This Chick Read: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Amor Towles has written an elegantly worded story about Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat who was sentenced to house arrest in the grand Metropol hotel in Moscow. Set in 1922 when being an aristocrat was considered dangerous to the new Bolshevik regime, this fascinating glimpse into life at that time captured my heart, as did Alexander Rostov. 

You may think Alexander’s life would be encapsulated, and in some ways it was. He couldn’t leave the Metropol, but as it was located across the street from the Kremlin, everyone at some point passed through its doors. Alexander, used to living in the upper eschelon of society, did have to make changes. Gone were the large room of suites he had inhabited before his sentence. He was now relegated to life in a room the size of a closet. However, his life was really lived outside of his rooms. He dined in the beautiful restaurants in the hotel and his family became the people who worked and stayed in the hotel. His culture and charm are completely alien to the age we live in now, but the wording was so descriptive that I could easily visualize it, although I’ll admit to seeing it’s scenes in black and white, with Cary Grant cast as Alexander.

The true heart in this story were in the relationships he built with the people around him. Nina, a young girl of six at the beginning of this book was his adventurous friend who led him on a journey of secret passageways and scientific experiments. His friend Mischa, who came and went from the hotel bringing news about the outside world and the political changes Russia was going through. Anna, an actress that he builds a longstanding relationship with, Marina, the seamstress and friend, and his evolving relationship with the Maitre’d and chef at the restaurant who eventually become his best friends. Sophia, however was the relationship that helped Alexander evolve beyond a gentleman into a father. Their relationship at times touched and broke my heart.

I listened to the audio for this book and while it was long, Nicholas Guy Smith’s voice wove this tale and did justice to the beautiful prose. The story of Russia’s growth from a monarchy to communism was a part of history that I wasn’t that familiar but became enraptured. I will definitely be looking for more books from this era.  ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️


Click the link to purchase this book!  A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

This Chick Read: Under Locke by Mariana Zapata

Mariana Zapata novels are known for a slow burn storyline. Usually our female lead hates the male lead and it takes awhile for him to get back into her good graces until all of a sudden she realizes she is in love with the guy. Under Locke follows this trope, however, even though it takes Dex a little while to redeem himself in Iris Taylor’s eyes, the reader doesn’t have to wait until 90% to get their first kiss. Yeah!

Dex Locke is a biker in an MC, but he’s also a tattoo artist and owns a successful tattoo shop. Iris is down on her luck and flat broke. She is sleeping in her older half brothers spare room and goes on a job interview he sets up for her at his MC brothers tattoo shop. Despite her misgivings for working for Dex, she accepts the job. Needless to say, Dex’s surly attitude and snarly demeanor is not her idea of a good boss, even less so a love interest, and sparks fly. However, she keeps the job and over time, and multitudes of apologies, the two end up becoming friends.

Even though this book was unlike her other more sports themed books, I still liked the setup and story. Iris has a really sad back story. She is a rather timid thing, but watching her grow into a little dragon when facing down Dex made me appreciate her spunk and fire. Dex was surly through the whole book, but his moments of tenderness and humor, saved solely for Iris made me root for him. The fact that they reached their first kiss quicker than normal and I got to see their relationship develop a little more, I loved. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click this link to purchase! Under Locke

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chick Read: A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V. E. Schwab

I was excited to finally get to A Gathering of Shadows, the second book in V. E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series. I was fascinated by these worlds she has created with a series of London’s that went from no magic to full magic, colorless and colorful. There were moments of brilliance, but  those moments were overshadowed by a dullness, my feelings mirroring her London’s spectrum of colors.

I still really liked the characters. Delilah is a fascinating mix of distrust and curious cat. In A Gathering of Shadows she expands her knowledge of the magic she holds by serving as a pirate and tutoring under the captain Alucard. Alucard was probably my favorite new character in this book, his roguishness was charming and I couldn’t quite figure him out, which held my interest. Kell, stuck in London, held captive by his own spell tying he and his brother Rhy’s lives together, a tether that was necessary but now binds his adventurous soul. Maybe it was because of that tether thet the first half of the book was really slow moving and dare I say boring? Part of the fun of the first novel were his journeys, and there were only a couple of those in A Gathering of Shadows. Kell and Lila apart also made the story lack fire, noticeably, because when her ship finally docked in Maresh even the thought of the two of them spotting each other made me sit up in my seat scanning the pages for that moment. That moment did not disappoint.

