This was a sweet read. I have really enjoyed this whole series, I love a good romance, Hallmark type story.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I tried to get into this title a few times, especially since I have liked Jenny Holiday books in the past, but I struggled with the plot in this one.

I was excited for this book but it just didn’t live up to my expectations from previous Jenny Holiday books. Evie was just annoying and I really was more interested in hearing about the eccentric neighbors than the main characters. I’m hoping the second book in this series is a better fit for me and brings more of the fun banter Holiday is known for.

This was a cute book. It made me want to go to a cozy beachside town and cuddle up reading it. I definitely enjoyed this read!

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday is the first book in the new contemporary romance Matchmaker Bay series. As with a lot of contemporary romance series the theme to the series is the setting and the main characters will change with each new book so they all can be read and understood as a standalone.

Mermaid Inn opens the series with Eve Abbott who is returning to Moonflower Bay, Ontario after the loss of her aunt. Eve has inherited her aunt’s business, the Mermaid Inn, and is not sure what to do with it. Growing up Eve is familiar with the town and the town busybodies who fancy themselves matchmakers and is hoping to avoid them and her ex, Sawyer Collins.

It’s been ten years since Eve left and her break up with Sawyer and both have been trying to forget one another and the break up. Not long after returning though Eve crosses paths with the one man she can’t put out of her mind and finds out he’s now the police chief of Moonflower Bay and the spark between them certainly hasn’t gone out after all these years.

Ok, two things I absolutely love are combined in this opening of the Matchmaker Bay series, second chance romance and an amazing small town beachy setting so I was hooked. Well, perhaps that should even be three things when you factor in the humorous older crowd in the background matchmaking along the way, adorable! I loved the main couple and the connection rekindling between them and thought this was just a wonderful opener to the series giving it all the stars.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Mermaid Inn is a super fun and whimsical read that has all the feels… and laughs!

I really enjoyed the story, it has everything I look for in a contemporary romance! Second chance romances are my favorite trope to read because the hero and heroine have a past and I find that it helps me flesh out the characters in my mind. And boy do Eve and Sawyer have a past!

I was absolutely charmed with this mermaid-themed coastal Canadian town and its inhabitants! The story is fun and beautiful and heartbreaking and endearing! The secondary characters are just as rich and well-developed as the main characters and I absolutely fell hard and fast for them all! I’m looking forward to reading all of their stories!

SO fun! I love Jenny Holiday's books and this one really stands out. It gets a little drawn out in the third act, but I love the town and the world of this book.

This was the perfect way to end out my Summer reading and branch into Fall!

I had technically gotten this as an ARC this January from my friends at Forever, but my ARC reading hasn’t been going very well, so I decided to pick up the audiobook from Scribd instead! I am so happy I did! I think audio for sure gives a special something to the book experience, but the narrator really helped to get across some of the comedic intent behind this romcom. I had so so so much fun listening to this one!

First and foremost, I loved the Canada setting. Honestly the US is a little ~dark~ right now so being able to escape to the beauty and hospitality of Canada was an unexpected treat for me. It comes across in the narration in the way they say “sorry” and “about”, and I loved that little added aspect. Even though this is set in Canada, it has all those typical small town aspects that you know and love from a contemporary romance. We’ve got kooky towns folks, a little personal history between literally everyone, fun local businesses, and town traditions.

This had quite the evolution of tropes, too. It was like a mix of second chance romance, enemies to friends to lovers, with some friends with benefits thrown in. These are all like a wide range of tropes I don’t usually pick up (I usually stick to enemies to lovers lol), but it was so fun! When it comes to the second chance romance aspect it means there is a lot of history between the “couple”, which I really enjoyed learned about. There is something so romantic about the hero/heroine realizing that they loved the person when they were younger but loving them more for the ways they’ve matured. And that was one of my favorite parts of this book; when Sawyer realizes how smart and capable Evie is and how he loves her more for the woman she has become. Swoon.

This book was hilarious. When they say Jenny Holiday is the queen of the romcom they aren’t kidding! I was positively cackling while I was listening to this. The people in the next lane at red lights probably thought I was crazy, but oh well. The only downside for this to me were the funny parts during the sexy parts. I am, call me crazy, one of those people who don’t like the comedy to happen during what is supposed to be a serious or sexy moment. It kind of takes me out of the scene and I’d rather have them separate. That was really my only gripe with this book, and it’s not even a big one!

