Tag: contemporary romance

This Chick Read: Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

Lauren Parker has gone through a few iterations in her life. Teenage hell-raiser, sister to a movie star, and tragically widowed single mother. When she and daughter take a trip out to California to visit with her brother on his movie set she meets actor Ben Walsh. They have instant chemistry and Lauren takes that chance to have that moment for herself and be seen. When their sexy encounter becomes something more Lauren has to decide if there’s room in both their lives for this relationship. He star is rising and she lives in a small town in Minnesota.

Elissa Sussman uses flashbacks about Lauren’s relationship with her childhood friend/husband Spencer as a way to show the reader Lauren is still working through her grief, while at the same time explaining a spirit within that never truly died out, even as she had settled down with her husband and started a family. This “explanation” helps the reader make that jump into how a small town mother can hook up with a beautiful movie star who is more than ten years her junior. That rebellious nature hasn’t completely died out despite her being a single mom raising a teenager who is quite spirited herself.

The relationship between she and Ben was lovely and not to take anything away from the romance of it, stands on its own. However, it’s what she learns about herself as she’s exploring that relationship is the heart of the story. Her grief is balanced by her will to live a full life. She and Ben’s exploration of each other and a possible future relationship is a way to move on from the very loving marriage she had with Spencer. The dual nature of this author’s storytelling was deftly written and really showed Lauren’s growth in all aspects of her life.

I haven’t read all of this author’s novels, but as I was reading I was reminded about how much I enjoy her style of writing. I need to go look at her backlist and see what I’ve been missing out on! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Totally and Completely Fine

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This Chick Read: Relationship Goals by Brittany Kelley

Abigail Hunt lands a lead dramatic role and is sent by the director to shadow an executive at the local pro soccer team. When she meets grumpy super star Luke Wolfe she is entertained by his surly demeanor and doesn’t let his nature cast shadows on her good nature. Despite his surliness he’s charmed and distracted by her personality and despite being coerced by the owners to show her around he wants to see her again and asks her out on a date. When she finds out he’s faking the relationship she decides to get even.

I was drawn to this romance because hello! It’s a sports romance and I have a fondness for those, especially involving soccer players. I loved the fake dating premise and the fact that Luke was the grumpy hero. What I ended up liking about the book after reading it was how sweet Luke actually was. Abi was so easy to like and her bubbly personality easily broke through Luke’s walls and I very easily fell for this couple. The reader was let in on the fact that Luke didn’t ask Abi out willingly so her foray into revenge was a letdown. I hated seeing her character lose that sparkle in her eye.

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a sweet, slightly surly romance that won’t take me too long to get into and not long to finish. This novel exceeded my expectations and I’ll be sure to take a look at this author’s other novels. This was my first Brittany Kelley novel and it was enjoyable!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Relationship Goals

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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: Problematic Summer Romance (Not In Love#2) by Ali Hazelwood

Maya Killgore has been in love with her brothers best friend for three years and she just can’t get over her feelings. They haven’t talked in almost a year but her brother’s destination wedding is going to force them to be together for one week straight. Maya knows she can handle it, but being with Conor Harkness is going bubble all of those feelings to the surface and she’ll have to face being treated like a child by the man she loves. Conor has a real problem with their age difference. Maya is twenty-three and Conor is thirty-eight. She decides a summer fling might be just what she needs even if it’s a problematic one.

I really do love all of Ali Hazelwood’s female protagonists. Maya may be only twenty-three but she is a brilliant scientist. Her outlook on life through that microscope lense does make her a bit more mature than your average young woman starting a career, but there are moments when the reader is reminded of her inexperience. Most of those are seen through flashbacks to three years ago when she and Conor really got to know each other. I think they are supposed to represent not only their history, but also a contrast to how young she was then to the more mature Maya three years later. It works a bit, she does know what she wants, but without a little life experience she does seem a little young. Conor on the other hand, at thirty-eight does have his own business, but is a bit emotionally stunted from things he went through in his youth. He’s older, but feels a little younger. That narrows down their age difference to around 12 years. Does that really matter? Each reader is going to have their own opinion on that scenario. Despite Conor’s bringing it up all the time, I wouldn’t really have noticed the age difference.

