Matchmaking for Beginners

by Maddie Dawson

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Hardcover: 370 pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (June 1, 2018)

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Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would.

When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbors running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps.

And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Pay no attention to Wendy… She missed the class on manners because she was attending two extra courses on personal intimidation.

The life force is running out of this room! I’ve been at funerals that had better vibrations than this.

We never got married because I’ve finally learned that if you have to bring the law into your personal relationships, then you’re doing it wrong.

One time he said to me, “You know, I had a great six-pack when I was young,” and I said to him, “Bragging about beer is so unbecoming for an old man.”

It’s like he’s a person who has his emotions in a safety deposit box somewhere, and he forgot where he put it.

My Review:

Matchmaking for Beginners was the second superbly written book of Maddie Dawson’s that I have had the pleasure of reading. It produced a near-constant smirk and frequent subvocal chuckling. I have a strong compulsion to stop everything and simply indulge in all the various publications of this woman’s clever and creative work as I reveled in her word skills. I adored her highly amusing, clever, and keenly crafted storylines from start to finish. Her quirky characters were each uniquely, inexplicably, and magnetically intriguing, even the villains.

The main character of Marnie was an oddly unobservant bubblehead who was all too easily tilted off the rails and careening towards ruin. While I may have wanted to give her a few smacks to the head with my Kindle, I also found her extraordinarily endearing and held my breath for her on numerous occasions. Ms. Dawson’s humor was well-honed, shiny, and crisp. I particularly enjoyed the witty exchanges between Marnie and Patrick, the “luminous” misanthropic hermit living in the dank basement. Sigh, more, please!

About Maddie Dawson

Maddie Dawson grew up in the South, born into a family of outrageous storytellers. Her various careers as a substitute English teacher, department-store clerk, medical-records typist, waitress, cat sitter, wedding-invitation-company receptionist, nanny, daycare worker, electrocardiogram technician, and Taco Bell taco maker were made bearable by thinking up stories as she worked. Today she lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with her husband. She’s the bestselling author of five previous novels: The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness, The Opposite of Maybe, The Stuff That Never Happened, Kissing Games of the World, and A Piece of Normal.

Connect with Maddie

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Atticus: A Woman’s Journey with the World’s Worst Behaved Dog

Sawyer Bennett writing as S. Bennett

Release Date: June 12, 2018

Purchase Atticus:

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Google Play

| Kobo | Paperback | Audible

Goodreads Link: http://bit.ly/Atticus_GR

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Synopsis:

A heart-warming and deliciously funny story about the world’s worst-behaved dog and how he trained his human how to love herself again.

Through the haze of vodka and self-loathing, Hazel Roundtree saw the poor creature lying in a ditch.

One brown eye. One blue.

Covered in mud and crying from pain, the puppy was desperately trying to free itself from a hopeless situation.

She almost kept walking by. She had her own problems and besides… no one had ever stopped to help her.

Who we’re ultimately meant to be is a journey without end, but there’s always a defined start…

Hazel had no idea the dog would be her beginning, her second chance, the miracle she never saw coming. She named him Atticus. He grew up to be a very bad—and completely awesome—dog. He took Hazel on a life-changing journey filled with mischievous adventure and painful heartbreak. In the end, Hazel grew up to be completely awesome, too.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“I call it killing them softly,” he says, his voice so gentle and tender I can barely hear him. “It’s a beautiful and peaceful way to die. It’s an honor for me to help them make that transition.” My head snaps to the right where I stare out the window, furiously blinking back the tears from my eyes. For all the grouchy, assholish ways this man has treated me on most occasions, I just realized he may have one of the kindest hearts I’ve known.

I realized my dog would always be an unruly child.

I wouldn’t put it past your dog to be interested in the news… He’s smart, that one. Like deviously smart. Sometimes I find myself watching what I say around him so as not to be a bad influence.

