Tag: book reviews

It’s Monday, what are you reading? (5/15/23)

I got truly hooked into the audiobook for Abby Jimenez’s new novel Yours Truly and unfortunately ignored my husband for about a day and a half. LOL. I laughed out loud quite a few times, but this novel also really made me think about living a life without a lot of the anxiety’s that some people have and how fortunate I am to be able to do that. My Sunday was spent with family. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are celebrating this past weekend. I hope your day was filled with love and family.

JUST FINISHED

I listened to the audiobook of this novel narrated by Kyla Garcia and Zachary Webber. I love how this novel used the narrators to tell each character’s point of view. This was both a funny and poignant novel. Did I say I liked these characters? Briana and Jacob were messy, fastidious, funny, and emotional wrecks. I, too was all of these things listening to this book. So good!

JUST STARTED

I feel like I literally just finished this author’s last novel The Dead Romantics. I got an advanced reader copy of The Seven Year Slip which comes out in June and I can’t wait to read it!! I’m trying to decide if I want to wait until I go on vacation in a couple of weeks to read it. I’m not sure I can wait though!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and happy reading!

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads2 Comments

This Chick Read: Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman

A different take on the Scarlet Pimpernel story, Scarlet takes place during the French Revolution in a world where vampires are among the elite in society, and are being put to their deaths via guillotine. Marie Antoinette and her children are being held in prison awaiting their trial and eventual deaths. The league of the Scarlet Pimpernel want to save the French monarchy and find the perfect distraction, a young English maid who is the spitting image of the French queen. Now embroiled in a mission beyond her life’s normal scope, Eleanor is determined to help save their lives and in return improve her position in society.

I’m a big fan of Genevieve Cogman’s previous series, The Invisible Library, and really enjoyed the intricate world she created full of dragon’s, fae, and librarian’s who fought agents of chaos. I was eager to pick up Scarlet and see how this author’s creativity would apply to a well-known historical reality and fictional cast plus vampires and mystical elements. I’ll admit to feeling a bit let down. This novel felt like it was a little lost. Eleanor was a naive young maid who wished for a better life and was thrown into this secret spy society, and despite the situations she found herself in, never seemed to grow into the character I know this author wished most fervently for her to become. I say the word fervently because I could almost feel the push and pull of machinations in plotlines that somehow seemed to fall a little flat. Disappointment thy name is Scarlet.

I’ve read a lot of Scarlet Pimpernel stories, seen movies, watched tv shows, etc. and this novel was certainly a different take, but what it failed to do was make what Percy was doing feel real. I think part of the problem is that we were viewing the story through the eyes of Eleanor, a young maid who was educated by books, but not in life. A lot of what she viewed (and there wasn’t much of it truly) was through the eyes of naiveté and/or a greed to get out of her circumstances into something better. The contrast between that ‘want’ and what was going around her in Paris during the Revolution was a bit jarring and hard to overlook. I mean the citizens of France rose up against the wealthy because they were hungry and poor and this girl (and the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel) wanted to maintain society as it was. I’m not sure how you could fix that problem in her character except by making her more sympathetic. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I too felt like I was left bereft… of a plot that made more sense.

I had hope for a more intricate world building from this author. The story and world didn’t feel very detailed, which I know this author can do and I kept waiting for it to kick into another gear and it just never did. ❤️❤️❣️

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

If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book please click this link!* Scarlet

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 Comeback Summer by Ali Brady

Sisters Hannah and Libby inherit the PR agency their beloved grandmother built and are struggling to keep the doors open. Fired by clients, they can barely pay the bills when they are approached by self- help aficionado and author of the “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program who dangles her business in front of them with one caveat. They must complete her program in the next twelve weeks. Determined to win this client Hannah must go on twelve dates in twelve weeks and Libby must compete with her sister in a team obstacle course race. Determined to help each other succeed these two sisters spend the summer learning a lot about each other and their own selves.

More fiction than romance, The Comeback Summer is the story about overcoming insecurities, learning how to get outside your comfort zone, and fight for what you want in life. Libby is the older sister who has always suffered from body self-esteem issues, so going from couch potato to obstacle race runner is a big step but her sister helps her step by step. On the flip side, Hannah had the same boyfriend for eight years and has trouble putting herself out into the dating world. She still has trauma from being in a secure relationship to not understanding why she was dumped. Knowing this will be hard for her sister Libby steps in to help with the matchmaking apps, finding and setting up her sister on some safe dates. At the beginning of the book you really see how these sisters are there for each other, but it’s when the conflict enters their lives in the form of Hannah’s old boyfriend coming back to town, and Libby falling for one of the men on the app she is monitoring for her sister that we see that their relationship may need some work.

The romances in this book were secondary to the relationship between Hannah and Libby. A big romance fan, I thought I’d struggle with this but I actually liked how the sisters were what drove the story. Not to say there wasn’t any romance because both sisters found some and those scenes were sizzling, but there was purpose behind the timing of those scenes that moved Hannah and Libby’s characters forward towards crushing their comfort zone’s.

If you’re looking for a strong sister story, look no further than The Comeback Summer. I liked these two ladies and was happy to read about their journey of self discovery over this one summer. Yes, they also found love but the stronger plot was the familial story between Hannah and Libby. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

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 Comeback Summer

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: Pretend You’re Mine (Benevolence #1) by Lucy Score

Rushing from her home with only her keys in her hand after finding her boyfriend cheating on her, Harper runs away and ends up in a bar in the small town of Benevolence, where she sees a man about to hit a woman in the parking lot. Racing straight towards danger, Harper leaps to the rescue and ends up with a bruised eye to go along with her bruised ego. She comes to looking into the eyes of Luke Garrison who rides to her rescue, allowing her to sleep at his home for the night. When his sister comes up with a crazy idea for Harper to pretend to be Luke’s new girlfriend for the month he’s on leave before shipping off to the National Guard, a plan that’s supposed to get his mother off his back, Harper hesitantly agrees. Luke’s strong protective instincts and the friendly town of Benevolence feels like the home she’s been looking for, but she’s cautious to believe in her feelings after being burned more than once before.

Pretend You’re Mine is written by the bestselling author Lucy Score and was written in 2018. Having read her more recent novels, this one does seem a little less structured and has a LOT more heat between the sheets. Harper was a pretty easy character to like. She’s had a tough life, her parents having died when she was young so she grew up in the foster care system. She wants to belong somewhere, but things never seem to work out for her. She agrees to this crazy scheme of pretending to be Luke’s girlfriend because he makes her feel safe and she is super attracted to him. Luke is just about to go back to the National Guard for a six month tour of duty. He let’s his sister talk him into this but he doesn’t really want someone in his life. He has a secret in his past that holds him back from allowing him to feel something for Harper. Of course, he does despite his best interests but he has an internal battle on his hands before they get their hea.

Lucy Score always writes great secondary characters into her novels and this one was no different. I can easily see how Benevolence will have a series of books because there are some great characters that need their stories told! I’m looking forward to reading the other books in this series. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Pretend You’re Mine

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

The House on Prytania (Royal Street #2) by Karen White

Nola Trenholm is renovating Creole Cottage, the house she purchased in New Orleans and is dealing with the lingering spirits of past residents. She had thought these residents had passed over, but it seems there is something keeping them here. When her friend Beau asks her to contact her ex, Michael, for a little subterfuge she is not keen to re-engage, but when her house is inhabited by an evil spirit who she feels is connected to her ex, she takes the risk and opens the door to reveal a past secret.

The Royal Street series is a spin-off of White’s Tradd Street novels, books that I’ve never read. I will say that despite some references and characters showing up from those novels, I do feel like you can jump right into this series with book #1. Karen White writes a story that engages the reader and makes them want to keep reading to discover where the heck this mystery is going. At least that’s how I felt.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a spooky mystery and The House on Prytania delivered on the ghostly aspects of this story. The spirits inhabiting Nola’s house gave a creepy vibe that contrasted with what was happening as Nola investigated the almost normal mystery. Where this story shone was in Nola’s friendships. Her roommate and best friend was the absolute opposite of Nola and their interactions added a fun element to this novel that I feel like it really needed. I can’t wait for the evolution of Nola’s relationship with Beau to lover. Sorry, but I’m a romance fiend and despite his having a girlfriend, their chemistry is off the charts and you know that it’s coming in a future book.

