Tag: Penny Reid

This Chick Read: Reproduction (Hypothesis Series #8) by Penny Reid

The second part in the three part serial, and yes it’s #8 in a larger series, Samantha Jarlsten finds herself living with her childhood best friend Andreas Kristiansen. Faking an engagement while he adopts her (yep!) to undermine his two brothers from inheriting her father’s ex business that they swindled her out of, Sam is understandably confused. As am I after reading that previous sentence! Although her confusion is more to the fact that she’s in a fake engagement but is developing feelings for Andreas. She continues to work in the STEM field, with a new boss who hits on her all the time, and he is a chess master world champion- or something to that effect. For two very smart people, they are being kind of dim-witted.

So, they agree to a friends with benefits scheme that is surely going to bite them in the behind. As the reader in this relationship, I say thank goodness! It moved the plot forward a bit beyond the two brothers being threatening and her boss being a jerk. I enjoyed getting to know them as a kind of real couple- although it was still fake.

This being a serial and having one more book left that will be released next week, the reader will finally get a resolution to the story. This one again ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. So, will Sam and Andreas find happiness? Will Sam take control of her father’s company? Will Andreas’ two brothers stop threatening her and give up? We’ll find out all this in the next book. Whew!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Reproduction

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This Chick Read: Inheritance (Hypothesis Series #7) by Penny Reid

28 year old genetics researcher, Samantha Jarlston, isn’t interested in rehashing her past. She only has time to run sequencing experiments, grade lab reports, and avoid handsy assistant professors. When she receives a wedding invitation in the mail between her and her childhood friend chess grandmaster Andreas Kristiansen, she tries to shrug it off. Instead it sets off a series of events that finds her signing a contract to be in a passionless relationship with Andreas, setting in motion revenge against the people who destroyed her family fifteen years ago.

First thing you should know is that despite this being the seventh book in a series, it’s actually the first book in a three-parter about Sam and Andreas. You don’t need to have read the previous six books, but it is set in a world that includes those characters. I’ve read the previous six and I think these stand alone.

As stated above Inheritance is the start of Sam and Andreas story. We learn all about their being best friends as children and Andreas’ slight obsession with Sam. She hasn’t seen him in years, but you can bet he’s been keeping tabs on her. Sam wasn’t as obsessed with Andreas, but she did care for him a lot so when he approaches her with this strange story she listens to him. She now has her own life and goals and doesn’t want to be dragged back into the craziness of their families problems, but something happens that changes her mind and causes her to agree to his crazy plans. I liked the tension the author creates between these two ex-best friends and pitting the two of them against a common enemy is a great way to get my buy in, so I didn’t have a problem eating this book up.

Note- if you, too, are going to read this book you should also know that this three story arc will have each book end in a cliffhanger that will make you angry with the author. The good news is that the second episode in the story comes out pretty quickly after the first, but what should’ve been one book being split into three kind of blows. Having read the first six, this was not unexpected, but I thought you should know.

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Click this link to purchase this book!* Inheritance

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This Chick Read: All Folked Up (Good Folk #3) by Penny Reid

Isaac Sylvester is back in town. Brother of the beloved Banana Queen, Jennifer Sylvester, and once a member of the Iron Wraiths, his return has people talking. Hannah Townsend is retiring as an exotic dancer to become manager of the Pink Pony. When Isaac shows up at her retirement party she figures he’s been gifted to her by the other dancers, after all he’s her “stand in”, the person she imagines as she dances. Isaac isn’t there as a gift, he’s an undercover investigator and he needs her help with an assignment. Hannah isn’t thrilled that she miscalled his intentions but agrees to help and “hires” him to be a bouncer until his investigation is completed.

Isaac has been a side character in quite a few of the novels in both the Good Folk series but also the Winston Bros series. If you’ve read all of Penny Reid’s novels you realize that all is not as it seems with Isaac, but Hannah only knows what she’s heard around town and that information is exactly what Isaac wants known. The start of their working relationship is kind of rocky, but once their misunderstanding is cleaned up their relationship is on another level. Isaac’s undercover story is not who he is at all and as his true intentions are revealed he becomes everything Hannah could ever want.

