Tag: Jen DeLuca

This Chick Read: Well Traveled (Well Met #4) by Jen DeLuca

Louise Malone is a high-powered attorney and in North Carolina to get a witness deposition. The witness is unavailable so Lulu goes to the Renaissance Festival, something she’s done in the past and has enjoyed tremendously. Avoiding calls from her boss and having fun re-connecting with an old friend, Lulu realizes that she’s in a dead end job and hating her life. When her boss calls again she quits and runs away to the Renaissance Faire. For a month anyway. What she doesn’t expect is to re-invent herself while falling in love with a kilted musician.

I’m such a fan of the Well Met series and have run away to the Renaissance Faire, at least in my own mind, every time I pick up one of these novels. I connected so easily to the story in Well Traveled and to Lulu, a character I can really identify with. Lulu has always been driven to make partner and become the success that her parents have always wanted her to be, but all the long hours she’s working at her company isn’t leading to the success that she’s always hope to find. When she gets drunk and quits angrily on a call with her boss, it’s actually the best thing for her. This is something that many of us have dreamed of doing but never seem to find the guts to make happen. It was so fun to dream along with Lulu and read her story while she finds her way in love and life.

Dex, the kilted lead singer of the band Dueling Kilts, has been in the previous books and wasn’t cast in a very good light. He’s the Romeo of the faire circuit, or so it seems. We see a different side to him in Well Traveled. A side that has me liking him for our Lulu. His creative personality is the perfect foil to straight laced Lulu, but is he the type to make a commitment? I’ll admit that I was skeptical but I ended up liking his mellow attitude and subtle ways he sought out Lulu’s company. He lacked the funny quips of previous hero’s but his soulful gaze and man bun more than made up for those laugh out loud moments.

You do not need to read any of the previous novels to enjoy Well Traveled, but reading the third novel would explain a little back story that does come up and explains a couple of characters actions. Other than that, enjoy a fun, light-hearted romance. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Well Traveled

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.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Well Matched (Well Met #3) by Jen DeLuca

Single mom April Lane is used to doing things on her own. With her daughter going to college soon she decides to fix up her home to sell and asks her friend Mitch for some help. He says yes, but only if she’ll help him in return. He needs to bring a girlfriend home for a family reunion and her help would really get them off his back. What April doesn’t realize is that such close proximity has consequences and she and Mitch develop a new kind of friendship that makes her re-think her plans to leave Willow Creek.

Mitch is the brawny kilted character during the Renaissance Faire and best friend to Simon, the hero from the first novel in the series. He has always come across as a charming rogue with a twinkle in his eye, but in Well Matched we learn that while he is a pretty happy guy, there is a lot of depth to his character. He is so easy to like it was going to take a special woman to be his match and I wasn’t sure April was that woman. April has also been in the previous two books but she’s always been conservative, and well, kind of boring. Her identity was always tied to being a mom, but in Well Matched that identity was changing. Her daughter is graduating from high school and April realizes that she hasn’t had time to make lots of friends and put down roots. When she finally take a look around, she realizes that without meaning to those roots grew anyway. I really liked seeing April open up to emotions, having fun, and getting a little action! Mitch has such a big personality and is so well liked that it makes sense for his match to be a little older, more mature, and settled.

In Well Met the Renaissance Faire played a large part in my enjoyment of the novel and I was glad to see Jen DeLuca make the faire a central part of the story again. It made a perfect contrast to April’s more conservative nature and in the end worked it’s magic on her 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!* Well Matched

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.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Well Played by Jen DeLuca

Stacey has spent the last two years of the Renaissance Fair playing a buxom barmaid by day and hooking up with hot guy and musician Dex by night. When the month long fair ended her two good friends got engaged and Stacey felt dissatisfied with how she was living her life. So, one night after too many drinks she reaches out to Dex on his fan site and opens up about her feelings. Surprisingly he emails back and they spend the next 10 months becoming best friends and falling in love. There was a lot more to her hot hook-up than she thought! Or was there? She’s been played!

