Sappy and sweet, with an excellent romance and a great look at the foster care system. Could rot your teeth out, but that's sometimes the exact book you're looking for.

While this was my first book by Mckenzie, I found it oddly alluring. The story of abuse, drug usage, and life in general. The internal aspect of CPS and all the flaws. Growing from it and the progress of adulthood after the trauma. Life.

A children librarian who wants to become a foster parent... You had me at hello. As a public school teacher, I hold no romanticized notion of the foster care system (including foster parents and case workers), but McKenzie allowed me to escape into a fantasy world where everything turns out all right.

This book Taking Chances by Erin McKenzie was an okay read. I think there could have been a lot more character development.

Val and Paige are both working in the foster system. They are drawn to each other but have to put that attraction on hold when Val ends up fostering kids and Paige is their social worker.

This was my first book by this author and I'm certain not the last!

Overall Taking Chances is a good read and I will definitely recommend it to those who enjoy a good romance with strong women and a tear-jerker story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin McKenzie and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For some reason, there seemed to be a few books dealing with foster children/system when this came out - or I just happened to read a lot of them in a short period. This was one of my favourites. There's a nice balance of a serious topic and romance. Overall sweet and engaging - with the kids stealing all the appropriate scenes.
Although it does deal with foster care and the reasons/issues around it, it doesn't delve deep so this isn't a heartbreaker type of book. It tackles the topic with a bit of a romanticized view - but McKenzie has strong characters and a nice writing style and I couldn't help but cheer along as things unfolded.

Taking Chances is an emotional wonderful read. It covers various tough topics and it handles it well. I liked the characters and it was written well.

This book took me ages to finish but it wasn't the books fault. I've just been so busy that my daily reading time is dropping.

I found this to be a really adorable story. Well you know with a bit of darkness but adorable nonetheless. The whole plot is well developed, though there wasn't much about the kids after the second half. It makes sense, but still those kids were cute. I loved Paige. She was understanding and wasn't overly intrusive. I think I could relate to val, with all the insecurities and the fears. So yup I am a huge fan of the leads.

Normally I'd have finished this book in a single sitting. But since I took so long to finish the book, the story was a mess in my head. So that's probably why I'm giving it four stars but who knows, I might change my mind when I reread it later once I have enough time to read.

3.8 rating, rounded up to 4 stars.

This is my first book from author Erin McKenzie and Taking Chances was an enjoyable read. The characters Valerie, a former foster child now foster mother and Paige a foster care case worker and foster mother herself, are both great characters and well developed. The secondary characters, from the best friend to lovable Connie are great additions to the book. The children are adorable and oh so special. They will definitely pull on your heartstrings and yes you may need tissues.

A great thing about Valerie or Val, is that she is a woman of colour, she is a badass and such a strong character to go through a tough childhood and emerge to become such a strong and caring woman. I loved how Erin depicts her as this woman who went through a rough time, how she is depicted as distant and a little cold but after getting to know her, she is also known to care too deeply and isn't afraid to shed a few tears (or a lot, but then again so did I). Paige is also a great main character. Though she may have grown up living a different life than Val it doesn't mean she didn't have her share of a rough childhood. Paige is also an incredible woman and one of my favourite things about lesfics are the strong, amazing women.

Erin McKenzie pulls off the book with well developed characters, good romance and a healthy amount of heart-wrenching scenes. The romance is a slightly slow-burn but I loved the pacing of their romance. Overall Taking Chances is a good read and will definitely recommend for those who enjoy a good romance, cute kids, strong women and a tear-jerker story.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well-written book which I felt dealt with a difficult theme well. The motivation of Val, one of the main characters to become a foster parent felt real and it was refreshing to read a story where the characters put their professional responsibilities above their romantic needs -although it all turned out ok in the end :-). It's quite an emotional read, the plot didn't feel like just a vehicle for romance, it had depth and the characters were well rounded.

a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43157433-taking-chances" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Taking Chances" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1544655853m/43157433.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43157433-taking-chances">Taking Chances</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16788501.Erin_McKenzie">Erin McKenzie</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2677098676">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Leads Val (children's librarian) and Paige (foster care worker) are inevitably drawn together in this romance with tears, drama and angst. The author covers the foster care system unvarnished with empathy and without inundating the storyline with excessive details. Supporting characters were neatly written and though many topics were covered among them drug abuse and mental health, the overall plot moved smoothly to a satisfactory end. My second read from Ms. McKenzie which I easily recommend with 4 stars.<br />I rec'd a copy from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books for an unbiased review.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

Great story, it really puts life into perspective. I loved the story line and the charcters as well.

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me an ARC of this book, in exchange of an honest review.

I picked up this book because it reminded me of The Fosters, a show I watched recently and really loved. The theme is basically the same but, unfortunately, I didn't like Taking Chances as much as The Fosters, mostly because of the characters.

It's not that I didn't like them per se, I kind of liked Valerie and felt for her story. But I didn't connect with her and Paige and them ending up together or not was the same for me, which you kind of don't want to happen in a romance book. Basically, I didn't care about them or their life as much as I cared for Stef and Lena's and The Fosters family's lifes.

However, there were some things about Taking Chances I really liked. The fostering storyline was really well done, and hearbreaking! I felt for Valerie and the kids a lot. Connecting to that, I liked that the main focus wasn't the romance between the two main characters but this 'foster' plot that connected them. In fact, the romance was a real slow burn, which I feel like it fits really well with the story. The side characters were also really funny and I liked them, they had personality and were there as more than token best friend characters.

Basically, I liked Taking Chances but I thought it was going to be a book version of The Fosters - or at least as heartwarming, heartbreaking and cute - and it didn't quite meet my expectations. I still reccomend it though if you want a quick cute f/f romance that is a little bit more serious.

I had to read this. I'm contractually obligated since I'm a librarian.

In all seriousness I picked this one up because the blurb said that it had a librarian in it, but, once I read it, there was definitely much more substance than just librarian awesomeness in this book.

The librarian is Valerie. She was once in the foster care system and decides she wants to become a foster parent, even though she's still not sure how she feels about the system as a whole.

Paige is a foster care caseworker. She meets Val at the foster care class and then just as they're getting closer she becomes the caseworker for Val's first two foster kids (siblings).

That throws a kink in their relationship, although it also means that they start seeing a lot more of each other and getting closer in different ways.

Then everything changes for Val once again, and then with that change it's like dominoes for the two of them. Good dominoes and some less good dominoes.

The librarian stuff was pretty okay. I really liked the characters too. Sasha and Jen were fun (would have loved more of their story) and I really, really liked the character of Connie. She was amazing and in my opinion she stole every scene she was in!

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

Taking Chances is a very good book, and a story of love, hope, frustration, happiness, and sadness. I like the adoption theme, it seems very well done and I feel I learnt something new. That is always a bonus for me. I suspect the fortuitous circumstances enabling the happy ending would be very unusual but that's the point isn't it? What makes this story stand out from other sad tales. I like both the main characters, Val and Paige, and even though the end was a bit obvious I was still rooting for them as I read. The writing is good and flows well. Overall a very solid story and worth a read.

Valerie had a horrendous childhood growing up in the foster system but her life is on track now. She’s a children’s librarian and loves her job working with the children so she has decided to foster kids to right the wrongs she felt as a child. When beginning her induction course in fostering she meets one of the coaches, Paige. Paige and Valerie have electric chemistry but when she meets the two young children she will be fostering and realises that Paige is her caseworker, they have to put their attraction on the back burner and concentrate on the kids… But that doesn’t mean they find being in close proximity hard, especially when they are perfect for one another.  

This book broke my heart a little, I don’t think I have cried and/or got the feels that much in a while from a storyline. It may be that I’m a mum or I’ve worked with vulnerable children but I was so effected by this story.

This book is fast paced and moved at the speed that I felt matched the growth of the protagonist’s journey. Don’t get me wrong, the characters’ relationship happens on a slower stride but the story itself moves along nicely. There wasn’t a moment in this book were I thought Valerie and Paige wouldn’t get together as it’s obvious from the beginning they are soul mates and their romance isn’t the focal point until the last 25% of the book.

Valerie couldn’t be a better candidate for fostering children. She’s an amazing human being with a big heart and lots of love to give to any child. So watching her with her foster kids, Lily and Ian was beautiful especially as she began to really bond with them. I would actually say the kids stole the show and made the book something really wonderful.

Paige was another beautiful soul and she really was the best person to support Valerie through her time going into fostering. She’s so sweet and has an adoptive daughter herself that came through the foster system so she understands and really allows Valerie to lean on her in all the hard times.

What a book! I cried continuously from the last two chapters through to the end of the most beautiful epilogue.

I really can’t wait to see what’s next from Erin McKenzie.
5 stars

I would first like to point out, that on the cover both women look white, one if just a more tan white than the other and that bothers me because of you are going to go ahead and put a person of color as the protagonist, then at least really go for it and make her look like a brown person on the cover.

As for the book, I am married to a social worker, who works specifically in foster care, and she says the book is pretty spot on in terms of the process and how things work. What she says is inaccurate is how quickly, and how easily everything worked out. Nothing works out that well in foster care and it can take much longer than a year for kids to become adoptable.

The romance was good, although at some points I found myself having to re-read passages because both the protagonists sounded so much alike when you were reading. I couldn't tell if it was Paige or Valerie. The kids were adorable and very well written and I liked every aspect of the book. I like when I can read about people of color in lesbian fiction, because it is few and far between these days. One thing I did not like was when Paige had to tell he story as to why she didn't trust women, and it fell flat. It just wasn't that compelling and it seemed kind of trivial compared to all of the trauma that Val went through.

Not a bad book, it was fine, Not sure if I will read this author again. We shall see.

Valerie Cruz’s life wasn’t an easy journey. With a mother who couldn’t get away from drugs, a grandmother who loved Valerie and her younger brother and would have gladly looked after them but for her poor health. Foster care was the only option. Her brother was reunited with his father who lived in the west. Valerie never saw him again. After a string of foster parents she finally gets out of the system, goes the college and now works as a children's librarian. There are only two people Valerie has ever trusted, Connie a foster care worker and her good friend Sasha. Paige Wellington had a very different childhood, she never wanted for anything, just her parents interest in her. Now she works as a foster care worker whose job is to find good homes for kids in need. Ms McKenzie gives us a great read. Simply a wonderful story. Very, very enjoyable.
ARC via NetGalley

A very slow start, which was disappointing; I love adoption and found family stories, and Taking Chances delivers both in spades. Much of the development veered toward navel-gazing, and characterization was a bit flat, but it was overall a very sweet and thoughtful romance.

It was a delight to spend some time in a romance with two same sex heroines where the fact of their gayness had nothing to do with their story. Paige and Val's relationship begins as Val re-enters the foster system, this time as an adult still struggling to make sense of her own experiences but also with an intense desire to help other children whose needs she can very much relate to. Paige is the case worker assigned to Val's first placements and as their relationship grows from professional to friendly to even more, they deal with a lot of highs and lows along the way. I hope to see more stories like this as the publishing world slowly diversifies.

While this may not be an instant classic, it was definitely a lovely story to spend some time with.