I thought this was a really sweet story. Hannah was smart and savvy, and Isaac in some ways was socially innocent but also very smart. The two of them together made for a really interesting couple and their story fascinating to read. Penny Reid also filled this novel with great dialogue and side characters, as she does with all of her stories and I enjoyed every moment as I read it.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* All Folked Up

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This Chick Read: Bananapants by Penny Reid

A spin-off of Reid’s Knitting in the City series, Bananapants is the story of childhood best friends Ava Archer and Des Sullivan. Inseparable until they were fifteen when Des suddenly moves away. Ten years later, Ava is wearing a costume, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, when Des shows up out of the blue and drags her away from the party claiming that he was doing so for her own safety. Her childhood friend is now a thief and he’s in town to infiltrate a secret society that has stolen technology from a friend of his. He’s going to steal it back. Unfortunately, Ava keeps getting in the way.

What a wonderful surprise to find out that the two main protagonists were children of characters from another series I loved so much. I enjoyed getting to know Ava and Des, and also being reminded why I love this author so much. These characters, while wonderful, beautiful, and funny, are also flawed. One of them is dealing with a serious mental health issue that they’ve had since they were young. Being desperately in love, while also dealing with this issue made for an interesting novel, one that I really enjoyed. I like my characters real. Life isn’t a fairy tale and this novel, despite it’s silly name certainly reflects the realness of life.

Not surprising, if you’ve read Reid’s novels before, but there was a bit of an action-adventure type mystery enmeshed in this love story. Des kind of comes off as a swashbuckling hero, but Ava is not shrinking violet. She has a few moves herself, but it’s her shining personality and quirky humor that makes her stand out. As they get to know each other again, there is plenty of great dialog and fun interactions that provide lots of insight into their characters. These interactions also move the plot forward in interesting and new ways that held my interest and kept me reading long into the night. Oh, I really liked this one. I will say, though, that if you have a mental health trigger, reader beware. This may be a difficult story for you to read.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Bananapants

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This Chicks Audio Review: Marriage and Murder (Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries #2) by Penny Reid

Marriage and Murder, while the second book in this series, falls after book #4.5 in the Winston Bros. series. Cletus is a Winston and Jenn is his baked good champion fianceé who have spinned off their own mystery series set in the same world and in the same timeline as these other Winston and Folk Tales series. In Marriage and Murder we are a little closer to their upcoming nuptials and in fact the heart of the story revolves around their engagement party and the murder of a family member. If you’ve read Beard in Hiding you will already be familiar with this tale, but from Diane Bonner’s point of view (Jenn’s mom). This story is more of a murder mystery with Jenn and Cletus using all of their devious (Cletus) and naive (Jenn) skills to find out who, what, and why. There are many perils, pitfalls, and reveals revolving around this whodunnit that was surprisingly emotional and super sinful.

I listened to this book and was again skillfully led along by narrators Joy Nash and Chris Brinkley. Both of whom are very talented and have their characters Tennessee accents voiced spot on. Despite the talent of these narrators, I was a little let down by the repetitiveness of this story with Diane Bonner’s own version in Beard in Hiding. Other than some romantic moments between Cletus and Jenn and a few other added scenes leading up to their marriage I got a little bored. Oh, I know that I said that I was disappointed in Beard In Hiding’s ending because of all the unanswered questions, and those questions were definitely answered in this book, but there were too many repeated scenes leading up to those answers. Maybe if I had been reading the book it would’ve been easier to skim and skip, but in listening to the book I was held hostage by the slower moving audio. Admittedly, this did hamper my enjoyment of this novel so that I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first in this series.

What did I like about this novel? Well, Jenn is a fabulous heroine and while she lays on the sweet a little too much, she also has a sassy side that comes out when she’s around Cletus. Cletus also is devious and brilliantly written. This novel just didn’t have enough original content until about 2/3’s of the way through the book to hold my interest. It’s only because of my love for all things Penny Reid that I listened to this novel all the way through. This story felt pretty wrapped up so I’m unsure if there will be another book in the series, but despite my lukewarm feelings over this one I will most likely tune in to a third. Although, I think I may read the next novel instead of investing my hours in listening. ❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Marriage and Murder

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This Chick Read: Folk Around and Find Out (Good Folk #2) by Penny Reid

Charlotte Mitchell, recently divorced mother of four, needs to get hired as a stripper at the Pink Pony. Hank Weller, owner of said nightclub, has not interest in hiring Charlotte after he got the blame for her husband leaving her for one of his dancers. Charlotte is interesting, beautiful, and too smart for his own good and he needs her to keep some distance. Unfortunately, he ends up hiring her- but as his bookkeeper. He quickly finds out that she’s not only beautiful, but she’s bright, sassy, and again very, very interesting. Despite his best intentions of staying away, he can’t help but to keep her close.

Charlotte has an ulterior motive for finding a job at the Pink Pony, and it’s not to change careers. She wants to find her cousin who may have gotten into trouble. What she finds is that the staff at the Pink Pony are like a family and Hank Weller is not at all who she thought he was. Instead he’s reliable, kind, and oh so handsome. But- she’s not interested in dating. She’s way too busy raising her four kids.