I enjoyed The House on Prytania’s creepy vibe and fabulous characters and can’t wait to see how Nola evolves. I’ll be reading the next one for sure! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 House on Prytania

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: Meet Me At the Lake by Carley Fortune

Fern’s life is not what or where she thought it would be, back where she grew up, running her mother’s lakefront resort. Her dreams of opening up her own coffee shop left behind in Toronto, along with her memories of a 24 hours she spent with Will Baxter. A 24 hours that had changed her life. Both of them young, and the timing wrong, they spend a day exploring Toronto together and agree to meet one year later at her mother’s resort. A meeting that does not end up happening until 9 years later. Will shows up at her door offering her the help she desperately needs, to fix this failing resort that her mother had loved so much.

After having read her debut novel, Every Summer After, I knew that if Carley Fortune kept writing I would keep reading her books. Her style of writing is deep, emotional, yet also has a lightness that reflects the settings that she keeps choosing- the lake. In this novel, Fern’s life has imploded with her mother’s death and her being left the resort to run. A resort that is failing and needs a new life, one that Fern isn’t sure she has to give. Until Will shows up. This 9 years older Will is much different than the artist that she fell in love with long ago. He now wears suits and runs a company, and seems to have given up his own dreams. Despite these differences their feelings for each other still lie beneath the surface waiting to be explored.

Meet Me At the Lake is one of those sneaky novels that has layers of emotions that are revealed slowly one chapter at a time. Sometimes I feel impatient when reading a slow moving novel but Carley Fortune sets a smooth pace that feels exactly right, each emotion and particular about a character revealed when it should for the utmost impact. Fern and Will’s reconnection built slowly towards that moment when they gave in to these feelings, but giving in didn’t solve all of their problems and the story didn’t end. I loved that! There were more reveals awaiting the reader and more emotions to be explored.

I’m reading this book in March but it definitely has that vacation beach vibe feel. It is the perfect novel to read when you can occasionally glance up to check the view of the ocean (or lake!) in front of you and then delve back into these fantastic characters who were meant to be together. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I was given 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!* Meet Me At the Lake

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 Daydreams by Laura Hankin

Four ex child stars are brought back together for a reunion show. The last time they had seen each other was at their second season Live finale where all hell broke loose, ending their very popular primetime show. The Daydreams brings back the sweetheart couple Summer and Noah, the mean girl, Kat, and the single diverse character, Liana. Noah has gone on to superstardom, Kat is now a lawyer, Liana married a uber popular MLB player, and Summer has gone through rehab several times and never gotten her life back on track. Each of them returns to the reunion for their own reasons and as they get together again, they re-live those golden years and face the truth about what went wrong.

For those of you who lived through the days of Beverly Hills 90210 or get caught up in the current Real Housewives franchises you know that a reunion show can be dramatic and fun to watch. The Daydreams mixes fiction with reality by using the real names of the actors for their characters, so the lines are blurred and the public believes the stories they are watching and reading in the gossip magazines. Summer is pure, Kat is a b!t@h, Ariana is the sidekick and Noah is the hearthrob and Summer’s main squeeze. The novel does a great job of juxtaposing their on air personas with who they are in real life. I thought the author did a good job of mixing gossip and reality while at the same time giving the reader flashbacks to what life was like on the show 13 years ago.

I’ll admit to being a little bored at times with the back and forth between the flashbacks and the real time scenes, those are not my favorite plot structures to read. So, I skimmed through some of the less interesting to me sections to get to the more juicy bits and to speed up to the big reveal. What happened to break up the show, and how would that act get repeated or redeemed in the reunion show. There weren’t a ton of surprises, but I did like how some of the characters started off as more jaded, but as the book moved forward they lost that edge and became true to the innocent’s they were back in the day. Despite the good character development I did have a little trouble liking some of these characters which affected my feelings and therefore my rating of this book. Not bad, but not great either. Somewhere in the middle.

❤️❤️❤️❣️

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 Daydreams

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: Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl by Renée Rosen

Two young women’s lives intersect in 1938 New York during the Great Recession, Gloria Downing, whose father had just been caught swindling money from his clients, and Estée Lauder a young woman selling face cream in the beauty parlor where Gloria finds a job. They strike up a friendship and each of them pursue careers in the beauty industry although on slightly different paths. Estée takes on the beauty moguls Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden while Gloria works her way into the back offices of Saks Fifth Avenue, while staying friends through thick and thin.

This historical novel takes on the rise of Estée Lauder into the beauty icon that her brand has become today. The story covers her many relationships and marriage to her long time live Joe and is based on fact but is also fictionalized to create and interest story. Contrasting her tale with the story of a young woman on her own for the first time while also dealing with the betrayal from her father and family was smart. Each had to have strength and fortitude to strike out on their own and create these lives during a time when jobs were scarce and women were not treated as equals. It was a really interesting read!