In this novel, the author returns to a slow burn format. This is where our two romantic leads percolate through the whole book, building tension until the reader wants to give them a good shove in order to get the romance started. With the main conflict being their age difference, I really liked that they didn’t immediately get physical. I think that would have felt a bit icky, but because the tension built by the time they declared their feelings and got physical, their age difference felt natural and the reader was able to enjoy the story.

Ali Hazelwood is exploring a lot of themes in her books lately. The theme of an age difference in Problematic Summer Romance was interesting and surprisingly hot. Conor had that perfect amount of surly Alpha that the author does so well and Maya had just enough brilliance to match his experience. This novel is going to appeal to a lot of her readers. I know I enjoyed it.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Problematic Summer Romance

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This Chick Read: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist. She’s still searching for her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize winning grump. They are both on Little Crescent Island on a one month trial to write the biography of the octogenarian who claims to be THE Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress from one of the most storied families in modern history. Despite the odds, Alice is keeping her head in the game, because Hayden is looking at her like she is the competition. The problem is that neither she nor Hayden are getting the whole story, only the pieces that Margaret chooses to share with them and they’ve signed NDA’s and despite their yearning for each other, they aren’t allowed to share any information they’ve learned. Margaret’s biography could be anything, a romance, a mystery, or a tragedy depending upon which one of them tells it.

I look forward to Emily Henry’s novels every year and this year I was lucky enough to have a vacation planned when it was released. A slight departure from her usual the more romantic genre, this novel told two sets of stories, the one that Margaret chose to share with Alice, and the relationship that was developing between Alice and Hayden. Each of them were interesting but I’ll be honest and say that I’m here for the romance and both stories had an abundance.

Alice was all bright colors, smiles, and charm and Hayden was serious, quiet and just slightly grumpy. He was charmed by Alice even though she was a talking whirlwind. Emily Henry did such a great job developing their friendship through the huge amount of chemistry they were feeling. The reader felt how much they liked each other, not just how much they wanted each other. For me, that’s the best kind of romance. I couldn’t forget that they were competing for the honor of writing this legend’s story. The reader only got the conversations between Margaret and Alice so I was definitely team Alice, but as the novel went on you could tell that they may not have been getting the same kind of information. It was intriguing and interesting and I wanted to learn more- so I kept reading and the tale just got more riveting.

I don’t want to give away even one bit of this story more than what I’ve already said but I do want to say that if you love old Hollywood glamour then you’ll also love Margaret’s story and won’t be bored with those flashbacks. She was a bit of a wild child and came from a family with a lot of loaded history so you never knew what you were going to get from one chapter to the next. Despite my love of romance and Alice and Hayden, I really wanted to learn the mystery that was Margaret too. The author did a great job of giving the reader just that little bit more in every chapter to keep them reading to find out the next tidbit.

Even though this was a different kind of Emily Henry novel, I wasn’t disappointed in the least. I know I’ll be grabbing the audiobook soon becauses the estimable Julia Whelan is the narrator and she will give these characters even more life than the author. I can’t wait! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Great Big Beautiful Life

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This Chick Read: Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler

Nina Hunnicutt just had her life turned upside down. She lost her job, her boyfriend, and her apartment in one feel swoop. Her parents offer her her childhood room and she has no choice but to accept. When she returns home, embarrassed, she realizes that her childhood best friend and first crush, Quentin Bell has moved in next door. They haven’t talked in seventeen years since he moved out of town after they fought. Her first day back, he approaches her about continuing the treasure hunt which they had argued about, and reluctantly she agrees. She’s older and wiser, what could happen? Well, Quentin’s older and wiser too, and much more good looking. This treasure hunt reveals not only the secrets they kept from each other in the past but also reveals things about their future that they’ll have to overcome to be together.

