I don't normally draw parallels, but think Mary Kay Andrews, or Jennifer Crusie minus the purposeful hilarity, and you have a good idea of what The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay is going to deliver.

Lily is one of those artists who has the potential to make it big, but she's a doormat; a cheerful, I-just-want-everybody-to-be-happy, doormat.  Normally I'd have tossed this book aside because I don't like reading about doormats, but Lily never wallowed, so that during the clueless stage of the story the irritating bits washed over me.  

While packing to move out of her apartment, Lily stumbles across a 10 year old notice from Nevada telling her the annulment she applied for is incomplete.  She's been married to a guy she can't even remember for a decade, and of course she's feeling all her shortcomings so determines to go to Minnow Bay to apologise in person and fix things.  This is when she has her "I'm a doormat" epiphany, and while her turnaround is a work in progress, her wry humor about herself and the way she owns up to her shortcomings made it easy for me to relate to her and like her more than I normally would.

Added to her likeable qualities are the characters of Minnow Bay, all of whom are poster-small-town-perfect and quite a lot of them the kind I wish I had for neighbours.  Colleen and Jenny's antics trying to keep Lily in Minnow Bay are funny and Simone is acerbic but hilarious.

I thought the writing really readable and I easily finished it yesterday afternoon and evening; it's not a long book and the engaging narrative sucked me in.  I'm not sure I'd say it's worth the sticker price, but it's definitely worth the used bookshop price (in hardcover) and I thought it was a fun read, perfect for the mood I was in.

Total pages: 280

$$: $3.00

Today's roll:

Being doubles I get to roll again:

which lands me on:

respectively.  The first one is easy; I've been eyeing a mystery, Above the Paw by Diane Kelly from my pile all day.  For the second one, I could also go for another cozy - most of them take place in small towns, but I wanted to mix it up a little and I've had The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay by Kelly Harms  for a few weeks now; I've been itching for a reason to pick it up over the veterans of my TBR, and this is the perfect excuse.

 When a rash of college students falls seriously ill after ingesting Molly, a “club drug” also known as ecstasy, Officer Megan Luz and her K-9 partner Brigit are tasked with tracking down the dealers. Going undercover at the university leads Megan closer and closer to infiltrating the drug trafficking ring. But when the investigation implicates her former partner and workplace nemesis, Officer Derek Mackey, Megan’s powers of discernment are put to the test.

Thwarted when the Feds seize control of the investigation and frustrated by the lack of attention the DEA is putting into the case, Megan continues her own unofficial investigation with Brigit’s help. But when the trail leads them in an unexpected and dangerous direction, Megan and Brigit find their own lives at risk. Can the K-9 team take down those in power? Or are some criminals simply above the law—and paw?   Page count: 370

A young painter, Lily has reached a crossroads in her life. Her career hasn't taken off, her best friend may no longer be the trusted friend she thought, her boyfriend is a disappointment, and now she can't keep up with the rising cost of living in the city. With no one to turn to, Lily is forced to move from her beloved apartment, but while packing she comes across a piece of mail that had slipped to the back of her junk drawer: a letter detailing further action needed to finalize the annulment of a quickie Vegas wedding. Ten years ago!

Lily decides it's time to turn over a new leaf and the first item on her list of things to fix is getting the annulment... but you can't just send a reply ten years later, "Hey by the way we are still married." This is something that must be addressed in person. Lily takes to the road to track down her husband - the charming, fun, and sexy man she connected with all those years ago - Ben Hutchinson.

Ben Hutchinson left a wealthy dot-com lifestyle behind to return home to his family and the small town he loves, Minnow Bay. He's been living off the grid and the last thing he expects is a wife he didn't know he had to show up on his doorstep.

By chance, Lily arrives at the magical Minnow Bay Inn, and there she will discover not just a place to lay her head, but new friends, a thriving art community, and maybe even the love of her life.  Page count:  280

This was a really sweet, quirky romance about a girl's whose life has fallen apart tries to finish one unfinished project and then finds a bunch of other problems that turn out good.

There's a scene in the book reminds me a little of the The Midnight Sun episode on Twilight Zone where the woman is painting snow when it's actually hot outside. The woman in the Twilight Zone was a little nuts but Lily is doing the same here - it's January in Wisconsin and she's painting a very hot summer scene.

Anyway, loved the book. I would recommend it.

A young painter, Lily has reached a crossroads in her life. Her career hasn't taken off, her best friend may no longer be the trusted friend she thought, her boyfriend is a disappointment, and now she can't keep up with the rising cost of living in the city. With no one to turn to, Lily is forced to move from her beloved apartment, but while packing she comes across a piece of mail that had slipped to the back of her junk drawer: a letter detailing further action needed to finalize the annulment of a quickie Vegas wedding. Ten years ago!

Lily decides it's time to turn over a new leaf and the first item on her list of things to fix is getting the annulment... but you can't just send a reply ten years later, "Hey by the way we are still married." This is something that must be addressed in person. Lily takes to the road to track down her husband - the charming, fun, and sexy man she connected with all those years ago - Ben Hutchinson.

Ben Hutchinson left a wealthy dot-com lifestyle behind to return home to his family and the small town he loves, Minnow Bay. He's been living off the grid and the last thing he expects is a wife he didn't know he had to show up on his doorstep.

By chance, Lily arrives at the magical Minnow Bay Inn, and there she will discover not just a place to lay her head, but new friends, a thriving art community, and maybe even the love of her life.

I loved this. I adored this. From basically the first pages, this book made me happy and was just uplifting to read. Even when Lily was making horrible choices, reading about her was somehow comforting.

Normally characters who are poor with finances really stress me out, but Lily was such an optimist and so set on pursuing her dreams that I couldn't help loving her anyway. It's definitely challenging to go to art school in today's society, so it was cool to see one girl going and becoming a successful lawyer after art school while Lily became a starving artist but managed to remain relatively happy.

There was a lot of emphasis on sticking up for oneself and also on generosity. Lily was one of those people it seemed who had been extremely giving to the people in her life for a long while but didn't think highly enough of herself to really ask for much in return until the situation was dire. I relate a lot, and found myself realising that I've been in Lily's shoes a few times.

I loved the descriptions of the inn at which Lily stayed in Minnow Bay, and as a city girl myself, seeing her attachment to Chicago felt very realistic. There were some really beautifully written scenes, some that even made me wish it was winter (a strange thing after the snow I've been having!)

There wasn't a terrible amount of romance which made what there was even more intense and special--my heart was in my throat at multiple points. I can't imagine getting inebriated enough to marry someone let alone being calm enough to forget having done so, which made this premise feel unlikely but kept it a lot of fun. Seeing how the two had changed

I'm not sure what exactly about this book made me love it so much--perhaps it was reading it during a stressful period of worrying about jobs or perhaps it was that I wasn't sleep deprived for once so I happily stayed up half the night to read this--but it really stood out to me as a genuinely happyifying novel.

Highly recommend this for anyone who needs an uplifting book or who enjoys women's literature.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.