Tag: reading

This Chick Read: The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

The Queen’s Rising is a fantasy novel that has an old world European feel. Brienne has been at the Marigald estate since she was ten studying for her passion, an affinity for Art, Music, Knowledge, Wit and Dramatics. The trouble is, Brienne didn’t go into this school with an affinity for any of these, she dabbled a bit with each before settling on knowledge with only three years left to study. The opening to this novel felt a little bit like Kiera Cass’s Selection series, however at the end of their schooling, instead of getting picked to marry a prince, they find a patron. A job interview of sorts, where they sign a contract and move on with their life. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen.

Although this novel starts with a bunch of girls at school, it’s actually very political. Brienne may have trouble figuring out her passion, but when memories surface of a past relative that may have implications that could change a monarchy, she doesn’t hesitate to get involved. Brienne learns that her heritage may be the key to making change to a monarchy.

There was quite a lot to love in this novel. I loved the world building. It was easy to enmesh myself as a reader because it was not that dissimilar to our world politically. It was a fantasy novel, so no planes, trains and automobiles, instead there were carriages, castles and candles. I felt like I was reading a historical novel, but more in the vein of King Arthur’s realm. It was easy to like Brienne. She seemed very young and insecure in the beginning but as the story went on she overcame those insecurities and found an inner strength. I liked her Master (teacher) Cartier. They had a forbidden attraction that added some tension to help move the plot forward and added emotion to the story.

This was Rebecca Ross’s debut novel and boy did she deliver! Put The Queen’s Rising on your TBR folks, this one is a winner! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase! Queen’s Rising

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Mist’s Edge (The Broken Lands #2) by T. A. White

Mist’s Edge continues the story of Shea, a Pathfinder, who falls in love with a Trateri Warlord and has to reinvent herself. Her identity has always been tied to what she could do as a Pathfinder, but now as Telroi, she struggles with what that that title makes her instead of what she can accomplish. I first read and reviewed Pathfinder back in 2016 and loved how this woman was kick ass, not for some special super power, but because she was gifted at what she’d learned how to do. In Mist’s Edge, I am still enamored with the Shea who was accomplished, but now I have fallen in love with the Shea who is going through self discovery, trying to find her place among the Trateri and in her relationship with Fallon, her Warlord.

The relationship between Fallon and Shea is heated and passionate. They feel so much for each other, but Shea is still dissatisfied with her new place as Telroi. The beginning of this novel has Shea doing a lot of soul searching, so it starts off kind of slow, however, when a fellow Pathfinder finds their way into camp, the threat of Shea leaving makes the plot really move. Fallon feels threatened  because he knows she hasn’t yet settled into her role. A role which is kind of confusing, not just to Shea but also the reader. Telroi seems to be somewhere between a wife and a mistress, but women don’t seem to have leadership roles within Trateri society, so other than being attached to the Warlord, she doesn’t have much to do. It would be hard to go from a leadership role to the plus one, even if you are with the man you love.

After Reece, the other Pathfinder, shows up the plot moves along, the conflict heating up and giving both Shea and Fallon purpose together. I like it best when they are working together towards a resolution, so the second half of the book was great and the conclusion was very satisfying. Book three will hopefully not be two years out because I’m looking forward to seeing them face their final task together, each of them getting what they need. Fallon, world domination (seriously, he’s a conqueror) and Shea a place in his world that satisfies her need for respect and love. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

To read my review of Pathfinder click HERE. MIst's Edge Click this link to purchase! Mist’s Edge (The Broken Lands Book 2) Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Shiver by Suzanne Wright

Shiver is one of the most surprising novels I’ve read this year. The main character, Kensey Lyons, has one of the most original background stories I’ve read in a long while. When Kensey was a small child, her mother wrote to and married a serial killer on death row. Raised going to the prison to visit her step father, Kensey has mixed feelings about the man she loved as a child and the man she knows killed 30+ women. Working as a waitress in a bar owned by her godmother, Kensey retreats from reality by writing horror fiction under a pen name. When Blake buys out a silent owner and meets Kensey for the first time he makes a terrible impression. He insults her intelligence, calls her a drug addict and believes every lie her enemies have told him. He needs a long ladder to climb out of the big hole he dug when he realizes that he wants and has to have Kensey for his own. She’s not stupid, even though she’s incredibly attracted to him, she doesn’t want anything to do with him and makes his chase very difficult.

