Tag: book reviews

This Chick Read: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Misery Lark is the daughter of the most powerful Vampyre Councilman in the southwest. When she is called upon to help broker peace between the Vampyre and their enemies the Weres she steps up to do her part. She marries the alpha wolf, Lowe Moreland. Lowe doesn’t trust easily and he really doesn’t trust his new bride.

I am obsessed with this novel! Her first novel in the paranormal genre and Ali Hazelwood hits a home run. The world building….wow! Vampyre, Humans, and Were live in the world together but in separate, heavily guarded regions. The humans are about to have a shift in leader which jeopardizes their vampyre relationship. When this new pact is made between Vampyre and Were – the first since a previous reunion ended in a massacre, Misery is asked to sacrifice her secret life among the humans to move into the unknown. Coming from a species who has very few emotional expressions, Misery finds the Were’s and their passionate responses dangerous but shows no fear and only increases her sassy, quick witted responses. She was fearless and funny.

Lowe was the perfect contrast to Misery’s coolness. She pretty much ignored his alpha stature and advanced into were life with humor and bravery- and had her own agenda. Lowe was conflicted in wanting to protect this little vampyre and see what she was up to. I loved their interactions and was fascinated with the differences in their species. This was a book where once I got lost in the world and the plot I COULD NOT PUT DOWN. It’s truly been awhile since I’ve said that.

Do you love Ali Hazelwood’s STEM romances? This one is different but there are many similarities too! Misery is smart, sassy, difficult, and brave. Just like the STEM heroines. Lowe is a bit more alpha, but he’s pretty similar to STEM romance heroes. Tall, handsome, in over his head with the female he’s interested in- definitely! It is just a different world that they live in, but everything Ali Hazelwood quirk that you love from her previous books are in this novel too. I am so eager for a second book in this series. We get a hint at the end so there better be one!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Bride

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This Chick Read: The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

Bree Camden and her best friend NFL quarterback Nathan Donelson are strictly in the friend zone. Although she has feelings, Bree doesn’t want to jeopardize a friendship that started when they were in high school. Once a ballerina striving to become a professional, Bree suffered a terrible accident that killed those dreams. Not wanting her circumstances to hold Nathan back she pushes him away and it’s years before they speak again. Now best friends again, they are both fighting their feelings. After a night of drinking Bree spills her secrets to a TMZ reporter and her story about she and her best friend goes viral.

This book has been on my radar for a bit but for some reason I hadn’t chosen to read it before now. I haven’t read a book by Sarah Adams but I’m for sure going to read more of her books now. This story combine’s the “best friends” and “fake boyfriend” tropes to create a really cute story. I thought Bree and her struggles to keep her dance studio open was something readers could identify with and let’s face it, Nathan and his secret crush on Bree was too adorable to turn away from. The only thing that got old was that Bree took too long to give up the “best friends” moniker and allow herself to give in to her feelings. When she finally did, the reading was easy breezy and so much fun.

My favorite part of this book was Nathan asking his football friends for advice on how to woo Bree. There’s nothing like a bunch of guys giving advice. The cheat list idea was totally cute and reading those ideas coming to fruition- some good and some bad- made for some funny moments. If you’re looking for that feel-good weekend or vacation novel, this is the book I’d recommend. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Cheat Sheet

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This Chick Read: The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka

After a recent divorce, singer-songwriter Riley Wynn approaches her label with a great concept, an album based on all of her break-ups. When her famous ex claims her newest single hit is about him she looks up her first love, Max, and asks him if she can release his name to the press. He agrees under one condition, he wants to go on tour and play the piano in that single. As they tour, they slowly work out their baggage and are given hints of hope for a future.

When Riley shows up at the retirement living center that Max is running he is faced with the regrets from his past. He chose his family over a life on the road with Riley and has always wondered what his life would’ve been like if he’d made the other choice. Her offer is the chance for him to see where that path would’ve led. I like a good second chance romance if the plot moves quickly but The Breakup Tour seemed to mire the story in both of their regrets, making it seem like it took forever before either of them could move past them. Because of that slow pace I felt like the tone of the story was moody and sad rather than playful and fun.

I loved how the author’s actually gave us the lyrics to the songs we were reading about. They all fell at the end of the book and I think I’d have liked to have read them sooner, but they were a wonderful addition and were filled with the words I’d imagined while reading about Riley singing them. I always enjoy song-filled stories and The Breakup Tour (the novel) could’ve had an album full of words filling these pages.

I enjoyed Riley and Max’s second chance story and although I’d wished their happy reunion was filled with more light hearted moments it felt real. I thought the ending was totally satisfying and I loved where the story led us. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click the link to purchase this book!* The Breakup Tour

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

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

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

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

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Bright Spot

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

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

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

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

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

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Lily of Ludgate Hill

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

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

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

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

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

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

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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: Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

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

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

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

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

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

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

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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 Chicks Audio Review: In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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