Tag: book reviews

This Chick Read: Technically Yours by Denise Williams

Pearl Harris has been burnt by love too many times. Now she leads with her head and not her heart and she’s risen through the ranks at her new company OurCode. Cord Matthews fell for Pearl years ago when they worked together at a Tech company he owned. He fell in love but Pearl didn’t take a risk on them and took a job across the country. Now, years later, their paths cross and both of them are leary of getting involved. Pearl is still not letting her heart make decisions for her and Cord is gun-shy when it comes to relationships, but that chemistry is still sizzling.

It was really easy to drop into this story and connect with both Pearl and Cord. I liked both of their characters a lot and could certainly understand why they felt like they did about love and relationships. I did get distracted by the back and forth between real time and their past. Just when I’d finally get into the emotional dynamics of Pearl in the current day the chapter would end and I’d have to try to connect and understand the past Pearl. I’ll admit flashbacks are not my favorite things to read and I did struggle with that aspect of this novel.

The thing I loved the most about our heroine, Pearl, is that she knew what she wanted and she was very focused on getting it. Specifically when it came to her career. A lot of time was spent informing the reader about how responsible, direct, and awesome Pearl was at her job. I love a strong heroine, but I kind of feel like a little too much time was spent with Pearl’s indecision about Cord. It didn’t fit with who she was in her business life. I wish she had figured herself out a little sooner because I became impatient with her emotional see-saw.

Needless to say, I felt pretty indifferent to our main character which made it hard to root for Pearl and Cord in their romance. Did I root for her to get the job? Absolutely! I just wasn’t sure she was the right person for Cord. He was ready to go all in from the get go and Pearl’s indecisiveness spoiled the romance for me. ❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Technically Yours

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 Gentleman’s Gambit (A League of Extraordinary Women #4) by Evie Dunmore

Introverted spinster, Catriona Campbell fights for women in the Suffrage Movement, is writing an academic novel, and helps her father run their ailing estate. When he asks her to introduce his colleague from the Middle East into the academic world at Oxford she doesn’t miss a beat until she realizes he’s the stranger who saw her swim naked in the Scottish loch on their estate. Claiming the need to examine some ancient artifacts from his country, Elias is in England under false pretenses and realizes the quickest way to get close to the items he needs to return to his homeland is to become close to Catriona, but she’s been burned by love before.

I love, love, love this series. The characters are always so interesting and this time in history is fascinating. I love the Suffrage Movement as a backdrop to our heroine’s lives and the struggles women in that point in history have had to suffer through to make our lives better today. It really makes the story come alive. Catriona and Elias’s story included those historical moments, but the fact that he was from the Middle East and not of the ton created another roadblock to their being together and added to my enjoyment of the novel. The way his culture was written into the story and why he was in England, gave depth to his character but also the overall story arc. I truly couldn’t put this book down.

The romance in this story was titillating, forbidden, and romantic. Catriona and Elias had so many things working against them that it seemed as if they wouldn’t find their happily ever after. Of course, in romance novels, we always get the ending that we want and it did happen, but not without these two interesting characters being put through their own trials and tribulations, facing their hopes, fears, and dreams. I can’t think of a thing I’d change to make this story better. It was heart-warming, heart-rending, and the ending was oh so joyful. I believe this is the last book in the series because the author gave us an epilogue that included all of the female leads from this series. I’m bummed, but at the same time I’m looking forward to what this talented author will write next. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Gentleman’s Gambit

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 Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: Dead Letter Days (Haven’s Rock #.5) by Kelley Armstrong

A prequel to the off-shoot of the Casey Duncan series, Dead Letter Days takes place when Casey and Eric are at a lodge with the other townspeople from Rockton as they are waiting for their new town, Haven’s Rock, to be built. Someone in their group plants fake dead bodies in the woods around the lodge as a joke because Casey has stumbled across quite a few dead bodies in her time as an investigator, but in this case the mystery she stumbles upon is for a cold case of a missing person. As she and Eric investigate, Eric learns some things about his past that he’ll need to make a decision on so that he can move forward with a clean slate in his new life.

This short novella was unusual in that it didn’t actually involve any dead bodies and was missing the eeriness of some of the Rockton mysteries. In fact, they mystery Casey and Eric ended up solving gave these characters a small bit of peace. I enjoyed the different feel of this novel. Despite the things Eric finds out about his past, which cause him a bit of distress, it seems like a happy time for these characters and the mood in the writing reflected that. It was a nice change.

