Tag: book reviews

This Chick Read: Rain of Shadows and Beginnings (Legacy Series #1) by Melissa K. Roehrich

Every five years eligible Fae are gathered for the Selection and are required to serve one of the six Kingdoms. To be chosen to serve as the Source for a chosen Heir of one of those kingdoms is seen as a huge honor and at this year’s Selection there are six heirs looking for a source. Tessalyn Asura is at the Selection and has not interest in being one of the chosen but finds herself serving as the source for the heir of the mysterious Arius Kingdom. Theon is the heir of death and Tessa is going to do everything possible to escape his control.

I came across this series by chance and am so glad to have discovered a new and really talented author. Rain of Shadows and Beginnings reminds me quite a bit of ACOTAR but unfortunately I don’t think Tessa is going to be able to escape her fate as easily as Feyre did in her series. Tessa is tied to Theon magically and each time she is marked they grow closer needing that physical closeness of touch in order to calm their magic. What is the purpose of being someone’s source you ask? Well, good question! In this magical world of Devram, the Legacy (Theon and his pals) are descendents of gods and the Fae who serve them have elemental powers that are revealed. As a Source, the Legacy would have access to Tessa’s powers, making his own so much stronger. So the heir’s search for the strongest Fae available and Tessa seems to be one of the strongest.

As with a lot of romantic fantasy novels, Rain of Shadows and Beginnings is pretty darn dark. Theon is not the kindest Legacy Tessa could’ve found herself tied to. He has been taught from a very young age a lack of trust and because he doesn’t trust easily he handles Tessa, who is described as uncontrollable, in a manner that is abusive. I would be bothered by this a lot more if Tessa wasn’t such a strong character and fought back as hard as she does. Theon never knows what is coming next. This Fae that he’s chosen is not malleable as he’s seen other Sources be, she argues every point and doesn’t want anything to do with this life that she now lives. Who could blame her! As I found out more about each of their backgrounds I could understand better why they were both reactionary and dark. It didn’t excuse the abuse but it did explain it. It also gave me a reason to root for Tessa, who was a hard character to like.

There were some great side characters in this book as well. I loved Tristyn, Luka, and Axel. Without their involvement this book would’ve just been one dark, hot mess. These guys lightened up the mood and created reasons to see both of our main characters in a different way other than snarky and off putting. Gosh, reading all of the above you might think I disliked this book but I actually liked it a lot! I’m looking forward to book #2!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Rain of Shadows and Endings

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On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: If the Shoe Fits (Meant To Be #1) by Julie Murphy

Cindy loves shoes. A recent graduate from fashion school she has moved back home with her step-mother a tv producer for the very famous dating show Before Midnight. When a few of the contestants fall through she and her two sisters fill in. Cindy hopes her clothing and shoe choices will get her noticed, what she doesn’t count on is falling in love with the bachelor.

As a plus-sized romance, this story certainly delivered the goods. I loved how Cindy was confident and stood up for herself, all while presenting herself fashionably. Unlike other Cinderella re-tellings, she and her step-sisters actually have great relationships with each other. Their antics were refreshing and I’ll admit the behind the scene’s “bachelorette” moments were as well.

Henry, the bachelor, was down to earth and wonderful. He filled those Prince Charming shoes extremely well and was totally likable as the romantic interest. Despite his having to go on all of those dates. The story was filled with secret moments between the two of them which fulfilled the romantic aspects of the book, but it was Cindy that stole the show. She is a character that the majority of women can identify with and was totally likable to boot! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* If The Shoe Fits

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved.

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This Chicks Audio Review: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet—until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation, and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.

Best-selling Australian crime author, Hannah Tigone, is crafting a novel set in the Boston Public Library. As she write this story, about these four people who were brought together by that scream, the reader also reads chapters from another source. Hannah is sharing each chapter with one of her readers, a man named Leo. As he reads each chapter he makes corrections and give critiques, but as the chapter go on, we realize that Leo knows a lot about murder and he may be slightly unhinged.

Narrated by Katherine Littrell, who does an absolutely amazing job. This story within a story is deftly written and absolutely riveting and her narration adds to the secret sauce that makes this story so good. In fact, this could have been a really confusing book to listen to, but Katherine Littrell’s inflections and accents made the characters easily identifiable and I was able to follow the story and enjoy the journey. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Woman in the Library

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.

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This Chicks Audio Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m way behind on reading this bestseller. It came out in 2016 and I think I must’ve purchased the audio book with a credit and had it sitting there since then. Why I decided to listen to this book now? I’ve gotten into a mystery kick with my audible books and have quite a few of them purchased already. I’ve heard both good and bad things about his one but luckily couldn’t remember much else although I know the author is well renowned. What a fun surprise!

Lo Blacklock is a journalist writing for a travel magazine. She is booked to go on an exclusive cruise targeting the upper income travelers when her flat is broken into the night before, while she is sleeping in it. Needlessly rattled, she doesn’t want to give up her trip feeling like this is her opportunity to prove to her editor that she’s ready for that next leap in her career. She arrives for the cruise, her nerves are shot, she’s drinking too much, oh and she thinks she see’s someone dump a body off the boat. Needless to say, this is not the relaxing trip that she was looking for, in fact, as she reports it to the crew she begins to wonder if it’s all just in her head.