I have read a couple of Suzanne Wright’s Phoenix pack shifter series and really enjoy her style of writing. Blake reminds me of an Alpha in a pack. A bit he-man but cares for and wants to take care of his woman. Kensey is not your usual woman. She has a ton of baggage and is also being stalked by a man who thinks he is her step father’s son and wants her out of the way. A story that is just as much a mystery as a romance, Shiver is deftly written and I applaud the author for intermixing the two plots so well.

I found it really interesting being inside of Kensey’s head and watching/listening to her manage her feelings about her mother and step father. When she needs her step fathers insight into who may be stalking her, those scenes are very chilling, the flip between loving father and psychopath like a switch turning on and off. I have to admit, I favored the mystery plot line a bit more than the romance. Blake was a little controlling, although I did like how their relationship progressed to trust and love. They both had a lot of baggage and seemed to be a match made in heaven.

If you are looking for a dark and sexy novel then you must read Shiver. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Shiver

Click this link to purchase! Shiver

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Does the Weather Outside Affect Your Book Choice?

It’s April, but a lot of the US is still feeling the effects of winter. Luckily in Nashville the temperatures may be cold, but we are not seeing the snow the Midwest and Northeast are getting. Nashville is just getting a ton of rain. I hope wherever you live, you are seeing a true spring, instead of the bi polar temperatures we have been seeing in our country!

The wonderful thing about reading a book is that it is enjoyable in any type of weather! So hunker down under a blanket, or enjoy that beach you are laying on and start the next chapter. This is a great segway into what I want to talk about today.

Does a change in weather affect our book reviews? Or at least the books we pick to review? My first inclination is to say yes. After all, our moods are affected by a long winter, right? Those of you getting snowstorms on April 8th are probably about to be the star of your own mystery novel right about now!  But seriously, are we more apt to love mysteries in the winter and romance novels in the summer? Or do we like to read summertime romances in the winter and dark mysteries in the summer? Of course, it’s all subjective because every reader is different. I can only tell you my own habits, and unfortunately they aren’t that clear cut!

I love the lighthearted vacation books that come out in the summer. Yeah, yeah, I’m generalizing. Of course, serious bestselling novels are also released for those who may have time to read while on their vacation, but I like getting away from reality and love a get away novel with a hero and heroine I can root to find their HEA. I don’t want to read a 500 page family saga. I like the feeling of completion you get when you can read a 350 page novel in a few days.

In the winter I have more patience because I’m at home in the evenings hunkering down with my mug of hot chocolate. I have the attention span to read a mystery or longer fantasy novel, maybe even that bestselling fiction novel everyone is talking about. (OK probably not, but I wanted to make myself sound more intellectual…) Do publishers take all of these feelings into account when they plan a release? I really don’t know, but I would think so!

Now that you know what types of books I like to read at a certain time of year, has this made you think of your own habits? We book bloggers can be moody as hell. Is that in some part due to the weather?

What do you like to read in the winter, spring, summer and fall? Does it matter? Does the weather make you pick a certain book to read? Please share your comments below, I really would like to know!

Until next Sunday,

Deb

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Future Lost (Future Shock #3) by Elizabeth Briggs

Elena and Adam have traveled to the future several times, initially as part of a team hired by a tech firm, Aether Corporation. Each time they have traveled, they have seen different visions of what their future would be like, and those future’s keep getting more and more grim. After things went wrong in the previous novel, Future Threat, Elena and Adam and their friends are determined to never make that trip to the future again, but Adams search for the cure to cancer becomes and obsession. When he disappears one day, Elena finds out that he took a trip back to the future again, alone.

Future Lost does a great job of subtly recapping the previous two novels into the plot, so I could quickly become engrossed in the plot and root for Elena to finally find security and happiness in her life. When Adam goes missing I knew where he went and eagerly looked forward to seeing what their future world looked like now. Without getting into the intricacies of the plot, I’ll just say “Apocalyptic” would be a good description.

Elena is an easy character to root for. She’s led a tough life and has found happiness with Adam and seen a future that she is willing to fight towards. Hope is one of Elena’s greatest characteristics, but unfortunately she has to set it aside and go back to a darker place using some of her darker skills to fight the Aether Corporation and save her future. Adam starts off this novel in a darker place than Elena and it’s interesting to see how her initial hopefulness and his desperation to find the cure for cancer seem to run on a parallel path to each other, only meeting when her hope turns to desperation and his desperation to hope.

