Tag: contemporary romance

This Chick Read: Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey

When they were teenagers Sandy MacIntosh and Hank Tillman were high school sweethearts. Completely in love, both wanted to experience the world outside their small town, Hank through his music and Sandy painting the landscapes where they’d travel. Sandy’s dream unraveled when her scholarship to college got pulled and she remained at home going to the local community college. Not wanting to hold Hank back, Sandy made the difficult decision to break up with him so he could carry out his dream. 15 years later Hank is back in town, divorced, and with a son. Can Sandy live through another heartbreak of Hank leaving her again?

I’m a fan of Kerry Winfrey’s and knew that I was going to read this book as soon as I saw that she had a new release. She’s a clever writer, building great characters and snappy dialog. Just Another Love Song was exactly what I expected to read yet also a complete surprise. Almost from the moment Sandy lays eyes on Hank again, I was teary-eyed and reaching for the kleenex. This novel was not only funny, but it was also thoroughly romantic using flashbacks to tell Sandy and Hank’s teenage love story and their reunion in current time. I feel in love with both of these characters, but Sandy tugged at my heart in a way a character hasn’t in quite awhile. Her mix of nostalgia, uncertainty, and hope created a wonderfully emotional (and funny!) character. Hank too was brilliantly written, but he had parts of his dream come true and Sandy’s journey was really just beginning.

Another thing I really like about Kerry Winfrey is that she gives her heroine’s a wonderful group of friends to lean on. Her best friend Honey was the friend that all of us want to have, supportive, generous, and brutally honest with truths that may be hard to face. There were so many great characters who added moments of humor and warmth. Just Another Love Song struck all the right chords, fun, romantic, and characters who felt real. If an audiobook comes out I’ll definitely be using a credit for a re-read. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Just Another Love Song

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This Chick Read: Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

Daughter of a world famous treasure hunter and somewhat deadbeat dad, Lily Wilder makes a living off the legend that her father pursued throughout her childhood, guiding tourists on innocent treasure hunts for Butch Cassidy’s hidden treasure. When she meets her newest group of city slickers she is shocked to find her first love, Leo Grady. Her sweetheart who left her for a family emergency and dropped off the face of the earth. A week on the trail with her ex is not what she bargained for, but how much worse can it get? This story of lost love found again has quite a few hidden surprises and a whole lot of adventure.

Prior to her mother leaving, Lily loved the tales and riddles her father created, but after she left Lily’s resentment for those stories grew. She became more reserved staying loyal to those who were true to her. Ten years have gone by since Leo’s disappearance and despite her anger, this is a chance for her to find out what happened and get closure. Leo is gobsmacked when he sees Lily walking through the camp towards him, having no idea that she was heading their week of fun. He’s instantly struck by what attracted him to her and reminded of why he fell in love with her all those years ago. Their chemistry is off the charts and the reader is left dying to know why they were no longer together. The set-up to the two of them meeting was so well done and immediately grabbed the reader locking them into this adventurous love story.

Lily and Leo are not alone on this journey, and the cast of characters run from friendly to annoying but all of this adds to a story that about a third of the way in takes a right turn and takes off like a rocket jolting the readers heart and makes them unable to put this book down, at least it did for me. This trip goes completely awry and the fake treasure hunt takes center stage. Do these clues in her fathers journal actually lead to real treasure? It becomes a life or death hunt for Lily and Leo that draws them closer to each other and also to the possibility that their dream of being together can come true. Something Wilder is a cute play on words as Wilder is Lily’s last name, but it’s also a clue to the journey that the reader will take while reading this book. It starts off pretty steady but this reader was suprised as it shifted to a wild, rollicking, adventure. I eagerly flipped pages and settled in, this story took me on a wild ride and I loved it. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Something Wilder

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This Chick Read: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Hannah’s looks are her biggest deception. She dresses like a librarian and her petite size makes her seem harmless. In fact she’s anything but. She is an Executive Protection Agent, in layman’s terms, a Bodyguard and she’s just been hired to protect A-list actor and heartthrob, Jack Stapleton from his corgi-loving stalker. Jack is in Houston to visit his ill mother and plans to spend the month at his family home until she gets better. In order for Hannah to do her job she must pose as Jack’s girlfriend, keeping their real relationship a secret from his family. This means she must ditch her pantsuits and clean up her conversational skills all while keeping an eye out for danger.

