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Matchmaking At Port Willow
(Port Willow Bay #2)
by Kiley Dunbar

 

Beatrice Halliday has been working hard at the Princess and The Pea Inn loved up with landlord Atholl and enjoying planning events for the locals. But at Christmas, there’s a kick – as she realizes she’s expecting.

Despite being fearful of the future, Beatrice is graced with a distraction: the prospects of helping a romance flourish when a married couple spends their first child-free holiday at the Inn – and it becomes clear they need some help rediscovering each other. In true Beatrice fashion, she can’t help meddling.

Featuring the story of first love, a new family, a marriage in crisis, and an octogenarian love affair, you’ll fall head over heels for this heart-warming rom-com.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Sometimes tourists stopped them in the street when they were on days out in Fort William or Inverness, wanting a selfie with a true redheaded Scotsman of the clan warrior type. She’d come to think of it as the Outlander effect.

Years ago, she would joke with her girlfriends – thank goodness for girlfriends – about the need for regular marriage maintenance sex. Maintenance sex was a bit like sending your car for a service to keep it roadworthy… If Ruth’s sex life was a car, its road tax had well and truly expired and it was up on bricks in the driveway.

My Review:

This was a fun and satisfying women’s fiction read with clever wry humor and interesting twists on several familiar tropes with something to appeal to just about everyone. The book started with a dumped broken-hearted traveler hoping to save her career in the back of beyond who wasn’t all that sympathetic on arrival as she was aloof, self-serving, and acted like a snob, but she grew on me. I also enjoyed the empty nest couple with the exasperated menopausal wife hoping she could reconnect with her workaholic husband on their holiday. However, the majority of the storylines belonged to the loved-up innkeepers – an anxious older mother-to-be and her ever attentive and lovable Scottish weaver, the perfect BBF with a delicious burr in his voice. Rounding out the cast was a small village full of gentle and unique characters and family members.   The storylines were engaging, the characters were endearing, and the writing was insightful, amusing, and easy to fall into. Sigh, I need more Scotsmen in my life.

“I’ve never met someone like me, but when I do, eventually, I think it will be like two wolves meeting in the night, sniffing and recognizing a fellow hunter.”

Meet Chloe Sevre. Freshman honor student. Average-seeming, legging-wearing, hot girl next door…and diagnosed psychopath with an IQ of 135. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

Now Chloe and six other students at John Adams College are part of an unusual clinical study that includes smartwatches to track their moods and movements, in exchange for free tuition. The study, led by a renowned psychiatrist, has inadvertently brought together some of the most dangerous minds who feel no guilt or fear. When one of the participants is found murdered, it becomes obvious they’re all in danger. Chloe goes from hunter to prey, and joins forces with two other psychopaths in the program to discover why they’re being targeted – if they could only trust each other.

Wildly entertaining with compelling characters and a vividly conjured campus setting, NEVER SAW ME COMING will keep you up all night, pinned to the page, wondering why you’re rooting for a would-be killer.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

There was the FOMO part of me that wanted to stay and hang out and do what everyone else was doing their first week of college. But then there was that other part of me. My only consolation was that once I was done with Will, I could throw myself body and soul into what college is supposed to be: romantic intrigue, baiting girls into stupid fights for fun, having affairs with professors.

The trick to undetected mischief is to have a look on your face like you’re just heading home to do laundry.

He reminded me of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast except with better hair.

My Review:

This was a stellar read; brilliantly paced, cunningly plotted, and breathtakingly insightful. The storylines were deftly penned and perceptively written from multiple points of view and I was quickly pulled into an oddly compelling and somewhat disturbing vortex of devious scheming, emotive story threads, keenly clever snark, and shrewdly detailed observations and inner musings. I was intrigued, perplexed, enthralled, and riveted during perusal and cringed with annoyance when my reading was interrupted, as I didn’t want to miss a thing. Vera Kurian may well be an evil genius as well as a master storyteller and has titled her book with 100% accuracy, as I never would have foreseen this ending on the horizon.