The latter half of the book made up for my lackluster feelings for the first. It was vibrant, exciting, and passionate! However, I can’t forget my struggle to keep slogging through the first half so I am giving this one only ❤️❤️❤️.

Do you agree? What kept you reading this book? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Click the link to purchase! A Gathering of Shadows: A Novel (Shades of Magic)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Share Your Shelves – Alphabet Book Tag (N-Z)

A few months ago I did the first half of the Alphabet Book Tag because I wanted to bring awareness to some books that were already on my shelves waiting to be read, whether they be off my kindle or physical copies of books. I have read quite a few of those books since then because when putting together my post, I reminded myself that they were waiting there to be read.  I promise you, if you should do this tag, you will immediately pick one of the books that have been waiting for you to read, some for years. I bet some of you have these same books or have read some of these. Let me know if you have and what you thought of the book!


 Now You See Me by Lacey Flint
One night after interviewing a reluctant witness at a London apartment complex, Lacey Flint, a young detective constable, stumbles onto a woman brutally stabbed just moments before in the building’s darkened parking lot. Within twenty-four hours a reporter receives an anonymous letter that points out alarming similarities between the murder and Jack the Ripper’s first murder—a letter that calls out Lacey by name. If it’s real, and they have a killer bent on re-creating London’s bloody past, history shows they have just five days until the next attempt.

No one believes the connections are anything more than a sadistic killer’s game, not even Lacey, whom the killer seems to be taunting specifically. However, as they investigate the details of the case start reminding her more and more of a part of her past she’d rather keep hidden. And the only way to do that is to catch the killer herself.

Oblivion by Jennifer Armentrout

Experience OBSIDIAN, ONYX, and OPAL as told by Daemon Black…

I knew the moment Katy Swartz moved in next door, there was going to be trouble. Lots of it.
And trouble’s the last thing I need, since I’m not exactly from around here. My people arrived on Earth from Lux, a planet thirteen billion light years away. Plus, if there’s one thing I know, it’s that humans can’t be trusted. We scare them. We can do things they only dream about, and honestly, we make them look weak as hell. ‘Cuz they are.
But Kat is getting to me in ways no one else has, and I can’t stop myself from wanting her—or wanting to use my powers to protect her. She makes me weak, and I’m the strongest of our kind, tasked with protecting us all. So this one simple girl…she can mean the end for us. Because the Luxen have an even bigger enemy—the Arum, and I need to stay on my game.
Falling for Katy—a human—won’t just place her in danger. It could get us all killed, and that’s one thing I’ll never let happen…

 Paper Princess (The Royals Book One) by Erin Watt
From strip clubs and truck stops to southern coast mansions and prep schools, one girl tries to stay true to herself.

These Royals will ruin you…
Ella Harper is a survivor—a pragmatic optimist. She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone. 
Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.
Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.
He might be right.
Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees. 

 Quick Trick: A Rough Riders Hockey Novel by Skye Jordan
Rough Riders’ center, Grant Saber, has been sidelined for a bum shoulder. If he has to be off the ice for three weeks of recovery, he‘ll do it on his back—breaking in a new wanna-be cowgirl every night. But pressure from the team’s owner and Grant’s parents land him in his hometown of Holly, North Carolina instead. Things look up when he learns the hometown beauty who was once so out of his league is now single, and sexier than ever. Determined to slip in a night with her while he’s in town, Grant is shocked to discover one will never be enough.

Faith Nicholas has no interest in the newest Saber-son gossip. After losing her father just months before, she is now on the verge of losing their family hardware store—which is also her home. She couldn’t care less about the Saber’s big money or flashy toys. But she can’t seem to keep Grant out of her store–or her dreams. His magnetic charisma is impossible to ignore, and the longer he stays in town, the more she finds to love about a man who isn’t as superficial as he’d like others to believe.
With a struggling store, four-hundred miles and a rigorous hockey season looming between them, Grant will have to pull out his very best moves if he’s going to make this quick trick last forever.