Hannah, like most women in the world, finds Jack extremely attractive and being in close contact only makes that attraction grow but living in close quarters also helps her see the man behind the star qualities. Living with his family, it also becomes readily apparent that there’s a secret that has kept this family apart, with the two brothers at odds. Hannah’s own childhood wasn’t great and the idyllic farm setting and love between Jack’s parents gives her a look inside a happy marriage and makes it hard for her to keep her feelings separate from the job she needs to do and the man she needs to protect.

It’s not often I say this about a contemporary romance, but in my eyes this novel was absolutely perfect. Hannah and Jack developed a great friendship and their interactions had moments of laugh out loud humor and tenderness. Hannah may have been starstruck by Jack’s good looks, but I was gobsmacked by their connection. I have read many books by this author and for me, this is her best book yet. There were depths to these characters that connected with the reader making me root for them both. Each of them were going through personal turmoil and leaned on each other while working through those feelings. This novel is a multi-faceted gem.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Bodyguard

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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: For the Love of the Bard by Jessica Martin

Literary agent and YA novel author, Miranda Barnes, heads home to Bard’s Rest for a much needed break and hopefully find some inspiration to finish her third book against an upcoming deadline. When she arrives home she finds the town bustling for the upcoming Shakespeare-themed festival spearheaded by her own mother. Where she hopes to be a spectator, she suddenly finds herself directing one of the plays alongside her childhood heartbreak Adam. Facing the hurt from long-ago and partaking in a festival she loves creates plenty of drama and inspiration, her days filled with Shakespeare and her nights with writing that long elusive story. This romantic rom-com has all you want from a Shakespearean farce, and more!

I love themed rom-com’s and Bard’s Rest was a great set-up for the drama of past love reunited, but the town was also filled with some great characters who added a bit of fun to some tense situations. Miranda was very easy to like and I relished hearing how and why Adam chose to do what he did back when they were in high school. There was a lot of lead-up to the grand reveal, which was a little tiring, but you could feel their connection many years later. It was hard not to like Adam, he was so easy going and sweet.

As with many stories that take place in a small town, there was a lot of family filled moments as well as back stories for many characters. Sometimes these seques to other stories bother me, but For the Love of the Bard was very cohesive and smooth, these small stories adding to Mirandas story rather than taking away from it. I was really happy with the transitions and interested in every character.

You don’t have to have a love of Shakespeare to appreciate the characters and stories in this novel, but I’ll admit it would certainly help! The author very cheekily casts some of the townspeople in roles that were familiar to me and some of them paralleled real life, which was clever and fun to read. However if you aren’t familiar with the plays you will not miss out on the fun and cheekiness despite that lack of knowledge, and the love story is very satisfying too!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* For the Love of the Bard

Copyright 2022 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

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This Chick Read: Flirting with Fifty by Jane Porter

Paige Newson is comfortable with her life. She’s a divorced mom to three grown daughters and has a fabulous job as a professor at a Southern California college. Her comfortable life gets upended when she is paired with Professor Jack King to teach a brand new course that pairs math and biology. The catch? She knows Jack King, or at least she did when she was 20 years old. She had a short fling with him when she was a student in England for a semester. Something that affected her deeply and changed the course of her life. Will Paige allow Jack to challenge her comfortable world?

There aren’t too many romance novels written for characters in their 50’s, so I was a bit curious about how this author was going to portray the journey of Paige and Jack. I wasn’t disappointed at all to find that this was a slow burn romance. It made sense to me because at 50 you have lived a lot and have expectations for your life. I know I have and I’m 54. So, I wasn’t at all disappointed that Paige may have to work through the hangups she has from a failed marriage, her children still needing their mom although they are all grown up, and the fact that she is uncomfortable with her body. Unless you still have the body of your 20 year old self, of course you would be. Also, Jack is somewhat intimidating. She found him so attractive when she was 20 but she lacked confidence in herself at that age. Does she now have that confidence at 50?

