Tag: romance

This Chick Read: The Match by Sarah Adams

Evie has dedicated her life and limited funds to Southern Service Paws, the company that matched her with, Charlie, her service dog trained to assist her with her epilepsy. She loves nothing more than helping to match other people in need with service dogs and when she gets a letter from a father looking for a service dog for his ten year old daughter who was just diagnosed with epilepsy, Evie jumps at the chance. When she meets them at their consultation meeting she finds out that the daughter sent the email signing her father’s name and he had no idea and was not pleased at the meeting. Despite his hesitations, pretty soon he comes on board and both Evie and Sam’s service dog change their lives.

I was drawn to this book because of the synopsis. It’s not often you read a description with a heroine that has epilepsy. I was really curious how this romance would work. Enter adorable kid, with a handsome father and voilá, cute plot ensues. There was a small hint of enemies to lovers at the beginning of this novel, but Jacob gave up on his disgruntlement pretty quickly. He loves his daughter and what’s best for her comes first. Awwww…

Evie also wasn’t what I expected. Yes, she has epilepsy and a service animal herself, but she is my favorite kind of heroine, sassy and sweet! She doesn’t have trouble standing up for herself even though her epilepsy can be quite debilitating. She has learned to live with her fears and so can look past them to the happiness that’s on the other side. She and Jacob were good with each other and I loved that she bonded with his daughter as well. Despite the newness of the premise, it was a pretty standard romance with only a small conflict to resolve. A quick and enjoyable weekend read! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Match

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*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 Christmas You Found Me (Heart of the Wilderness #1) by Sarah Morgenthaler

It’s Christmas, a time for joy and happiness, but with her family gone and her marriage over, Sienna Naples is having trouble finding joy in the season. When a friend publishes an ad in the local paper saying Sienna is looking for a husband as a joke, she paints on a smile. Until single father Guy Maple shows up answering the ad. His daughter has stage-five chronic kidney disease and needs a kidney transplant. Guy needs to show that he can afford Emma’s anti-rejection medicine in order to be approved to be on the list. A heart-breaking story that Sienna can’t turn down.

I’m a fan of this author’s and have enjoyed all of her previous novels. Their light-hearted humor and sweet small town romances were easy to read and totally enjoyable. The Christmas You Found Me has the same sweet small town, and there is some light-hearted humor but this story has a lot more depth and feeling than her previous novels. The story was rich, moving, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with all the characters. Yes, it was a little insta-love, but the fact that this family needed each other so much was really moving and Emma’s story in particular was heart-breaking and imbued the book with love. At the end of the book was an author’s note about Sarah Morgenthaler’s husband dying suddenly and the tough time she’s had that made this shift in emotional content make complete sense and hopefully was cathartic. I know it made me feel all sorts of things both comfortable and uncomfortable and I really appreciated the journey.

There were so many things I loved about this book. I liked that Sienna was recovering from a horrible divorce and that this small family’s need filled her heart. I liked that Guy and Emma were puzzle pieces that fit into Sienna’s life right from the start but that the story moved slowly so that you could really feel all the emotions this author put into the plot. There were quirky townies that hopefully will get their own stories, and plenty of small town feel for those of you who love those small town romances. This novel was different but hit all the right notes. I really liked it. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

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 Christmas You Found Me

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

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This Chick Read: If the Shoe Fits (Meant To Be #1) by Julie Murphy

Cindy loves shoes. A recent graduate from fashion school she has moved back home with her step-mother a tv producer for the very famous dating show Before Midnight. When a few of the contestants fall through she and her two sisters fill in. Cindy hopes her clothing and shoe choices will get her noticed, what she doesn’t count on is falling in love with the bachelor.

As a plus-sized romance, this story certainly delivered the goods. I loved how Cindy was confident and stood up for herself, all while presenting herself fashionably. Unlike other Cinderella re-tellings, she and her step-sisters actually have great relationships with each other. Their antics were refreshing and I’ll admit the behind the scene’s “bachelorette” moments were as well.

Henry, the bachelor, was down to earth and wonderful. He filled those Prince Charming shoes extremely well and was totally likable as the romantic interest. Despite his having to go on all of those dates. The story was filled with secret moments between the two of them which fulfilled the romantic aspects of the book, but it was Cindy that stole the show. She is a character that the majority of women can identify with and was totally likable to boot! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this book!* If The Shoe Fits

Copyright 2024 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 Woman By the Lake (Misted Pines #3) by Kristen Ashley

Nadia Williams needed to escape to a peaceful setting to recover from the trauma of the death of her mother. She rents a small one room cabin on a beautiful lake with only one other home close to hers. Doc Riggs cherishes is peaceful lake and when his new neighbor makes demands on his privacy his instinct is to stay far away, despite her good looks. When the local sheriff, and his best friend, shares her traumatic story, he decides to befriend her in order to make sure she receives any help she might need. He doesn’t expect the protectiveness he feels when she and the cabin she’s living in is targeted by activities that are both spooky and dangerous.

