From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Matchmaking For Beginners by Maddie Dawson

Author: Maddie Dawson

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Date of publication: June 2018

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.

Matchmaking For Beginners involves Marnie who gets divorced after two weeks. As she is putting her life back together and rekindles a relationship with an old flame, she finds out she has inherited a house from her ex-husband's kooky great aunt. The only stipulation being she has to live there for three months before selling.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners, but I really didn't. I know I'm going to be in the minority on that one. It had the bare bones of a good story, it just didn't end up working for me. The one thing I did like about the book was the time spent with Blix and her friends. Those passages were really entertaining.

My biggest issue with the book was the main character. Marnie was not a very likable person. I couldn't get behind her decisions or reactions. On her wedding day, her fiance shows up an hour late and tells her he doesn't want to get married. She talks him into going through with it. Then proceeds to be really upset when, on their honeymoon, he tells her he is done and wants out. The guy told her the week before he didn't want to do it, but she talked him into it. Now she is going to be upset and angry with him? That baffled me. But the thing that really killed the book for me was the cheating. She gets engaged to another man before she moves to New York to live in the house. Once there, she proceeds to cheat on her fiance, Jeremy, with her ex-husband..multiple times. She reasons that the betrayal was probably bad but necessary. No, sorry. Nothing justifies infidelity. I lost all respect for the character at that point.

I ended up finishing the book. However, I didn't care for the ending. I felt most badly for Jeremy and I didn't think Marnie really changed all that much. I know others have said this is funny, cute chic-lit, but I disagree. If a cheating main character doesn't bother you, then you may enjoy the book. It just wasn't for me.

Purchase Links

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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, day care 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

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Instagram tour stops:

Monday, May 28th: @girlsinbooks

Monday, May 28th: @booknerdingout

Tuesday, May 29th: @createexploreread

Thursday, May 31st: @spinatale

Friday, June 1st: @bribookishconfessions

Friday, June 1st: @beccasbookishlife

Saturday, June 2nd: @ladyofthelibrary

Saturday, June 2nd: @jessislibrary

Sunday, June 3rd: @chaptershoe