Overall I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook! It was so funny and sweet and sexy and emotional and I really connected with Evie Abbott. The book seemed really realistic in terms of the progression of their relationship and I appreciated that. I loved all the side characters, I loved Evie’s blossoming friendships, I loved Sawyer’s interactions with his sire, and I just loved getting to visit this sweet little town.

I’m very much looking forward to the next installment of this series!

“The inn is yours… but you can’t sell it for a year.”

The Matchmaker Bay series starts off with a second chance romance between visiting her great-aunt in the summer Evie and local boy Sawyer. They meet very young, grow up as friends, and when puberty hits, so does their love. Their last summer before high school graduation, Evie starts talking about skipping college to come waitress and stay in Moonflower Bay but Sawyer doesn't want her to give up her dreams for him. Sawyer decides to publicly make-out with a girl on a float during the big town parade, therefore making Evie want to leave and go chase her dreams. Ten years later, Evie's great-aunt has passed away and left her Mermaid Inn to Evie. Evie is finally forced to return to Moonflower Bay, where she gets stuck on the Inn roof and has to be rescued by the town's police chief, who just so happens to be Sawyer.

It was just that she had loved him so much. And now, she reminded herself, she was angry at him so much.

The first 30% of Mermaid Inn felt like one big set-up for the series as a whole, instead of narrowing the focus to Evie and Sawyer. It seemed to want to veer into women's fiction but there are povs from Sawyer, so I would make up a new sub-genre and call it town's fiction (this does fit strongly in the romance genre). There's the meddling elders, the themed town festival, the slightly wack woman, Maya, who becomes friends with Evie and has a “hate” you relationship with one of Sawyer's two handsome friends, and our childhood sweethearts who the whole town knows should still be together. These are extremely well tread tropes and characters and for the first half I struggled a lot; the ground work for the whole series and read before characters didn't feel fresh or excite. There was also the intense anger from Evie towards Sawyer over, yes, a huge heartbreak of hers but it happened ten years ago and was one moment in an apparent ocean of love and good memories with Sawyer. I thought Evie and Sawyer came off a bit immature, they felt very early twenties more than late twenties at times with their thoughts.

“Kiss the girl.”

It was around the 40% mark that Evie starts to thaw towards Sawyer and I thought the flow and story improved a lot from there, the story moves from setting up the series and focuses more on Sawyer and Evie. Sawyer's background had him growing up with an abusive father, his mother died in childbirth. At eighteen, he moves out with his seven year old sister, gets full legal custody, and with the help of the town he raises her. There were some good moments between him and his sister but I craved even more because of how deep the emotions between this relationship could have gotten. Evie comes from a loving home but we get very few glimpses with her and her parents and because the impetuous to get her back to Moonflower Bay is the death of her great-aunt, we don't get any great scenes between the two. There were at times I felt depth and meat to the characters was missing.

He kissed the girl. And the girl kissed him back.

The beginning was too much series set-up that frankly made it boring, the middle had better interactions between Evie and Sawyer that started to draw me into their second chance romance, but the ending fell somewhat flat because so much of the emotions from characters felt surface. The story takes place over a year but there are time jumps and it didn't feel like I had necessarily struggled and triumphed with Evie and Sawyer in their romance because of lack of depth. I'm in my late thirties and there were at times I felt like some of the characters and the tone had a manic pixie, bubbly, and Instagram (I don't know how to really describe this but if you're on Instagram you'll know what I'm talking about) vibe that just didn't always connect with me, younger readers could easily feel different. With the town set-up out of the way, the next in the series should have the freedom to focus more on the main couple and luckily, Sawyer has two hunky friends that should fill the hero spot nicely.

Mermaid Inn was one of my book prompts for the Romanceopoly challenge , and it was just the heartwarming read I was in need of.

Small town romances are always a comfort to me to balance out the heavy historical fiction or literary reads, and I was so happy to curl up and read this one.

Eve and Sawyer made this such an enjoyable, fun read, and I am always a fan of the books by Jenny Holiday, but this might be my new fave.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Forever for the free book. All opinions are my own

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday was such a fun opener to the Matchtmaker Bay Series. My book friends have all been raving about these books, so I finally bumped this to the top of my TBR and I am so glad I did. Getting into a new series is always a little bit hard for me, but once I acquainted myself with Eve and Sawyer, and the people of Matchmaker Bay, I was totally in. I loved their backstory and how they interacted with each other in present day. This one is a slower burn, but so worth it! And I loved the side story of Sawyer's sister. I hope we see more of her! Can't wait to read book 2!