Future Lost was the darkest of the three novels but that glimmer of hope ran through the story like a grain of gold waiting to be mined. The plot took me on a journey of feelings, despair, desperation, sadness, love and most importantly that hope. On any other novel I may have felt the conclusion was a little too perfectly wrapped, but I think the feeling of calmness I felt was a kind of conviction that the characters finally found themselves in the right place, at the right time. Their happily ever after stretching out in front of them. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

To read my review of Future Shock click HERE and Future Threat click HERE

I was given a copy of this novel through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Future Lost

Click this link to purchase! Future Lost (Future Shock)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Out of the Ordinary (Apart from the Crowd #2) by Jen Turano

Gertrude Cadawalder and Harrison Sinclair were introduced in Behind the Scenes, Jen Turano’s first book in the Apart from the Crowd series. Gertrude is a paid companion to Mrs. Davenport, who has a horrible habit of stealing trinkets from hostesses, leaving Gertrude to find a way to return them without that theft becoming known. A job that is way above her pay grade! Mrs. Davenport also thinks herself something of a clothing designer using Gertrude as her runway model and unfortunately making her unpopular with society’s upper crust. This lack of being dressed to society’s standards is something Harrison shares with Gertrude as he is somewhat color blind, always pairing the most unfortunate colors and patterns. However, his wealth and overall good looks more than make up for the fact that he dresses like a clown.

When Harrison throws their good friends an engagement party and invites Mrs. Davenport her nimble fingers unfortunately go to work and she steals a few of his sisters belongings. Gertrude, when returning those items gets caught and his mother throws her into jail. While defending her to his mother, Harrison finally begins to see Gertrude as more than a friendly aquaintance.

Jen Turano writes with such warmth and humor that it makes enjoying her novels very easy. As an Inspirational Romance writer she deftly ties faith into the story so that it pairs naturally with what is happening in that moment, and except for the innocent nature of the “romance” I wouldn’t know I was reading an inspirational novel. I have really enjoyed this series and if you are looking for a fun, witty novel that is light in nature but not in plot, you need to pick up one of her novels. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Out of the Ordinary Click this link to purchase! Out of the Ordinary (Apart From the Crowd) Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: Other People’s Houses by Abbi Waxman

Other People’s Houses looks behind the curtain into all of the relationships in a block of houses in the Larchmount neighborhood of Los Angeles. Frances Bloom, as the volunteer driver of all of the neighbors children, she gets an eyeful into the lives of her next door neighbor that makes everyone take a second look into their own marriage.

Although the point of view changes from character to character I mostly identified with Frances, the mother of four, slightly overweight stay at home wife who spends her days making other peoples lives easier. Not to say that I make people’s lives easy, but she was more the “everyman” character in this book, so seeing through her eyes was easier and her point of view was very clear. When she catches one of her neighbors in infidelity she keeps her mouth shut, but her knowing creates a cause and effect that builds into a tsunami that breaks over that neighborhood, changing the lives of not only the adults but all of the children as well.

I LOVED Abbi Waxman’s first novel The Garden of Small Beginnings. It too dealt with a difficult subject as the main character, widower and mother of two, Lili, was still trying to get over the death of her husband. It was a story of letting go and moving forward told through humor. The infidelity in Other People’s Houses was also hard to read, but more so because of how it affected all of the children. There was still a bit of humor but I cried more than I laughed in this book. The funny commentary between mothers and children were present but it was almost bittersweet because of the lesson they were all learning from someone else’s mistake.

Other People’s Houses needs to stand on it’s own and not be compared to The Garden of Small Beginnings, and I think I did it a disservice at first for being so eager to look for a laugh. I was disappointed when I didn’t get it until further into the book. Abbi Waxman still did an amazing job creating credible, real, emotional characters. I really liked these people so was able to get involved in their stories, but it did take me a little bit to understand that this was not going down the road I had wanted to take and my journey was going to be a lot more emotional. If you enjoy reading books about heartbreaking relationships with an occasional laugh then you will really like this book. If you read The Garden of Small Beginnings, be warned, you are not getting the same uplifting novel with Other People’s Houses, but you will still be enthralled with the story. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Other People's

Click this link to purchase! Other People’s Houses

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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Have a Happy Easter!

