Tag: contemporary romance

This Chick Read: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Jess is a single mother working multiple jobs as a data and statistics wizard. She works hard to make ends meet and is too focused on being Juno’s mom to bother letting someone new in her life. After all, what’s the point, they all leave anyway. When she hears about GeneticAlly which focuses on people’s genes in order to make the perfect match she totally gets it. However, she never has any intention of spitting into a cup to find her soulmate. Dr. River Peña is one of the genius’s behind GeneticAlly and when he and Jess end up being a 98% Diamond match he can’t help but see it through. After all, he believes in the science. As they get to know each other, they click on every level so it has to be true, doesn’t it?

I loved the concept behind The Soulmate Equation. I met my husband 21 years ago through an online dating service so I had total buy in. That was about all that was similar to my own experience as this fantasy dating app is a long way from answering a series of questions on the dating service I used. It was time for Jess to catch a break and have something go her way, her life up to that point had been full of struggle. For her match to be the hot guy that she has seen in her coffee shop for the past two years seemed to be kismet. That the dating concept used genetics to create the “perfect” match was perfect for a character who was a statistic whiz and made perfect sense that it was the scientist who invented the concept, and as I got to know our main couple I couldn’t help but feel they were meant to be.

I loved both of these characters. Jess’s struggles to give her daughter the childhood she didn’t have, and as we got to know River we learned that he wasn’t always the handsome scientist he was today. He was actually quite the geek who excelled academically at a very young age. They both had their struggles and their connection was off the charts. It’s rare that I read a romance novel that gives me goose bumps anymore and this novel definitely did.

As with the other Christina Lauren novels I’ve read the dialog is fun and the romance sizzling. This was an easy book to read and get lost in. If you’re looking for that story that will take you away from your troubles The Soulmate Equation is the perfect match. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase!* The Soulmate Equation

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

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This Chick Read: Going Wild (The Wild Ones #2) by C. M. Owens

Moving to Tomahawk, Washington was not a part of Liam’s life plan. As the owner of multiple galleries and various other businesses he has made tons of money and was coasting through life. When Kylie Malone joins his skydiving group she ends up saving his life and also changing the direction of it. Spending weeks together as she nurses him back to health he completely falls for her, but he forgot one thing. He forgot to tell her he had a girlfriend. Kylie left him and left town for Tomahawk, and one year later Liam follows. He though Kylie was a sweet girl and she kept trying to warn him, but it wasn’t until he moved to her hometown and saw how crazy that corner of the world was he only knew one thing. Despite the craziness she was the one for him.

I bought this book immediately after reading the first book The Wild Ones. I wrote that review and raved above it in July 2018. It was the funniest book in the world, so why did I let this book sit in my Kindle for almost three years??? I had two weeks between Arc’s and could read anything I wanted so I’ve been going through my Kindle and cleaning books out but reading the first couple of chapters. If by the second chapter I wasn’t hooked I was deleting them. By Chapter two of Going Wild I was laughing so hard I was crying and I ended up reading it straight through. Oh my gosh I have not laughed out loud like this in a long time. What made it so great? Well, it’s really hard to describe, but I’ll try to give a couple of hints.

Tomahawk- There are four families of Wild Ones in Tomahawk and Kylie is a Malone which is one of those crazy families. They are loving in a pretty physical way. I don’t mean they are getting it on all the time, they are fighting, blowing things up, and playing pranks on each other. Their level of fun is to the extreme. When Liam moves to Tomahawk, he doesn’t know any better and moves to the wrong side of the lake from Kylie. He moves in next door to the Vincent’s, who were featured in the first book. When he moves there he is one of the only non-bearded men in town (long story but read the first book) and the ladies are trying to butter him up with casseroles and baked goods but he is waiting for Kylie to make an appearance and doesn’t have eyes for any other woman. Ahhh.

Kylie- She is the only female in the Malone pack. Surrounded by her 5 male cousins and father once she see’s Liam she not only has to run off all the females in town who are trying to woo him away with their culinary skills she has to protect him from her family. Although, really she doesn’t.

Liam- at first I thought “this was our hero” because he was kind of icky. However, when he got to Tomahawk that ick turned into determination and you have to admire a guy who knows what he wants, changes his whole life for her, and goes after her.