The Misted Pines series is a bit of a departure from this author’s normal novels. These books fall into more of a romantic suspense category and the eerie lake setting and the mysterious noises in The Woman By the Lake provide a creepy scene perfect for a hero to come to the damsel’s rescue. Nadia Williams has plenty of spunk and fire, but she’s more of a girly girl and seems to appreciate leaning on her handsome neighbor. That lean quickly evolves into a romantic relationship that turns Riggs into the alpha hero we come to expect from a Kristen Ashley novel.

I think I preferred the previous novels more than this one but I still enjoyed Nadia and Riggs’ story. The mystery was well developed and captured my interest but I never felt the spiked tension that the first two novels gave that the serial killer mysteries provided. Despite that the romance between Nadia and Riggs was fun and I loved all of the detailed moments that the author provided to set the scene. I wish I had a place to escape to like Nadia’s place, it sounded like the perfect girlie cabin in the woods. All in all this was a fun story and perfect for a weekend of reading. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* The Woman By The Lake

Copyright 2024 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: No One Does It Like You by Katie Shepard

When Broadway actor Tom Wilczewski is about to jump into raging waters during a category 3 hurricane to save his co-lead, he calls his ex-wife and leaves her a message telling her he regrets their divorce and still loves her. Two months later Rose Kelly is in a bad place and hear’s Tom’s message for the first time. She reaches out and asks for his help to revitalize her family’s B&B in Martha’s Vineyard and Tom, hoping for a reunion agree’s. What she doesn’t count on is for the rest of his Broadway cast to show up and help.

Rose and Tom’s relationship ended because of a lack of communication and they were only 22 years old. Way too young to figure out that they needed to fight for their marriage instead of just give up. 10 years later, Tom is still acting and in his first big Broadway role, yet he doesn’t hesitate to rush to Rose’s side to provide whatever help he can give. In the telling of this story we learn quite a bit about their dynamics as a couple and what went wrong, and what I loved about that telling is that with more adult eyes, the things that were so important at 22 were not as important at 32. It’s the message behind trying to make things work that, well, made this kind of awkward novel work too.

There was a fun sub-plot to this story about Tom being romantically involved with his male co-lead, Boyd, who’s actually a very well known actor. The reality is a bit different that what’s playing out in the gossip rags, but Tom is actually bi-sexual, as he was when he and Rose met. This sub-plot was a bit of mis-direction but also had a lot of charm and brought a sense of lightness to what could have been a kind of serious novel about second chances. A lot of that had to do with Boyd, his not very bright decision making, and his pack of groupies. I was never sure where the scene would lead when Boyd entered the page, but I always looked forward to it.

This novel wasn’t perfect. Tom and Rose’s second chance was filled with a lot of doubt and gray areas that sometimes made their character’s decisions kind of hard to follow. I loved Tom’s fortitude in wanting to win Rose back despite all of her hesitations. He was all in, and because of that I was all in too.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* No One Does It Like You

Copyright 2024 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: No More Secrets (Blue Moon #1) by Lucy Score

After a tour of duty, Carter Pierce is settled back into life on the farm, hoping for a quiet life to recover from his wounds. New York journalist, Summer Lentz, is living with him for a week while she writes an article for her magazine. She’s a fish out of water with her expensive clothes, but willing to try anything to add meat to her story. At first Carter thinks she’ll scare off easily but after a couple of days he never wants to see her go.

When Lucy Score gets into her small town romance groove, you feel the love. The characters are slightly kooky, and in the small town of hippie-filled Blue Moon that certainly applies, but these same people also fill the pages with a lot of heart, making the reader want to travel to a similar type of small town and soak in the love. No More Secrets and the Blue Moon series, is not a new novel from Lucy Score, and in fact, I read this novel five years ago when it came out. I only vaguely remembered the story, but I definitely fell back into the charm, no problem.

