Giving Chase

Chase Brothers, Book 1

By: Lauren Dane

Narrated by: Aletha George

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Some small towns grow really good-looking men! This is the case with the four Chase brothers.

The homegrown hotties are on the wish list of every single woman in town and Maggie Wright is no exception. Maggie has finally had it with the men she's been dating but a spilled plate of chili cheese fries drops Shane Chase right into her lap. The sheriff is hot stuff but was burned by a former fiancée and is quite happy to play the field.

After Shane's skittishness sends him out the door, Maggie realizes that Kyle Chase has had his eye on her from the start. Now that Shane has messed up, Kyle has no intention of letting anything stop him from wooing her right into his bed. Now, despite Maggie's happiness and growing love for Kyle, a dark shadow threatens everything - she's got a stalker and he's not happy at all. In the end, Maggie will need her wits, strength, and the love of her man to get her out alive.

©2006 Lauren Dane (P)2013 Tantor

WELL.... THE CHASE BROTHERS DON'T NEED TO CHASE ME

We're off to a good start to this new Chase Brothers series - a contemporary, sweet romance with four drool worthy hunky handsome brothers who can always get their pick of A list girls and they all live in small town America.

This one is Kyle's story who's no tough alpha male type but he is a passionate, caring, thoughtful, honourable and he is very protective over the lady who has caught his eye - Maggie but unfortunately she has a real inferiority complex due to her upbringing and doesn't feel worthy of him. Added to that there's trauma and tension as he's being pursued by some nasty bitchy types and she is being stalked by an ex boyfriend and things get far worse before they can get better for the pair.

It also had a few eye rolling cheesy bits but hey we all know that sadly it's only fiction but it was a heart warming romance that was sexy but definitely not erotica, with some good supporting characters who all have their say and input into the couple's romance but thankfully this is one where the downtrodden underdog finally gets her man.

Worth a credit? Yes and I'm ready, willing and anticipating spending my credits on the other 3 stories.

So worth it!

What did you love best about Giving Chase?

I was afraid I wouldn't like the dating one brother, but Lauren Dane made it tastefully smooth. The Chase family has a great relationship with each other.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did listen to it in one sitting, I kept waiting for the stalker and couldn't stop listening!

Best of the series

I've read & listened to most of LD's stuff, this is a nice series and the first book is the best. I personally think she would have been better off to write 1 or 2 longer books with more secondary characters and story line.
In this book we meet all the primary characters for the series. Maggie is a high school history teacher with self esteem issues. She starts dating one brother who is an ass to her, but it's Kyle who wins her heart through his caring & gentle nature.
This series is set in the south and I have a weakness for romances set in the south. The narrator does a great job in this book and the next with the male voices. Not so much in books 3 & 4.
Don't waste a credit. Buy the kindle edition with whisper sync & then u get the audio book super cheap. I recommend u do that with the entire series. Overall an entertaining listen.

Sweet story

I loved it! it was a fun and sweet story that was packed with emotions!

Loved

Reminded me of falling in love with my husband… minus the crazy guy! Lol… second thought… his ex was close 😅

Just a great listen!!

I'd read the Chase books before, but it's been a few years ~ and Oh, I SO enjoying getting to know the Chase brothers again in Book 1, Giving Chase! I'm not even going to go into a whole drawn out review, but what I AM going to tell you is that one of the reasons I love Lauren Dane's writing so very much is because of the sticky situations, tough circumstances, and just plain hard choices she chooses to tackle in her book. In this book Maggie starts out dating and starting to fall for one Chase brother, Shane (who has been totally burned) who leaves her swinging in the wind, and ends up falling for another brother, the adorable and oh, so sexy Kyle. She's totally not a ho, but we all know that's running through your head, right? Ms. Dane totally takes it on, and aces it! And after Maggie gets attacked, Ms. Dane AGAIN tackles the tough subject of how women feel after this, if on a small scale. I just overall love that her heroines are not in your face, but they ARE up front and real about life.

And I really loved the narrator for this book, she totally brought the characters to life for me!
I'm thrilled to be getting to know the Chase's again, and if you're an audio fan and you haven't picked this series up before, let me recommend you get it!
I see that all the books are slated to come out pretty quickly, and I can't wait to get them ALL!!

Good Narrator!

The audio version is pretty good. It seems like woman do a better job of doing the male voices than the male narrators do for the female voices. None are perfect but male narrators tend to make woman sound either like old woman or give them higher voices than needed, making them sound funny.

Good, but problematic

Giving Chase kicks off Lauren Dane’s Chase Brothers series. Maggie has been beaten down emotionally by her mother and it means she’s completely unaware of what she has to offer the world. No fear – buddy Liv will give her a makeover and the guys will take notice. The Chase brothers are the town hotties and have women falling all over themselves (and acting pretty catty) to snag one.

This is one of those audiobooks that I listen to over and over… but it still has some things that don’t quite sit well with me. I think the biggest drawback to this is that, in order to set up for later events in the book/series – Maggie dates another guy, then oldest brother Shane, before finally finding her match with Kyle. It’s 35% into the book before they have their first date. This doesn’t leave a lot of time for them to build a relationship and there’s a lot of time jumping.

Maggie’s mom, sister, and several of the women in town are OTT immature and catty in how they behave. Like not even remotely realistic. I’d say it was like high school, but even my teens weren’t like this.

I do like when Kyle & Maggie are together. Kyle is a sweetheart and they have good chemistry. Several steamy sex scenes bring heat to this book. There’s also a short but well done suspense element when Maggie is kidnapped by her stalker ex. I enjoyed the ending and the epilogue is so sweet.

Content Warning (spoilers):
There’s a fairly descriptive kidnapping and sexual assault sequence.

Narration:
Aletha George is great. I love her narrations. She does a great job of giving everyone a distinct voice. She’s also a master at really packing a punch with the emotional parts. There’s still spots where I cry every time I listen.

3.5 Stars Cute story

Okay, it wasn't a profound book. Personally, I would have loved to see the characters on a deeper level. But considering how short the book was, it was well planned and executed. I don't like short books as it doesn't seem like you "get into" the book and suddenly...oopps! It's over now. I liked the characters a lot though, and they were able to draw you in in a very short amount of time. I felt the dialogue was well written, despite how other reviewers felt. I REALLY enjoyed how realistic it was. Too many romance novels have everything being perfect. Heroine gets in trouble, brave main man runs in saves the day. I loved in this book how it showed not everything would be perfect. Bad guys get a chance to hurt again sometimes. I loved that Kyle was "real" enough to be truly upset and actually break down. It kinda drove home the depth of his love and concern for Maggie. He didn't run in with guns blazing. That's real. I really would rather my husband leave it to the professionals in a situation like that and don't live in a fantasy that I'd like him saving me:-) And I'm not going to forget to mention, sex scenes are very hot and steamy. After all, that's what sets a romance book apart from a novel right?;-)

In the end, it was a very well-written and engaging book. For a short book. It's not a meat-and-potatoes book, more like a really good appetizer. My thanks to Ms. Dane for a very enjoyable listen and I recommend it to anyone looking for a short little escape from reality while reading a book.

Just good

Any additional comments?

This was a good read. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the story but I'm not so anxious about getting the second book. I would of liked to learn more of what happened with the female character's family. I hate weak female characters and this one eventually found her power and strength near the end and I love that.