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Eve Abbott has a problem--actually, make that a lot of problems. And they're all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, now the tiny town just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt's beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She's definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street...

Police Chief Sawyer Collins always does the right thing, even when it costs him everything. Like Evie. He's spent the past ten years trying to forget her--to forget how right she felt in his arms, to forget the pain in her eyes the day she left. The last thing he expects is to see her back in town or to find that the spark between them is as strong as ever. Sawyer knows this is his only chance to prove that his feelings have always been real... before Eve turns tail and leaves for good.

Coming back to your home town where you experienced a devastating teenaged heartbreak is tough, but when Eve inherits the Mermaid Inn from her beloved and recently deceased great-aunt, she has no choice but to face up to the past and maybe, finally, put it where it belongs. Except that Sawyer, the young man who broke her heart, is still there. Is there enough between them to rekindle what they had and give them a second chance?

Jenny Holiday has the knack of giving the reader a roller coaster of emotions on the way to a couple's HEA. Laughs, tears, bittersweet memories, heartache and forgiveness, all combined in a small town romance that is compelling from start to finish. The inn itself has a starring role, with its quirky mermaid theme (in every corner) and the year Eve spends fixing it up (a clause in the will means she can't sell it right away) is her re-introduction to what she always loved about Moonflower Bay, the resort lake town, and the many characters who make up this story.

The reasons why Sawyer felt he had to push Eve away are understandable and while he regrets that he hurt her, he doesn't regret the decision. He still loves her and finds little ways to show her, like arranging for just the right contractors to show up when she needs them. Gradually Eve lets Sawyer in, and eventually they settle into a friendship, then a friendship with benefits while Eve figures out whether she can trust Sawyer with her heart again. It's a lovely second chance story and a great start to this new series. Looking forward to reading the next one! Highly recommended if you're looking for a summer beach read.

Review has been submitted to BN and Amazon.

When I first started this blog, I was reading romance exclusively. Now, I balance romance with crime and nonfiction, and the occasional classic, or litfic. I like the variety and I tend to have three books going at the same time. I’ve been thinking about what I get from each genre, but mainly been focussing on romance and what it offers a reader, especially because I think it is still maligned in many quarters. There is no one better to show the romance genre’s virtues than Jenny Holiday, one of the masters of contemporary romance. The blend of humour, character growth, and the delightful journey to commitment for her two protagonists are perfectly executed. Though they’re unique, I find similar joy in reading Lucy Parker. The present Holiday volume I consumed, Mermaid Inn, first in the Matchmaker Bay series, adds a magical Canadian small-town setting to the Holiday trail-mix of goodness. In a pandemic panic, I’ll often wake up in the wee hours and reach for a romance to keep the ghosties away. Mermaid Inn kept me company the past three nights and I brought it to a final-page flip this AM with a satisfied sigh.

Eve Abbott reluctantly returns to Moonflower Bay, Ontario, when her Great-Aunt Lucille leaves her the Mermaid Inn. Lucille’s will stipulates Eve must remain in Moonflower Bay for a year before she can sell the inn and return to Toronto. Eve decides to renovate the inn, put it up for sale, and get out of Dodge, avoiding above all, Sawyer Collins, chief of police and the blue-eyed cause of her teen-age heartache.

Eve’s parents sent her to Moonflower Bay in the summer while they worked in Toronto. There, she watched films and enjoyed Lucille’s eccentricity. She fell in love, with Sawyer, and he was her first lover … until she saw him kissing another girl atop a float in the annual Mermaid Parade. Eve never returned to Moonflower Bay after that, going to UofT, grad school, and now up for a dream job as a collections developper librarian. Her plan is to sell the inn and pay off her student debt. Her first day back, however, finds her atop the inn’s roof while “someone” absconds with the ladder (Moonflower aka Matchmaker Bay because of the matchmaking tendencies of its older population; Sawyer and Eve are often the beneficiaries of their efforts). Who comes to the rescue other than the chief of police and former teen heartache, Sawyer.