Going Wild has too many wild situations and hijinks to even try to get you all to understand or comprehend, but if your in the mood, and I definitely was, this book will light you up it is so funny. It is slapstick humor so if that isn’t your thing, please move on. If you want to take a chance and have Kindle Unlimited it is part of your subscription and you can give it a try. Because I needed a good laugh and got one from Going Wild this is a five star read from me. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase. Going Wild (The Wild Ones Book 2)

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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It’s Monday, what are you reading? (5/10/21)

Between my husband coming home after a three week absence and Mother’s Day I only managed to finish one book this weekend and haven’t yet started the next, but I do know what it will be. Let’s get to the details!

This post originated over on Book Date, so thanks for the idea and letting me continue on the discussion about what books I am reading.

JUST FINISHED

Someone very nicely dropped off Under Currents by Nora Roberts in my Little Library which I hadn’t yet read, yay! I’ve had it tucked away on my stack for a few months but finally found a moment in between ARC’s to read this one, knowing I’d get into it quickly. I love a consistent author! True enough I didn’t have trouble as it launched right into one of the underlying plots and I was enmeshed in the story. I enjoyed this one a lot if you haven’t read it yet.

JUST STARTED

I need to read and review this book by the launch date and let’s be honest, it’s no hardship. This looks totally cute. I can’t wait to get started….. possibly tonight.

What books do you have on your kindle that will be getting you through the next week? Please let me know in the comments. I love finding new books to add to my TBR.

Happy Monday!

Deb

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This Chick Read: Make It Sweet by Kristen Callihan

Emma is known for her role as Princess Anya on Dark Castle when at the read through for the final episode she finds out she is being killed off. Returning early to her home she finds her boyfriend getting it on with their waitress from the night before. Needless to say, it was a very bad day. Needing something to relax away from the camera’s and attention she decides to stay at the villa of a friend of her grandmother’s. Lucien has a life threatening injury on the ice and is hiding away at his grandmother’s villa when she asks him to pick up her good friend’s granddaughter at the airport. Grumpy about being manipulated into doing something he didn’t want to do when he picks Emma up he is surly especially when Emma (who he has always been a big fan of) doesn’t recognize him in return. Mixing slapstick humor with a really sweet love story Kristen Callihan again gives us flawed characters we can love as well as some amazing food that had me searching the cupboards for anything sweet.

Make It Sweet although a stand alone novel has a couple of characters from Kristen Callihan’s last book Dear Enemy. Macon Saint is Emma’s love interest on the series Dark Castle. He and Delilah’s wedding takes place in Make It Sweet and it’s fun to see the conclusion to their romance. However, if you never read that book they would still be utterly charming and you wouldn’t miss anything by not having read Dear Enemy, so please pick up this book. I feel like I need to explain the series Dark Castle that both Emma and Macon star in. As a comparison think Game of Thrones style violence and sex. So you can see part of Lucien’s aggravation at meeting Emma and she not knowing who he is whereas he is a big fan and has seen her almost completely naked. It makes for some funny scenes where he is aggravated and she’s completely clueless, although in a very smart way. This is no dumb blonde.

Usually it’s the heroine in these stories that I’m more drawn to because, hello, I am a girl and can identify with a woman better. However, Lucien’s trauma was more interesting to me and had more long term affects on him psychologically. How was this pro hockey player going to get past this life altering injury. I won’t ruin the surprise but we find out that Lucien is a man of many talents and this other talent of his is brought out to woo Emma, although I don’t think he knew that was what he was doing at first. I’ll admit to feeling a little woo’d myself and wished my own husband had this same talent. LOL

Make it Sweet is a charming story about two totally likable characters, one sweet and one surly. They are both working through some tough life altering drama’s and despite those hours despairing over their future they decide to let love into their lives. I really liked their message and I loved these two characters, as well as some of the side characters in the story. This one is worth picking up and if you have Kindle Unlimited it’s in your subscription. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase!* Make It Sweet

Copyright 2021 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: Falling in Luck by Mary Ann Marlowe

Mallory Pech thinks she’s cursed by bad luck. Her best friend Benji Chance thinks there is no such thing as bad luck, you make your own. When Jean-Luc Chevalier, the very charming and gorgeous son of her company’s CEO comes to New York on a business trip Mallory crushes hard and is determined to catch his eye. Surprisingly this time she does! When he proposes a marriage of convenience Mallory decides to seize the day and joins him back in Paris for a 30 day trial run. The only problem is that she misses her best friend dreadfully, and Jean-Luc’s family is not like she imagined from their picture on Instagram. Could it be that she was never unlucky at love and her hearts desire was in front of her the whole time?

