This was my second Catherine Walsh book and I can’t wait to read more! I usually don’t laugh a lot reading books, but this was so so funny and cute.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for letting me read an advanced copy.

What a delightful and charming book! This was a first read for me by Catherine Walsh and I enjoyed every minute of it. I always enjoy a good enemy's to lover's book. I found this to be fast paced and I couldn't wait to see how it was going to coming together. Highly recommended .


Thanks NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

This was my first Catherine Walsh book but I will definitely be reading more of her books. I found the story really fun and it made me laugh out loud several times including while reading it out in public.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read an advanced copy

I adored this book from start to finish, although there were moments that I felt tired with it - no idea why! - and had to put it away for a few days, but then it was a real pleaseure to get back to it. To its characters, the original plot and the humour that never felt too much - and it's not so easy to write a humorous book, with so many brilliant one - liners and situations without it going a bit tiring. Catherine Walsh has managed it all right.

The story starts with a kick, or, let's say, our main character Katie Collins starts with a kick. I loved Katie right from the beginning, she's a girl after my own heart, she doesn't need feel, she only wants a night full of sleep, her job that she loves, her gran and her best friends. And her dog. Uncomplicated, loyal, no - nonsense girl with brilliant sense of humour.

There is a lovely romance in this book, a great sense of community and this overwhelming feeling of good vibes. It will make you smile, I guarantee it. A cute story with a lot of charm, delightful and with some poignant moments.

💘 long overdue review of the matchmaker by catherine walsh!

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
spice: 🌶️/🚪it’s basically closed door

💬 what is your favourite romcom-trope? or trope in general?

Katie Collins has lived her whole life in the tiny irish village of Ennisbawn. with its tightknit community, friendly local pub and beautiful nature surrounding it, Katie finds herself content there. That is until Callum Dempsey shows up. a hot-shot developer without any sense of beauty or charm. to Katies horror she finds out that they plan to tear down her favourite pub to build a hotel. in an effort to stop the destruction Katie plans to revive an old tradition - a matchmaking festival. but as the planning commences Katie and Callum grows closer…

this was a cute and easy read, but a bit bland. the plot had good promise and I loved the small irish town-vibes and festival element. it’s marketed as enemies to lovers, but it was very short lived. also Callums character was extremely 2D. I could not tell you one thing about the man, except that he is handsome. and as a result, I didn’t care much about the relationship between him and Katie. to be honest I liked the two side characters blooming lovestory much more!

if you want an easy, quick read and to escape to a cute irish town this definitely is for you! if you want deep character building and good chemestry - skip this one.

The Matchmaker has charming characters and a lovely country setting. Katie has spunk, passion and a quick wit. Combined with the personalities of her friends and family (dear Grandma), there are plenty of quirky moments and entertaining dialogue. Katie's romance with Callum is delightful, though a little bit rushed (yes, quite the insta-love).

I enjoyed the lightheartedness of the book. There's every opportunity for a spin-off to deepen Gemma and Adam's story.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to review.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC. I absolutely loved Catherine Walsh's "Holiday Romance" so I was super excited to read her newest book. She's extremely funny and writes very natural dialogue.

This is my third Catherine Walsh book and they never fail to make me laugh out loud and fall in love with the main characters - great level of spice.

I loved this book. It was fairly predictable and borderline cheesy but full of warmth and it made me smile. I’ll always have a soft spot for books based in Ireland considering it’s my home country, but The Matchmaker made me want to find the smallest village and go live there. The author did a great job of capturing the sense of community in Ireland. I also appreciated how the characters weren’t stereotypical. Some books based in Ireland can be quite outdated, especially in terms of stereotypes. The Matchmaker showed that even the smallest of places can be full of diversity and different personalities.

It was hard not to like Katie. Her love for her friends and grandmother, plus her dedication in saving the pub was admirable. However, it was her level of self-awareness that sold me. We live in a society that always has us pushing for more; more money, more success, more possessions. We forget that a truly fulfilled life means not being afraid to live according to your values – and shamelessly so. Katie is happy with her life in the village and it was great to see that celebrated rather than frowned upon.

Of course, The Matchmaker wouldn’t be complete without a bit of romance. I won’t give any spoilers but the romance in this book is beautiful and realistic. Just try not to smile as relationships develop.

Summary: Katie Collins is perfectly content in her small town Irish village of Ennisbawn. That’s is until hot shot developer Callum Dempsey strolls into town, intent on knocking down the last remaining pub. Determined to save the pub and rejuvenate the town’s spirit, Katie decides to revive the local matchmaking festival.

Thoughts: This book is chock full of small town charm and quirky characters. I loved the deep familial roots in the town and how connected Katie was to her village and it’s traditions. I also loved her tight knit group of friends and getting to see their relationships blossom throughout the course of the novel, as well as Katie’s.

While I did enjoy the story overall, it began to drag for me towards the half way point and I struggled to connect to the romance. That said, I still think this was a cute read and would recommend it to those who love small town romance. Catherine Walsh is an auto-buy author for me, so I am very much looking forward to her next one.

Thank you Bookouture for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

ahh i loved this book soo much! it was hilarious and super entertaining! i really liked katie and her determination. her character was so fun to read about and i just loved her soo much. i’m also a huge fan of enemies to lovers which made this book even better. i also really loved the side characters and felt they added so much to the story. i do wish we could’ve seen more depth into katie and callums relationship because i felt like there was not a lot of chemistry between them.
thank you to netgalley and Bookouture for sending me this ARC. all opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this heartwarming book which is centred around Katie who is desperate to stop a large company changing her beloved small town filled o memories and traditions. As such in her quest she reinvents a matchmaking festival to out the town firmly on the map and deter the developers from wiping away more of her childhood and adult memories. A love story thrown in making it a great feel good book

The Matchmaker is my second Catherine Walsh book and definitely not my last. I love that her books take place in her home country of Ireland. I only wish I had the audiobook for this one so I could have heard the Irish accents. Katy loves her little town and the pub where she works. When a developer comes in to build a new fancy hotel and plans on ruining her small town, Katy storms into the construction zone (in her PJs) and speaks her mind. I loved this funny story about passionate Katy who has so much pride in her hometown that also seems to mask her fear of venturing on her own somewhere else. Callum is the one who gets yelled at by PJ-wearing Katy, even though he isn't the one in charge of the big decisions. When Katy needs publicity and money in order to save the pub where she works, she decides to bring back the Matchmaking Festival. Of course, things don't go smoothly. Callum slowly begins to understand why everyone in this little town loves it so much and the rest, well you'll have to read it. The friends and family in this story are wonderful. The romance is a slow burn but worth it because I just adored Callum. This was a fun read and I can't wait to read another Catherine Walsh book!

Thank you @Bookouture for a digital copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I LOVED The Matchmaker by Catherine Walsh. It was equally funny, sweet, romantic, and emotional. The basic plot is Katie works at the local pub in a tightly-knit rural community. Callum works for the construction company that is going to tear most of the town down to build a hotel. Naturally, they are on opposite ends of the situation. That leads to tension, which leads to more 🥰🥵

A rundown of this book;
❌Somewhat enemies to lovers
🧶Very close-knit community
🇮🇪Set in Ireland
🔧Did I mention he’s a construction worker?!
💕Romantic Matchmaking Festival
🥲A little emotional but not too much
🥵Slightly steamy

It’s on kindle unlimited 👏🏻👏🏻

"𝙊𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙞'𝙢 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣."

Wow this was such a beautiful wholesome read. This had me laughing one minute and crying the next. This is not just a romcom but a story about true small town community spirit and it truly warmed my soul. Catherine's writing is something so special.

A development team are building a new hotel in Ennisbaw which is effecting Katie's sleep schedule, when she heads over to confront the person in charge she never thought she'd meet a man like Callum. Katie is hellbent on not letting these new developments ruin the traditions she loves in her town and will do anything to save them.

Callum and Katie are just such beautiful characters. Whilst Callum falls head over heels in love with Katie it doesn't feel insta lovey AT ALL and it's just a stunning journey of two people falling in love.
Every character was so likeable and played their part. I loved all the side characters. Gemma and Adam had me ugly sobbing.

I will definitely been reading more from Catherine Walsh that's for sure and I highly recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. Opinions are my own!

A quaint little Irish village was always going to be a great location for a crazy fun love story. While Katie and Callum start off on the wrong foot, saving the sole pub of the village from being caught up in a wave of modernisation leads them to each other.

“Anywhere you want to go. If you want me to, I’ll follow.”

A story is a definite win when even the supporting characters are interesting enough to keep the pages turning and this one has plenty of them. From Katie’s Granny, to her friends, Nush and Gemma, her boss, Adam, and even Callum’s brother, Jack. Lovely friendship and great banter definitely make for a fun read.

Thank you for my advance copy, @netgalley

This was my first time reading a book by Catherine Walsh and I really enjoyed it.

I picked up this book without reading the synopsis and I’m so glad I did. It was so well written, funny and easy to read.

The story takes place in the small, rural Irish village of Ennisbawn. The setting was extremely idyllic, I really want to visit this place. The town is under threat from a development company building a hotel just outside of town, who now want to knock down the last pub to make way for a golf course. I really felt the FMC’s protectiveness over Ennisbawn and Kelly’s pub.

Our FMC Katie is a bit awkward and anxious but also so charming and relatable. She has lived in Ennisbawn her entire life and has no desire to leave. Why would she, it sounds like an amazing place to live. She will not stand by while Glenmill destroys the thing she loves the most.

Our MMC Callum works for the development company that is threatening her hometown. I was expecting Callum to be this unspeakably hot bad guy but really he’s on Katie’s side.

I really enjoyed reading about the side characters and the matchmaking festival. I found that I wasn’t completely invested in Katie and Callum’s relationship. I would’ve loved to see a bit more depth and tension between them. What I did love was that they were both straightforward with their feelings and that there was no big miscommunication.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this ARC. All opinions in this review are my own. It was a pleasure to read this book and I look forward to reading more of Catherine’s work in the future.

This was a 4.5 star read for me!

The small (like really, really small) Irish village of Ennisbawn is home to Katie Collins. Katie loves her little village and doesn't want anything to change, but a development company has come in and is building a high-end golf course and hotel. Not only that, the equipment is preventing Katie from getting any sleep. Sleep depravation has Katie storming the site in her pajamas. While there she meets the annoying and extremely handsome, Callum.

Callum reroutes the traffic and wins some points with Katie - at least until she finds out the development company plans to bulldoze Kellys' Pub. Kellys is special for many reasons - Katie works there, Katie's parents' initials are carved into the wishing well there, and the owner - Adam is like a big brother to her.

As a last ditch effort to save the pub, Katie decides to restart the once famous matchmaking festival. Will it make a difference, will Callum hinder or help, and will Katie or her friends meet their match?

This book is both funny and touching. Perfect for readers that love to root for the underdog!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! 🫶🏼

I came into this book pretty much blind, only knowing it was a romance in Ireland, but I absolutely ATE this book up!!

The book follows 29 year old Katie in small town Ennisbawn, Ireland. When a large corporation tries to buy up all the land and build up the town, Katie & her friends go on defense to protect the little village they love. After a chance encounter including duck pajamas and really loud trucks, Katie meets the handsome head of construction, Callum. The story follows Katie’s attempt to revive an old Ennisbawn tradition in order to save her village along with her journey of loving herself right where she is (oh, and Callum. Of course we love Callum).

I truly enjoyed this book so much! Katie’s character development over the course of the book was admirable, Callum’s unrelenting love and devotion to her was SO sweet, and the supporting characters made me fall in love with Ennisbawn so much more.

A few notes/things I wished I’d seen more of —
• I would’ve loved more description of the town itself. I found myself confused a few times about the setting. I think more info about the town itself would’ve made me fall in love with it more!
• I was also semi-confused on the timeline. I feel like there was some parts in the last half of the book where I was unsure how much time had passed. One day, they were clearing out the barn and the next they were saying the festival was a week away? It also felt like Callum & Katie’s relationship progressed really quickly without timeline clarification.

All in all, I absolutely adored this book and I can’t wait to read more from Catherine Walsh! Also, secretly hoping for more from Gemma & Adam!!

I absolutely loved this book! I can't wait to read more from this author. It was a fun book to read. I would definitely recommend this book.