 Remember Yesterday by Pintip Dunn

Follow-up to the New York Times bestselling novel, Forget Tomorrow!

Sixteen-year-old Jessa Stone is the most valuable citizen in Eden City. Her psychic abilities could lead to significant scientific discoveries—if only she’d let TechRA study her. But after they kidnapped and experimented on her as a child, cooperating with the scientists is the last thing Jessa would do.
But when she discovers the past isn’t what she assumed, Jessa must join forces with budding scientist Tanner Callahan to rectify a fatal mistake made ten years ago. She’ll do anything to change the past and save her sister—even if it means aligning with the enemy she swore to defeat.

. Soul of Flame (The Imdalind Series #4) by Rebecca Ethington
The Time for the final battle has come.

Edmund’s armies have surrounded the Rioseco Abbey, trapping the few survivors inside. The sight that Ilyan was given a thousand years ago is about to come to pass.
If only Joclyn was able to fight.
Joclyn is tormented by the hallucinations that Cail’s mind has left her with, her magic an uncontrollable torrent that even Ilyan cannot control. Her moments of lucidity are broken by fears of dripping pipes and bleeding walls, and a desire to kill Ryland that she is having trouble trying to ignore.
The sight has shown her power, shown her success, but it has also shown her death – The end of her life something she is not quite willing to give up on yet.
Even past her death, the sight has shown her love, and that love may be the only key to her sanity, to her strength, and to Edmund’s death.
That love may stand in her way, and a single choice may tip the scales and secure their future, or destroy their fate.

 The Hot Shot by Kristen Callihan
First we were friends. Then we were roommates. Now I want more…

What can I say about Chess Copper? The woman is capable of bringing me to my knees. I know this about five minutes after getting naked for her. 
No one is more surprised than me. The prickly photographer my team hired to shoot our annual charity calendar isn’t my usual type. She’s defense to my offense, a challenge at every turn. But when I’m with her, all the regrets and darkness goes away. She makes life fun. 
I want to know Chess, be close to her. Which is a bad idea. 
Chess is looking for a relationship. I’ve never given a woman more than one night. But when fate leaves Chess without a home, I step up and offer her mine. We’re roommates now. Friends without benefits. But it’s getting harder to keep our hands off each other. And the longer we live together the more I realize she’s becoming my everything.
Trick is… Now that I’ve made her believe I’m a bad bet, how do I convince her to give this player a true shot at forever?
 Under the Lights by Abbi Glines
Willa can’t erase the bad decisions of her past that led her down the path she’s on now. But she can fight for forgiveness from her family. And she can protect herself by refusing to let anyone else get close to her.

High school quarterback and town golden boy Brady used to be the best of friends with Willa—she even had a crush on him when they were kids. But that’s all changed now: her life choices have made her a different person from the girl he used to know.
Gunner used to be friends with Willa and Brady, too. He too is larger than life and a high school football star—not to mention that his family basically owns the town of Lawton. He loves his life, and doesn’t care about anyone except himself. But Willa is the exception—and he understands the girl she’s become in a way no one else can.
As secrets come to light and hearts are broken, these former childhood friends must face the truth about growing up and falling in love…even if it means losing each other forever.

 Vigilante Mine by Cera Daniels
Internal Affairs be damned, Detective Amanda Werner’s ditching protocol to hunt the vigilante whose bullet landed her on the bench. But this is no vendetta. Evidence suggests he’s the zealot offing corrupt public officials–the same zealot who’s promised to set the city ablaze by week’s end–and she’ll risk her career and her life to save her hometown. Too bad she can’t find anything stronger than Kevlar to guard her heart against her primary suspect: a masked man with a telepathic German shepherd, unstable supernatural hearing, and lips that invite a whole different brand of investigation.