Jack was wonderful. He was charming, charismatic,and felt real instead of like a caricature which he could so easily have been. He was also still as attracted to Paige at 50 as he was when he was in his mid 20’s. He has a surprising amount of patience for someone that is so active and is always on the go. However, in this case, opposites do make the best partners and I could easily see why these two would be so good for each other. It made it easy to buy into their love story.

At times this novel felt a little bit like a christian romance. I don’t think it’s actually classified that way, but if you like a tamer romance story then this may be a great fit for you. I find that I like both cool and warm temps when it comes to romance novels so I didn’t have any issues with the pace, or heat level of this novel. It was just right. So, how did this 54 year old like a romance about 50 somethings reconnecting? I enjoyed it a lot! It’s nice to not be reading about 20 or 30 somethings living in a world I’ve already lived. I found myself eager to read more!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Flirting with Fifty

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This Chick Read: A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrissey

Dee Matthews is used to airing her personal laundry on the podcast she co-hosts, well everything except what happened between she and her best friend who she has nicknamed Name Redacted. She references him all the time but hasn’t talked to him at all in a decade. When Ben Porter shows up outside her apartment door asking her to go on a roadtrip to his Gam’s he bases the impulse on a promise he made to her ten years ago, after their last road trip. In ten years time they would take the same road trip to visit his Gam, but in this case it’s to clean out her house because she’s died. Despite Ben leaving a gaping hole in her life, Dee agree’s. Ben wants his best friend Dee back in his life and Dee wants something much more, to find out the truth about why they never spoke again after that fateful trip.

A Thousand Miles had clever characters, a wonderful premise of regaining a lost friendship, and beautifully written dialog. Dee Matthews brought life to these pages with her will to say and be what Ben needed despite having huge feelings over the ending of their best-friend status in high school. Ben’s grandmother dying and a secret she revealed to him is the impetus behind him asking Dee to go on this trip with him. She was his most supportive person, the one that was always there for him despite her quirkiness and anti-social personality. He was the staid, steady popular kid that was drawn to this bright person from early childhood. Not to say that their relationship was one-sided, that steadiness was something that Dee was drawn to as well. Her childhood was filled with uncertainty, no money, and low social status. When he shows up at her door, she doesn’t really even think twice about it, she packs a bag and agrees to go. You’ve got to admire that ability to make a hard choice based on a thread of hope that they would find their way back together.

Despite their fun adventures and the moments of giddiness, this was kind of a hard book for me to read. There were just so many feelings! Dee’s feelings of abandonment, Ben’s realization that he never takes chances, their lost ten years. Aargh! I just wanted to skip through the discovery and get to the why! I was really impatient with this novel through no faults of it’s own. I just really wanted to see if this author was going to take me where I wanted this plot to go. I reigned myself in and vowed patience. I would allow this story to unfold at the pace it was meant to be read, and I was so happy that I allowed myself to do that. Dee and Ben’s trip was funny, fun, sad, and again, made me feel everything I was meant to feel.

A large part of this novel is about Dee’s podcast. Ben, as Name Redacted, is an integral character that Dee references all the time. Each chapter starts with an episode of a podcast where we get to know Dee but we also get to know Ben, or at least her underlying feelings for him. Some of these podcasts were hilarious and her co-host Javi is a guy I’d love to know in real life. Anyway, these episodes are a great tool for the reader to learn her feelings without seeing her go through all of the emotions. It’s also integral to her personality and character. Even with Ben she speaks as if she’s recording an episode. I found it really interesting to see her journey on her show at the same time as the journey they were taking in the car. Well done!

