Tag: reading

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

This Chick Read: The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Katie Vaughn’s life has gone up in flames. She’s ended a bad relationship and now her job is facing lay-offs. In order to save her own, she take a job producing a video in Florida about a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, despite not being able to swim. Something she hides from her coworker, Cole- who is also Hutch’s brother. That’s just the first lie she ends up telling. When she gets to Florida and meets Hutch, who’s possibly the most handsome man she’s ever met, she gets caught up in a few more lies, the least of which is not being able to swim. As she faces some of her fears, and gets to know Hutch and his aunt Rue, Katie realizes she needs to take this chance to really be brave at last.

Katherine Center’s novels come out every year just as Summer is about to start. I look forward to reading her books because I know I’m going to love the characters and the fears and/or obstacles they are always trying to overcome. She writes with a tongue in cheek sense of humor but also with a lot of heart, which makes her books lovely to read. The Love Haters had all of these things. Wonderful characters who weren’t perfect and needed a little smoothing over, and obstacles that they needed to overcome before finding their happily ever after. This story wasn’t any different, so why didn’t I connect with it as much as I usually do?

Katie and Hutch were interesting, their lifestyle choices understandable, and the conflicts in their lives emotional. Each of them separately were amazing. I think I didn’t feel a huge connection between them as a couple. Katie had a tendency to hide herself behind some of her phobia’s and Hutch had learned from a young age to hide his feelings. These walls each of them had built kept the reader, or at least this one, from that connection that I’m always looking for between the romantic couple. For me, that was problematic and I felt a little like I was reading a synopsis of a therapy session. Hoever, the story was great, their situations relatable, and they were both lovely, nice people and you couldn’t beat the sunny setting.

Maybe it’s just me, but because of these little things I held back on my rating by one star. Nothing huge, this one is still a four out of five rating, but normally I go all in with five stars for this author, so it’s a bit of an anomaly for me. You may feel completely different! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Love Haters

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

This Chick Read: Slipstream by Madge Maril

Documentary filmmaker Lilah Graywood never thought she’d be producing a film on F1 racing but when her co-owner and boyfriend of their business convinces her to spend their summer doing this she doesn’t have the heart to say no, until he dumps her and tries to fire her from her own company. As revenge she and back-up race car driver Arthur Bianco decide to create a secret partnership where she will film his comeback and take control of Max’s documentary. When she and Arthur have to fake a relationship she gets to know the real Arthur, and his hidden vulnerabilities. Their chemistry soon makes it hard to pretend and Lilah has to face her true feelings.

F1 has certainly become a popular subject in romance and as an F1 fan I was worried that this novel wouldn’t portray it well, but you know what? Madge Maril did the sport justice, AND gave us really likable characters in an interesting romance. When Lila got dumped I was all in for the revenge plot, and her relationship with Arthur seemed like it would lean towards a friends to lovers, which is my favorite trope. What I didn’t expect was for their to be so much depth to these characters! I loved Lilah’s love for documentary filmmaking, but also how she began to love this sport that she at first thought was ego-driven and dumb. When she began to see how she could create this great story about Arthur’s comeback and then also began to let herself fall for him while filming it? Wonderfully written.

If you love F1 this book is a no-brainer and you need to read it. If you love romance novels and don’t know anything about F1? Still read this book! The characters are well written, the pace of the story is fast (as it should be when about racing!), and the chemistry is fab-u-lous! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Slipstream

Copyright 2025 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Rules for Ruin (The Crinoline Academy #1) by Mimi Matthews

Just outside of London lies an institution with a secretive aim, to train young women to distract, disrupt, and discredit the patriarchy. When a powerful lord’s systemic attacks on young women’s rights in Parliament, the Academy sends for one of their best pupils to infiltrate the lord’s inner circle. If she brings down the viscount she earns her freedom. Betting shop owner Gabriel Royce has different plans for the viscount. He needs his support to help him rebuild the rookeries of St. Giles and Effie’s plans completely stand in his way. Effie and Gabriel engage in a battle of wits and wills that’s complicated by a blossoming desire.

Mimi Matthews delivers another really great historical romance. This time with the theme of women’s rights. Although I got the feeling that Effie was more interested in her freedom at first, but as the story moved forward you could feel her shift to believing that what she was fighting for was in fact what was best for her. Her attraction to Gabriel was immediate and their conflict gave a really great tug and pull of both their developing feelings but also where they stood in the fight for womens rights. Gabriel had his own interests he wanted to protect, but it ended up being the love of a good woman that won him over in the end.