All businessman Ryan McLelas, a.k.a. Klepto, wants is redemption. But even if Amanda could forgive his itchy trigger finger, Ryan still has to convince her that his alter ego’s no serial killer. No small task, with syndicate-paid police officers turning up among the dead. He’d better keep his own syndicate ties close to his chest and Amanda even closer, because if Klepto is unmasked while he’s hunting the real killer, their passionate affair could mark Amanda as the next dirty cop on the hit list.

Wicked Beautiful by J. T. Geissinger
Life coach and best-selling author Victoria Price has it all: a successful career, fabulous friends, a fantastic penthouse in Manhattan. What she doesn’t have—and doesn’t want—is a husband. Fifteen years ago her high school flame broke her heart so badly she swore she’d never love again. Now she makes millions teaching other women how to be just like her: a ruthless bitch.

Drop-dead sexy restaurant tycoon and infamous playboy Parker Maxwell has only three rules for the women he dates: no questions about his past, no expectations for the future and no spending the night. When he meets Victoria, however, he’s willing to break his own rules if it means sating the explosive desire she arouses in him. What he doesn’t know is that the alluring Victoria Price used to be the mousy Isabel Diaz, the girl he deflowered and dumped long ago.
Presented with a perfect opportunity for revenge, Victoria decides the game is on. But when her connection with Parker proves more than just skin deep, she has to make a choice—continue with her plan for payback, or risk her career, her reputation and her heart by taking a second chance on love?




I didn’t have any books on my shelves for the last three letters of the alphabet. Even though thats not really a win since I have so many other books on my shelves, I’ll take it as three less books I have to read. LOL

I am not going to tag anyone on this adventure, but if you’d like to join in and show us all whats on your shelves, please do! There were a couple that I had forgotten about like Soul of Flame. I bought that book right when it came out because I had liked the series so much. Then I forgot about it, and that isn’t the only sad story. 

What books have beèn forgotten on your shelves? I challenge you to pick one up and read it next!

Until next Sunday,

Deb

This Chick Read: The Time In Between (Magdalene #3) by Kristen Ashley

Cady Moreland has unfinished business that moves her away from her family in Denver to the small town of Magdalene in Maine. This unfinished business includes an old boyfriend, Coert Yeagar, now the Sheriff of Magdalene, and her estranged brother Caylen who lives a couple of hours away. When Cady gets to Magdalene she falls in love with and buys the lighthouse spending a fortune to completely restore it and move in. Coert, knowing she moved to town, is a complete turd to her, trying to scare her into moving away. However, Cady decides that she can live with being close to Coert yet never being with him. She digs her feet in and decides to stay. Of course, this is a Kristen Ashley novel, so I know that there may be heartbreak but there will also be a Happily Ever After too! It may just take a little while to get there.

There are so many things I like about Kristen Ashley books. One of those is that her women are real. They are usually 40-ish, normal sized, normal looking, and have normal lives. They are also strong and in the case of Cady, incredibly sweet and nice. Coert is also KA’s typical alpha male. Handsome, in a very manly way, terse, and confident in the it’s my way or the highway kind of way. In the beginning of this novel I knew I loved Cady immediately. She was so giving, some of her scenes were emotionally tragic (have a hankie at hand!), yet I never felt sorry for her circumstances. Life just kind of kicked her in the butt. Coert on the other hand took a little time to warm up to. Part of that were all their flashback scenes. Just as you were getting to know him in real time it would flip to a flash back and their tragic past was playing out. He was harder for me to like because of that. However, once he was all in with Cady, I was all in with Coert. Their story was really  moving and I liked it alot.

The only downside for me was that I think a third of this book could have been cut during an edit. For me it it lagged in the middle and I got a little antsy. I wanted the story to move along a little faster! Other than the slight slowness it was a perfect ending to the Magdalene series. Actually it made me want to go back and re-read the first two! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! The Time in Between (The Magdalene Series) (Volume 3)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chick Read: The Veil (Devil’s Isle #1) by Chloe Neill

Claire Connolly is the last survivng member of her human family, but recently she has started exhibiting signs of having magic, which is illegal after the supernatural war. She has gotten good at hiding  her magic, but when she see’s a woman being attacked by wraiths she comes to her defense and the only way to come out of it alive is to use her gifts. Unfortunately she is spotted by Liam, a bounty hunter whose job is to catch the wraiths and take them to confinement in Devil’s Isle. Liam does not turn Claire in, instead he works with her and finds her a tutor to teach her how to control her magic to keep her from turning into a wraith. He also agrees to teach her how to become a bounty hunter, like him, and as they hunt they discover that there are forces at work that are trying to open the veil between worlds, and they can’t allow that to happen.