When life goes off track sometimes the only thing you can do is go back to where it all began…

Emmy Palmer is the star of Bragadon Forest, the biggest fantasy series on TV; adored by the public, living the life of glamour and luxury in London.

But when scandal strikes, Emmy must escape the city and return to her seaside hometown to lie low and wait for the storm to pass.

Emmy’s agent decides it would be a good look to star in the community Christmas pantomime, but who else could be playing her leading man but her ex-boyfriend who she may or may not have ditched to move to London a decade ago…

As the show approaches, love and friendships blossom and the real question is – Will they? Won’t they?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Off the record, it’s one of those places where everybody knows everything about everyone. No matter how quick you are to clean your dirty laundry, there will always be a gaggle of locals who remember the stink, and you can see the repulsion on their faces.

Mum and the aunties are talking funeral arrangements… It’s absolute mayhem. Honestly, there is just no defusing them, if I had a gun with two bullets my only option would be to shoot myself twice. The last woman standing would probably argue with herself.

Oh boy, is her face red. So red and puffed up it’s as though I can hear the blood boiling underneath her skin. The kids are just paralysed with fear, they know they’re in big trouble for this.

‘So, what do you do?’ I ask Mike, changing the subject, hopefully dispelling some of the awkwardness. ‘I make the little things count,’ he replies. ‘Mate,’ Karl interrupts. ‘ That is so cheesy. He’s a maths tutor for kids.’

‘Well, you know what they say, what doesn’t kill you makes me disappointed,’ I reply. I look at the watch I’m not actually wearing. ‘There’s a bus back to London in half an hour, why don’t you go lie under it?’

 My Review:

I revel in this author’s wry wit and cunningly amusing yet insightful observations. Her writing style  is pleasantly familiar and easy to fall into with amusing characters that are also a bit edgy and more than a bit quirky. Written from a first-person POV, the comedy rolls through every scene while laced with clever perceptions and inner musings that pull at the feels.

During an extended trip home, the character of Emmy was secretly dealing with personal and career displacement during a “what now?” life transition and was hit with every type of family drama including grief for her beloved grandfather, unabashed cougar aunties, snarky and surly step-siblings, and manipulation to share the shine of her fame. She also found time to reconnect with her nerd friends and an unresolved crush from high school while participating in a fund-raiser one-night-only comedic production of Cinderella, which sounded brilliant. I would have loved to attend but had to settle for adoring the cleverly crafted storylines this skilled and wily wordsmith wove together for a highly satisfying and contented sigh-provoking conclusion.

About the Author

Portia MacIntosh is a bestselling romantic comedy author of 16 novels, including The Plus One Pact and My Great Ex-Scape. Previously a music journalist, Portia writes hilarious stories, drawing on her real-life experiences.

 

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

‘Mr Pickles? Is that really his name?’ Jake grimaced. ‘You think Mr Pickles is bad? His full name is Mr Piccalilli Marmaduke Fluffington the Third.’ I had no idea how to respond to that. That was surely bordering on animal cruelty.

People can still be in love but not like each other very much and sometimes they can like each other but not be in love.

My Review:

I adore Jessica Redland’s books. She is a master storyteller and has a knack for thoroughly enmeshing me into her poignant tales during perusal.   At one point, I looked up and felt a bit muddled as I was expecting to see the snow the characters were experiencing, rather than the tropical plants in my yard. So imagine my delight in beginning a new series laced together with endearing and admirable characters who find each other to be exactly what they needed, yet the timing was a bit off with a few complications tossed in to be considered and worked through. The writing was thoughtful, observant, and perceptively insightful with a comfortable balance in emotional tone, and of course, my highly prized and required HEA. I am looking forward to my next visit with my new friends in the quaint British resort village by the sea of Whitsborough Bay.

And score, I found an addition to my Brit Words and Phrases List with “bricking it” which is an informal and nice way of saying they were so anxious or panicky they were shitting bricks. I’ve certainly been there and find this phrase highly useful!

