I haven't book blogged in over a year. Not because I haven't read any fabulous books, but more because my mind just wasn't in it. Too much work stress, too much family stress, I just wanted to hibernate when I was home alone. But as I've crawled out of my depression cave, I kept thinking that there were books I wanted to talk about.
I picked this book off of NetGalley because I've read and loved Maddie Dawson's books. I'm not sure exactly what happened with this book, but somehow when I downloaded it, I ended up starting it about halfway through. And I couldn't figure out how we had gotten to this kid being there and the dad being so withdrawn, and a divorce seeming imminent. They kept referring to things that had happened and I thought I just missed something. But I was quickly drawn in even with the weirdness of the disjointed story.
Talk about living your life being distracted! When I finished the book, I went back to the beginning to see if this was a sequel - and found out that yes, it was a sequel, but I had also missed at least half of the book.
Anyways.....I actually enjoyed going back to the beginning and starting the book knowing the ending, although it seemed anticlimactic. One of the best things about Dawson's books is that you never know how they are going to end - they aren't formulaic.

I love an awkward kid story, and Fritzie certainly fills that need for me. As she drops (is dumped) into Patrick and Marnie's life, she's a little untamed, verbally expressive and very uncertain about why she suddenly has a dad, and one who doesn't seem to want to get to know her.

Patrick and Marnie are total opposites, and while Patrick recoils from the connection, Marie dives headfirst into mom-hood and love for all of Fritzie's ways.

Marnie is also full of empathy and compassion for Patrick's ghosts, but she's not okay with him not wanting kids with her, and she's definitely not okay with him emotionally distancing from a little girl who needs more from than he night be able to give.

I moved right into Matchmaking for Beginners, (it's $1.99 on Kindle right now) which was the first book about Patrick and Marnie - and I suggest you do it the right way, start there and then go to Happy Catastrophes, which right now is $4.69 on Kindle - total bargain!

This was the weirdest way to read two books, but it worked out, and I continue to be hooked on Maddie Dawson and all of the feelings that her books bring! Give them a try, I'd love to know what you think.

Current Goodreads Rating is 4.0

I really enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners when I read it a couple years ago - it was full of charm and lively characters and a really sweet, fun read. I was hoping for the same in the sequel, but I'm sad to say it did not live up to the first book.

For the first 75% I was so annoyed at Patrick, who was regressing back to problems I thought had been wrapped up in the first book. I had so many issues with his character this time around that it was nearly impossible to ignore. But the WORST part was the how the first half or so of the book was Marnie and Patrick both completely disregarding the fact that they each wanted very different lives, despite being the supposed "perfect couple" in all other regards.

Marnie has decided to tell Patrick that she desperately wants to to have a baby, while Patrick feels he will be the world's worst parent and wants no part of child-rearing. They spend most of the book passive-aggressively trying to convince the other person why they're right, and it's just so infuriating because this is a major life decision that no one should be pressured into one way or another, especially by their partner.

And there is a MAJOR plot hole that I could not get over through the entirety of the novel: Eight years ago Patrick loses his girlfriend - the love of his life - in a terrible fire. Now he finds out that he has an 8-year-old daughter. Was Patrick cheating on Anneliese? This would have made so much more sense that he regressed into his old patterns of depression and grief, if he had been blatantly reminded of an affair shortly before his girlfriend died. That would have made for an excellent plot line here. But the timing of these two events was stated two or three times in the novel and never addressed, and I couldn't ignore it.

There are some great new characters introduced this time around (shout-out to adorable little Fritzie!), and the ending was slightly redeeming, but that's the best compliment I can give to this one. I still highly recommend Matchmaking for Beginners for anyone looking for a light but charming romance, but I can't say the same for the sequel.

Mir gefiel „Matchmaking for Beginners“ richtig gut, die Aussicht auf eine Fortsetzung hat mich sofort in Aufregung versetzt. Ich war gleich voller Vorfreude, in Marnies Welt zurückkehren zu dürfen.
„A happy Catastrophe“ setzt dort an, wo Liebesgeschichten normalerweise aufhören- die Liebenden haben sich gefunden und alles wird gut… in Marnies und Patricks Fall ist die Liebe füreinander ungebrochen , allerdings unterscheiden sich die Lebenspläne der Beiden sehr: sie möchte Kinder, er nicht; er möchte lieber seine Ruhe haben und Marnie kann gar nicht anders, als sich ständig und überall mit Menschen zu umgeben. Ziemlich schnell stellt sich die Frage: geht das überhaupt? Gibt es eine Chance für diese Liebe? Und wäre das nicht schon Aufgabe genug, stellt das Leben zusätzlich noch völlig unerwartete Herausforderungen an die Beiden.
Dieser Roman besitzt sehr viel mehr Tiefe als sein Vorgänger. Die Charaktere haben mit echten Problemen zu kämpfen, stellenweise wird die Stimmung ziemlich düster- mir gefiel das richtig gut. Das Buch ist sehr viel erwachsener als sein Vorgänger und man kann es auch sehr gut lesen, ohne den Vorgänger zu kennen. Das klingt jetzt vielleicht etwas schwer, ist es aber gar nicht. Die Geschichte wird wunderbar witzig und leichtfüssig erzählt und ist dennoch alles andere als oberflächlich.

Marnie's back! Don't worry if you didn't read the first book (which is a delight btw)- this is fine as a standalone and even more enjoyable if you know Marnie. She's in love with Patrick. Patrick is struggling with some real issues of grief, guilt, and PTSD from a fire which killed his girlfriend but he's doing his best to work through them with Marnie. Then, to everyone's surprise, Fritzie, the product of his one night stand, turns up and all bets are off. Instant family? Maybe but it's not easy. Written with humor and heart, this is a very good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try this for a positive outlook.

So let me preface this by saying I liked it, I didn’t love it. It’s a cute book don’t get me wrong. But nothing about this book wowed me but a lot of it annoyed me.

I didn’t read the first one so I didn’t have any background. But I also don’t feel like I’m missing anything because the author recapped the important stuff in this book. I found myself imagining their cute brownstone in Brooklyn, a city I love going to visit. I thought it was a cute quick read but that’s about as far as it got.

I didn’t connect with the main characters at all. In fact one of them annoyed me to no end. And the conflict is settled in the last 5 chapters (which are super short) so i was like honestly?! Just was looking for more substance I think.

I loved the previous novel and held my expectations in check since the followup never seems to be as good. But this was a lovely read; I really want to move to Brooklyn and be a part of this crazy bunch of people. I found Marnie a bit too perfect, too happy, too optimistic so having Patrick with his struggles was a nice balance.

I ADORED Matchmaking for Beginners and made everyone read it. Dawson's voice is so warm and inviting that you feel like you're scraping a chair up to a lovingly worn table for a cup of tea and biscuits. I love it and the world and the characters so HOW DELIGHTED WAS I when I learned we got more from the Matchmaking world. Featuring one of the most resplendent openings I have read in an age and peeling back the curtain to the intersection of hope, loss and love, this has a lot of my go-to-favourite ingredients: a winsome and beguiling heroine who wrangles the narrative with magic and vulnerability, a sweet hero and a tapestry of colourful characters, the forging of family and wistful romance and a very strong sense of place and setting.

I am delighted that this offering just happened to find its way to me as the world was shifting because it is an imaginative balm.


