This book started out pretty strong, but it quickly fizzled and I lost interest a bit. I honestly think it was about 10 chapters too long since not much happened in the middle to develop the plot further. The book focused way too much on the town and the cast of secondary characters and really lacked on the romance. Callum & Katie were cute together, but there really were few scenes where they were actually together and that was probably the most disappointing part of this 'romance.' It read more chick lit with a little romance thrown in than true romance. I don't mind the occasional chick lit book, but if I'm reading something labeled as romance, I was a romance where the H/h are the main focus, not the friends of the heroine.

This was my first book by Catherine Walsh. I did enjoy the setting of Ireland and the town of Ennisbawm.

Oh wow this book!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍 I am not lying when I say I cried happy tears at MULTIPLE points in this book. It made my heart happy in soooo many ways.

This is the third book I have read by Catherine Walsh, and even though I’ve loved them all, it feels like each one gets better and better. I thought Molly and Andrew were the world’s best fictional couple, but now I think it’s Katie and Callum 🤣 Catherine’s writing just has all the right ingredients. It makes me laugh out loud, it makes me fall in love with every single character (even the Jack Doyle’s!), it makes my heart sing and I had the biggest smile on my face the whole way through. I kept having to stop and just process how much I was loving the whole thing.

Our main character Katie lives in small Irish town that is facing threats of redevelopment. This is bad enough for the people of Ennisbawn, but the final straw is when Kelly’s, the pub at the heart of the community, is threatened with demolition. Katie simply cannot stand to lose something that means so much to her, and with the help of her friends, sets about proving just how much Kelly’s needs to stay by reviving The Matchmaker festival. A tradition from time gone by that saw Katie’s own parents find each other. It’s hard work but they pull together and show the world that they are not standing down.

Amongst all this, Katie meets Callum, who is a project manager on the redevelopment team, and they fall HARD for each other! I loved them. I loved them so much. I am officially a Katie and Callum fangirl. I need to know that they get married and have lots of cute babies and live happily ever after forever and ever 😅 I loved how Callum very clearly fell for Katie right from the beginning, it was just so cute! I did love all of the friendships as well. Real friendships between real people. And a special mention to Mauve, I hope to be exactly like her when I grow up!!!

I am honestly sad that I’ve finished this book. I feel like I could just go straight back to the beginning and read it again and love it just as much. Thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book. It’s coming out on the 18th of this month so PLEASE buy it, you will not regret it!

This was such a heartwarming, adorable story about a small-town girl just trying to keep her hometown & her job from being taken over by a big development company coming in to build a huge hotel and resort. Katie wasn't trying to fight "the man" at first, but somewhere along the way she found her voice, fought for her town, and she found love in an unlikely person, Callum, who works for the big bad development company. I loved this book's small-town feel, wonderful characters, and fun banter. This was definitely one of those feel-good books. Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

Star rating: 4*
Spice rating: 2 spice rating
Genre: Romance/Romcom
Series: N/A – Stand-alone
Tropes: Small town romance
POV: 1st person, Katie’s perspective
Characters: F/M Romance

Writing: This was such an easy read with short chapters and descriptive writing. The characters were great and the chemistry built between Katie and Callum was perfect. I adored the side characters, Granny Maeve – I want her to be my Granny! I also loved the secondary love interest in the story too! Another thing Walsh did well was the friendship between the characters, it was beautiful and hilarious and I really enjoyed the banter between them all – the dialogue was great!

Plot: When developer Glenmill starts building a hotel in Katie’s neighbourhood and preventing her from getting her precious sleep, she marches over to give them a piece of her mind and ask them to stop. During the altercation she meets Callum Dempsey, the project manager for Glenmill and his boss Jack (who so happens to be his brother!). Callum tries to rectify the situation a little, but she drew the line when they then attempt to tear down the Town’s pub, the oldest and only pub in Ennisbaw where her parents met and where she has worked for the past 10 years. Katie organises a matchmaking festival, a festival that used to be a tradition and how her parents fell in love in order to try and save the pub, but will her feelings for Callum get in the way?

Trigger warnings/Adult themes: Violence, death of parents (off page)

My thoughts and views: I loved the way Katie and Callum were introduced in the story, I immediately knew this was going to be a fun read, I found Callum to be hilarious. It was so heart-warming and sweet. I did feel as though it got a little slow at times, but it was such an easy and enjoyable read. There was also a lot of laugh out loud moments too – I could see this being a feel good romcom movie! This is actually the first book I’ve read by Catherine Walsh, but it certainly won’t be the last.

