Matchmaking for Beginniners
By: Maddie Dawson
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Lake Union Published
Pages: 370
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.
First Impressions
I don't remember how I first found out about this book, but the cover sucked me in and the description sold me. Then it popped up as a choice for Amazon First Reads and I was so excited. First off, do you guys know about Amazon First Reads? I've somehow missed out on this but, if you are a Prime member, once a month you get the choice of one free book from a pre-selected list. If you are not a Prime member but have a Kindle, you get to chose one of the books for $1.99. How cool is that? This is not related to Kindle Unlimited, it's separate which I think is great.
What I thought
This book was so cute! I loved the characters, the storylines, the setting, just about everything.
Marnie is set to marry Noah when she meets his Great-Aunt Blix. Blix is intuitive and can see auras, sense perfect matches, will things to happen, and she's dying. When Blix meets Marnie, she senses a kindred spirit and immediately takes a liking to her.
When her marriage to Noah doesn't go as planned, Marnie tries to get her life back on track. Blix has other ideas, and leaves Marnie her Brooklyn house in her will. Blix's house is partially rented out to two tenants, Patrick, and Jessica and her son Sammy. As part of the deal, Marnie has to spend 3 months living in the house before it is hers.
I loved every character I was supposed to love and hated the ones I was supposed to. It was so nice and refreshing to have these characters. I don't know if it's because of the books that I've been reading lately where I don't really like anyone, but man I loved Marnie, Blix, Patrick, and Sammy. No one is perfect and it's their imperfections that makes them so wonderful. I loved how unique each of these characters were.
I also enjoyed the magical elements of the story. I liked that it was more of a psychic intuition and willing things to happen than true magic and spells. Blix and Marnie would just see sparks or be able to tell when two people should end up together. It wasn't anything silly or over the top and I appreciated that. I will say that the matchmaking part really isn't as much of the story as I expected. I kind of expected that Blix has a matchmaking business that was going to be passed to Marnie, but it's more of a lifestyle than a business.
Watching Marnie grow and change was also delightful. She didn't change her core of who she was and her change didn't happen quickly. I appreciated that she stumbled and we got to watch her learn from her mistakes.
This book isn't going to be one to change anyone's life, but it is a delightful summer read and it is exactly what I needed. I almost feel like Blix must have heard that I was struggling finding a good book, so she reminded me that I had this one on my Kindle!
If you love contemporary stories with a bit of a twist, you will love this book. It has a whole cast of lovable characters and I think it would make a great movie. Each character really comes to life off of the pages, and I found myself unable to put this book down. I looked forward to seeing everyone again every time I picked it up.