Despite my own awkward feelings while reading this novel, I thought it was great. There was humor, drama, and love that practically made my chest explode with feelings. All of the qualifications of a good romance novel, isn’t it? ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* A Thousand Miles

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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: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Nora is the literary agent to one of the most beloved romance novelists, an author whose most recent book is set in the charming little town of Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. When her little sister Libby decides they must have a girls trip to Sunshine Falls, Nora reluctantly packs her Manolo’s and heads into the countryside just to make her sister happy. Who does she run into on her first day in town? Charlie Lastra, the scowling editor who ridiculed the town of Sunshine Falls, and her author’s book. Working from the wilderness of Sunshine Falls isn’t easy and the sole bookstore that has wifi also has Charlie working at its front desk. This enemies to lovers romance has everything I love in a good vacation novel, a smart and sassy heroine, a broody hero, and something they can bond over- co-editing Nora’s author’s future novel. Two fish out of water characters who find romance in a small town….sigh.

I look forward to this time of year for a great Emily Henry novel that I can tout as the next great vacation book. This one certainly checks that box. Nora Stephen’s may have been named after Nora Ephron, but she’s no one’s romance heroine. Unlucky at romance and a little hard-nosed, Nora won’t give in on the things that are important to her just to make a man happy. Charlie Lastra grew up in the small town of Sunshine Falls but dreamed of living in New York. He never really fit in until he moved and is only home to help out his parents at the bookstore while his father is recovering from a health scare. Reading this novel and seeing these two characters realize that they are each other’s person was just so enjoyable! This story may have taken over my #1 favorite Emily Henry novel from Beach Read. Maybe.

Underneath the intricacies of great dialog and surface level snobbery, this novel reveals our characters hidden depths one page at a time until our hearts are bound to the decisions they make, most of which are based upon their love for their family. Nora’s trip to North Carolina with her sister Libby is because she’s worried about her little sister and wants to make her happy and feel that bond they had as children again. Charlie too is back home, a place where he’s never felt he belonged because of the love for his father. The soft insides of these rather hard characters are just the right amount of sweet to their salty. Any more so and it would’ve rang false but Emily Henry’s deft touch is oh so true.

It’s no surprise that I adored Book Lovers. This will be a novel that I will pick up on audiobook and re-read in the years to come. A classic love story about two people who find themselves at the same time that they find each other. I highly recommend this for your vacation book this year! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Book Lovers

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This Chick Read: Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend by Penny Reid

Public school science teacher, Winnifred Gobaldi, loves to spend her free time on her blog helping women see how cool science can be and has achieved a modest following. Her roommate’s work just received a grant that would provide dollars to bloggers who help promulgate women in STEM and she thinks Winnie would be the perfect candidate if she only had a few hundred thousand more followers. She comes up with an idea for Winnie to diversify her blog with other topics, such as makeup tutorials and trendy blog topics. She convinces Winnie to do a #bestfriend challenge with one of their male friends. Byron Visser is a bestselling author and eschews all things social media. He’s antisocial, abrupt, and is always giving an unwanted opinion. When an accidental visit on Winnie’s blog goes viral they find themselves faking a #bestfriend challenge and makes them face the truth about their feelings for each other.

I’m not sure why I was surprised by this book, because Penny Reid surprises me so often but Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend was not the book I was expecting to read. I mean this in the best way possible! It was a wonderful surprise. Winnie and Byron were such interesting characters. There was great thought and depth to their actions and as each insight was revealed it was an aha moment not just for the character but also for the reader. I felt like I was truly on the journey of discovery with the both of them.

Winnie was a fun character. She was smart, dedicated to her science and students, and also beautiful and into clothes and makeup. I thought she was an interesting mix of surface and down-deep beauty. Byron was gorgeous and surly. He had no verbal boundaries and didn’t think twice about giving his opinions, thinking he was being helpful, but instead being taken as having a superiority complex. Once Winnie started doing this challenge with Byron she had to speak up and tell him how his thoughts made her feel and his reactions gave her and us insights into Byron. He was completely clueless that that was how his words were being taken, but we also saw how much he tried to address his problems and work on speaking to Winnie the way she needed to be spoken to. Winnie herself, had issues in how she communicated as well, and we saw her character evolve in a somewhat similar way as the story went on.