Just as with Sarah Adler’s other novels, I found myself on a journey as I read this novel. Nina and Quentin have both had a bit of bad luck and this story is about fixing the things that have gone wrong in their own lives as well as trying to navigate to a place where they can have a future together. Their seventeen years apart meant they were definitely not the same people they were in their teenage years, but at times it actually felt like they had the emotional combined age of a seventeen year old again. I got a little frustrated at their miscommunications but ultimately they got their act together, solved a mystery and still fell for each other doing it in a way that was interesting and enjoyable to 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!* Finders Keepers

Copyright 2025 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: Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston

Joni Lark is one of the most coveted songwriters in Los Angeles, but she’s hiding a secret. She has writer’s block. Hoping a scenic change will help her create, she heads home to Vienna Shores, North Caroline to find her best friend acting strange, and her parents announcement they are selling The Revelry, their family-owned concert venue that helped inspire Joni to write. Mired in depression on top of her writer’s block Joni starts hearing a melody in her head, and a voice. A male voice, who is sweet, charming, and is also hearing the same melody. When Sasha shows up in Vienna Shores as a real person, he presents to her an idea to write this song together and hopefully get out of each other’s heads.

Ashley Poston always does a great job of writing gentle stories with a hint of magical realism. In this case, Joni and Sasha can hear each other’s thoughts which is awkward as heck but also creates an immediate intimacy between them. They don’t have to go through the motions of getting to know each other because they hear what the other is thinking, despite the uncomfortableness of that singular thought. The fact they met one other time and he was a complete A@@ made their current situation harder, but as they got to know each other and build that trust the magic of being able to talk to each other in their heads became secondary to the feelings they began to feel as they worked on this song together. The build-up was a slow burn, but the outcome was worth the wait.

The setting for this novel, a small beach town in North Carolina and their small concert venue The Revelry, really cast a golden, vintage light on the comings and goings of their community and Joni’s family. I loved how Joni fighting through her writer’s block was the juxtaposition against the other two story lines, her best friend’s growing discontent, and her mother’s health issues. As Joni figured out her path the conflicts in the other two plots ebbed and flowed with her decisions. It was really good writing by this author.

This novel is being hyped as one of the most looked forward to reads this summer and I can agree. It will be the perfect book to throw in your beach bag and take a step away from reality. Enjoy! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Sounds Like Love

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

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This Chick Read: Slow Burn Summer by Josie Silver

Charlie Francisco saw his screenwriting career die along with his divorce and inherited his father’s talent agency. His first job is to find someone to act the job of a romance author for a book that is about to be released. Kate Elliott hasn’t had an acting job since she was a teenager, but now that she’s recently divorced she needs to find work. She sends a letter to her old agent but it lands in the hands of his son, Charlie. When Kate walks in the door for her interview he knows she’s the perfect person to play this unusual role. She’s act as this author, who doesn’t want anything to do with the book or launch, and help the book become a success. What they both don’t count on is for her to go viral, sending the book to the top of the bestselling list.

This was quite an unusual premise and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about a main character whose job is to act like an author. When Kate was introduced, however, I immediately loved her. She was sad, sassy, a bit of a hot mess, and totally irresistible. She made her job totally believable that I couldn’t help but like her. Charlie, too, seemed to find her zaniness attractive. The two of them had immediate chemistry but their relationship leaned towards friendship more than a hot romance, at least at first. When things started to become difficult he was the shoulder she leaned on and the slow burn romance began.

Kate was really the star of this book. She had some great monologues, her relationship with her sister is one that any family of girls would want to emulate, and we can all bond over her terrible ex. He was really kind of horrible. Most importantly, we got to read a great redemption arc. Kate overcame adversity and we were lucky enough to bear witness to her comeback. I love those types of novels! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Slow Burn Summer

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

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This Chick Read: Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper had just arrested three men taking down hikers in the Western Maryland mountains with her partner, when they stopped at a convenience store. Sloan walked right into a robbery in progress and got shot in the chest almost losing her life. She was shocked back to life on the operating table and took some time off to recover at her family’s home in Heron’s Rest. Having a hard time not working, when Sloan hears of a woman who goes missing leaving her car behind in a grocery store parking lot she searches through the database for similar cases. She finds a lot of cases matching the description but nothing ties the victims together. The new man in her life, Nash, proves to be a great sounding board for her theories and with his help she soon finds that missing connection.