There isn’t too much to say about this because it was only about 100 pages and I don’t want to give any details away, but I enjoyed this short story. What I learned about the characters set’s the reader up for the first novel in the next series and I’m looking forward to seeing how these characters grow into their new place. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Dead Letter Days

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 Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I’m behind when my 82 year old mother has beat me to reading a book. The Midnight Library has been on my kindle for months and I’ve just been waiting for the right mood to jump into this bit of fiction. The synopsis never grabbed me, but I’ve not heard one person say that they didn’t enjoy reading this book.

Nora Seed is having a rough day in a tough life filled with regrets. Today her cat has died, she’s lost her job, her old bandmate yelled at her on the street, and her brother and best friend are ignoring her calls. Each addition to this lousy day makes the despair grow until she doesn’t see a reason for living. When she opens her eyes to her favorite librarian from her grade school library, Mrs. Elm explains that she’s in the Midnight Library where her alternate lives in other dimensions lie in the books on the shelves. All she has to do is find the right life and choose to live it and she will give up her root life and move forward as if it’s never been lived. This concept of “other” Nora’s living out the different choices she may have made is a pretty cool concept and one that made for great storytelling, so I can see why this book has received so much attention.

As I read this book I was enmeshed in each life of Nora’s, learning as Nora did that past regrets don’t necessarily mean that if she’d chose that path her life would’ve been any happier. In fact, her biggest regrets turned out to be not so great. As Nora sifts through her alternate lives she learns many things but the biggest is that the grass is not always greener if you’d chosen a different path than the one that she actually did take. I found this concept to be so easy to relate to and actually kind of comforting. No one likes to think that they would’ve been happier if they’d just made that different choice ten years ago. Maybe because this specific lesson rang true for me particularly, it is the one thing that I can remember out of the many lessons Matt Haig was teaching to Nora in this book. For me, it was the most important.

I have seen comparisons to It’s a Wonderful Life and when I was telling my husband the plot that is the exact thing he said to me. I’ll have to believe him since I’ve never seen the whole movie, but Nora did run the gamut from despair to hope and then happiness, realizing she did actually want to live just as Jimmy Stewart did in that famous movie. Regardless of that similarity, the final moments of hope and happiness after feeling the lows of despair made this novel a keeper and I could see returning to it for that life’s lesson when my own life might need the reminder. Not that I was at that low point, but the reminder doesn’t hurt and I think I’ll be keeping this book around for those moments in the future when reading Nora’s story reminds me to look further than the moment I’m in and grasp those small moments of happiness and connection that make life worth living. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Midnight Library

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 Reads4 Comments

This Chick Read: There Should Have Been Eight by Nalini Singh

Nine years ago they lost one of their own. Now, the remaining seven friends meet up at Bea’s home in the mountains for a weekend of regaining their friendship and reminiscing about the past. Only someone is playing cruel tricks on the guests and when they get snowed in, those eerie pranks turn dangerous.

Nalini Singh is famous for her romantic fantasy novels but this is her second foray into the mystery genre. It hit all of the thriller/mystery notes. Eerie mansion in the mountains, mysterious death of their friend Bea, the psychological unwinding of her sister Darcie, romantic entanglements, and yes, even death. Unlike Ms. Singh’s first foray into the genre, this novel moved at a quicker pace. The main protagonist, Luna is the sleuth the reader relies on to take them through the plot and we see each action through her eyes. However, Luna is also suffering from a disease that is taking away her eyesight so she doesn’t trust some of the things she is seeing. Her suffering causing her to hallucinate or at least cause some mental hijinks that gives this story an even more eerie feel.

There were so many relationship entanglements that at first I had trouble keeping up. As I turned the pages those entanglements became a bit more clear and I was able to focus solely on the plot and not who did what with whom nine years ago making it easier to get wrapped up in the eeriness of the setting and the thriller dynamics that were in play. This was truly a fun book to read and had the feel of an old Nancy Drew mystery, although our heroine was a bit older and wasn’t quite so wholesome.

