ARC Review
Book: Thrill Ride
Author: J.D. Carothers
Rating: 3,5

Tropes:
- rich guy, poor girl
- swoony
- inst-love
- suspense romance
- hidden identity
- cooking competition

Positive thoughts:
I enjoyed the story, it ws a page turner for me. I love a good cooking competition and I enjoyed that aspect of it. Plus a murder and setups in between, yes! It kept the story interesting and fun to read.
I loved to read about all the food, super interesting.
I loved the ending, both how the competition ended and how it turned out for Cassie and Evan.

Negative thoughts:
I thought the writing was a bit immature, especially the dialogues, it definitely needs refinement.
I didn't feel the inst-love, I was hoping to see a bit more interaction between Cassie and Evan before be made that daring more. I didn't see them interact enough to come to that kiss, it needed more to believe the attraction they had.

Over all:
Apart from the poor writing, I looked passed it and I was able to enjoy the story. I never got bored, it was a page turner for me.

Story summery:
Cassie is living her live the way she thinks her parents want it. Although they have died, she is determined to be a lawyer to keep her promise to them. But her dream is to be a cook, so she enrols herself in a cooking competition after she is feeling completely burnt out from her work.
The competition is in a luxurious hotel in Vegas and there she meets Evan. Although she is the backup contestant, she needs to stick around just in case one of the four competing fall out. And surely one of the competitors dies and she is thrown into the competition, she is up against three professional cooks. As the competition runs, strange things happen and she becomes a murder suspect. While she is trying to do her best in the competition, she also tries to clean her name by doing some investigating herself. And she also has the help of Evan, who she is falling for but she doesn’t know much about him.
Evan has a secret and he takes his time in revealing his true identity to Cassie. He helps her find the truth about the murder and supports her in her dream.
All well ends well, the murder is solved, Cassie lives her dream, and she ends up forgiving Evan for keeping such a secret from her.

A big thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This books was a breathe of fresh air for me. Okay, well totally not realistic but still different and fun. I could just go with the flow. So fun, and has suspense as well. Loved Cassie and Evan-great chemistry. 3.5 stars

I had expectations for this book that were not met. I felt like the relationship with Cassie and Evan was not very well developed. There wasn't time to really feel connected to the characters before the smut scenes were written. It made the whole story feel rushed and underdeveloped. Some of the parts of the dialogue seemed to be lacking in honest conversation. I really wasn't pleased with this book.

I enjoyed this book a lot! 3.5/5
But at times it was also confusing to follow the plot. The switching of POVs so often at the start of a book always confuses me, as it doesn’t give me enough information or time to memorize who is who. It was also confusing who the MMC was going to be even after everyone meets. It also at times the writing itself seems to be a bit to “step-by-step” and I thought the MCs got together way too fast. They got together before we really got to know either of them. Cassandra we got to know a lot more than Evan so it wasn’t her I had an issue connecting with. For Evan, I struggled connecting with him because almost as soon as he is introduced he is wining and dining Cassandra. The inclusion of his POV was also a confusing addition, as I don’t really think it added anything to his character besides dialogue necessary for the plot. I wish he would have either not had his POV, or his POV was equally as long and informative as Cassandras.
When he and Cassandra get together it almost feels shallow(?), because we don’t really know who he is or what his intentions are. I also wish there was more included of deep inner thoughts/reflection from both of them because most of it is setting the scene and dialogue, so it almost feels like a script for a movie/tv show if that makes sense? I guess it makes sense since Evan was hiding something but I just wish more was added to build up the mystery/suspense about his secret before they got together. It almost feels like he was a complete stranger when they became involved and I wish more of his secret (or the climax) would have been foreshadowed for us to be like “oooooohh he’s lyiiiiing”
But overall I really enjoyed this story. It was unique and beautiful!

Ok this book has a lot going on, but don't judge it from the cover or title - I just don't think they are fitting for this book.

Cassie is an overworked attorney who applies for a cooking contest on a whim. She's chosen as an alternate and gets to fly to Vegas to be on hand if she's needed. And she's needed quickly as judges and contestants start dying before filming even starts. Also along the way she falls quickly in love with Evan, the handsome secretive friend of the hotel owner.

It takes a while to get into the mystery and the story seems slow in parts and way too fast in other parts. I believe it's the author's first book, I'd be interesting in seeing if their writing becomes smoother along the way.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

Wow this book was great. I loved being able to escape into this up and down romance and I would do anything to see this made into a movie.

I really enjoyed this book it is a detective mystery and a romance book in one, with some helpful cookery tips thrown in. Evan and Cassie get to know each other during this cookery competition.

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋

Good read that’s kept my attention throughout, it’s got some great characters and one or two I found hard to like , but that’s a personal thing I suppose.

I’ve not read this author before and that was great, I love new to me authors, gives me a chance to see other styles of writing and appreciate them.
I would read more from this one,
If given the chance

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

Sent from my iPhone

While we have here an interesting premise for a romance, the writing could use some refinement.

This story follows Cassie, Evan and Sean. Cassie is an overworked attorney but her real passion is cooking. She applies for a cooking competition at a luxury Las Vegas hotel (owned by Sean) and is selected as the understudy. She is thrust into the competition after the murder of one of the contestants. She forms a romantic connection with Evan (Sean’s best friend) who has some secrets of his own. A murder mystery plays out with a side of romance.

What I liked:
- The premise. This was an interesting and unique idea for a book.
- The pacing. This was well paced and had a consistent flow.
- The murder mystery. Unfortunately I was spoiled by reading another’s review so I knew who the perpetrator was going to be. Had I not been spoiled I think I would’ve been surprised!
- The ending. I thought it was wrapped up nicely and I can see potential for further romances in this world.
- The cover! Excellent choice of cover, kudos!

My constructive criticisms:
- This books has three alternating points of view. Cassie, Evan and Sean. Sean has almost double the amount of chapters than Evan even though Evan is the romantic interest. I prefer with romances to be more closely following the main pairing.
- The romance was very Instalove. When they first kissed I didn’t really buy it. I felt it almost came from nowhere? I did not get a sense of what they even liked about each other.
- This is a small thing but her ‘channel of ecstasy’ is not a phrase I needed to read during a spicy scene. It actually pulled me out of the moment because I couldn’t help but laugh 😅
- The characters and their conversations. The characters did not have distinctive voices. For example, I could not tell you how Sean and Evan differ, what makes them unique characters? I am not referring to their lives and occupations, I am referring to their individual personality traits.
Conversations between characters were also stilted and seemed forced, there wasn’t a natural flow to the dialogue. Sean and Evan were college best friends yet their dialogue was too stiff and formal, lacking the intimacy that would come from being old friends.
- My main criticism though is that this writing lent itself to telling rather than showing. It can be tricky as a writer to balance this but it is important! Using description, action and emotion to show the reader what is happening is preferable to using exposition to tell the reader. There is a repeat of language such as, ‘I saw,’ ‘I realised,’ ‘I say,’ ‘I explain,’ ‘I respond.’ This kind of language is, more often than not, unnecessary and ‘telling.’ It leads to over explaining and it would be best to use other devices more aimed at ‘showing.’

All in all I do commend the efforts of this new author. I have no desire to dissuade her from writing or to dissuade readers from reading. This author has some great ideas! I hope only that my insights provide some food for thought. 💗

*I received an e copy of this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback. The opinions stated in this review are honest but solely my own. My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for this opportunity.*

4/5 stars

First thing’s first- this was a good one.

Did it take me a while to get into it? Yes, however, once I was immersed in the story, it really took off.

My only qualm was that I didn’t feel a strong urge to read Sean’s chapters. I didn’t really see the point in his pieces. (I think he had more chapters in his POV than Evan did in his POV.) I really enjoyed Cassie’s chapters as her personality was fun and she was going through some life changes, trying to figure out how to balance her lawyer life with her passion for cooking. Evan’s chapters were also pretty fun to read as well. The brotherhood between him and Sean was nice and watching him fall for Cassie was enjoyable.

I also want to mention (mainly for the smut readers out there) that most of the spice in this book isn't written out. It isn't exactly a fade to black situation, but it isn't full out on the page either.

I also enjoyed that this was kind of like a murder mystery story, trying to figure out who murdered one of the contestants on the cooking competition that Cassie was apart of. I kept trying to figure it out and as the story went on and we (the readers) were given more information, I was beginning to think I knew what had happened and who all was involved, but then BAM, someone was the head of the deceit, and I did not see that coming!

I enjoyed this book and I’m sure anyone will!

Evan and Cassie's journey pulled me in! As these two are brought into each other's lives, I couldn't wait to see how everything would play out for them.

Cassie is overworked and hates her job, when she applies for a baking competition , it’s just for funsies -she’s an amateur afterall. As it turns out, she’s accepted as the alternate (the understudy if you will) but just when she thinks everything’s going her way, things take a turn. It seems someone is targeting people involved with the competition. Then arrows start pointing at her, and Cassie has to clear her name, win the competition and snag the handsome Evan.

Unfortunately, this didn’t do it for me because, well, even the instantest insta-love didn’t insta this instantly.

However, J.D. Carothers is a new author who deserves every bit of encouragement she can get from us, so I’ll give it 3 stars ! First one should be especially difficult to put out. I also checked her website and was pleasantly surprised that she incorporated Pinot & Pie, an actual blog she writes, into her novel.

Read Thrill Ride if you like insta-love, competition atmosphere and murder mysteries. Note that spice is mostly off-page. One thing that really needs improvement is the conversation. I think it was stilted and unfluent (Thesaurus tells me unfluent IS a word and I have screenshot evidence so…).

But the mystery was intriguing and I was following that angle with raising interest -until I got spoilers from one of the reviews on Goodreads : There I was, blissfully unaware of the upcoming disaster, trying to see if people liked the book or not and BAM ! No warnings, just one paragraph that casually reveals every secret of the book. Be more considerate, people ! There, I added my PSA about the importance of spoiler alerts.

One final thing, there are 53 chapters in this book. 30 of them are narrated by Cassie, the FMC, and 8 are narrated by Evan who’s the MMC. The remaining 15 are from the POV of Sean. Evan’s bff. Why ?

Thrill Ride by J. D. Carothers ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cassie, a lawyer by profession and a cook by heart, unexpectedly gets chosen as an alternative for the Chief Guest Cook Competition of the Grand Athena's Trendz restaurant. While on that luxurious stay in Las Vegas, she gets entangled in the murders of three chefs by becoming a prime suspect for the murder of one of the chefs. Evan, a royal prince of a European island, has come to Grand Athena to escape from his family commitments for a while and lay low from the media. He decides that he'd stay away from women but isn't able to when his eyes fall on Cassie. Sean, the owner of Grand Athena, has some mysteries to solve after the deaths of the chefs working in his hotel and finding some suspicious expenses and losses in his company's accounts.

The story plot is engaging and interesting. I seriously didn't expect some twists like Evan being an actual prince and Cynthia being the mastermind behind the deaths. The characters were nicely justified as the novel is written in triple POVs- Cassie's, Evan's and Sean's.

The usage of double inverted commas (") in the many parts of the story was improper. But I guess this isn't the final edition. However, the story was good and I'd love to read more about Sean and Lowri's story.

One of the best books of 2022 so far!
Thrill Ride is a perfect title for this book, it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout trying to guess who was orchestrating things and why.
I loved the blend of romance and mystery as it kept things fast paced yet fun and endearing.
I loved the varied points of view and thought J.D Carothers did a great job and I hope to read more from her in the future.

I highly recommend.