This is one of my favorite times of year. I look around and see the daffodils and tulips blooming, the tree’s budding, and the grass growing in that green color you only see at the beginning of the season. Beautiful, right?

Easter’s message of Hope and New Beginnings means that we can shed all of the bad things that have happened in the past year and start over. We can start a new book, a new chapter in our lives.

I hope that you all have a Happy Easter filled with hope and new beginnings!

Start a new chapter in your book and enjoy!

Until next Sunday,

Deb

I had to share the cake I made for Easter dessert. Blueberry-Lemon cake with blueberry butter cream frosting.

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This Chick Read: The Gravity of Us by Brittainy Cherry

Graham Russell is a best selling horror author who has been abandoned by everyone in his life. He was raised by a father who was not capable of loving anyone but himself. Graham never learned how to love, and if he had he certainly wouldn’t trust it. When we meet him, he’s getting ready for his father’s funeral service. His very pregnant wife, Jane, has to practically drag him to the service, which he reluctantly attends. At the service he meets Lucille, one of the florists who provided flowers for his fathers service. They are briefly trapped together outside and strike up a conversation. This conversation defines who these two people are- Graham is an unemotional bastard and Lucille has a skip in her step and an optimistic view of life.

This novel is not a typical romance. This is a book about learning to love. Graham, for the first time in his life falls head over heels in love, with his baby girl. He would do anything for her and he does by reaching out to the sister of his wife (yes, Lucille is his sister in law!) to help him figure out how to care for his daughter. Lucille is immediately all in. Even though her sister abandoned she and her other sister in their greatest time of need, she doesn’t even think twice about helping Graham out, devoting all of her spare time. As they spend more time with each other Lucille falls in love with her taciturn brother in law. Looking at him through her eyes, I can see why. He is in love with this little girl and it brings out the humanity in him. A humanity that he soon has trouble shutting the door on. As his daughter melts his heart, Lucille’s generosity of spirit and wholesome love opens his heart to another kind of love.

Once again I’m going to reiterate that this is not your typical romance. Based on the cover you’d think it would be a sexy love story. There is a little of that much later in the novel, however the sexiness in this novel isn’t physical. The sexy in this novel comes from the warmth of love. The basis of their relationship is a friendship that builds throughout the entire novel. I loved that. The only negative for me was that he was married to Lucille’s sister.  Jane disappeared after giving birth to a sick child and was obviously emotionally inept. That contrast between she and Lucille needed to be extreme for Gabriel to learn love. In fact that contrast between those two women, for me showed how much Gabriel emerged from the darkness into the light. That journey to a healthy love made the happily ever after even more rewarding. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

The Gravity of Us Click this link to purchase! The Gravity of Us (The Elements Series) (Volume 4) Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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This Chick Read: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Alice and her mother were always a step ahead of bad luck until one day it caught up to them. Living in New York, Alice’s mother had married a wealthy man and seemed to have stopped believe in their bad luck. Working in a coffee shop, Alice see’s a familiar face from her childhood. A man who had kidnapped her to take her back to her grandmother, a famous author of dark fairy tales, at her home in the Hazel Wood. When she spots this man, he doesn’t look a day older than he did ten years ago, so she doesn’t believe her instincts. When she gets home and finds her mother has been kidnapped by the people they had been running from, Alice has to find her grandmother’s estate, hoping that is where her mother is being taken. This is a story of adventure and self discovery for Alice and like the dark fairy tale’s her grandmother wrote, her journey also follows a dark path.

As I started reading The Hazel Wood I loved the world that Melissa Albert had created. Alice, like Alice in Wonderland, seemed to have fallen down a dark hole and as Alice and I learned more about the fairy tale’s that her grandmother wrote it became hard to second guess where the story was leading. When Alice got to the Hazel Wood and her existence was revealed I’ll admit that it became harder for me to like. This was not a Disneyland fairy tale and even though there was a happy ending I didn’t feel very happy at the end.

I had mixed feelings about this novel. The writing was excellent and it was a unique story but in the end I felt “meh”. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The Hazel Wood

Click this link to purchase! The Hazel Wood: A Novel

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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