Narrated by Imogen Church with a natty British accent, she imbues Lo with that perfect mix of nerves and fortitude. The tension ratcheting with every interview. I was glued to this book not wanting to go to work, take a shower, and cook dinner for the family. I just wanted to know what happened! Isn’t that the best feeling in the world?

Lo was a heroine with a ton of flaws and in the beginning, not very likable. Every time she took I drink I cringed, wanting her to stop drinking and just take a rest and recover her nerves. The cast of characters on the ship were stereotypes and kind of one dimensional but they gave the reader a break from the always layered reactions from our heroine and were kind of a shelter from the tension. As the novel moved forward and Lo gained strength in body and mind, I grew to admire her fortitude and definitely rooted for a resolution that would find her safe and happy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Woman in Cabin 10

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.

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This Chick Read: The Woman By the Lake (Misted Pines #3) by Kristen Ashley

Nadia Williams needed to escape to a peaceful setting to recover from the trauma of the death of her mother. She rents a small one room cabin on a beautiful lake with only one other home close to hers. Doc Riggs cherishes is peaceful lake and when his new neighbor makes demands on his privacy his instinct is to stay far away, despite her good looks. When the local sheriff, and his best friend, shares her traumatic story, he decides to befriend her in order to make sure she receives any help she might need. He doesn’t expect the protectiveness he feels when she and the cabin she’s living in is targeted by activities that are both spooky and dangerous.

The Misted Pines series is a bit of a departure from this author’s normal novels. These books fall into more of a romantic suspense category and the eerie lake setting and the mysterious noises in The Woman By the Lake provide a creepy scene perfect for a hero to come to the damsel’s rescue. Nadia Williams has plenty of spunk and fire, but she’s more of a girly girl and seems to appreciate leaning on her handsome neighbor. That lean quickly evolves into a romantic relationship that turns Riggs into the alpha hero we come to expect from a Kristen Ashley novel.

I think I preferred the previous novels more than this one but I still enjoyed Nadia and Riggs’ story. The mystery was well developed and captured my interest but I never felt the spiked tension that the first two novels gave that the serial killer mysteries provided. Despite that the romance between Nadia and Riggs was fun and I loved all of the detailed moments that the author provided to set the scene. I wish I had a place to escape to like Nadia’s place, it sounded like the perfect girlie cabin in the woods. All in all this was a fun story and perfect for a weekend of reading. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Woman By The Lake

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.

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This Chick Read: No One Does It Like You by Katie Shepard

When Broadway actor Tom Wilczewski is about to jump into raging waters during a category 3 hurricane to save his co-lead, he calls his ex-wife and leaves her a message telling her he regrets their divorce and still loves her. Two months later Rose Kelly is in a bad place and hear’s Tom’s message for the first time. She reaches out and asks for his help to revitalize her family’s B&B in Martha’s Vineyard and Tom, hoping for a reunion agree’s. What she doesn’t count on is for the rest of his Broadway cast to show up and help.

Rose and Tom’s relationship ended because of a lack of communication and they were only 22 years old. Way too young to figure out that they needed to fight for their marriage instead of just give up. 10 years later, Tom is still acting and in his first big Broadway role, yet he doesn’t hesitate to rush to Rose’s side to provide whatever help he can give. In the telling of this story we learn quite a bit about their dynamics as a couple and what went wrong, and what I loved about that telling is that with more adult eyes, the things that were so important at 22 were not as important at 32. It’s the message behind trying to make things work that, well, made this kind of awkward novel work too.

There was a fun sub-plot to this story about Tom being romantically involved with his male co-lead, Boyd, who’s actually a very well known actor. The reality is a bit different that what’s playing out in the gossip rags, but Tom is actually bi-sexual, as he was when he and Rose met. This sub-plot was a bit of mis-direction but also had a lot of charm and brought a sense of lightness to what could have been a kind of serious novel about second chances. A lot of that had to do with Boyd, his not very bright decision making, and his pack of groupies. I was never sure where the scene would lead when Boyd entered the page, but I always looked forward to it.

This novel wasn’t perfect. Tom and Rose’s second chance was filled with a lot of doubt and gray areas that sometimes made their character’s decisions kind of hard to follow. I loved Tom’s fortitude in wanting to win Rose back despite all of her hesitations. He was all in, and because of that I was all in too.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* No One Does It Like You

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.

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This Chick Read: A Usual Suspect (Fractured Conclave #1) by Vanessa Nelson

When a friend calls Hallie in a panic, she races to her side to investigate. As a skip tracer, she is used to finding the lost who don’t want to be found. What she finds in Rosalie’s house is a murdered member of the elite and some assassins who try to finish the job by killing them too. Hallie needs to use all of her skills to remove she and her friend from the suspect list and find the killers before they find her.