I thought Ten Trends was a totally unique love story. The new trend of women in STEM romance novels is very appealing. Why wouldn’t smart women also be attractive and fall in love??? It wasn’t only the STEM portion of this book that was unique however, Byron’s character and personality issues were also not something you’d usually find in a romance novel. The two together made this novel original and very interesting. I loved their story! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book! Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend

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This Chick Read: Beard in Hiding (Winston Brothers #4.5) by Penny Reid

Diane Bonner, business woman and upstanding citizen of Green Valley, is tired of living life by the rules. Newly divorced, she wants to take chances and live on the edge. This is why she decks herself out and heads to the local biker bar, where she meets dangerous criminal and biker, “Reaper”. Wanting to keep her out of worse danger Jason “Reaper” Doe, takes her back to his room and gives her a night to remember. One night may not be enough for either of them.

I have grown to love Penny Reid’s novels. Her characters are quirky but sometimes her motives for writing about certain ones are mysterious. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I wanted to read a romance novel about two such hated characters. Even if Diane has just started redeeming herself in Cletus and Jennifer’s story, she still didn’t treat her daughter very well, and well Reaper is a criminal. Even if seeing things from their side leads me down the path to enlightenment, I just couldn’t see how it could happen. What did I learn? Never doubt the talent of Penny Reid.

Seeing through Diane and Reaper’s eyes was very enlightening. I could forgive Diane because she was married to a really bad guy who twisted her thoughts until she believed his bull pucky. I felt bad for her, but did I feel bad enough to care about her story? I guess the same could be said of Jason. He was ready to move on from his gang and the path to evil they were taking. If it wasn’t for his daughter living in the area he’d of left long ago. I don’t think there was anyone else in the city of Green Valley who could’ve been written in as his matched pair, except someone who was also hated but trying to find her way back to the light.

Full disclosure, I did not care for how this story ended. It’s the only one of her novels that didn’t reach a conclusion that I’ve liked. I also don’t see how else she could’ve ended the book, so there is that as well. LOL. All of this back and forth is probably making you wonder if I actually liked this novel. Well, I did and I didn’t. I think Penny Reid did a good job of making two despicable characters likeable enough for me to finish the novel. That’s not saying a lot because I’ve finished a lot of novels I didn’t care for but I will give this author props, she did make me care a little. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Beard in Hiding

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This Chick Read: All The Feels (Spoiler Alert #2) by Olivia Dade

Carefree leading man, Alexander Woodroe, seems to have it all, good looks, charm, and the wealth that comes from a leading role on hit tv show Gods of the Gates, but he seems to always find trouble. Or trouble seems to always find him. His producers land him with a keeper in the form of former ER therapist, Lauren Clegg. Lauren’s job is to keep him in line and not allow him to embarrass his bosses. Lauren is used to all kinds of behavior from working in an ER and as she gets to know Alex she thinks that her dirty rat cousin and producer of said show has got it all wrong. Alex has just been misdiagnosed! As they get to know each other they are aware that there’s an attraction, but is it only one-sided?

Olivia Dade strikes again! I was so overwhelmed with joy at reading Alex and Lauren’s story. As with Spoiler Alert, Lauren is not your typical pretty or girl next door heroine. She is short, round, and has a hawkish nose from an ER accident. She is also very calm, soothing, and is filled with a charming good sense. Alex while being kind, handsome, and also charming is pretty much a mess when she meets him. He’s ADHD needs to be managed and sometimes he acts without thinking of consequences, but Lauren sees that he’s not the selfish jerk that her cousin made him out to be, his actions are always in the defense of others. He is one of those rare guys that don’t even see someone’s looks, he judges people by their actions and Lauren’s actions are very attractive indeed.

This is the second story in the series about a hot guy who falls in love with an atypical woman. I say that only in a Hollywood-esque meaning. Our heroine’s are not your typical starlets, they are women like you and me, which as a reader is oh so attractive. Alex and Lauren have so many triggers that they have to overcome to let themselves be with each other. Their story is emotionally overwhelming at times, but oh so worth it! I fell in love with Alex and Lauren, and I know you will too!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase!* All the Feels

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