Recommend: I certainly would!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

The Matchmaker by Catherine Walsh is a cute, sweet romance with likable characters. Katie Collins is a twenty-something bartender living with her Granny, Maeve. They live in the quiet village of Ennisbawn where not a whole lot happens and they all like it that way. Unfortunately, a large hotel is being built and it's making tons of noise and traffic right in front of Katie's house. She confronts the construction team and meets Callum, team leader and of course, good looking love interest. She soon learns that not only are they building a hotel, but they also plan to tear down her beloved pub and workplace. It holds a special place in her heart and she refuses to let this happen. So begins her plan to re-introduce the Ennisbawn matchmaking festival. Surrounded by a sweet cast of characters, she works on creating a festival that will convince the hotel developers to stop the destruction of her pub. Heartwarming is a term that frequently came to mind as I read this story. You can easily imagine yourself as part of the lovely group of friends and family that surround Katie. Callum is a well-rounded character and I loved how he supported Katie in her plans. I do think the story dragged on just a bit near the end. I thought it was over multiple times and then it kept going. And, there were definitely some cliched characters and moments, but overall, it was a fun and lighthearted read.

The Matchmaker - Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
PUB DATE: April 18, 2023
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QUICK LOOK: Small Town Bands Together, Set in Ireland, Adult Romance, Rivals to Lovers
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SYNOPSIS: Katie Collins loves her small, Irish town Ennisbawn. It may not be perfect, but it is filled with people she loves dearly. So, when a big construction company begins work on a giant hotel and threatens to tear down the community’s local pub, she vows to stop it and save their pub… And the way she will do that, is by bringing back a Matchmaking festival.
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WHAT I LIKED:
-Small Town bands together
-Set in Ireland
-Katie’s relationship with Gemma’s Son
-Katie’s relationship with her grandmother
-Loveable side characters
-Gemma and Adam’s story
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WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
-Insta-Love - There are almost no scenes in which Katie and Callum are just getting to know each other before Callum declares he would follow Katie anywhere and joins her cause, which means opposing his own brother. These two went from strangers and rivals to in-love rather quickly.
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Other Notes: Honestly, the side characters, Gemma and Adam, stole the show here. I felt their relationship had much more development and growth than the love story between the lead characters. I was rooting for Adam and Gemma for this whole book!
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Thank you @netgalley for my eARC copy. I was given this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Matchmaker is a delightful small town romance!

Katie Collins has lived in the small Irish town of Ennisbawn her whole life and is perfectly happy with her close knit group of friends, sharp tongued grandmother, and the pub she works for at the heart of the small town center. When construction for a huge new hotel threatens to destroy her beloved community—and the pub that has been a staple of the community for generations, Katie springs into action to save the pub by reviving the dormant tradition of a summertime matchmaking festival, where her own parents met decades earlier.

I was so excited to get a chance to read this book early after absolutely loving Walsh’s Christmas Romance last year, but it didn’t quite capture the same magic. The romance felt more like a B plot in an otherwise enjoyable story about a woman and her friends saving a small town. Katie and Callum’s story is a little more insta-lovey for my tastes, but I really enjoyed this story, and would recommend for anyone who loves small town romance and books set in Ireland.

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to the author, Catherine Walsh, Bookouture, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on April 18, 2023.

I really liked the Irish setting, the festival, and the side characters throughout the story. I loved how passionate Katie was about saving her hometown from urbanization. She had a fire in her that I really liked and she was willing to bring back a “dead” festival to help preserve the town’s culture and traditions.

The romance is where I would say the book lost its appeal to me. We didn’t really see much of them together until about 40% through the book and when we did see them it seemed very rushed and superficial. Callum had dropped everything he had for her within a few weeks and interactions of knowing her and wasn’t realistic. This book felt more like a general fiction with a subplot of romance with how little we saw Katie and Callum together.

Also, the synopsis of the book also paints Callum as the “bad guy” of the story when that wasn’t the case.

Overall, it was a cute story to pass the time and a good palette cleanser in between other books, but it won’t be a memorable book for me.

"Or maybe," he continues.
"It's because I don't know how I'm going to tear down your favorite place in the world when I can barely stand the thought of you getting caught in the rain."
"Being passionate about something doesn't make you boring," he says. "It makes you the complete opposite."
This book was absolutely the sweetest, most charming and funny romcom I’ve read so far this year !!! I’m in love !!!
In a small Irish town, Katie will try to save the places she love from being brought down to build up new hotels. Only she cannot imagine she will fall for the one man she shouldn’t. The one man in charge of the whole operation: Callum.
Their romance was so freaking good, I could for one minute put the book down (figure of speech because it was digital)!!
Their constant tension and slow burn, made better by the presence of a great and funny grandma, ready to make them see the truth, was all about kismet and fate and fairies. The freaking goosebump I get when there is some small act of devotion and love, when they they touch hands and share a breath was insane
This book had me have chills with the two main characters just talk to each other or share the same room !!!
And thinking that it all started with a woman complaining about noises at six am in her pyjamas and face mask , and a pair of keys lost in a well !!!!!
And there were even spicy scenes !!!! Ohhh this book had it all for real !!! I’m so so glad I had the chance to read it !!!
"Anywhere you want to go. If you want me to, I'll follow."
“How can I get bored of this place if it's where you are? How can I get tired of it when all you need to do is stand there breathing and you have my full attention?”