Claire is torn between the human world and the magical. Her friends are completely human but she can’t ignore the help Liam is giving her, and she can’t ignore the connection she feels to him. Liam, who is human is also drawn to Clair, and is torn between wanting to get closer and wanting to hold her at a distance because if she loses control, he will have to turn her in.

The setting for this novel is New Orleans and added to the characters torn feelings about magic. After all, New Orleans pre-war capitalized upon its magical elements to draw tourists and make money. Now post war, all of those elements are illegal, making the city feel dead and decayed giving it a post apocalyptic mood.

I enjoyed this book as it was different and interesting. It’s the first in the series and made me curious to see how Claire’s character was going to evolve and also see if she and Liam could resolve their differences. ❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! The Veil: A Devil’s Isle Novel

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chick Read: Blood Cross (Jane Yellowrock #2) by Faith Hunter

Jane is still in New Orleans hired to hunt down rogue vampires, kill them and collect their bounty. As she is doing this rather grisly job, she discovers that someone is trying to raise vamps using ritual sacrifice so that these vampires are immediately cognizant and not ravenous beasts. Unfortunately during this investigation, two of her young houseguests are kidnapped and the clock is ticking for her to rescue them before they are the next sacrifice.

Jane and her inner Beast have quite a few internal dialogs that reveal some personality traits of Jane’s that we may not have seen from her surface persona as a straight up bad ass bitch. Or whatever the cat version of a bad ass bitch may be. I loved seeing this more emotional version of Jane, she is a little easier to like. As the story unfolds she is torn between two men, Bruiser and Rick, and to me it was a little surprising which one she ended up with, as the sexual tension with the loser was A-Maz-Ing. Oh well, I’m sure that story is not over as this is only book two in like a twelve book series or something.

If you are a fan of Urban Fantasy, as I am, you will really dig this series. There is a ton of paranormal dark fantasy, and a lot of the characters are really likeable. I’m still warming up to Jane, but she reveals more with each book, and I know there is a ton of Jane still to discover.

❤️❤️❤️❤️


Click link to purchase! Blood Cross (Jane Yellowrock, Book 2)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Has Anyone Read…?

Don’t you just hate when you have read a great book and the ending was so controversial or confusingand you just want to talk about it with someone and NO ONE HAS READ IT? I know, it’s happened to all of us. In fact, this is one of the reasons I became a blogger! However, in my reviews I rarely give away the ending or talk about a twist. So, how do we talk about anything and everything in a book?

 In the comments section of a book discussion post. 

I will occassionally write a post that is intended to be a discussion about a book that I hope someone else has read and had the same questions, or has had different questions and has been dying to discuss with someone! These will fall on Sundays and I’ll title them Has Anyone Read… because I just need to discuss this book! 

Has anyone read A Gentleman from Moscow? I loved this book and will also be posting a review but wanted to talk about it with people. There were so many things that made me think! FYI- I will be talking about the ending of this book so if you haven’t read this wonderful novel please don’t spoil it for yourself. STOP HERE!

