#chicklit – Donna's Reading Chair

Book Review: This Time Around

Thank you to The Author Agency for my advance copy of This Time Around by Marina Pirlimpou in exchange for my honest review.

This book was such a breath of fresh air for me! We have Madison who nearly collides with a car on a busy city street as Nate, a blast from the past, saves her. Everything goes black and she wakes up in her childhood bedroom. She sees Nate at school and he wants to know what she did to him, they’re now trapped in their past selves!

As the story goes on, Nate and Madison start spending more time together. They start to get closer and then boom, Madison wakes up at the hospital. Will the romance they had living their life as teenagers take hold to the present time? Well…Nate simply has no recollection and leaves when he sees she’s ok.

Can they find what they had? Did they really have it after all? I was so nervous during the present part of this book I was pretty much yelling at Nate to get his act together. Thankfully his friends step in and help jog his memory a little. What would we do without our friends?

4 stars. This is an absolute slow burn complete with spicy scenes at the end. I don’t think you’ll regret reading this one!

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Title: This Time Around

Author: Marina Pirlimpou

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Slow Burn

Publisher: Independently Published

Release Date: June 11, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Catch

Thank you to The Author Agency for my advance copy of Catch by Katie Rae in exchange for my honest review. This is out TODAY!

Loxley has had it. She’s in the middle of a tour and can’t take it any longer so she does what anyone would do in that situation…”borrows” a car and takes off. She is unsure where she is going and what she’s going to do when she’s pulled over in Harmony Haven by Mr. Police Officer Easton.

Easton ends up realizing who she is and takes her to his house so she can lay low. He is determined to make sure no one knows she’s staying there…as well as not allowing himself to fall for her. Will he be able to make both happen?

Things get a little dicey when his boss gives him information that Loxley is missing and he wants him to help look for her. He stays determined and lets Loxley do her thing. The swoon and spice in this one…but will there be a happy ending?

5 stars. This one is a quick read which will have you begging for more. It’s the second book in the Harmony Haven series, but it is a standalone. You’ll just get some bonus content with Easton’s family if you read the first one (which I highly recommned you do as well!). It’s out today, what are you waiting for, go snag it!

Title: Catch

Author: Katie Rae

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Slow Burn

Publisher: Independently Published

Release Date: June 10, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Save The Date

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for my audiobook copy of Save The Date by Allison Raskin in exchange for my honest review. This was released on April 8th and I received it after the release, but have no fear I listened in a timely manner!

Emma Moskowitz is a brave woman. She takes being dumped 6 months before her wedding and turns it into a social experiment. Emma is a therapist and has the breakthrough idea of keeping her wedding date and finding someone else to marry. Crazy right?

The craziest part about it is the support she gets from her friends and family to do it! I could never in a million years get behind this idea if one of my children said this is what they were doing. However, the family trusts Emma and support her. I enjoyed that in this book.

Emma decides to take this quest publicly and gains a lot of attention. She has videos, podcasts, and much more on social media. She has gained a following and even a new beau. Can it go the distance?

4 stars. This one had me laughing out loud throughout it. It’s an enjoyable closed-door romance, so don’t be afraid to let your romance loving teens dive in to this one. It’s a unique book with a very satisfying ending!

Title: Save The Date

Author: Allison Raskin

Genre(s): Fiction, Humor, Romance, Chick Lit

Publisher: Canary Street Press, Harlequin Audio

Release Date: April 8, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Everything’s Coming Up Rosie

Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio for my advance audiobook copy of Everything’s Coming Up Rosie by Courtney Walsh in exchange for my honest review. This is coming out on June 10th!

Rosie sees herself as a failure. She has lost her job AND apartment in the city and on a trip home she sees that everyone else has their life together. She has not admitted to anyone just how unhappy she has been, but keeps a smile on her face and fakes it.

Needing a job, Rosie takes an offer to be a regional theater director, despite how badly she wants to be an actor, and despite the fact that it isn’t in New York City, but in Wisconsin. The humor really starts to pick up in this book when it isn’t just a regional theater, but a retirement community that she’s directing.

She failed to read the job description so suddenly she’s stuck. This is where I really enjoyed the story and it took off for me. Rosie has been so hard on herself that she hasn’t seen what is in front of her. When a few of the members of the retirement community get on her case, can she turn it around?

I also enjoyed the cameo of her friends. They knew that Rosie wasn’t always happy, but were waiting for her to say something. Ah friends, we can’t always hide from them, can we?

4 stars. I loved the growth Rosie had throughout this book. I always enjoyed the romance factor in this one as well. Keep an eye out for this one, it was a fun, light hearted read!

Title: Everything’s Coming Up Rosie

Author: Courtney Walsh

Genre(s): Fiction, Humor, Romance, Chick Lit

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: June 10, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Pleasant Bay

Full disclosure: I grew up with this author. We both lived in the same small town and went to middle and high school together. That being said, it bears no influence on my review (simply put, if I didn’t LOVE this book, I just wouldn’t take the time to write a review).

If you are looking for a beach read, stop, I’ve found it. Pleasant Bay is an absolute FANTASTIC summer read and left me with that tough decision…do I fly through the book and finish it or do I savor this and enjoy every second with these characters? Well…I devoured it and am now left with an incredible book hangover.

Pleasant Bay goes back and forth between 2002 and 2019. The unique part to this story is that in 2002 we are reading things from Sarah’s perspective. In 2019 we are reading in present day, from her daughter’s perspective.

Sarah spends a summer with her aunt in Cape Cod. It’s about to be her senior year in college and she’s living up life waitressing to save up money. She’s had an absolutely crap year with a breakup and her father falling ill. Can a summer in Cape Cod save her sanity?

Madelyn, Sarah’s daughter, also spends a summer in Cape Cod with her great aunt to help give her a break from her single mother. It’s the summer between her sophomore and junior year of high school and her boyfriend happens to be a senior about to go away to college. The nerve her mother has to send her away!

Can I add in some family drama? Madelyn has no idea who her father is. Her mother has kept this from her, but why. Well…no spoilers here, but she’s a teen who won’t stop until she figures her life out.

5 stars. SOLID read, perfect for laying by the pool or at the beach. What I appreciated the most with this, was how the writing changed between characters. Sarah in 2002 is written like a college student. Sarah in 2019 is a total typical teen who thinks they know better. I could say so, so much more, but that would ruin what makes this book so special. Just know that I laughed and I cried. I love a good epilogue and this one delivers just that!

Title: Pleasant Bat

Author: Emily Wakeman Cyr

Genre(s): Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance

Publisher: Novelist Next Door

Release Date: July 31, 2023

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Faking It

Thank you to Netgally and Harper Collins UK/One More Chapter for my advance copy of Faking It in exchange for my honest review! (This is a LATE review, I have previously read this one and am just catching up on writing reviews…my apologies to the publishers!)

Faking It is the perfect lighthearted, fun read if you’re looking for something not so serious. We meet Hannah Thompson, who is a relatable mother and wife, trying to juggle it all. She is working on publishing her first novel, a work of erotica, while trying to hide that from her kids because…well…she doesn’t want them to know what she’s been (tastefully) writing.

What I loved most about this book was how supportive her husband was. That is ALWAYS appreciated when I read novels, especially with moms. Being a mother myself, if my husband wasn’t supportive between everything I do I would absolutely lose it.

Hannah decides to take on an alter ego and write a little more on the naught side and finds herself about to be the guest speaker at a sex convention. The research she does with her friends was just hilarious. I could see myself in her shoes!

4 stars. If you’re a fan of chick lit, you’ll enjoy this one!

Title: Faking It

Author: Rebecca Smith

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance

Publisher: Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter

Release Date: August 7, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Husband Material @harlequinbooks @netgalley #MomsWhoRead #ReadMe #Reading #Books #BookBlog #HusbandMaterial

Chugging along on that Netgalley train!! Aren’t you so proud of me?! 😉

*sigh* I really wanted to love this book, I did. I tried. Let me give you a synopsis of the book and then I’ll tell you what really irked me about this one.

Charlotte is a widow…no one knows it. No one at work, her roommate, no one. She works at an influencer firm and runs/designs programs that are data driven to help provide companies with real time information. She has also created a program where she has created an algorithm to find herself the perfect match. I mean, she’s only been on 70ish dates and never had anyone go past 2 dates, so…

There is drama with her late husband, her late husband’s family, and her late husband’s best friend. That is all I can say without giving anything away. There’s drama with her roommate too and rightfully so.

Here’s what irked me THE MOST. The voice of Charlotte was not consistent (at least not in my eyes or within my inner monologue while I read). In the beginning I thought maybe she was quirky or possibly a character on the autism spectrum. Then I felt like she was completely normal and not weird or quirky at all and then she would change back and it was like…wait…the voice just went all over the place for me and I didn’t enjoy that. Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes she was scatter brained and lost and other times sane and level headed. Then there were times where she just didn’t care about anyone else and that was that. *shrugs*

2 stars. I know. I will say the ending comes along with a little boop and it’s kinda like…that’s it. This is how we resolved everything and so quickly?? We went from 0 to 60 to hey let’s all hang out now…just odd. I also was not a fan of who Charlotte ends up with…at the end of the day I’m not mad I read this, I just wish there was a little more to it. At the end of the day it just wasn’t my style. Have you read this one? Have you enjoyed it?

Title: Husband Material

Author: Emily Belden

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary

Publisher: Graydon House

Release Date: December 30, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: How To Hack A Heartbreak @KristinRockaway @JessWatterson @HarlequinBooks #ChickLit #MomsWhoRead #Romance #GirlPower #ReadMe #PublicLibrary

The last library book I checked out that I read…yes, I read this in December. No, I have not checked out a library book since then (not even Libby). I really am devoting myself to my Netgalley library and books from my colleagues at work…we really need to name ourselves something, I’m open to any and all suggestions for that!

Girls kick ass. That is the first thing this book makes me say. Why? Because Mel works at a tech desk at a startup incubator (tech savvy people looking for their ideas to take off and make loads of cash if they get funded) and ends up coding HER OWN APP. That takes off as a viral sensation overnight.

High five to Kristin Rockaway for portraying Mel’s work scene with a sense of reality…being a woman in a male dominated field sucks and I felt that to the core in this novel. It made me get full of angst and I just wanted to see Mel flip off the world all while ending up on her white horse with her knight in shining armor into the sunset…did that happen? *shrugs* I don’t read and tell!

But seriously Mel balances work, friends, and love. It doesn’t help she’s in the city and it doesn’t help that her app is called JerkAlert, a place to write all about the dirt bag guys you go on dates with. Why does that not help? Because a guy she is way into happens to end up on that site…yes…what a dilemma!! In case you were wondering, Rockaway does address the fact that women get sent dick pics all the time on dating apps…yes, we aren’t lying, it happens (*full disclosure, I dated and got married before the realm of dating apps was a big thing, but I’ve had friends on them and it is disgusting what they’d get). Don’t we all find ourselves balancing the trifecta? This book just feels so real and does a great job at representing a typical life of a single woman in the city!

4 stars. Quick, easy read. Fun read too. This is the PERFECT light read if you’re looking to take a break from serious reads or just want something fun. It was such a great adventure to follow Mel through this time in her life. Once I sat down to read this one, it went quick. I was NOT letting this get back to the library before I had the chance to read it, that’s for sure! I’m so happy to have read this one…have you? Did you just adore it?

Title: How To Hack A Heartbreak

Author: Kristin Rockaway

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary

Publisher: Graydon House

Release Date: July 30, 2019

Find it here on Goodreads