I can always count on Vanessa Nelson to deliver some great world-building, a strong female lead, and a mystery that hooks the reader into the story and doesn’t let them go until the story is finished. A Usual Suspect delivers on all of these things but is also delivers the promise of more great books to come.

Hallie was a big mystery herself. Being of mixed race, she is not considered human after a near fatal attack in her childhood. She was saved by a mysterious person and has gained inhuman strength, quickness, and healing abilities that are more common among the elite. She also has a truth sense which helps her succeed as a skip tracer with a 100% close rate. As the reader quickly finds out, this is one woman you don’t want on your trail! Not only is Hallie interesting, but this world she lives in as well as the characters we’ve been introduced to are ones I’d like to explore more, but will have to wait a few months for the second novel to be released. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* A Usual Suspect

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.

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This Chick Read: No More Secrets (Blue Moon #1) by Lucy Score

After a tour of duty, Carter Pierce is settled back into life on the farm, hoping for a quiet life to recover from his wounds. New York journalist, Summer Lentz, is living with him for a week while she writes an article for her magazine. She’s a fish out of water with her expensive clothes, but willing to try anything to add meat to her story. At first Carter thinks she’ll scare off easily but after a couple of days he never wants to see her go.

When Lucy Score gets into her small town romance groove, you feel the love. The characters are slightly kooky, and in the small town of hippie-filled Blue Moon that certainly applies, but these same people also fill the pages with a lot of heart, making the reader want to travel to a similar type of small town and soak in the love. No More Secrets and the Blue Moon series, is not a new novel from Lucy Score, and in fact, I read this novel five years ago when it came out. I only vaguely remembered the story, but I definitely fell back into the charm, no problem.

Carter and Summer, despite the synopsis of grumpy guy and city girl, actually hit it off right from the start. She may be a city girl but she’s got some insecurities that make her perfect for the love of this gentleman farm, and Carter doesn’t fight his attraction, at all. For all that he’s recovering from his time overseas, he is a pretty charming guy who knows what he wants when he see’s it. He quietly woo’s Summer right from the start. I loved how Carter, his family, and the town all broke down her defenses. The story was simple, sweet, and even thought it was a second time read, I enjoyed it again. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* No More Secrets

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

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This Chick Read: Bananapants by Penny Reid

A spin-off of Reid’s Knitting in the City series, Bananapants is the story of childhood best friends Ava Archer and Des Sullivan. Inseparable until they were fifteen when Des suddenly moves away. Ten years later, Ava is wearing a costume, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, when Des shows up out of the blue and drags her away from the party claiming that he was doing so for her own safety. Her childhood friend is now a thief and he’s in town to infiltrate a secret society that has stolen technology from a friend of his. He’s going to steal it back. Unfortunately, Ava keeps getting in the way.

What a wonderful surprise to find out that the two main protagonists were children of characters from another series I loved so much. I enjoyed getting to know Ava and Des, and also being reminded why I love this author so much. These characters, while wonderful, beautiful, and funny, are also flawed. One of them is dealing with a serious mental health issue that they’ve had since they were young. Being desperately in love, while also dealing with this issue made for an interesting novel, one that I really enjoyed. I like my characters real. Life isn’t a fairy tale and this novel, despite it’s silly name certainly reflects the realness of life.

Not surprising, if you’ve read Reid’s novels before, but there was a bit of an action-adventure type mystery enmeshed in this love story. Des kind of comes off as a swashbuckling hero, but Ava is not shrinking violet. She has a few moves herself, but it’s her shining personality and quirky humor that makes her stand out. As they get to know each other again, there is plenty of great dialog and fun interactions that provide lots of insight into their characters. These interactions also move the plot forward in interesting and new ways that held my interest and kept me reading long into the night. Oh, I really liked this one. I will say, though, that if you have a mental health trigger, reader beware. This may be a difficult story for you to read.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Bananapants

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

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This Chick Read: Holding Out for a Gyro by Mary Ann Marlowe

Chelsea and her best friend Elizabeth are always pushing each other outside their comfort zones, checking fun things off on lists like taking a hike, or talking to a stranger. They’re out in a bar together one night and meet two men and decide to check another off the list. Elizabeth has to fabricate everything she says and Chelsea has to speak only the truth. When a fun night out turns into the possibility of a relationship, Chelsea puts on the breaks. She doesn’t do relationships and she’s very upfront with Basil. He, however, is very persistent and struggles to overcome all of her objections.

I so wanted to like these characters more than I did. Chelsea had an interesting but pretty dark back story and her path to happiness led through her needing to overcome all of her insecurities. Basil was an open book but for some reason he found something in Chelsea that he wanted to shine a light on and love. Both things that aren’t unusual in a romance novel but it was the length of time (literally to the end of the book) that it took for them to work things out was exhausting for me. The cover and title which are so cute and fun, kind of misled me into thinking the story would be light-hearted and funny- it just wasn’t that book for me. I love this author and her other books, but I just didn’t click with these characters. ❤️❤️❤️

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

If you’d like to purchase this book, please click this link!* Holding out for a Gyro

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.

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