Tag: ya contemporary romance

This Chicks Audio Review: Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood

Video game designer Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime to design a game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only downfall is that she’ll have to work with her arch-nemesis Jesse Andrews.When their two companies both win the bid to co-design the game their bosses think a wintry retreat is just the answer to get their teams to bond together. Viola has tried to befriend Jesse before but has been snubbed repeatedly and she is not looking forward to this retreat, but in order to be part of this dream job she’s willing to suck it up. Unfortunately she doesn’t count on their chemistry making a bad situation…..better?

Narrated by Kelsey Navarro Foster who gave these characters life, this novella was just the right fit to get an Ali Hazelwood fix. The audio book is about 4 1/2 hours but there’s a lot packed into this five day retreat. Great back stories for our two main characters, lots of anxiety, great dialog, and a resolution that packs an emotional punch. This enemies to lovers romance brought the gaming world to life, but even better, this author created three dimensional characters in a very short timeframe. Something a lot of authors struggle with when writing novella’s but this author excels. If you have the time, I’d add this audiobook to your TBR and when you find that 4 1/2 hours of downtime, give it a go. I think you’ll find it a fun story!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click this link to purchase this audiobook!* Two Can Play

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: How My Neighbor Stole Christmas by Meghan Quinn

Storee Taylor never thought she’d go back to the small town where she spent Christmas’s with her great-aunt, but after she falls and breaks her hip, she packs her bags and heads back to the town where Christmas never sleeps. Seriously, the town is Christmas themed 365 days of the year. Her aunt Cindy was determined to win the Christmas Kringle contest this year and if she can’t do it then she can make Storee enter the contest and run. Cole Black and Storee were friends when they were kids but then Storee disappears for 10 years on the night his parents died and Cole has never forgiven her for leaving in his time of need. When he finds out that Storee has entered the Christmas Kringle contest he decides to also compete and out Kringle Storee.

When I read the synopsis I thought that this sounded kind of cute and the cover was charming. I’m also a fan of Meghan Quinn’s rom-com stories, so color me surprised when I found myself seriously disliking this story. I’m used to reading Christmas stories out of season so I don’t think it was the holiday cheer in October. It just felt like the story was forced, the enemies to lovers plot (normally my favorite romance trope) overdone, and the kooky town characters that I usually find charming were just kind of annoying. Bah humbug, right?!!! I hate to hate on an author I normally like a lot, but this book was just not for me.

Now, I don’t want to go into any detail because I know those serious Meghan Quinn fans aren’t going to care what this one book reviewer thinks and can only say, please read it for yourself and discover if you agree or disagree. For me, it was just overdone. ❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* How My Neighbor Stole Christmas

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: Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Riley has huge aspirations for her future.. she wants to direct a Broadway musical. When she takes her mom’s car to the city to see a show without her permission, she’s grounded and has to work at her dad’s gamer shop in her free time. When she finds out the spring musical has been canceled, she is determined to save it, but she’s stuck at the game shop with her nerdy (but cute!) co-worker Nathan. They strike up a deal, she’ll flirt with him to make his girl crush jealous and he’ll act as her boyfriend at school to get her ex off her back while she works on the musical. As they spend more time with each other she finds out that she likes the Dungeons and Dragons role playing almost as much as she likes spending time with Nathan.

I’ll admit that I’m a little older than the target demographic for this novel, but I love occasionally reading young adult novels. The emotions are so pure and in the case of Dungeons and Drama, the plot was too cute. I enjoyed this novel very much! The story mixed humor, nerdiness, and great family dynamics. I felt for this cute teen girl who’s parents are divorced. She has drifted apart from her father and isn’t sure she can handle working in his store, which she sees as the catalyst for her parents divorce. When she enters that gaming universe she’s definitely a fish out of water which creates some pretty funny scenarios. Her interactions with Nathan and the other boys who game D&D in the back room are pretty great, the dialog is spot on and so funny!