( featured on instagram, twitter, Goodreads and Facebook)

Another wonderful book by Maggie Dawson.Second book in series A book full of love magic surprises.A book that draws you in takes you out of your everyday life into this special novel.#netgalley#lakeunionpublishing,

more like 3.5, wiffle waffled with rounding up and down, eventually settled on 3.

there were a few things i didn't like about the first book and i didn't think i would be interested in the sequel.. but then i saw it on netgalley and couldn't help myself. it started off very similar and i didn't think i would like it - all the auras and sparkles and stuff. but it turned real quick and though some parts were super hard to read, i think i actually enjoyed it better than the first.

the parts that were hard to read for me were all about marnie wanting a baby. i knew the synopsis mentioned parenthood but if i'd known it would be so focused on pregnancy/babies, i would not have picked it up. that's purely me though. i am glad - spoiler alert - that she didn't magically fall pregnant the first time, or at all. people in books have a tendency to do that and even though i love a HEA as much as the next girl, the magically falling pregnant makes me twitchy. though, they did magically have a teenager willing to give her baby to them, so, whatever. outside of just not enjoying reading about women wanting babies, i had a hard time with marnie being so pushy and insistent with patrick. she went from 0 to 100 with the baby thing, like i get it girl, but... slow down.

then, when it wasn't talking about wanting a baby and her being 33 and so old (lol i'm going to die alone), it was talking about other super heavy stuff and that wasn't exactly pleasant to read, but for different reasons. man, patrick was hard to like in this one! and marnie being so understanding, goodness, i wanted her to slap him. or i wanted her to do something, do anything except ignore it and hope he'd get himself out of his funk.

i get what patrick went through and what he had to go through to fully heal, but i wish he'd come to his realisations a bit quicker than, like, the last chapter, but whatever. i feel like things got fixed and patched up in the end very quickly and easily, and that didn't really jive with the rest of the book. it went super low and super tough and then basically fixed itself... i would have preferred a little bit more work going into their growth - both separate and in their relationship - vs it happening for patrick when marnie was out of town.

also, wtf was up with tessa? for real. i did like fritzie most of the time, but some of the time she gave me a headache.

I was very excited when I saw this book available to request because I absolutely loved Matchmaking for Beginners. In that book all the characters felt quirky and fun, but in this book it was just to much. I ended up being extremely disappointed in this sequel and had a hard time finishing it. There was a LOT going on in this book and they were a constant struggle and then all of a sudden, poof, everything is fine and worked out perfectly.

I still liked Patrick and Marnie, but her mom was a little much. To top if off, Fritzie was the most annoying child that I think I've ever seen portrayed in a book. I felt overwhelmed by her constant talking and jumping even just reading about it!

A Happy Catastrophe is the follow-up to Matchmaking for Beginners. I loved Matchmaking and honestly requested this galley just because Maddie Dawson wrote it. I started reading and was like, this is a sequel! There’s still a bit of magical realism in this one, but I didn’t think this novel was as light as the first. This book deals with some difficult topics but really develops the characters and relationships in a way that makes you want things to work out for everyone.
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This book is definitely worth reading if you read and enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you start with the first because it’s even better.
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Thanks to @netgalley for this e-ARC. Look for this book coming out on Tuesday 5/26.

When I saw that there was going to be a sequel from Maddie Dawson, I was thrilled, but also a little nervous. Matchmaking For Beginners, the first book, was perfection. The way Maddie Dawson wrote that story was so beautiful and it was a five star read for me.

As soon as I started this book, A Happy Catastrophe, I remembered just how much I love Maddie's style of writing. I love how she brings these characters to life; the good and the bad. I so wanted to see how Marnie and Patrick were doing further down the road and felt so honored to be able to see a glimpse of their life again.

If you loved Matchmaking For Beginners, I think you'll love this one as well. Just know that I think this one is darker at times than the first book and it deals with a lot of issues. Parts will make you a bit sad, parts will make you laugh, and I think you'll also feel a lot of love.

Maddie Dawson can do no wrong in my opinion. Another fantastic book!

While I liked Match Makers for Beginners (the first book in this series) I absolutely LOVED this book!

Marnie & Patrick are still perfectly imperfect for each other and you fall even more in love with their quirky dynamic. When Patrick begins to retreat into himself and can’t give Marnie what she wants, your heart literally breaks for both of them. Can they make a beautiful future out of this mess or is it just too much?

It’s not often that I think the second book is better than the first, but A Happy Catastrophe is!