I couldn’t help but compare Well Played to Well Met, the first novel in this series. I may be doing this book a disservice because I LOVED Well Met. The setting surprised me and I loved the banter between Emily and Simon. There was a lot to like about Well Played but it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Here’s what I liked. Stacey was a plus-sized heroine, which let’s face it, most of us are and so we can easily identify with her body self image insecurities. I loved that we still had that Renaissance Fair setting. I actually do wish that more of it had been set at the fair though. I did also like the friendships in this novel. They were all there for each other and had each others backs. If you have a great pack of friends you can survive most everything!

Here’s what weighed against my rating. (I can’t say dislike!) It took too long to get to our hero and heroine being together. There was a LOT of email exchanges and texts and I just didn’t feel all of the emotions I was supposed to feel. I liked our hero, but I didn’t love him. There was one scene that just really bothered me! I can’t get into who he is or what that scene was, so this is kind of lame to even mention but that scene set him up as being weak. I just couldn’t look at him the same after it. Now that I’m putting it on paper, that was really the main issue for me.

So, I liked Well Played, but I was disappointed at the same time. Maybe this is a case of building the book up too much in my head before actually reading it. I don’t know, but my rating reflects my feelings.

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

Click this link to purchase!* Well Played

Copyright 2020 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 Reads2 Comments

This Chick Read: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Emily moved in with her sister and niece in order to help her sister recover from a bad car accident. Part of that help is squiring around her teenage niece Caitlin to audition for a part in Willow Creek’s hometown Renaissance Faire. What she didn’t know was that her under age niece needs an adult to sign up with her. Guess what? Emily will be playing Bar Wench for the summer. When she meets high school English teacher, and man in charge of the Faire, Simon, they immediately butt heads. He’s a know it all with a stick up his butt and Emily has just had it with “that” kind of man! Well Met is a rom-com where two people go from enemies who don’t think they have anything in common to confidants and lovers. I laughed out loud and sniffled away a couple of tears. My favorite kind of romance!

Emily just got dumped and admittedly has a chip on her shoulder for men who think they know everything. Simon’s definitely got an attitude that pushes all of her buttons. I’m a sucker for this trope and loved the Renaissance Faire set up. I can remember going to one of these Faire’s with my mom and aunt when I was a kid and remember how the actor’s really got into playing their parts. This book gave you a behind the scenes look into putting on one of these events and really brought back some fun memories!

Simon’s character had an interesting mix of vulnerability and bravado. I loved the way the author contrasted Simon with the pirate Captain he played in the Faire. It allowed him to act on some of his fantasies through the Captain’s antics. This sped the plot along while also creating conflicting emotions that made this a lot more interesting than it might have been. Emily’s confusion at what were real feelings and what weren’t added tension as well as a little comic relief.

This novel also had a great supporting cast. Mitch the brawny, kilt wearing hunk, her friend Stacey who helped strap her into her bar wench costume, and her sister April who’s injuries gave Emily a sense of purpose. All of these characters helped add comic relief, but also depth to Emily’s character making her more 3-D and not so two dimensional.

I can’t really think of anything I disliked about this novel. Yes, there was a miscommunication that went on a little too long, but i understood how that helped establish why these two characters needed each other. Maybe it was my own memories of a Renaissance Faire that made me like this so much? Who knows! I just know that I read it at the right time, it hit my sweet spot, and I really enjoyed the journey. You can’t ask for more than that!

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

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

Opinions from around the Blogosphere

“Overall this is one of my favorite romances of the summer! I absolutely plan to read everything that Jen Deluca writes in the future! If you’re looking for one final, swoon-worthy romance before the cool weather hits, definitely pick this one up!” Paperbacks and Planners

“Emily was adorable and totally relatable, her hesitation about the Faire at the start of the book rivaled my own, so I knew she was my kind of people. Simon may as well be called Swoonworthy Simon, my lord this man knows how to woo a lady. Throw in a supporting cast of characters that are just as lovable, sizzling chemistry between Em and Simon and an absolutely adorable and heartwarming story and I’m done” Novel Gossip

Click this link to purchase!* Well Met

Copyright 2019 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads