Expected publication date: July 28, 2020
From the USA Today bestselling “master of witty banter” (Entertainment Weekly) comes a hilarious and heartwarming romance about a big city girl who never expected to find the man of her dreams in the tiny town of Matchmaker Bay.
Dr. Nora Walsh has just been dumped in spectacular fashion, making it the perfect time for a major life change. She figures taking over the medical practice in tiny Matchmaker Bay for a couple of years will help her get over her broken heart, and then she can head back to the big city. But when the first man she sees looks like a superhero god, she wonders if maybe there’s something to small-town living after all.
Jake Ramsey also has a broken heart — one he never expects to heal. He doesn’t need people anyway and is content hiding out in his secluded cottage on the beach. But after helping Nora with a medical emergency, he finds himself opening up to the witty, warmhearted doctor. Soon the local matchmakers are working overtime to pair them off, and Jake begins to wonder if his campaign to get Nora to stay is for the town or because he can’t bear the thought of her leaving.
Jenny Holiday is a new author for me, in fact I was so intrigued by the description of this novel that I went back and read the first book ‘Mermaid Inn’ and thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters in the town of Moonflower Bay. (Otherwise known as Matchmaker Bay for reasons that are very clear in both books!) The tone and small town characters remind me of the Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis so I will admit I was expecting a lot-and Jenny did not disappoint!
Dr. Nora Walsh left her job as an ER physician in Toronto after her scumbag physician boyfriend Rufus replaced her with a first year resident. She needed a change and taking over the small town practice of a retiring doctor in a small lakeside town seems like the right choice. Nora plans to spend two years saving up her money before moving back to Toronto in order to return to her career and buy a home with her sister. What she doesn’t expect is to be embraced by the quirky townspeople as Dr. Hon or to find Aquaman sitting next to her at the Curl Up and Dye!
Jake Ramsey may not actually be Jason Momoa, but he has the long hair and good looks that pique Nora’s interest. Jake is quiet and reserved but he can’t help but notice the new doctor, especially when he ends up helping her when a tourist goes into labor on the village green. They strike up a friendship which only deepens as Jake helps her with the rundown house she is renting and he slowly starts to come out of the shell he built around himself after the death of his son. Eventually they decide to enter a friends with benefits arrangement as they agree that neither want anything long term. Since this is a romance however we all know that will change!
I absolutely adored both books so far in the series, but I have to say ‘Paradise Cove’ has a little bigger place in my heart. There is a lot of emotion in this book and I ended up crying at least twice, which probably isn’t usually a selling point for this type of book but for me it is the mark of when the characters are so well drawn and true to life that I can’t help myself! I would 100% recommend this book to others and am eagerly awaiting the next entry in the series!
Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the chance to read this early!