  1. Alexander Rostov- a Count by birth and up to the start of this book had a privileged upbringing, wrote a poem that was political in nature, and was put under house arrest in a hotel in Moscow for the rest of his life. Harsh!  Here’s my first question. Alexander seemed to accept this punishment as his due. He never fought it or tried to just wander out the door for an adventure. If you were imprisoned in a hotel would you react as he did? 
  2. He befriends a female child while she and her father were living in the hotel. Nina appears briefly as a teenager then a young adult. Suddenly, she appears and drops off her daughter Sophia at the hotel to live with Alexander. Then she drops off the face of the earth. We never hear what happened to her? Did I miss something? Did she die? Did she just abandon her daughter? 
  3. I loved how Anna came into Alexander’s life again and again. Why did he never reveal his relationship with her? He was a gentleman so did he think he was protecting her? After all, in that age (1920-late1940’s) society probably wouldn’t look very favorably on her for involving herself with an unmarried man confined to a hotel. 
  4. I loved the ending of this book. I loved the comparisons to Casablanca and how the Count outmaneuvered everyone so that Sophia could ask for asylum from the US embassy while in Paris. But then what happened to her? Are we to assume that she never saw the Count again? That she would give up her papa? I didn’t see that one coming! What do you think happened to her?
  5. Who was the woman at the end of the book? I’m assuming it was Anna who stood up from the chair, but it also could’ve been Sophia? It could have been the very absent Nina too. But I think it was Anna. Oh, what a great ending, I just wish it had been more definitive!

Has anyone else read this book? Do you have any thoughts about what I wrote above? Do you have any topics that you’d like to discuss about A Gentleman From Moscow? Speak up! Let’s discuss this fabulous book! 

Until next Sunday,

Deb


 Click this link to purchase!  A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

This Chick Read: City of the Lost (Casey Duncan #1) by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong’s novels center around a mystery but usually take place in an Urban Fantasy setting. City of the Lost also has a mystery as the center of its story, but seems to be pretty straightforward without any hints of a fantasy world. However, the city Casey Duncan and her friend move to to escape their pasts sounds too good to be true. A city filled with other people who are trying to leave their pasts behind. A city thats off the grid and where no one can find you. A city with hints of the old west, where men outnumber the women and is policed by a sheriff, the favorite hangout is a saloon/brothel, and hints of danger in the forest that surrounds them. City of the Lost is a mystery with hints of horror, typically not my thing, but I loved it.

Casey Duncan, our heroine, was allowed to live in Rockton because of her skills as a detective. Someone has started murdering the citizens of Rockton. When Casey arrives, she butts heads with the sheriff who has absolute rule, but soon learns how to work with him. Is there eventually an attraction between them? Yes, and it’s filled with emotional upheaval, passion, and grit, however, this is not a love story, though that bit was really enjoyable. This is a mystery and it’s intricately planned and the characters involved were fascinating. Imagine living in a city where every person there is escaping something. They could be victims, but they also may be the perpetrators of horrible crimes, yet no one knows each others past. Its a fresh slate, but sometimes a persons nature just can’t be changed.

If you love mysteries, I highly recommend this excellent book. It’s the first in the series and I am not going to take too much time before starting the second! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! City of the Lost: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

This Chick Read: Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata

I have read only a couple of Mariana Zapata novels and I loved them both. When Dear Aaron was released not too long ago I scooped it up hoping for that awesome slow burn romance I’d come to expect. The premise of the story guaranteed that this couple, like most of her others, were going to follow the friends to lovers plotline. Ruby Santos is paired with Aaron Hall through a military organization that organizes pen pals for overseas military. After getting off to a rough start with Aaron not responding to Ruby’s initial emails, they start penning notes to each other and as time goes on, discovering tidbits about each others lives. I actually enjoyed the flow of the book, learning about both Ruby and Aarons lives, however, the depth of emotion was missing, as it would when you are learning about someone through a letter. You learn only what they choose to tell you. This point of view separated the reader and kept me from developing any strong emotional attachment to either Ruby or Aaron for the first half of the book.

When the story advances, Aaron is on leave in the US, and their communication advances to texting and then finally a phone call. Its at this point that the author starts writing in conventional narrative and we get to read from an actual point of view. The Ruby that we saw in email form was only a little different than the Ruby we now know from hearing her thoughts. My problem was that I liked Ruby better in email form. Aaron was solid both in email and in person. I was given a good grasp of his character and it stayed consistent for the entire book. Actually, through Ruby’s eyes he got even more attractive! I think I just found it harder to connect with Ruby because of the email format at the start. I did still enjoy the book, but in comparison with The Wall of Winnipeg and Me and Kulti it paled. ❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! Dear Aaron

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.