A sequel to Matchmaking for Beginners, A Happy Catastrophe revisits the lives of Marnie and Patrick now as a couple and with some surprises on the way!

I really enjoyed this book and liked the turn of events it took from "Matchmaking for Beginners", following many of the same characters, but living different situations and handling them in... peculiar ways. I enjoyed Marnie’s optimism and passion for life, but my biggest concern was Patrick. I liked him before, but in this book his attitudes bothered me, especially the fact that he basically cleared his mind at the end of the book??? MEN!

I enjoyed Maddie Dawson's "A Happy Catastrophe" immensely. Marnie was a great lead and though I did not read the first book, I loved how richly the characters were written and woven. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

A Happy Catastrophe is the follow up to Matchmaking for Beginners and while you don’t HAVE to read the first book, I would recommend it. Marnie and Patrick are complete opposites and happily in love. Marnie has a bit of magical matchmaking ability and owns a flower shop full of interesting characters talking about love and the universe. Patrick is an introverted artist and survivor of a horrific fire years ago that killed his girlfriend. He has many physical and emotional wounds. When a little girl shows up in their lives it will change everything.

Sometimes there are books that you really enjoy, but wouldn’t recommend them to every reader and this is kind of one of those books. It is magical and fantastical and maybe not believable for the serious person. But, I personally just loved this quirky story! Patrick is the sweetest and you just want so much happiness for him. Marnie is full of love and light and you wish you could be her BFF. Little Fritzie was so funny and energetic despite really tough circumstances.
I definitely recommend this one if you have an open mind about all the magic waiting for us in the universe!!

Love and Family and Surprises
This is a wonderful piece of women's fiction. It is about healing, growing, loving, family, friends, and finding oneself. It is a fun read that can also be heartbreaking. I plan on reading more of this author's work. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

If you enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson, you need to add the sequel, A Happy Catastrophe, to your list right now. The sequel takes us back to the world of Marnie and Patrick, of course with Blix's influence still permeating the atmosphere. I want to keep this a spoiler free review which is hard to do for a sequel. It was fun to revisit this world and these characters. This book did get a little deeper and darker than the first, and my heart hurt for these characters as they learn to love the life you are living and that "love" may not always look the way you expect.

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for the electronic advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought Matchmaking for Beginners was good. It was a fun, slightly quirky love story and when I saw a sequel for it I was excited! Unfortunately,the beginning of the book and how baby crazy Marnie was in the first few chapters started this book off with a bad taste especially when Patrick let's her know that he can't handle being a father.

I didn't like what the characters I liked in the first book became in this one. The writing is excellent, but it wasn't able to overcome the story for me.

“No matter how dark it gets, how many times you fall down, love steps in to save us, over and over and over again.”

A Happy Catastrophe may be four years after Blix Holiday passed away and left her house and family of misfits to Marnie but she is still very much apart of Marnies’ life. Blix can be seen in her words that are still remembered, her spell book and her passed on matchmaking skills but mostly in the love that she knew was there between Patrick and Marnie.

Marnie is ready to take the next step with Patrick and start a family, but he doesn’t feel quite ready; because of his past, he is holding himself back from loving anyone else. Patrick wants everything to stay the same. They agreed to wait, but the universe had other plans.

Enter Fritzie, a spunky eight year old girl who is too smart for her own good and has never stood in one place too long. Surprise ... she also happens to be Patrick’s daughter, from a weekend fling, that he never knew about until now. Between this little girl and a new art exhibit, Patrick and Marnies’ relationship and her trust in Blix is put to the test.

Maddie Dawson, I said your first book was worth all the late fees. A Happy Catastrophe to me, was worth the lack of sleep! I stayed up until I finished the book because I just had to know how their story was going to end. I loved so many of the passages, I found myself highlighting them to read again. I felt grief and sadness with Patrick, Marnie and Fritzie but also felt so much love and forgiveness. This group of misfits that became a family, has my heart. Fingers crossed there will be a third book, I would love for this not to be the end of their story.

“That’s when I learned that love doesn’t always come in the package we might expect.”