Sawyer had reasons why he made sure Eve left Moonflower never to return. Sawyer is a stand-in for the best of the self-sacrificing heroines; really, Betty Neels could have written him as a waif-heroine. Taking sole custody of his then eight-year-old sister to escape their abusive father, Sawyer knew Eve would sacrifice university to stay with him and Clara in Moonflower Bay. Now, still in love with Eve, he wants to help her achieve her inn-goals and be her friend. Eve is furious with Sawyer, but his good-guy tendencies and laser-blue eyes weaken her resolve. “Not not friends” truce turns to friends turns to friends with benefits … which, as we know if we read enough romance, the heart already knows what the body demands, love.

If you love contemporary small-town romance, you’re going to enjoy Holiday’s Mermaid Inn for its familiar touches: funny denizens, stern, loving, protector-hero, the heroine’s funny side-kick friend (Maya, the town’s theatrical entrepreneur, whom I loved, btw), small-town eccentricity and community-feels, the bar/café, etc., with cute names, and the trio of male friends the hero is a part of (sequel-bait).

But there are things Holiday does that are uniquely her own and twist that small-town romance ethos. I loved them. First, Sawyer is a stern, good, funny, and protective as heck, towards Eve and his baby sister Clara (a great character in and of herself). He’s also an emotional wreck. He gets choked up, feels the pangs of empty nest pain when Clara goes to TO for university, and fights back tears when he has to say good-bye. He’s a mess and Eve gets to take care of him. Eve, on the other hand, isn’t much for expressing her emotions, but I loved how Sawyer was and is her weakness, especially in those funny moments when her stern head says one thing and her mouth says another, softer, more loving.

Holiday, however, shows wonderful growth for Eve: giving her a stronger and stronger voice about telling Sawyer what she needs and wants. This translates best in Holiday’s love scenes: adult Sawyer and Eve renegotiate needs and wants and shed teenage tics. I thought the love scenes were some of the novel’s strongest and a great lesson in how to write them and why they’re essential to the romance novel. They showed character and relationship growth. Moreover, how relationships evolve and can be enriching if characters talk to each other were important to Sawyer and Eve, as well as Sawyer to his sister, Eve to her new friend, Maya. And, I love how Holiday, with a nod to female friendship, which romance novels do well more often these days, showed a great dynamic among Sawyer’s friend-group, Jake and Law (glad to see Jake will get his own story in Paradise Cove). Mermaid Inn is a great start to what will prove to be a great series. With Miss Austen, we say Holiday’s Mermaid Inn offers “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Jenny Holiday’s Mermaid Inn is published by Forever Romance. It was released in January and you will do well to get yourself a copy. I received a copy from the publisher.

The town of Moonflower Bay captured me from the very first chapter (although I was very confused as to why the series was called Matchmaker Bay. don’t worry, it gets explained and it is delightful!) I love Jenny Holiday, she is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. The way she mixes heavier topics, steamy scenes, and comedic moments? *swoon* Mermaid Inn is just as wonderful as all her previous books I’ve read.

I absolutely loved Eve and Sawyer’s story. I’m a sucker for second chance romance and I thought this one was so well done. Eve is forced to go back to Moonflower Bay after her beloved aunt dies and leaves her the Mermaid Inn. After avoiding the town for the last decade, the last thing she wants to do is stay especially since her former love is now the police chief. Yet her aunt had other plans and requires she own the Mermaid Inn for one year before selling it.

There are so many great hilarious moments in this book, and an equal amount of completely swoon worthy moments. The chemistry between Eve and Sawyer was so, so great. The last chapter of the book had me almost in tears and then grinning like an idiot. *sigh* I just loved this one a lot! Mermaid Inn was a five star read for me! I CANNOT WAIT to spend more time in Matchmaker Bay when Paradise Cove comes out

3.5 Stars
Mermaid Inn is a second chance romance set in a small town in Canada.
Eve Abbott’s great aunt has passed away and left her Inn to Eve with the stipulation that she not sell it for 1 year. After avoiding Moonflower Bay and her ex for over 10 years, Eve is less than thrilled by this surprising revelation. Eve must come to terms with her past in Moonflower Bay and learn to co-exist with Sawyer, the town’s sheriff and her ex, in the small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business.
Mermaid Inn is a charming book with a wonderful setting populated with fun characters. I really enjoyed getting to know the town and Eve as she dealt with navigating the small town and her history there. I also liked Sawyer and his strong bond with his sister and his two best friends. But Sawyer messed up pretty badly with Eve in the past and while he might have been acting with good intentions...it doesn’t erase the fact that his actions were wrong. And personally I don’t think he ever truly apologized well enough to Eve. I needed a bit more groveling to feel like he truly understood that he shouldn’t have manipulated Eve like that in the past.
I am definitely planning on reading the sequel. I love the setting and I am excited to get Jake’s story next.