As with all Penny Reid novels, her characters are charming, quirky, and fun to read about. Folk Around and Find Out was no different. We’ve gotten to know these characters on the periphery of other novels but in this novel they shine on their own. Hank was always a mystery but as Beau’s best friend you knew that there was more to his character than “rich guy who owns a strip club”. This is of course true- and we really get to know his good character in this novel. Charlotte was also in the peripheral in other novels and I never really thought much about her before but now I wonder how I could’ve overlooked her. She is so interesting! BUT she and Hank together are much more than they are apart. I love how she is everything to him and he is a wonderful miracle to her. This was such a sweet story.

As with a lot of Penny Reid’s books that have kids in them, I fell in love with those little monsters. What a great little family of individual personalities. I love how Hank is charmed by them and falls immediately in love. You can’t help but like a man who is not put off by four kids! Charlotte and Hank are perfect for each other and their story was full of surprises, laughs, and love. This one is a completer charmer!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Folk Around and Find Out

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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This Chick Read: Homecoming King (Three Kings #1) by Penny Reid

Rex McMurtry, pro football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, has a reputation for dating a woman and having the next person they date marry them. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride, Rex is tired of the journalists poking fun at him. When Abby finds her high school crush sitting quietly at the bar where she works, she silently serves him two drinks not realizing that he is blind drunk. Feeling responsible, she has a few friends help get him into her car where she plans to drive him home. His throwing up all over the both of them derails that plan and she decides the safest place for his famous face is on the blow up mattress in her apartment. When he wakes up and realizes she took care of him he makes a proposition that she unfortunately just can’t refuse.

I loved Abby! She is more than slightly distrustful of people and so guards her heart very tightly, but Rex was her childhood crush. She couldn’t really refuse any request he’d make of her, even if it was to be his fake wife. She was the perfect mix of innocence and arrogance. After a failed marriage and a brief stint in prison I don’t blame her for not trusting men. Her ex was a dirtbag! Despite Rex’s fake marriage proposition she feels like she knows him because she semi-stalked him all through her youth. Truthfully, he isn’t much different than he was back in high school, putting a wall up between he and anyone who wants to get close. Abby has a way of disarming him and soon she becomes one of the most important people in his life. Once again, Penny Reid writes a charming, different type of romance novel that is just fun, funny, and really damn appealing.

Most of Rex’s friends have gotten married, all to ex’s of Rex’s. LOL. However, there are two friends who’ve remained single and dare I guess that they will be King #2 and #3? While not War and Peace, Homecoming King is utterly charming and the series has promise. I can’t wait for the second to come out. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Homecoming King (Three Kings Book 1)

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This Chick Read: Engagement and Espionage (Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn mysteries book #1) by Penny Reid

Any book by Penny Reid is on my must read list, but “Engagement and Espionage” came out a year ago last summer. Why did I wait so long to read it? I loved Cletus and Jenn’s romance “Beard Science” and let’s face it, Cletus is one of the greatest side characters in a series, EVER. I think I didn’t really know what to expect. I mean we already read their love story so to now give them a mystery to solve? It just seemed kind of odd, but that shouldn’t have been a turn-off! It wasn’t until I read the synopsis for Beard in Hiding” and saw that it was a story about Jenn’s mom, that I realized I really needed to kick it in and read this book. You know what? I LOVED IT.

This novel takes place after “Beard Science” and before several other novels that I’ve already read. It’s a continuation of Cletus and Jenn’s romance because they are not yet married and Jenn is still buried under banana cake and pie. Her mother is still domineering and Cletus is starting to lose patience with his erstwhile fiancée. When someone starts messing with the farmers who provide Jennifer with her products to make her award-winning cakes and pies Cletus and Jenn investigate. Hijinks prevail but the under lining theme of love and honor between our hero and heroine stands strong.

If you have never listened to one of these novels via audiobook, please do! Chris Brinkley and Joy Nash do a great job of voicing these characters and bringing them to life. As the story moves forward and I’m listening to where each of these characters are in the life of the Winston series I realize how much I love this world that Penny Reid has created. The characters are kind of nutty but the world is filled with love and camaraderie. This is why I keep returning to these books and why I’m smacking myself that I didn’t read this one a little sooner. That’s ok, the second book in this series is already out so that means I don’t have to wait to pick it up! See, bright side! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Engagement and Espionage: A Sexy, Small Town Cozy Mystery (Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries Book 1)

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