This author has always shown us different sides of London society and this novel was no different. Although Effie was passing herself off as a lady, she had a mysterious background that was a sub-plot and gave insight into her actions. She and Gabriel ended up having a lot in common which drew them together as well. With the addition of a truly reprehensible bad guy to add more conflict to an already great story this one you shouldn’t miss reading. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Rules for Ruin

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

This Chick Read: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

When Samantha finds a kitten in distress she takes him to the closest veterinarian clinic. When Xavier Rush walks in the door, Samantha is gobsmacked by his Greek god vibes, until he opens his mouth proving himself to be a surly SOB, delivering his professional opinion about the cat and the entire human race. Samantha loves nothing better than proving an SOB wrong, unless he can admit his mistake. They go on one date, and it is absolutely perfect, but Samantha has some family issues and is moving back home to Los Angeles the minute their date ends. Only neither one of them can forget the other.

Abby Jimenez is the queen of delivering romantic comedies with a lot of heart and this novel definitely had both. I laughed out loud at the great dialog, and felt emotional stirrings about all of the difficulties Xavier and Samantha had to overcome. Sounds great, right? So why was I left feeling slightly disappointed? Stop reading here if you don’t want some small spoilers.

This story had all the things, it really did. Romance, good looking girl, great looking guy, lots of chemistry, comedy, but what it didn’t have was our two main characters in the same city for the majority of the book. I thought the author did a great job of showing how a long distance relationship has been proven to break up couples. It was frustrating for me as a reader to not have them holding hands in the evening over a good meal or tv show, I can only imagine how it would feel in real life. So, I spent a great deal of this story, in between brief chuckles and heart tugs, feeling frustrated. That’s not really how I want to feel when I’m reading a romance novel. Hence the disappointment.

The good parts of this novel were really great. I loved both characters, I liked their back stories, I LOVED them together. I just didn’t get enough of that togetherness. Despite that frustration it was still a well written book by an author I love, it just wasn’t a five star read. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Say You’ll Remember Me

Copyright 2025 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: The Woman Left Behind (Misted Pines #4) by Kristen Ashley

Sheriff Harry Moran has a stack of files on his desk of cases that the inept sheriff before him may have messed up. When a gun in a double homicide gets traced back to one of those files, Harry makes the decision to head to the woman left behind. When Lillian Rainier opens the door, Harry is jolted by feelings he hasn’t felt since his wife died. As far as Lillian’s feelings, she’s had a crush on Harry for years but with this cold case mystery pending they take the time to not only investigate the murder but also to investigates they both are starting to feel for each other. When a witness turns up, they realize the killer is cleaning up his past mistakes.

Kristen Ashley’s Misted Pines series are good old fashioned romantic suspense novels and I’ve enjoyed getting to know all of these characters. A few of these characters make an appearance in The Woman Left Behind, a couple of whom help Harry with some out of town investigating. Otherwise, this story really centers on two characters who have not really been in any of the previous novels. Harry on the periphery, but only just. I enjoyed the lack of distraction as it read like a stand alone more than a part of a series.

The mystery in this story was quite good. It was a cold case regarding the disappearance of Lill’s parents when she was 18 years old. I liked the use of this case as a back story for the difficulties Lill had faced in her life and the obstacles she’s had to overcome. As Harry was the Sheriff and privvy to these details it allowed them to jump forward emotionally a little more quickly than would in real life, but then all of this author’s novels have a bent of a jump in time element speeding the romance along. Their emotional connection didn’t suffer from any insta-love backlash for the reader, but more of a whiplash reaction to all the emotions Lill was going through because of the appearance of that weapon being tied to her missing family.

Was this the best novel in this series? No. I still enjoyed the first book the best but I did think this was a solid romantic suspense novel and enjoyed getting to know these characters and their stories. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Woman Left Behind

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

This Chick Read: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

When Alice was seventeen she spent a summer at the lake with her Nan. It’s where she took a photo of three teenagers in a yellow sailboat. A photo that changed the trajectory of her life. Now, a photographer, Alice is struggling to find that magic she felt when she first started taking photos. She has a successful career making her clients happy, but she is searching for that happiness for herself. When her Nan needs to recover from hip surgery, Alice decides to take them back to that cottage on the lake hoping that they’ll both find that magic that will put them back on track. What she doesn’t count on is Charlie Florak.

When she and Charlie meet there’s an instant connection, but deciding to be just friends, they fill their days in each others company. He’s one of the teenagers in the sailboat, still flirtatious and charming, but there’s something holding him back from the feelings that are growing between he and Alice.

I relish a great Summer beach read novel and Carley Fortune delivers every year when I’m jonesing for a vacation when I can spend time immersing myself in a delicious setting, and complicated characters that make you want to root for them. One Golden Summer captures that feeling so well. Alice’s journey to find herself while capturing the love for photography while having a summer “friendship” with Charlie was easy breezy reading. It made me feel warm with happiness while at the same time tense with nervous anxiety. Just as with any good romance, there is a hiccup to happiness that they must overcome. I’ll admit I shed a few tears reading this novel but that’s a sign of a strong connection to the characters. I was hooked and stayed up until late in the early morning hours to finish this novel because I just couldn’t put it down. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* One Golden Summer

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

This Chick Read: Same Time Next Summer

Sam is taking her fiancé Jake to her family’s summer home at the beach in Long Island to look at a wedding venue, but as soon as she arrives she senses something is off. She hears guitar music playing and realizes that Wyatt, the boy that broke her heart, has returned to his house next door. She hasn’t seen him since she was seventeen and doesn’t want to see him now. Unfortunately he’s everywhere and all of those memories from long ago come flooding back. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.