Despite knowing where this story was going right from the get-go I thought Falling in Luck was a lot of fun. Mallory was funny and sweet, if not a little naivé about a few things, but I over-looked them because I love a good redemption romance and she and Benji were just too cute for words and I wanted their HEA . The only down-side is that Benji spent a lot of the novel on the other side of the pond while Mallory was in over her head in Paris.

It would have been so easy to write this novel so the reader would hate Jean-Luc, but he was French, good looking, and charming and obviously had a soft spot for the terminally klutzy Mallory. I mean I’m surprised this girl didn’t walk in front of a bus in Paris while looking the wrong way! Jean-Luc, while having a lot of his own problems stuck by her and was her savior so I, of course, couldn’t hate him. However, their coupledom was doomed from the start and I’ll admit I was a little antzy to get to the real romance. When was Benji going to come after Mallory? Ultimately he arrived, but I would’ve been a little happier if it had happened sooner.

Ms. Marlowe has always written great characters and I loved Mallory, Benji, and Jean-Luc as well as the other cast of characters in the book. Like I said previously, they were all so easy to like but it was apparent from the start who the hero was going to be in this story despite the two charming men vying for our obtuse, sweet, Mallory. I’m all for self-discovery novels (and boy did Mallory need to find herself) but I was in the mood for romance and there’s no place like Paris for taking that next step towards love. Ah Amour! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this ARC from the author for my honest review and it was honest!

Click this link to purchase!* Falling in Luck

Copyright 2021 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: Dear Enemy by Kristen Callihan

Receiving a text from who she thinks is her sister Sam, Delilah responds and starts a text conversation from her childhood nemesis Macon Saint. Macon, who teased and tormented her through her formative years. When she discovers that her sister had been working for now mega tv star Macon as his assistant and stole an invaluable piece of jewelry she faces her fears and tries to make amends. Unfortunately her offer is rebuffed and turns into a job as his new assistant and personal chef. Picking up where they left off they re-engage by teasing and tormenting each other except this time it feels very different.

I’m a big fan of Kristen Callihan’s style of writing. It’s so easy to find something to like in her characters. In this case Delilah is sassy, doesn’t have trouble standing up for herself, and is a normal size woman who likes to eat. Macon’s past behavior makes way for this new sexy Macon who disarms her by turning her old nickname Tot into a term of affection. Pretty soon they are developing an affection for each other that makes Delilah uncomfortable and Macon say ‘finally!’.

I love the enemies to lovers trope and this one is handled really well. Clever dialog, serious attraction, and lots of hurry up and wait. This is a slow burn romance so if you like sexy times from the moment they meet again, you have to wait a bit until the heat gets turned up. I like slow burn romances because it gives the characters time to connect and in the case of Delilah and Macon they had a lot of hurt to overcome. Macon caused a lot of trauma for a sensitive teenaged Delilah which scarred her future. I loved how horribly he felt and how hard he worked to make things right.

I’m so glad I got around to reading this because I bought it in March of last year when it came out. The best thing about waiting to read it is that she has another book out now. These aren’t a series, but they live in the same world which can be interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing how the connection plays out. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Dear Enemy

Copyright 2021 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: Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

Ruthie Midona has worked at Providence Retirement Villa for the last six years and her plan is to never leave. When her boss goes on vacation and leaves her in charge she’s got everything handled until the new owner’s decide to rock the boat by dumping Teddy Prescott on the premises. Teddy, is young, tattooed, hot, and charmed. He’s the owner’s son and needs a place to stay for a couple of months while he earns the money to buy into a partnership on his own tattoo shop. To earn that money Ruthie has him interview with the Perloni sisters, two of Providence’s long time residents, and two of the most difficult. Sharing the space beside her own residence she and Teddy build a friendship that may change one of their long term plans.

Second First Impressions was the follow up novel I have been waiting for from Sally Thorne. As author of the critically acclaimed and beloved The Hating Game I was hugely disappointed in her follow up novel 99 Percent Mine. THIS novel, aptly named Second First Impressions, is my own second first impression of this author and the talent she obviously has to write a story that touches our hearts. Ruthie is the struggling awkward heroine that most of us ladies always felt we were and Teddy is that untouchable guy who seems like he has it all together but actually needs that one person to believe in him to help him overcome his own insecurities. They are my new favorite friendship and I definitely want to read this novel again to see what I missed the first time.

