The Matchmaker
Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match …
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a love match, but we can definitely still be friends!
Katie Collins is a 29-year-old born and bred resident of charming Ennisbawn, Ireland. When developer Glenmill swoops in and starts building a hotel/golf complex to revitalize this close-knit, once robust village, it seems like a great opportunity. Then they start wanting MORE land - including the land that Katie’s workplace, Kelly’s Pub, sits on. It’s the last pub left in Ennisbawn, steeped in personal and community history, and she’s not about to give it up without a fight.
On the other side of this issue is Glenmill liaison, Jack Doyle, and his handsome, tattooed project manager Callum Dempsey, who pajama-clad Katie meets one morning after storming into his office to demand a solution to their traffic noise. While Jack is the guy whose picture decorates the dartboards at Kelly’s Pub and is the real threat, quiet Callum is more a victim of guilt-by-association. The blurb reads like he’s the ‘baddie’ in this story which is misleading.
Long story short, when Jack comes to lay claim to Kelly’s Pub one day due to a contract clause that gives Glenmill ownership, a desperate Katie fights back arguing the historical and cultural significance of Kelly’s and Ennisbawn for its annual Matchmaking Festival. She fails to mention that it hasn't been held for several years due to dwindling participation! Calling her bluff, Jack gives her a chance to prove the importance of this festival to save the pub.
I’m sure with a bit of imagination, you’ll figure out the rest of this David vs. Goliath story regarding Ennisbawn vs. Glenmill, and if I rated the book solely on that part of the story, I’d give this four stars. The festival, side characters and Irish setting were charming! I would’ve loved a story featuring more of Katie’s best friends, Gemma and Anushka, or her boss Adam.
Where the story lost some shine for me was the spotlight relationship: Katie and Callum. I was SO smitten with Catherine Walsh’s last book, Holiday Romance. Its MCs, Molly and Andrew, set the bar VERY high! Unfortunately, I just never felt that same spark with this couple.
Instead of a meet cute, Katie and Callum have a meet ugly (not my term … look it up), yet he’s utterly besotted and ready to go to the ends of the Earth with her soon after! They both had their cool, likable qualities, but there was so little time spent fleshing out why they even liked each other, that I couldn’t fully buy into their sudden love and passion for each other.
All-in-all, it’s a cute story with its own charms which I genuinely enjoyed, but this one won’t be a love for a lifetime book!
★★★ ½ (rounded to 3)
Comments
Post a Comment