 My Review:

I’m feeling a bit stunned after reading this heart-squeezing and evocative tale, much like a deer in headlights. I’ve never read a book quite like it as it was written with a dual POV (my favorite), although one POV was from a mischievous canine named Atticus, whose POV was just as compelling and insightful as his human guardian’s. The premise was captivating and original and the storylines were ingeniously crafted and well paced. The rag-tag grouping of characters were not always admirable yet I adored them as each had an impressive tale that had made them persuasively appealing, realistically flawed and world-weary. The writing was devastatingly insightful, cleverly amusing, and easy to fall into.   I frequently smirked at the colorful depictions of the dog’s antics, motivations, and wit, while the human storylines often plucked at the other end of the emotional spectrum and stung my eyes and put a hot rock in my throat a few times. I seldom shed actual tears but will also confess to a blubbering meltdown during the last few chapters before reaching the oh so satisfying and sweet conclusion. I zipped to Goodreads and double-checked to be sure, but I was appalled to realize I had never read Sawyer Bennett’s work before picking up this dear and delightful treat. An error on judgment I plan to rectify with regular redress.

About the Author: S. Bennett is the pen name for New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Sawyer Bennett. Under the name S. Bennett, Sawyer writes general, young adult and women’s fiction stories that deal with the realities we face on a daily basis such as love, loss, personal growth and all things in between. She tackles difficult issues with grace, while adding her signature humor along the way. Because Sawyer is a romance writer at heart, you’re likely to find a love story within each of her books, though it’s not always a guarantee. When she isn’t writing as S. Bennett, she’s writing contemporary romance as Sawyer Bennett, and sweet romance under the name Juliette Poe.

Connect with Sawyer:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bennettbooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BennettBooks

Instagram: https://instagram.com/sawyerbennett123/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Sawyer_Bennett

Book+Main Bites: https://bookandmainbites.com/sawyerbennett

Sign up for Sawyer’s newsletter: http://sawyerbennett.com/signup/

Follow Atticus on social media!!

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Breezy

by Kelsie Rae

Goodreads

Amazon 

About the Author

Goodreads 

Amazon

Kelsie prides herself on writing straight from her own heart, which is how she fell into sweet contemporary romance. She’s a sucker for a love story with all the feels. When she’s not chasing words for her next book, you will probably find her reading or, more likely, playing with her “monsters”.

She adores chocolate, photography, baking, chick flicks, and running. And now that she’s actively pursuing her writing dreams, she’s set her sights on someday finding the self-discipline to not eat an entire batch of cookies in one sitting.

 The Widow’s Watcher

by Eliza Maxwell

Amazon 

Books-A-Million 

 Barnes & Noble

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Paperback: 286 pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 29, 2018)

From Eliza Maxwell, the bestselling author of The Unremembered Girl, comes a gripping novel about the mysteries that haunt us and the twists of fate that can unravel them…

Living in the shadow of a decades-old crime that stole his children from him, reclusive Lars Jorgensen is an unlikely savior. But when a stranger walks onto the ice of a frozen Minnesota lake, her intentions are brutally clear, and the old man isn’t about to let her follow through.

Jenna Shaw didn’t ask for Lars’s help, nor does she want it. After he pulls her from the brink, however, Jenna finds her desire to give up challenged by their unlikely friendship. In Jenna, Lars recognizes his last chance for redemption. And in her quest to solve the mysteries of Lars’s past and bring him closure, Jenna may find the way out of her own darkness.

But the truth that waits threatens to shatter it all. When secrets are surrendered and lies are laid bare, Jenna and Lars may find that accepting the past isn’t their greatest challenge. Can they afford the heartbreaking price of forgiveness?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“They spend their whole lives walking away from you,” the kindergarten teacher had said on her little girl’s first day. “Your job now is to be there when they look back.”

“When the judge said, ‘For better or worse,’ I agreed quick enough.” Lars pinned her with his piercing gaze. “Nobody tells you how bad the worse can get.”

She marveled at his matter-of-factness. Was it an innate part of him, or was this what years and the grinding sands of loss did to a person? Shaped them into something smooth and hard and polished.

Hope was a frightening thing to rekindle. As impossible to control as a wildfire on a dry plain.

No matter how many years go by, the past never really lets you go.” She ran her hands up and down her arms, as if to ward off a chill. “It’s sewn in, like patches on one of my old granny’s quilts. You can run from it all you like, but it’s part of you. Goes where you go.