You know when you are reading a novel and the pace, setting, and characters just seem to give off that golden, magical glow? That was this novel for me. Ruthie, despite her uncertainty in how to respond to this gorgeous guy had this persona of certainty in how she responded to his attempts at seduction. Keeping him at arms length when she really wants to wrap him in her arms and hold him for as long as she has him. The way these two gave each other strength was magical and I’ll admit to finding myself reaching for that box of tissue quite a few times as they navigated their way through adulting.

Truly great novels also have a cast of characters that add to the story and help round out our protagonists. Melanie, Ruthie’s office assistant is one of those characters that help add definition and depth. She is the third party in Teddy and Ruthie’s budding friendship adding humor and likability to their small gatherings while also giving Ruthie a reason to stretch her wings by signing her up on a dating site to help her meet people outside the retirement community. The other two awesome characters that add some light-hearted humor to the story are the Perloni sisters. As their assistant, Teddy is put through the wringer of what should be embarrassing errands all of which he handles with aplomb and good humor. Those two ladies rounded out the cast of what is a wonderful novel.

I loved the way Second First Impressions made me feel as I read it. It was magical, made me laugh, cry, and generally I just felt good reading this novel. These characters were able to have their own second first impressions with each other but it also enabled me to give this author another glance and another chance. I am so glad I did. Sally Thorne has some serious writing skills and I am again waiting eagerly for her next novel. After I read this one again, and again, and again.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Second First Impressions: A Novel

Copyright 2021 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: Wild Fire and Wild Wind (Chaos #6.5 and #6.6) by Kristen Ashley

Wild Fire and Wild Wind are both novellas released under the 1001 Dark Nights umbrella. I’ve read a few other authors 1001 Dark Nights novellas and I will say that Kristen Ashley delivers the most complete story arc’s in her novellas leaving the reader satisfied as if they’d read an entire story. In fact, in Kristen Ashley’s case, I actually prefer a more succinct story as her longer novels sometimes get too wrapped up in descriptions of outfits and rooms on the way to finally telling the story. These two stories were short, but wrapped up the storyline of their father who died long ago. A father who was much loved by his Chaos MC brothers, leaving a legacy behind that both boys, now men have had to live up to. These two brothers, Dutch and Jaggar, have dealt with the death of their father in different ways and through meeting their ladies finally are able to deal with his death and his legacy as a Chaos MC brother.

WILD FIRE

Part of the legacy their father left behind was his love for his wife, Keely, and how he set eyes on her and she him and the rest was history. They were together from that moment on. Dutch follows in his fathers footsteps. Despite Georgie’s bad attitude when they first meet he’s undeniably drawn to her and once she drops that attitude he finds her kookiness “cute”. I wish I could say that I found her kookiness cute too, but unfortunately it wore a little thin for me. At first it was different, but as I kept reading I just couldn’t see why, other than their looks, these two totally different types of characters would be drawn to each other. I did like how she helped him deal with the emotions from his father’s legacy, so that redeemed her a small bit.

I did enjoy the story. Dutch was trying to help a troubled kid deal with the murder of his father. In true KA style, she brings in a bunch of characters from other novels to help. Of course, the Chaos MC brothers, his step-father Hound, but also Eddie and Hank from the Rock Chick series. I enjoyed how everyone rallied and that story arc was completed. One other thing that I loved about this novel is that it was more story than love scenes. In the past couple of years you never knew what kind of KA novel you were going to get. Hard core love scenes or a novel with a great story. In this novella you get more of the second than the first. I applaud that choice! ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Jaggar is the younger brother of Dutch, and his story feels different than his brothers. He, too has lived with the legacy of his father but he was just a tot when his father died and doesn’t remember him at all and had dealt with those emotions in a different way. He is a party guy, not taking anything seriously and running through women indiscriminately. However, he has a much deeper back story to his romance with the heroine, Archie that gives his story more gravitas.

A teenage Jaggar was visiting his father’s grave when he see’s a funeral going on at a grave nearby. He notices the teenage girl sitting in front of the grave and their eyes connect. He leaves a note on the headstone letting her know that although she is sad now, that things will get better, life will move forward. Over the next 10 years they connect briefly until they get to now when he see’s her chasing down the street after a young kid and decides to help out. He decides the timing is right for the two of them, but she is done. She feels betrayed that he’s stayed away over the years and that the promise in his note wasn’t kept. Archie is why this story is so good and as it goes on you want to know her even more. Unlike Georgie, Archie is serious and seriously cool.