I think fan’s of Nalini Singh’s other novels would feel very satisfied with the change in genre’s and the cast of characters. This was a really interesting read that held my attention through every page. I’ll admit that I did guess the mystery but it took me a little bit to do that and I enjoyed the process of eliminating my suspects. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* There Should Have Been Eight

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: Next-Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin

After her rant in public goes viral, Collins Carter moves back home to Ohio and into her childhood bedroom in the subdivision where her parents live. As if that isn’t bad enough, she runs into her high school frenemy Nate Adams at the neighborhood coffee shop and they immediately draw sparks. When he hands her an HOA violation and threatens her parents garden the gloves are off. Collins decides to run for HOA president against Nate and the fight is on.

Collins Carter is over the top, dramatic, and the person you want on your side in a fight. I think Nate figures this out pretty quickly when she challenges him over everything. As they argued (and argued, and argued) their past was revealed and you could tell how hurt Collins was over her ex-best friend ghosting her when they were kids. Despite that, I was watching the page numbers wondering how long it would take before her witchy friendliness turned them from frenemies back to friends. It took a touch too long but when it did happen I finally settled into the plot. I love sassy heroines but Collins was next level!

Nate couldn’t have been any more the opposite of Collins. He was a khaki wearing, straight laced, steady, calm man. Actually, very similar to her own father now that I think of it. They complimented each other well and once they got over their hurt with each other they suited each other. I kind of wished he was a little more heroic maybe, but there wasn’t anything wrong with a normal guy as a hero. She carried all the attitude in that pairing that’s for sure.

I thought this was a fun, quick read, pretty similar to other novels by this author. I can think of a few that touched my heart a little bit more but this was an entertaining weekend read! ❤️❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!!* Next-Door Nemesis

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 Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Mallory Greenleaf gave up chess four years ago but her best friend has asked her to take an open spot on her team in a charity tournament and guilted her into playing. As she knocks off one challenger after another she finds herself facing the #1 player in the world, the “kingkiller”, Nolan Sawyer… and wipes the board with him. Nolan’s loss to an unknown player shocks the world and Mallory is drawn back into the life she’d once left and cash prizes she can receive to help support her struggling family. Keeping it all a secret from her family is imperative but when Nolan shows up at her door imploring her for a game that secret is threatened.

I loved this first YA novel by Ali Hazelwood. I say YA, but really this reads as an adult novel with characters who face adult issues. They only thing that’s YA about it is the age of the characters who are in their late teens and early twenties. If you’re a fan of The Queen’s Gambit, as I was, this novel reminded me that I don’t know a bit about chess but the strategy, skill, and drama can be riveting despite my lack of knowledge. Mallory’s life was decimated by her parents tragic divorce – all tied to the game she loved, so she dropped it like a hot potato and was determined to put the past behind her and help her ill mother support the family. Fortunately, she was drawn back into the chess world and Nolan Sawyer took and interest in this young lady. Despite him being a good guy, there were classic moments of good vs. evil and our Mallory dueled it out on the chess board. What fun!

Nolan was a pretty typical Ali Hazelwood character, but had his own tragic past that kept him separated emotionally from his pretty solid group of friends. He was everything a hero should be, handsome and loyal, but he was also pretty secretive, which made for some great conflict and resolutions. He was very well matched in skill with Mallory and it was nice to see that he wasn’t threatened, but relished the challenge. I loved this healthy relationship that helped each of them deal with their troublesome pasts.

This novel, like I said above, is a young adult novel, and is in comparison to adult novels pretty clean. I would consider it a slow burn romance, but there is some sizzle towards the latter part of the book so if you’re looking for clean, this may not be a good fit. For me, it was the perfect mix of relationship building, conflict, drama, and heat. Check & Mate was the perfect play and one helluva a good story.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Check & Mate

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: Hunt on Dark Waters (Crimson Sails #1) by Katee Robert

Evelyn is a witch with questionable decision-making skills. When she decides to steal from her vampire ex she escapes through a portal into another dimension and lands right in the middle of the ocean. Rescued by pirates, she’s told she must join the crew who work for the Cwn Annwn, or die. She of course chooses life, figuring she’d find a way out of this mess and this dimension. What she doesn’t count on is being attracted to Bowen, the captain of the ship and her mischief making causes him to question the rules he’s always followed.