Ok, can I be completely honest for a second? The first thing that made me want to read this book was the title. This is the first book in the Matchmaker Bay series by Jenny Holiday. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I liked it! As a lover of all things Hallmark Movie Channel this book was made for me! I identified with the characters in many ways ( I too have to make lists, or I cannot function in the world lol). The pacing was slow at times but overall, I liked this second chance romance and cannot wait to read more from this author in the future.

This was a delightful second chance romance with just the right amount of steam and angst. I adored the characters and the setting.

I freaking LOVED Mermaid Inn! I’m a polygamist book reader and mood reader by nature, I never know what I’m going to feel like reading each day. I just know that I’ll have 3-7 books on hand at all times. Over the weekend I was trying to read a little bit in all my current books, but I kept coming back to this one.

The town of Moonflower Bay captured me from the very first chapter (although I was very confused as to why the series was called Matchmaker Bay. don’t worry, it gets explained and it is delightful!) I love Jenny Holiday, she is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors. The way she mixes heavier topics, steamy scenes, and comedic moments? *swoon* Mermaid Inn is just as wonderful as all her previous books I’ve read.

I absolutely loved Eve and Sawyer’s story. I’m a sucker for second chance romance and I thought this one was so well done. Eve is forced to go back to Moonflower Bay after her beloved aunt dies and leaves her the Mermaid Inn. After avoiding the town for the last decade, the last thing she wants to do is stay especially since her former love is now the police chief. Yet her aunt had other plans and requires she own the Mermaid Inn for one year before selling it.

There are so many great hilarious moments in this book, and an equal amount of completely swoon worthy moments. The chemistry between Eve and Sawyer was so, so great. The last chapter of the book had me almost in tears and then grinning like an idiot. *sigh* I just loved this one a lot! Mermaid Inn was a five star read for me! I CANNOT WAIT to spend more time in Matchmaker Bay when Paradise Cove comes out in July! Highly recommend!

CW: references to former abuse from a parent, a parent with substance abuse, grief, a side character grieving the death of their young child.

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday is a very light book. The plot was simple. Eve returns to the seaside town and Mermaid Hotel after her aunt dies because the inn was willed to her. She discovers her past love and they reunite. However, I don’t think the detailed sex scenes added to the end of the book. Thank you to Net Galley for an advance reader’s copy.

Eve Abbott has a problem--actually, make that a lot of problems. And they're all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, now the tiny town just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt's beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She's definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street...

Police Chief Sawyer Collins always does the right thing, even when it costs him everything. Like Evie. He's spent the past ten years trying to forget her--to forget how right she felt in his arms, to forget the pain in her eyes the day she left. The last thing he expects is to see her back in town or to find that the spark between them is as strong as ever. Sawyer knows this is his only chance to prove that his feelings have always been real... before Eve turns tail and leaves for good.

4 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance, this is a bit Hallmark-y but steamier.

You know that Taylor Swift song It's Nice to Have a Friend? I love it, it's just so cute. Evie and Sawyer remind me of the people in the song. They grew up together, they did everything together, and they grew into more. The second chance romance isn't usually my favorite, but the familiar trope of a woman moving back to a small town she doesn't want to be in, and getting sucked in is one that I really enjoy. So the pairing of the two worked well for me. I loved the town of Moonflower Bay. I loved the quirkiness, the characters, the traditions, the lake, etc. I liked that the older residents of the town were conspiring to match make the younger folks. That was really cute, and honestly it would have been fun to see a little bit more of it! I thought that this book had a nice mix of serious and funny, and was overall pretty darn fun. I would have liked some more flashbacks to when they were kids, just to round out more of their history. I loved the family aspect with Sawyer's sister Clara and their found family with their friends. It will be fun to read more books in this series and see what happens with Jake, Law, Maya and the matchmakers. I loved the bromance between the guys so much. So many little things about this book appeal to me as well, I LOVE mermaids and moon flowers, so all of the symbolism and traditions related to those were so much fun to me. If you enjoy Hallmark-y small town plots with a bit more steam, and some quirkiness along the way I think you'll enjoy this fun summer read.