The story arc in Wild Wind is focused around Archie and the kids she supports. These are latch-key kids who don’t have anywhere to go for a few hours before their parents get home. There is one kid in particular that Jaggar is drawn to, and he moves in to help when he realizes this kid is in trouble. Through helping him, he is able to deal with his feelings over his fathers death and with Archie’s help breaks through the emotional roadblock he has put up to avoid those feelings. For me, this was handled well and it helped me connect with Jaggar and Archie much more so than the story in Wild Fire did for Dutch and Georgie.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

If you have read these Chaos MC novels and know the story of John Black, how he died, and how that death affected the Chaos characters, I think you’ll enjoy these novellas. They feel very different than each other which is good because Jaggar and Dutch despite being brothers are nothing alike. Neither are Georgie and Archie. I did enjoy one book more than the other but I do think both of these were good solid stories and the romances made sense for the characters.

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Marriage on Madison Avenue (The Central Park Pact #3) by Lauren Layne

Audrey Tate and Clarke West have been best friends since they were kids. They’ve watched been the third wheel in each other’s romances and despite two fake engagements have never had a romantic entanglement. When Clarke’s mom starts to matchmake again and tries to set him up with an ex-girlfriend he turns to Audrey for help again asking for fake engagement #3. However, this time they have to fake a few kisses and the engagement goes on longer than it ever has before. Audrey starts to see Clarke differently and those feelings are returned. How can they go back to being best friends after these feelings have been released?

The third novel in The Central Park Pact, Audrey was for me, the least interesting out of the three friends who made a pact to save each other when they were headed for trouble with the wrong man. She always seemed a little flighty but in this novel I got to see that she had a little more depth than I’d given her credit. She is a social influencer and has a huge following. When she is attacked online for her most recent break-up she agree’s to Clarke’s fake engagement to help her get this blogger off her back. What she doesn’t count on is her followers going gaga over her bridal posts. She gets caught up in the fun, trying on dresses and eating cake and lets the lie propagate. All while starting to have feelings for her best friend. These feelings aren’t one-sided Clarke is also starting to see her as a beautiful woman, not just his beautiful friend.

This was the least surprising book of the three in The Central Park Pact series. Audrey and Clarke were totally likable and their friendship was always on solid ground. There weren’t any hidden feelings and insecurities that they had to work through they just had to decide do we or don’t we? I enjoyed following along on their marriage preparations but would have liked a little more conflict, but it was an enjoyable read.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Marriage on Madison Avenue (3) (The Central Park Pact)

Copyright 2021 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: Still Standing (Wild West MC #1) by Kristen Ashley

Clara was married to who she thought of as the man of her dreams when the rug was pulled out from under her. He was arrested for embezzling life savings from the elderly to pay for her home and in a gated community and the Mercedes she drove. Duped by her husband and castigated by the general public, Clara retreated to a slum-like apartment trusting only her childhood friend. Except for that friend was married to a low-level gangster. Good intentions went bad when Clara agree’s to run errands for her friend’s husband, bringing her to the attention of some rather unsavory low-life’s. Which is how she meets Buck, President of the Aces High MC. He takes one look at Clara and decides it’s the beginning of them. Clara somehow misses that message until she runs into trouble again and Buck and his MC bail her out.

I feel like I’m on a roll with Kristen Ashley novels. I’m really enjoying them lately. Still Standing is a woman in jeopardy trope, which Kristen Ashley in her earlier novels did so well. Clara is a good girl that just doesn’t understand how and why she got herself into this position. Buck, as the president of an MC, is not the man she ever thought she’d end up with, but then look how her last husband turned out. On the surface he was bright, shiny, and clean but underneath he was dirty. Buck is kind of the reverse. On the surface he is rough and dirty, but he actually lives by a code and that code is brotherhood and honor. Clara see’s that and wants to be good enough for him. Unfortunately, she feels dirty and doesn’t see herself as being good enough for him. It’s a really interesting twist on the usual MC novel. I’ll admit I liked this pair as a couple. I also liked the way Kristen Ashley told the story. It really reminded me of what I loved so much about Mystery Man, Tyra and Tack’s story from long ago. Also, one of my favorite KA novels. Another good girl with a slightly unsavory MC President. This one not quite so clean as Buck and his brothers, but just as fascinating.

I have really high hopes for this newest MC series. There was some great physicality, but there was also a lot of story packed into this novel as well. It had a nice even balance and I didn’t find myself skimming through sex scenes to get to the plot. If you want to read a Kristen Ashley series from the start, I’d read this novel. As I said above, it has the feel of the Chaos novels, and if you like it you have 8 of those to go back and read. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Still Standing (Wild West MC Series Book 1)

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

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