This was a cute story and would be a perfect read if you are spending any time in a small town. It is a classic enemies to lovers story set in small town Ireland. It is centered around a conflict of a development group building a new hotel in the town, buying up land and the people living in the town are fighting to keep the charm and character of the town they love.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. The story was fun and the love story was cute with a little bit of spice. The book did drag on a little too long for me. I felt like it could have wrapped up with the Matchmaker event and been a solid ending with bits from the end brought up to be closer to the event. It's definitely a slow burn romance if you're looking for that. I would say this is a fun read but not something I would want to reread.

Thanks to Bookouture, NetGalley and author Catherine Walsh for this digital ARC to honestly review. It's due to be published on April 18, 2023.

I loved the characters, they really made the book for me. The contrast of their different personalities that came together to achieve a common goal, it could only be hilarious.
The development and preparations for the festival was wonderful, we see the steps that the character takes to make what she wants came to life.
And I found the main character very special, I enjoyed seeing how she reacted to the other characters, preparations for the festival and the stress that comes with it, and just life.
Because she stays true to herself in loving that village and being content with her life, it's very refreshing to read something like this.
Throughout the book we also fall in love with the place and the people who are part of it, by the intimate and warm descriptions that are given to us.
I really liked the love interest and the two of them together. I just thought they fell in love very quickly, but it gave them time to develop their relationship, and that was something I really appreciated.
Seriously, it's something really funny that makes us want to pick it up and read.

This book is a delightfully sweet and heartwarming tale of Katie, a young woman fighting to save her beloved hometown pub from the clutches of ruthless developers.

I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in this charming world filled with relatable and endearing characters. Each side character was thoughtfully crafted and given a depth that made them feel like real people, rather than mere plot devices.

However, I couldn't help but feel that Katie's resistance to change and her unwavering loyalty to the pub were somewhat limiting, and that she could benefit from venturing beyond the town's borders to explore new horizons. Nevertheless, this was an easy and pleasurable read that I will happily revisit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC. All reviews are my own.

Until Callum Dempsey turned up, life for Katie Collins in her Irish town of Ennisbawn was peaceful. Callum is a hotshot developer, who wants to build a hideous hotel outside the village but also wants to knock down the only remaining pub in town to make room for a golf course. However, Katie is not going to let him ruin her town, once that brought her parents together. She is determined to take on Callum, if it is just to save her town, or so she tells herself.
Another good book by Catherine Walsh, one that is witty in its dialogue between two feisty characters. The spark between Callum and Katie is lively and whilst a bit too instantaneous to be realistic, their romance is only part of this story. The desire for Katie to keep her town together adds to this story, leaving you feeling good at the end.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was great if you are looking for more than just a romance book. This book gives you found family, small town and something to believe in! I loved Katie and her character I which I had loved something as much as she loved Ennisbawn, and Lucy's. I also enjoyed that there was no third act conflict between Katie and Callum they communicated like adults and that is what made their relationship work so well. Also although it wasn't the main focal point of the book I'm glad that there was anxiety representation which made Katie even more relatable.

I received The Matchmaker from NetGalley, and I am glad I did because I adored it. I loved the Irish charm that the book had, and the characters kept me turning the page, even the side characters! I recommend this book for a love story set in Ireland with a strong FMC. I wish I were able to attend the festival with Katie and Callum!!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I couldn't put it down. Super relatable characters and a great plot beyond just a relationship. Read it!

Catherine Walsh has the ability to create characters and a sense of place in her novels that makes her one of my must read authors.

The Matchmaker is a cute romcom set in a rural Ireland village where a big corporate developer has purchased most of the land to build a new resort and golf course. When the local pup where Katie works is threatened, she develops a plan to bring back the town's matchmaking festival in an attempt to save the pub. As she rallies the town's support, Katie butts head with Callum, who of course works for the development company. Their relationship grows as Katie faces mounting challenges as she tries to make the festival a success.

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

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! This story kept my attention with its quaint town and lovable characters. I enjoyed the humor in the meet cute, and every time I thought the plot was going to go in a predictable direction, it changed course. This was an enjoyable read, and I can easily see this becoming a series.

I didn’t love this book, nor did I hate it. It was simply okay for me. I felt it was a bit slow for my liking. I loved that it’s a small town romance based in Ireland . I love Ireland and would love to visit there one day. I felt that the small town drama overshadowed the romance. I would have loved to see more of callum and Katie’ in the first chapters.

The Matchmaker (available to purchase from the 18th of April on), by @catwalshwriter is a joy to read. I can't really say it's a surprise after having read The Rebound and Holiday Romance by the same author.

Our protagonist, Katie Collins, finds herself in the middle of a David-vs-Goliath-esque situation when a company decides to build a hotel and destroy the peace and quiet of the inhabitants of her dear Ennisbawn. She decides to get the attention she needs from the media by reviving the matchmaking festival that started there many years ago. She is determined to, and she will make it happen, no matter the short time to prepare for it, the lack of an appropriate venue, or how distractingly handsome Callum Dempsey, the hotel project coordinator, is.

The Matchmaker has a charming setting, flawed, yet incredibly lovable characters, two great romantic leads (do NOT get me started the men Catherine Walsh writes! Every one if them is the dreamiest in his own way!), and all the feel-good you can imagine, and then some. And it's funny too! What else can you ask for.