Carter and Summer, despite the synopsis of grumpy guy and city girl, actually hit it off right from the start. She may be a city girl but she’s got some insecurities that make her perfect for the love of this gentleman farm, and Carter doesn’t fight his attraction, at all. For all that he’s recovering from his time overseas, he is a pretty charming guy who knows what he wants when he see’s it. He quietly woo’s Summer right from the start. I loved how Carter, his family, and the town all broke down her defenses. The story was simple, sweet, and even thought it was a second time read, I enjoyed it again. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* No More Secrets

Copyright 2024 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: 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

Copyright 2024 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: Holding Out for a Gyro by Mary Ann Marlowe

Chelsea and her best friend Elizabeth are always pushing each other outside their comfort zones, checking fun things off on lists like taking a hike, or talking to a stranger. They’re out in a bar together one night and meet two men and decide to check another off the list. Elizabeth has to fabricate everything she says and Chelsea has to speak only the truth. When a fun night out turns into the possibility of a relationship, Chelsea puts on the breaks. She doesn’t do relationships and she’s very upfront with Basil. He, however, is very persistent and struggles to overcome all of her objections.

I so wanted to like these characters more than I did. Chelsea had an interesting but pretty dark back story and her path to happiness led through her needing to overcome all of her insecurities. Basil was an open book but for some reason he found something in Chelsea that he wanted to shine a light on and love. Both things that aren’t unusual in a romance novel but it was the length of time (literally to the end of the book) that it took for them to work things out was exhausting for me. The cover and title which are so cute and fun, kind of misled me into thinking the story would be light-hearted and funny- it just wasn’t that book for me. I love this author and her other books, but I just didn’t click with these characters. ❤️❤️❤️

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

If you’d like to purchase this book, please click this link!* Holding out for a Gyro

Copyright 2024 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 Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

June and Levi were best friends as teenagers but drifted apart and haven’t talked for 10 years. After they both have devastating break-ups that spread like wildfire over Tiktok, Levi is back home determined to finish the book he started writing and to make up with his ex-best friend. When a photo of the two of them goes viral #RevengeEx goes into effect and they pretend to be dating each other- he wants to make his ex jealous and June wants the publicity for her failing tea shop. They can fake date without getting their feelings involved, right?

This adult contemporary romance by Emma Lord feels exactly like one of her young adult novels, but with slightly more adult content. I could tell immediately who had written the book because her easy reading style was the same, and her characters were likable, dramatic, funny, and totally relatable.

June is keeping her sister Annie’s dream alive by running her tea shop Tea Tides, and using her newfound TikTok fame to help pay the rent. When Levi re-enters the picture she is faced with not only dealing with why they haven’t talked in ten years but also dealing with the feelings from her sister’s death. This novel has tons of layers taking the reader on a journey as June navigates her future. So when you pick this book up be prepared to laugh, but to also connect with your own feelings. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Break-Up Pact

Copyright 2024 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 Scenic Route (Beneath the Wild Sky #1) by Katie Ruggle

Felicity Pax is part owner in a bounty hunting business with her sister’s. When their estranged mother skips bail putting the house they all live in up for collateral Felicity chases after her mother. What she doesn’t count on is to be tailed by PI Bennett Green, who is also looking for her mother and the jewelry she stole from his client. Felicity and her sister’s split up and she heads into the Rockies leading Bennett after her, and hunts down a different skip. When that turns dangerous they team up to take this skip down and maybe also fall a little bit in love.

When I first started started reading this book I thought, wait a second, I know these characters! The Pax sisters have been featured in other novels and I wondered when they’d show back up again. A bounty hunting gang of sisters was too good a premise to pass up and it looks like the Beneath the Wild Sky series will feature the rest of them. Yay! We also return to the small town in the rockies where the Search and Rescue Series takes place and we get to revisit that fun group of ladies and their guys who have all been involved in solving crimes and are eager to involve themselves in Felicity’s investigation. It was fun to be back in the rockies with all of these characters again!

I’m a huge fan of Katie Ruggle’s and am so glad she’s writing back in this romantic suspense/rom-com category. I split between the two because there’s a lot of humor in her writing as well as dangerous elements and plenty of romance. Felicity and Bennett were absolutely adorable. She’s the work out self defense expert among her sisters and despite her young age (22) seems pretty adept at navigating this investigation. Bennett is the grumpy hero with a heart of gold and I loved him for Felicity right from the start of this novel, despite is stalker-esque start. He fell instantly in serious like with this woman and was determined to help her and keep her safe. Their special brand of communication with glances and humorous mini dialog’s kept me reading, and the action-adventure style investigation made me hunger for more. I can’t wait for the next novel in this series to come out!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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 Scenic Route

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Right 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