What exactly is involved in playing knick-knack, paddy-whack anyway? And why does it need to happen on my knee? The old man sounds kind of sketchy.

My Review:

I’m not exactly sure how to classify the genre of this exceptionally poignant and beautifully written book, it was a Contemporary piece with elements of Suspense, but it wasn’t a Thriller. In addition, I also noted considerable Family Drama, Women’s Fiction issues, mental illness, and an unsolved Mystery that spanned thirty years. With a regal wave of my well-manicured hand, I push all that to the side as I have decided I want new categories of Brilliant, Ingeniously Crafted, and Extraordinarily Well-Written.

Eliza Maxwell has word voodoo. I was quickly pulled into a disquieting and often uncomfortable vortex of unresolved issues and unsettling events, and oddly enough, I didn’t want to crawl back out. The characters were many and all were irreparably fractured, some hanging by a thread, and most were not always likable or admirable. Yet by the end of this uncannily insightful and maddeningly paced story, I understood that they had each been existing with and working at living through a long series of harrowing events as best they could, and I adored every single one of them by the time I arrived at the epilogue. I seldom cry but this eloquently evocative tale moved me, my eyes stung with an unusual wetness while my throat burned and felt constricted on several occasions. The storylines were brilliantly crafted, tautly written, and hard to quit as they were fraught with addictive tension and prickling intrigue. Sigh, my abused and bruised coronary muscle needs a rest, I believe I’ll be hitting the TBR for a comedy next.

About the Author

Eliza Maxwell is the author of The Unremembered Girl, The Grave Tender, and The Kinfolk. She writes fiction from her home in Texas, which she shares with her ever-patient husband, two impatient kids, a ridiculous English setter, and a bird named Sarah. An artist and writer, a dedicated introvert, and a British cop-drama addict, she enjoys nothing more than sitting on the front porch with a good cup of coffee.

Connect with Eliza

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Searching For Steven

by Jessica Redland

What if you already know your future… but not the path to take you there?

When Sarah Peterson accepts her Auntie Kay’s unexpected offer to take over her florist’s shop, she’s prepared for a change of job, home and lifestyle. What she isn’t prepared for is the discovery of a scarily accurate clairvoyant reading that’s been missing for twelve years. All her predictions have come true, except one: she’s about to meet the man of her dreams. Oh, and his name is Steven. Suddenly Stevens are everywhere. Could it be the window cleaner, the rep, the manager of the coffee shop, or any of the men she’s met online? On top of that, she finds herself quite attracted to a handsome web designer, but his name isn’t even Steven… During this unusual search, will Sarah find her destiny?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

All that stuff today was just the icing on the cake; it’s all very nice but the cake is the best part and I already have the cake.

My Review:

I have gotten around to all the Whitsborough Bay stories and oddly enough have read the first one last, but it really didn’t matter, they could all stand on their own with independent and strong storylines. I have enjoyed this series with its quirky cast of characters and their amusing encounters and unique considerations. I hope there will be more as I enjoy Ms. Redland’s clever humor and engaging writing style. Her levity balances and tempers the angst and heart-squeezes. I adored the characters of Auntie Kay as well as Nick and Sarah and found Sarah’s attempts to locate her fated Steven to be pleasantly entertaining. The premise was original and interesting while the writing was fun and humorous yet also thoughtfully observant and insightful. And as always, Ms. Redland has provided me with new Brit vocabulary words, this time I have gleaned swot (studious), and pernickety (UK version of persnickety).

Author Bio –

Jessica had never considered writing as a career until a former manager kept telling her that her business reports read more like stories and she should write a book. She loved writing but had no plot ideas. Then something happened to her that prompted the premise for her debut novel, Searching for Steven. She put fingers to keyboard and soon realized she had a trilogy and a novella!

She lives on the stunning North Yorkshire Coast – the inspiration for the settings in her books – with her husband, daughter, cat, Sprocker Spaniel, and an ever-growing collection of collectible teddy bears. Although if the dog has her way, the collection will be reduced to a pile of stuffing and chewed limbs!

Jessica tries to balance her time – usually unsuccessfully – between being an HR tutor and writing.

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @JessicaRedland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaRedlandWriter/

Website and blog: www.jessicaredland.com