I think for me that even though the story and historical time frame was interesting neither of these characters were particularly likable. Estée was single minded and although married, divorced, and then married again to her husband Joe carried on with other men and ultimately her brand and building her business superseded her family life. Joe was so likable that it was hard to see him get walked all over by this strong-willed woman. Gloria had a LOT of daddy issues and viewed all men with distrust, and herself with weakness. Despite overcoming her upbringing she built a career, which was admirable, yet I still couldn’t connect with her character. I wished that Gloria was a little more likable to balance out Estée’s strong-willed personality. Although I totally understood where each of their characters were coming from it just would have made the story slightly easier to read.

If you like historical novels that mix fact and fiction this might be a novel you would be interested in reading. It does give a very interesting take on how women worked to keep the country moving during WWI, and the friendship between Gloria and Estée was both strong and giving. Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl is a solid novel with two interesting views of this time in history. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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!* Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl

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: Deep Tide (Texas Murder Files #4) by Laura Griffin

Leyla’s two brothers are on the police force of their small town, Lost Beach, so she is not ignorant that crime is on the rise. She doesn’t expect to find her murdered employee in the alley behind her café. When a friend of her brother’s, law officer Sean Moran, starts asking questions Leyla realizes that this death may be linked to more trouble close to home. She uses her business connections to ask a few questions and finds herself at the center of the case. A case that soon consumes both she and Sean’s lives and creates a connection that binds them together.

Leyla’s café has been a meeting place in previous novels and Leyla herself an acquaintance of other characters stories, so I was excited to see that she is getting her own book. Leyla is an interesting character in that she’s a business owner and sister to a couple of officers on the police force. She’s not a stranger to murder since both her brothers are on the force, but she is normally a supporting character. During the opening chapter when she meets Sean Moran at her brothers wedding there was an immediate connection that I found interesting despite a lack of a mystery at that point in the novel. As soon as the murder lands on her back door? This story twisted into a romantic thriller, and one that I was thrilled to be reading.

Laura Griffin has a great style of writing that makes her stories very easy to read and immerse myself in. At the same time her characters are relatable and the reader can easily like them. Leyla has always been a likable character and because I already knew her I was two steps ahead emotionally by the end of the first page. What was going to happen to Leyla? Was I going to like Sean for Leyla? What kind of danger would Leyla involve herself in? So many questions! Laura Griffin quickly moved the story forward and those questions eventually were answered in a way that helped me connect and like her even more. Sean was a little harder to figure out because he was a new character, but I liked his immediate connection and the mystery that revolved around why he was in town.

Each of the books in the Texas Murder Files series can be read alone, although you’ll see characters from previous novels pop up. They don’t really have anything to do with the current mystery and I feel like their presence doesn’t detract or confuse the reader, so feel free to pick up this book, even though it’s numbered four in the series. I really enjoyed Leyla’s spirit and Sean’s efforts in taming it. It was a good mystery too!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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!* Deep Tide

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase a book 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? (4/24/23)

Do you have a favorite genre or sub-genre in your favorite genre? I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for a great fantasy novel, but when it’s a romantic fantasy, I am in my dream sub-genre. Another sub-genre I love is a great sports romance. I’ll admit that a lot of times I’m really disappointed because I’m a girl who likes a little sports references in my sports romances and I don’t always get that, but I thought the book I just finished did a good job at delivering the goods. Let’s get to it and remember, feel free to chime in on what you’re reading as well!

JUST FINISHED

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a ton of angst in this Devney Perry novel. I’ve read a few and I had it in my had that there would be a lot of inner turmoil. There was a bit, but this was a solid second chance sports romance! I enjoyed the main characters and the setting. I don’t see a lot of books set in Montana on a college coaching staff. I was entertained!

JUST STARTED

An older book of Lucy Score’s that is having a re-release. Finally Mine is the sequel to Pretend You’re Mine which I enjoyed. I wish the author hadn’t spent so much time recapping a story I’ve already read. That plot device is one that drives me crazy- I don’t need to see the same plot through the eyes of another character, thank you very much. However, unless a book is horrible, which this isn’t, I will see it through to the end. I’m skimming all the bits I’ve read though.

I hope you’re Monday is off to a great start! Happy reading!

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads