DNF @ 30 %.

I just didn't click with this story. I was so excited to see a shorter hero but he always found a way to put this little detail in every conversation. Seeing a heroine who goes undercover was a nice surprise too but ugh, she seemed incompetent at some times. Like she goes in a club and expects no one would see her and throw her out even when she sticks out like a sore thumb. She also expected for the hero not to notice her in a sex club. When he eventually found her she says she is following him to find out where he is going and if he is cheating with him and he brushes it off as normal... wth??? She is not the best FBI or CIA or whatever agent she is. At all. I just can't deal with dumb heroines or heroes.

I couldn't get into the book. It just wasn't for me.

***ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

Hmm... Okay so as much as I wanted to love this book, I honestly just wasn't into it. It may be great for others but I just couldn't get into it as I felt it didn't really grab me into the story like other books.

Didn't finish this book. Found it too boring, sorry. It just wasn't my cup of tea so to say, but other people might like ti.

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Now here is a undercover romance you don't see often. Sadie is Fbi investigating a possible fraud case at Chase's workplace. She gets close to him to find out if he's a suspect and ends up falling for him. He doesn't know she's FBI and falls for her. They sweetly get to know each other and when Chase does find out he's very supportive of her and calls her his bond girl. He doesn't press his masculinity on her and treat her like a joke. He supports her lifestyle and tries to find ways to accommodate her career with a true relationship. Refreshing.

Sadie was a newbie undercover FBI agent in the same company Chase was working for. Her task was to discover who's falsificating the company reports and stealing money. Chase was a suspect also. But Sadie realized he knew nothing about it but when he actually discovered the errors, he immediately took precautions so that no one could actually blame him for anything. Anyway, things got more complicated when sadie and Chase got involved in a relationship. Sadie had to reveal her identity when Chase along with their friends were attacked. But before things cooled down, Chase was kidnapped and shot. Fortunately, he was saved by Sadie though, before something bad happened. Also, the guilty men were caught and punished while Sadie and Chase continued forward with their relationship.

This an FBI thriller/suspense story.
Whilst I quite liked the storyline I was not so enthused by the characters and their descriptions. I thought that Chase came out as a better described character than Sophie. But overall, neither character came across sharply.
My overall impression of the writing was that it was rather 'doughy' in style - sticky and and bit soft - needed to be sharpened up.

Who knew white collar crime could be so thrilling? FBI agent Keating is on her first assignment undercover as an auditor when she meets fun loving client manager and suspect Chase Maitlin. Is he hiding a criminal mind behind the charm? Can she resist him whilst proving his guilt or innocence? A nice easy to read and follow crime mystery with a sprinkle of love really enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more by this author in this series.

To Whom This May Concern:

I would first like to say that this is the last book of the West Side series. The series has 4 other books with other couples that pop up in this book. I did not read any of the other books as this is the first time I am reading a product of Isabel Jolie. I read this book as a stand-alone. Even with the other couples in this series included in this book, it didn’t hinder the reader’s ability to finish the book.

The couple in this book is Chase Maitlin and Sadie Keating. Chase is a client relationship manager for BB&E, while Sadie is an undercover FBI agent that specializes in accounting. Their relationship is at best sweet. Chase had much more personality than Sadie, whether on purpose or not. Their love story without all the plot is almost teenage like. This couple’s story is best read at a young adult’s romance versus an adult romance. This book is written with dual point of views with the perspective written on the chapter subtitle.

The plot line of the story moved, but lack interest. It follows the plot line of inside trading and fraud with the government investigating into the financial accounts. These things do happened, but how they were portrayed lacked surprises or action. In terms of reality show, it is like Hawaii Five-0 without the drama and wit. There weren’t many scenes in the book that made me smiled, but more I just skimmed through the book trying to find the passion or the quirk or anything to hold interest onto.

The “romance” scene was not very steamy. I will never judge on the amount of romance scenes in a book, but more the quality of the scenes themselves. There was approximately 2 intimate scenes in the entire book. They were sad scenes. In the first “romantic” scene, Chase barely touched her and she orgasmed. I hope I never had a sexual interaction as poor as that.

The ending of the book was well written with the plot tying well together. The characters did get a happy ending, which is always nice.

With that being said, I give the last book in this series a 2 out of 5.

With thanks.

Disclaimer: I did get this book for free through NetGalley. However, I did not get paid for a skewed review. This is an honest review with no intentions to sway readers to persuade sales.

Complementary copy given for honest review and opinion. Copy given by NetGalley.

Isabel Jolie took me on a wild ride with this book. This book had romance. It had suspense. It had the push and pull of a new relationship vs the reality of secrets. This was an all-around great book that I would recommend to romance lovers.

Fraud, murder, insider trading, political dishonesty, the business executive and the FBI undercover financial operative. All this adventure wrapped up in a romantic story.

With a happy ever after ending in this romance story of finding love and commitment, with good friends to share in the happiness both now and in the future together.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Booksgosocial for the ARC. I am voluntarily providing this review. I believe that this is part of a series but reads well as a stand alone. This is the story of Chase and Sadie. Although highly unbelievable it is still a pretty fun book. It has a lot of action, the characters are quirky and fun, and alot of drama. All of this makes it a fun read. 4 stars from me. I think most romance readers would enjoy.

3.5 ⭐

This book caught my attention because of the synopsis and the cover, that is, FBI heroine and possible criminal hero?, I'm in. It’s the first book I read by this author and I must say that it wasn’t what I expected. Our heroine "Sydney", or rather Sadie Keating, is an undercover FBI agent, who is investigating a Firm and the illegal deals that occur in it. Here comes one of the main suspects; Chase Maitlin, a man who is more than he appears to be.

First, we have Sydney who has just moved to New York for her first job as an undercover FBI agent, she is an independent woman who has her work as a priority and has no time for her social life. Her character is interesting because she is strong and "cold", but she only protects herself from people by past experiences, since she had a toxic ex who didn’t respect her and didn’t care about her opinions, as well as not having a family present throughout her life (because they are also agents). Being in a career dominated by men, she makes sure no one considers her to be inferior for being a woman and I like that of her character, she knew how to set her limits.

On the other hand, Chase is very different from the heroes that we are used to, first of all, he is not 180 cm (6 ft) tall and that is taken into account because it causes him insecurity when dating other women or in his relationships with other men (who want to intimidate him for being smaller), for this, he takes refuge in being the funny friend of the group. He doesn't like conflict, he’s friendly to everybody and although he doesn’t seem like it, he is very intelligent, I liked the way he takes decisions throughout the book, a hero who is not an idiot thank you very much.

How to describe their relationship, I'm still not sure if it was insta-love or not, I would rather say that it was an attraction because both denied having feelings for each other and we could see how little by little they were getting closer. Something that bothers me personally is insecurity and Chase is an insecure character, always wondering if he had a chance with Sidney and if he deserved to be with someone like her, it stressed me out. I will not say that their relationship was forced but I really didn’t feel anything for them, still, a very cute couple and I like that Chase didn’t create unnecessary drama when he found out the truth, was mature and proud to have a woman like Sydney. I mean, the girl is the one who saved the hero and the one who had the action scenes.

"When the world’s thrown into utter chaos, you’ve got to focus on what matters. Names don’t matter. Material shit doesn’t matter. People. Those you love. At the end of the day, that’s all there is. I could kick her out. But after the carnage of today, no way. She’s my people. I’m holding on."

Plot

Okay, the plot is very predictable but the way the situations are handled is realistic, at first, I couldn't get in but when I realized I had already read half a book so it's a quick read. I also thought that it would be very dramatic and that it would take the whole book to find who were the culprits involved, as well as when Sydney's identity would be discovered, but it wasn’t like that at all and I liked it because there was drama, yes, but it was not unnecessary at all.

There were some points where I felt that the plot didn’t advance and was filled with dialogue or descriptions that shouldn’t be there, something that stressed me is that there were too many characters mentioned, in the end, I didn't even know who the bad guys were because there were so many characters, oh and we never met like half of them. The ending was predictable and it kind of lacked something because it felt boring.

Something important is that this book is the fifth in a series and can be read as a standalone, generally, when they say that many times the story is not understood since it’s related to previous books but in this case, it was not like that, you can read the book smoothly and not feel lost.

Side Characters

All the characters from previous books appear here as they are Chase's best friends, we met more from the girls than from the boys, so I will talk specifically about them. Anna, Maggie, Olivia, and Delilah are the friends of Chase that I love because they accepted Sydney without any problem and had a fairly healthy relationship. They supported their relationship but still didn't pressure them, I loved them.

Finally, I liked the story although it was predictable, I liked that there wasn’t unnecessary drama and that it was a bit original. It has some strong scenes but overall it was a good combination of romance, crime, and action.

“What did you say?” I hear her ask.
“The short guy. Got the Bond girl.”

Is this book for you?

Perfect for: Lovers of strong heroines, crime, and corporate drama.
Do I recommend it? Yes.

TW: violence, mass shooting, kidnapping.
Heroine: 7/10
Hero: 7/10
Romance: 6/10
Relationship Type: F/M
Steamy Scenes: 7/10
Violence/dark scenes: 4/10
Plot: 8/10

This was my first book from Isabel Jolie and I will be keeping an eye out for future books!
The book had it all, a strong female lead, a strong male lead and lots of action to keep you entertained. It was well written and had a strong plot with a twist. I did come away with a few questions but I guess if the female bond couldn’t solve it, I’ll never know!
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

As currently with this books, I get them thanks to NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I love stories with detectives falling in love while actively working, inappropriate, yep, surreal, sure, but is like Grey's anatomy, once you discover that you are into that kind of entertainment, you literally cannot stop it, and your brain lurks for it until you cannot take it anymore, but honestly you can have 5 stories more.

She is an undercover agent, he is his main suspect, he is determinate to get her, she is doing herself to resist him but failing at the same time.

I liked it, I would watch it if it was a show because, it has everything I love, romance, action, sexual tension, everything I love in those kind of stories.

I highly recommend it.

I've been on an amazing streak clearing out some To Reads via NetGalley, checking out new authors and series and it's been a week of winners. Rounding out that week is Chasing Frost, a 1st from Isabel Jolie from me. I'm down for an uptight FBI agent undercover and falling for a super fit, funny and well-off suspect. Usually, a lot of dual perspective books have such a similar voice for their characters -- let's just say it's often snarky, which I don't mind. What I liked about this one was the hero and heroine maintained their separate characters in the POV.

Enjoyed it and hope they'll be opportunities to check out more from this author.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review*
2,5 rounded up
*Trigger warnings: gun violence, mass shooting, homophobia, sexism, food talk *(mentioned in the review)
This was a fun read overall but it wasn't what I expected nor wanted so I'll give you the pros, cons, and other thoughts so you can decide for yourself if you wanna pick it up:
Pros:
-Great chemistry between the MCs: Mainly romantic chemistry, at first it was a push-pull dynamic but once the story advances both gravitate towards each other in the cutest and subtle ways. There was also some sexy build-up, which led to a couple of fun smutty scenes.
-Badass female MC: Sadie is an undercover FBI agent which makes her fun as is but there were some scenes that showed her quick thinking and skills.

Cons:
-The male MC: Though sometimes he was endearing, most of the time he was a sexist pig. I don't have a liking for men who objectify women left and right. He was surrounded my worst men but that didn't distract me from his inner monologue "I like to watch joggers in tight Lycra with bouncing breasts", and the not so thinly veiled homophobia this dude displayed on a few occasions "I'm not gay or anything but I notice muscles", that's inner monologue, he's "straight-talking" to himself... He was the typical douchebag we see in movies and IRL unfortunately. I have no interest in seeing men like him as heroes in romance books, sorry.
-Food talk: I personally wasn't affected, nor do I think it made the book worse but it was weird and I don't think putting a trigger warning will showcase the detail in which I think some people might be affected. Both MCs are obsessed with food, they are not foodies the food talk is usually them thinking about how much they ate, how much exercise they need to do to burn those calories, or if they can afford the food. I think people with ED or in recovery should consider this before picking it up.
-Info dumping: This is an FBI investigation romance so some information is needed to follow along. However, the information kept going even after the climax was done. This is not an issue of the book but I personally didn't care much for the investigation if it didn't affect the MCs and I get that Sadie worked hard on the case and it makes sense that she would care for the development but I didn't, so it was a bit boring.

Other thoughts
The smut is not detailed and short. Obviously, this is my opinion, for YA readers it's a bit more than usual but I'm used to a bit more spice. It's fun and well written so it comes down to preference. I didn't put it in pro because I usually want more detail but it's certainly not a con, especially since it fits the book greatly.

3.75 stars

Chemistry on point. Badass female lead plus action packed book? This was sooo good and fun!
This was my first book from this author and it won't be my last!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Chasing Frost was a great new addition to the West Side Series by Isabel Jolie, following Chase and Sadie's adventures in love. Sadie is posing as Sydney Frost in her FBI agent role, with Chase the main suspect in the case she is currently working. As Chasing Frost is book 5 in the series, the scene is set (it's nice to catch up to those characters!) the main characters are loveable and steamy, and overall a great addition to the series!

I loved the chemistry between Chase and Sadie/Sydney! It wasn't over-done uber passion, rather a slowish burn that seemed much more realistic but scorching when it got going. As the investigation extends beyond what was originally planned, the strain on Sadie and the relationship between her and Chase is spot-on. I hate when the drama of the "betrayal" is overdone to the point of deserving an eye-roll and that thankfully wasn't the case here.

Honestly, the tight-laced woman and laid-back man as the main characters is a bit tropey. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good book with a bad trope. And this was a good book! But I felt the trope was a little too earnest as if Jolie didn't know it was a bit trite.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed Chasing Frost by Isabel Jolie and look forward to reading more of her books!

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review of Chasing Frost, by Isabel Jolie.

This was an exciting read that brings you to the forefront of an intriguing whodunit mystery, entangled with romance and a very enthralling female MC.

I wasn't aware that this was several books into the series, however, I had no problems following along since the MCs change.

The author was on point with her captivating plot, steamy romance and character development.

I would recommend this book to both mystery and romance readers.