I usually love fantasy novels but I’ll admit, I had a really hard time liking this one. I’ve never read a novel by this author and from what I’ve heard, this is very different from the novels she usually writes. Kudos to her for trying something new, but for me it just fell flat. I couldn’t connect with Evelyn, and kind of disliked her too. That’s a problem because it affected my response to the rest of the book. The romance then felt unrealistic, Bowen wasn’t heroic enough, and the world-building felt a bit undefined. I did finish the book, but it was a struggle. I hoped it would get better but the writing never elevated the characters and setting to something that would keep my interest.

I do believe that our own life experiences, likes, and dislikes, mean that each one of us is different and will like different books. Please read this one and decide for yourself if it’s the right book for you. It just wasn’t for me. ❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Hunt on Dark Waters

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 Beautiful and the Wild by Peggy Townsend

Liv Russell is being held hostage in a shipping container turned storage shed by the man she once loved, and the father of her child, her husband Mark. After faking his own death, Liv happens upon a clue that makes her think her husband Mark is still alive. Leaving their home behind, Liv packs up the car with her belongings and her son, Xander and drives to Alaska to the small town of Cohut where she finds Mark shacking up with a young woman. Confronting him, he tricks her into the storage container and locks her in, where she remains for days, trying to figure a way out.

The pace of this novel is very slow and methodical, which fits with the actions taking place. There is a bit of set up and flashbacks to Liv and Mark’s previous life, but in present time, locked in a container, there isn’t a lot of action. This may bother some people but I must’ve been in the mood to read a psychological thriller because this pace helped me settle in and get into these character’s heads. While Liv isn’t the heroine that I normally root for, her situation of being trapped and separation from her special needs child, Xander made me curious to see where this author was going to take this story. I will admit, I didn’t expect it to head in the direction it did.

Usually flashbacks annoy the heck out of me, but it was a great tool to show the difference between Liv as she was when she and Mark met, and the woman who came to Alaska and found herself in this situation. The flashbacks also showed contrasts between what Liv thought of as charm but should have been warning signs in the man she came to love. Mark’s slow dissolution from loving husband to what he becomes later in this novel was deftly written and if you have the patience, I think worth the slow build up to the conclusion.

This was not the type of thriller where people are in chases, fights, etc. This is a true psychological thriller that was slow paced and very well written. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Beautiful and the Wild

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

End Game (New York Stars #1) by G. A. Mazurke

Hockey runs in the Bukowski family’s blood. All three sons play professional hockey and growing up their family billeted other young hockey stars. Then there’s Gracie, who knows more about hockey than anyone but is set aside by everyone, including her family. Liam is one of the hockey players that grew up living with Gracie’s family. When he was younger they were best friends but as he got older he became friendly with her brother Kow and slowly dropped Gracie. Now that he’s playing pro he realizes she is the one that he let get away and now that he’s been transferred to the New York Stars where Gracie lives he’s determined to get her back.

This book came on my radar through an article or blog about great sports romances and I have to say that I would have to agree. There is a lot of sports in this romance, mostly because that’s part of Gracie’s personality. Growing up in a hockey household, she has the eye of a coach and gives her brothers, including Liam, tips about their playing that has helped them tremendously throughout their careers. Unfortunately for them, she delivers the news in a brash, blunt manner. That is Gracie. She doesn’t hold her punches and her family doesn’t really understand her. This has caused problems with her three brothers, but not the billeted players like Liam who’ve lived in her household. Liam in particular, loves this about Gracie. I love that about him- he sees her as she is and loves her despite these characteristics.

There is an interesting plot point that causes psychological conflict for Liam. He was kidnapped off the streets, tortured, and held for ransom because of his high profile status. This kidnapping has made him suspicious, paranoid, and uneasy about life. If this is a trigger for you, you may want to avoid this novel, but I thought this was a really interesting aspect to his character that I wanted to know more about. How would Gracie handle this quality? Does this make him crazy or is he still a lovable guy? All of these things ran through my head while reading making this a rather unique read.

Needless to say there is a lot of emotional drama due to the kidnapping, and Gracie’s relationship with her own family, but the bond between Liam and Gracie is the important one and that felt pretty special. With the exception of the drunk scene at the beginning of the novel, I really enjoyed this story. That first scene just didn’t fit the feel of the rest of the novel and I wish it had been thrown out in edits. The rest of the story was great. I’ll definitely be looking for a book #2 in this series and will be looking at this author’s other novels under the name Serena Akeroyd. If they’re all like this one, I’ve got a bit of reading in front of me! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* End Game

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