There’s just something about the comfort of reading one of Nora Roberts romantic suspense novels. Her pacing is steady, allowing her to build the characters back stories and allow the reader the time to really connect with and care for the characters, but she also develops the romance at that same pace. The two plots don’t outdo each other but rather complement each other so that moving from the romance to the mystery doesn’t distract from the other but rather adds to it. I loved that especially about Hidden Nature.

Sloan’s rehab from her wounds gives the reader a great gage of her head space. She’s exhausted, then frustrated, then angry, then resolved and we’re along for the ride with each of those feelings. When she’s finally ready to embrace those romantic feelings for Nash the reader is brought along seemlessly into those new emotions and is ready for Sloan to feel better, so begins to root for their romance and for Nash to jump on the we love Sloan bandwagon. Of course, he does, and that part of the story feels very natural.

The hardest part for me to read was from the killer’s point of view. Of course, it’s natural to feel uncomfortable, but I kind of wished for a little less of them and more of Sloan and Nash. That’s my only criticism of a really solid novel.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book! Hidden Nature

Copyright 2025 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: It’s A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Jane Jackson has built her adult life on the mantra ‘Fake It Until You Make It’. Her childhood was spent on a sitcom as the sidekick “Janey Jakes” but now she’s trying to make it as a Hollywood Executive. When she claims to be able to talk a popular musician, Jack Quinlan, into writing a track to help them launch a movie she’s pitching Jane has to ask for help from her one-time crush Dan Finnegan. Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown and she needs Dan’s connections to help her, well, connect with Jack. A week in close quarters with Dan is Jane’s idea of hell, but stranger things have surprised her.

I recently discovered this author when I finally listened to an audiobook that I’d purchased of one of her other books, and fell in love. I love her style of writing, her lovable yet flawed characters, and most of all that slow burn romance. Annabel Monaghan believes in that big build-up in tension and I just love how that makes me eagerly turn the pages. It’s a Love Story had me feeling all that pent-up emotion that I remembered from the first novel of hers I read, Phoebe Goes Off Script. When combined with humor, charm, and an emotional punch you are left with one stand-up novel that’s just really easy to sit back, read, and enjoy.

Dan was set up to be this kind of co-worker jerk who had stood in Jane’s way on another project but by the end of this novel he was the sweet misunderstood hero that every woman wants to meet. On the flip side, Jack Quinlan is the trauma from Jane’s past that serves as a tool for the conflict Jane’s character needs to overcome to believe in love. The juxtaposition of her past and present with the men from her present and past really gave this novel a punch of feeling. I loved Jane’s journey but especially when she and Dan finally work things out. I can’t wait to listen to this book on audio because I think a great narrator could make me love it even more the second time around.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* It’s a Love Story

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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: Not So Fast by Karen Booth

Mia Neal has a love for F1 racing and when a friend suggests she starts her own podcast she thought it would be her little side gig. When her comments about struggling racer, Xander Bishop, goes viral her podcast gains popularity. When Xander’s rival invites her to the Miami Grand Prix she accepts his invitation and meets Xander for the first time. Sparks fly during a confrontation and he invites her to the next race as his guest. Will her new fans understand her relationship with Xander?

What’s not to like about this story? First, I, like many of the US, has gotten to know and love F1 racing and reading a story set in that world intrigued me. Second, podcasts are just the thing in romance novels right now, so combining those two things seemed a smart strategy. Mia and Xander were totally likable characters, with both being surprisingly down to earth and normal. Xander didn’t throw his money around, was a family man, and his struggle to succeed in the F1 world was an interesting take. Mia, too, had a great back story and a struggle to overcome and her need to stay true to herself and her fan base gave her character a truthfulness that you just couldn’t turn away from. I liked them both!

The only thing missing for me was that the author toned down the glitz and glamour in order to make the characters real and easier for the reader to connect with. I would’ve actually liked to read about the behind the scenes world in F1 racing including the money and fashion. However, what we got was still fun and made for a great 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!* Not So Fast

Copyright 2025 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