The romance portion of this novel was very sweet and totally PG. A lot of young adult novels read like an adult romance but in this novel the heat was very mild and was totally appropriate for young readers. In fact, I was so surprised at the emotions this novel wrung out of me considering my age in comparison with the demo target. This author did a great job of writing for all ages!

If you love sweet romances that make you reminisce about your high school days, pick up this novel! The writing was great and the story was fun and engaging. You can’t ask for much more than that!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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

Click this link to purchase this book!* Dungeons and Drama

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 Reads1 Comment

This Chick Read: Always Jane by Jenn Bennett

Every summer Jane works with the domestic staff of a famous rock producer at a music festival in the mountains. She has been long-distance dating Eddie Sarafian, the son of the family who runs the festival and she’s excited to finally be in close confines. When he jets off to do business in the Philippines she finds out things that makes her question that relationship and brings her closer to Fen, his brother. Over the next few weeks they go from antagonistic friends to falling in serious like throwing a serious loop into her summer plans.

When Jane and Fen first meet he is dark, disturbing, and seems to be the black sheep of his family. We soon discover that the Sarafian brothers may not be what Jane thought and the more time she spends with Fen the deeper their attraction grows. I’ll admit, I loved Fen, but boy is he a dark soul! He is tall, dark, and handsome and has been obsessed with Jane since he saved her when she fell in the ocean two years ago. He has even commemorated that accident with a tattoo. As she gets to know the Sarafian family she is drawn to how “normal” they seem but as she gets to know them she sees the problems that reside at their roots which lead her to making some difficult choices.

I was surprised by the dark undertones in this book. The synopsis made it sound like it would be a young adult contemporary with a bit of a romance and it was, but there was also quite a bit of angst and pain. Not a bad thing but just unexpected. Fortunately I really liked both Jane and Fen. The more that was revealed about each of them the more their quirks made sense and I wanted to keep getting to know them.

I’m a sucker for books that have a music theme. Not that I know that much about music, I don’t! I just love that vibe and creativity. That Jane and Fen got to know each other through their love of music gave them a commonality that was fun to read and was a good contrast to the dark themes throughout the novel. Have you read a lot of Jenn Bennett novels? I’ve read a few and thought I knew what to expect but this novel surprised me. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

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

Click this link to purchase!* Always Jane

Copyright 2022 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

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

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

Friday YA: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

Halle has two personalities. Well, not really, but she does have two persona’s. She is everyday Halle who is going to start another new high school, this time while staying with her grandfather in Connecticut. She is also Kels who runs an online blog where she pairs cupcakes with book covers. Kels is much more bold and doesn’t have trouble expressing her thoughts and opinions and has a ton of online friends, including her best friend Nash. When Halle and her brother move in with her gramps and get ready to start school Halle comes face to face with her friend Nash except she doesn’t tell him that she’s Kels. She has every class with him and gets invited to sit with he and his friends at lunch and she’s terrified he will find out and be mad. Is it possible to have a love triangle when two of the people are yourself?

As a book blogger I thought One True Pastry and it’s concept totally cute. I loved the underlying story about the loss of her grandmother and how differently people handle grief. I thought Nash was adorable but thought Halle’s constant rejection of him painful. Of course, I was supposed to feel this way but if I were him I wouldn’t given up on her a long time ago. I loved her brother and his confused bi-sexuality and how to her he was just her brother regardless of how he identified. I liked Halle more than Kels because she had depth and wasn’t one dimensional like Kels. What I hated was the bashing back and forth of who should read YA. This one genre, of them all seems to have a reader identity crisis and this author tied into that. I thought it an interesting dialog within what should have been just another teen contemporary romance. It’s a dialog without a conclusion in real life, but it ran its course on these pages.

There is a reason to read ya novels, especially in the contemporary romance sub-genre. They are a quick escape from whatever is bothering you and typically contain very little depth. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of depth I found in What I Like About You. It held my interest and made me slow down and think. Think about loss, recovery, faith, best friends, love, friendship and family. What I Like About You was particularly insightful and despite my age being outside the target demo (come on, I had to say it!) I enjoyed it very much.

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* What I Like About You

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 Reads1 Comment