This was the last of Annabel Monaghan’s books that I hadn’t read and I was excited to get a copy from the library. The weather is turning and I’m in the mood for a summer beach romance and this one looked to be a perfect fit.

I liked Sam a lot. She was conflicted over bringing her fiancé to her summer home because she was a different person at the beach then she was in the city. There she was buttoned up and had closeted all of her feelings behind a safe wall, but at the beach she let her feelings come alive. Her true person came out and because of the heartache she faced when she was young she was afraid to let that person come to the surface. A little unfair to her fiancé because he didn’t know the real her, just the person she wanted to show him. When she was faced with Wyatt again and all of those old feelings surfaced, as well as her connection with Wyatt she was faced with the choice to stay in her safe world or take a chance and face her true self. That was what I loved about this story. She didn’t allow herself to hide away anymore, of course, she needed a good reason and that was the love of a good man. Unfortunately for her fiancé it wasn’t him.

These summer romance novels have such a warm, golden feel to them. I love that easy, relaxed fit that a beach read brings to my heart and this book was no different. Was it my favorite book by this author? Nope. It was probably my least favorite, actually, but it was still enjoyable and I loved the journey it took me on. Now that I’m caught up with her books I’ll need to find another new to me author with a backlist of novels to read and love.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Same Time Next Summer

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

This Chicks Audio Review: What the Devil Knows (Sebastian St. Cyr #16) by C. S. Harris

In 1811, two entire families were viciously murdered in their homes. A suspect–a young seaman named John Williams–was arrested. But before he could be brought to trial, Williams hanged himself in his cell. The murders ceased, and London slowly began to breathe easier. But when the lead investigator, Sir Edwin Pym, is killed in the same brutal way three years later and others possibly connected to the original case meet violent ends, the city is paralyzed with terror once more. 

Was the wrong man arrested for the murders? Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for assistance. Pym’s colleagues are convinced his manner of death is a coincidence, but Sebastian has his doubts. The more he looks into the three-year-old murders, the more certain he becomes that the hapless John Williams was not the real killer. Which begs the question–who was and why are they dead set on killing again?

I’ve listened to Davina Porter narrate sixteen novels in this series and I’m nervous about starting number seventeen because she’s retired and I’ll have to hear my favorite characters voiced by another narrator. I’m sure it will be fine, but sixteen books is a commitment! I think I’ve been trying to play catch-up on this series for four or five years- at least! Davina Porter does such an amazing job with accents and portrays men and women equally well. She is truly an artist and will be missed. I do wish her well in her retirement.

What keeps me coming back to these Sebastian St. Cyr stories? Despite the talented Davina Porter, it’s my love for these characters, their development, and especially the mysteries. The Viscount Devlin with his penchant for disguises and ability to not only interrogate his peers, but also the classes beneath him makes his character real allowing the reader to become a part of his thought process. What the Devil Knows was a little slower than some of the previous novels, but not because of a lack of action. I think Devlin survived two or three attempts on his life but never gave up his desire to find out the truth behind the malicious killings of these families. Very honorable!

If you love historical mysteries and are looking for a series to dive into, please give this one a try, but start with the first book! These characters grow and evolve and that has been a large part of why I’ve stuck with them and have continued to enjoy the characters. Enjoy! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* What the Devil Knows

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

This Chick Read: Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan

Ali Morris organizes people lives for a living but when her mother dies and her husband leaves her, her own life starts to spin. She hasn’t worn pants with a zipper in a good long while. One day, she takes a big step, puts on semi-structured overalls and takes her dog to the dog park where her dog pees on a man named Ethan who looks at her like she has her act together. He looks at her like she’s her much younger self. There’s no harm in a little summer romance is there?

I have come to love this authors’ summer romances. The characters are always a bit messy but with the heat and beach humidity a little anxiety and disorganization seems to fit just right. What I liked about this novel was that Ali’s messiness was caused by grief and self discovery while learning how to live through that grief. This story felt very real, especially with how her two children coped with a mother who kind of stopped living for awhile. Ethan brought a little fun and laughter to this woman who hadn’t felt those emotions in quite a long time and you could almost feel that exhalation of grief and inhalation of life in each scene he was in.

An interesting side plot was how Ethan dealt with his own messiness. In this small town they were both from, he had a bit of a crazy reputation that people had trouble seeing past. Everyone but Ali, who saw the man he had become vs. the troubled youth he once was. I liked the dichotomy of his past and current lives and how he needed to overcome his own anxiety. I like when both characters have a bit of work to do to make it to their happily ever after. Their journey felt like the breeze wafting in from the water, whipping around slightly before settling down. Refreshing.

Click this link to purchase this book! *Summer Romance

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