Julie Houston, bestselling author of A Village Affair

Once upon a time, twelve women joined the hottest reality TV show looking for love. Except one had a secret identity . . .

Abby Jones is a serious writer. Or at least she will be, one day. Right now, she spends her time writing recaps of reality television under a secret identity.

When a recap for The Stag – the must-watch dating show – goes viral, her editor thinks she should be on set, writing the drama as it happens. The good news: the next season will be filmed in Sydney. Sun, sea, and a glamorous trip abroad, this could be Abby’s big break.

The bad news: the producers don’t just want Abby to write the recaps, they want her to be on the show. Abby can’t think of anything worse than being undercover and followed around by cameras. But her career depends on it, and when she meets gorgeous producer Jack, Abby begins to wonder if this job might not be so bad after all . . .

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

…your laugh sounds like a donkey going through menopause…

I’m not one of those women who gets a natural blush of pink on the apples of her cheeks. When I blush ―or flush, as in the case of a near-panic attack― my cheeks could be used to guide the aeroplanes landing at Heathrow.

My mind wants to grasp onto words like ‘adventure’, ’escapade’, or ‘jaunt’, but settles on ‘utter debacle waiting to happen’.

All things considered, I would make a terrible spy. I’d be given a state secret and be busting with it before I left MI6, blurting it out to the security guards in the lobby.

Aunty Lo took one look at him and said in an incredibly loud stage whisper, ‘Ooh, he’s a bit of all right.’

My Review:

This was an endlessly entertaining, enjoyable, and relatable tale with well-fleshed characters, keenly honed and cleverly amusing storylines, and well-detailed scenes that evoked sharp imagery and smoothly flowing visuals through my gray matter. This was only my second time indulging in this skilled wordsmith’s craft and I snickered and smirked my way through her cunningly insightful and perceptive observations hidden in snarky levity.

Ms. Barker has a rapier wit that I connect with on all levels. The fiendishly clever shenanigans she came up with for the contestants on and off camera, which her character equated to “The Hunger Games,” was a constant delight woven into a rich and vibrant narrative of snarkalicious inner musings. I am now one of Ms. Barker’s most avid fangirls and quite eager to see what she conjures next.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Denise wrinkled her nose. ‘This is hardly a booze cruise, Cassie. I think it’s a mistake to imply that it is. While we’re enjoying the cultural richness of each place we visit, our interest in the alcohol is purely intellectual.’ She held up her beer, then took a deep draught. Her glass was almost empty.

Lil caught her breath. ‘Maggie, we’re in the middle of the red-light area.’ Maggie stopped and stared at her friend. ‘Oh, no – should we go back?’ ‘Why ever would we do that?’ ‘Someone might proposition us.’ Maggie was aghast with fear. Lil laughed. ‘I’m eighty-two and you’re only a few years younger, Maggie. We’d have more chance of being propositioned if we paid the clients.’

‘Fifty euros for fifteen minutes?’ Maggie marvelled. ‘And I’ve done it for nothing all my married life.’

Lil pressed her lips together, trying not to burst out laughing. It was most entertaining, the way others’ secret lives and liaisons were unfolding on this trip. Lil was enjoying it almost as much as her romance novels.

My Review:

What fun! Every time I pick up a book by this clever wordsmith I find a new favorite octogenarian. I want to be just like her Lil when I grow up, she is eighty-two years young and proudly and unapologetically reads “bonking books,” performs random acts of kindness, is up for all types of shenanigans, and flirts outrageously every morning with the much younger tattooed man who owns her favorite breakfast eatery.

The writing was well-honed and shrewdly paced with original and engaging storylines that were relatable and entertaining while packed with wry smirk-worthy humor. The book featured an interesting cast of oddly beguiling characters of various ages and walks of life from common to snooty while traveling together on a coach tour of Europe.

I adore and revere this author’s skills as she covers all the feels with smart observations and keen perceptions while keeping a smile on my face during the vast majority of my perusal. Plus, she had me Googling a giggle-snort-worthy exchange between the elderly ladies involving a “posing pouch.”