the Others that this novel could be read as a stand alone. You don’t need to have read Wild Country at all, but you may want to read Lake Silence because it will give you some background on the main characters that will make your reading experience more enjoyable. If you didn’t and don’t want to backtrack to the first book, feel free. My guess is that you’ll pick it up anyway because this one is so good. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* https://amzn.to/3HGIytm

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? (3/7/22)

I think my re-watching of Bridgerton this weekend got a little bit in the way of my reading. I’m excited for the release later this month of Season 2! I watched it when it first came out and it’s funny what my brain remembered (not that much), and I forgot all the sex and naked chests. Wowie! I am now ready to see what season 2 brings. Despite that 8 or 9 hours of binge watching I did finish a contemporary romance by Meghan Quinn and started an oldie but goodie by Nora Roberts. Here’s the scoop.

*Thanks again to Book Date for starting this conversation!

JUST FINISHED

I’ll admit that this wasn’t my normal reading choice but I’ve read Meghan Quinn in the past and have found her stories have a sense of humor that I felt I needed this weekend. There were moments in this novel that were pretty funny and it was a quick read. Just what I was looking for.

JUST STARTED

I was going through Nora Roberts books on my library app and there are so many of her romantic thrillers that I somehow skipped. High Noon came out in 2007 and so far it’s off to a great start.

Are there any shows that are keeping you from picking up that book you’ve been eyeing? This month there are a LOT of Netflix releases that I’m looking forward to and I bet you all have a few as well. Let’s hear them!

Happy Monday and happy reading!

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads2 Comments