This was my third book by Catherine Walsh. While I liked it, it was not as strong for me as the first two I have read. Set in a small town in Ireland, Katie Collins is living a fairly peaceful existence until a developer, Callum, comes in to build a large hotel outside the village, and make other changes as well that affect Katie‘s life. First, the construction disturbs her sleep, and then she finds out it will interfere with the other parts of her life well. Great setting and ok story but wasn't the perfect match for me. If rom-com is your favorite genre, you may love it a bit more than I did. Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for an advance e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Matchmaker will be out on 4/18/23.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ .25

The Matchmaker feels like a romcom. That's the best way to explain it. It's like a warm hug after an exhausting day. The plot is original and refreshing, characters are adorable and lovable, romance is top tier, chemistry is off the charts!!!

I didn't expect to fall in love with this small town (don't read small town romances that often) but damn, I got why people love Ennisbawn! And the side characters! I could read a book about each one of them!

This is a pretty cute rom-com about a small town that's trying to resist a big new development. The romance is cute and there's mostly very low stakes, not too much drama. I think it will really appeal to people who like small town romances (I'm not a huge fan of them myself). I rated it a bit lower because I did find it dragged a bit. I think it could have been a bit shorter but overall it was a nice light read.

This was my first Catherine Walsh book, and it did not disappoint! I instantly loved this small village and the people who live in it. Katie is such a likeable and relatable character. I loved how passionate she is about her town and her found family. The descriptions of the village and the memories/connections they made there made me want to travel there and never leave. I adored all the side characters- Granny, Nush, Gemme, Adam, Noah... all of them (yes, including Jack). Callum was a little more complicated for me. I definitely enjoyed his character and loved how he only acted as the 'alpha male' when he felt it was necessary. However, I did find it a little strange that he was quitting his job and telling Katie he would go anywhere in the world as long as he was with her after only a handful of interactions. I 100% felt their tension/attraction and loved seeing the two together, but it did feel slightly weird to me. I felt satisfied with the ending and thought that all of the obstacles Katie and the town faced trying to save their town was realistic. Overall, I really enjoyed this lighthearted story. Strong friendships, found family, and witty romance? Yes, please. I would definitely recommend picking this book up if you get the chance. I do believe Catherine Walsh is a new auto-buy author for me.

Ps. I would love to see a spinoff with Adam/ Gemma and Nush/Monica!!

I loved Catherine Walsh’s Holiday Romance, so I knew I wanted to pick this up.

Katie loves her Irish small town, but the peace and quaintness of it is being destroyed by new development. In walks Callum, the enemy, but only because he works for the development company.

Katie and her friends set out to save the town, which means reviving the old Matchmaking festival.
The friends were super charming, Granny stole the show, and I just loved the banter.

I was in the mood for a small town romance, and this one really delivered. I enjoyed my time reading!

Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the eARC!

By this time, I might be on the verge of sounding like a broken record, but still, I'll say this, Catherine Walsh's writing is phenomenal & so so so charming.

The story is filled with humor, sarcasm, small-town charms, matchmaking schemes, romance & so many other shenanigans.

Katie was a delightful heroine & she reminded me of another delightful heroine who also happens to be my favorite, Rebecca Bloomwood from Sophie Kinsella's novels. Katie's witty & silly actions were fantastic!

And Callum. The guy comes no. 1 in my list for the most romantic hero. I mean, he be sweet & spicy. A certain scene involving a public kiss was-----

I loved how there wasn't any 3rd act breakup & how the "enemy" had a good story ending/reconciliation. A must-read!

<i>Thank you NetGalley & Publisher for the arc in exchange of an honest review.<i>

This was quick read, it was was a cute holiday little rom com. This was my first Catherine Walsh book, but definitely not my last and will highly recommend this book to any small town romance.

I loved reading this one. I just love this kind of books.
4 stars read for me. I love this author snd her writing style.
Thanks to netgally for this arc.

3.5/5

The setting of this was perfect. A little town hidden away in rural Ireland that becomes part of a big development that is obviously unwelcome.
The characters were great, I loved the humour (obviously) between them, and the tight-knit small town dynamic between all the friends and family was really heartwarming.
The only thing I didn't like was the instalove but that's just my personal preference.

Definitely worth a read if you're looking for a small town romance with fun characters and super sweet main characters!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read the ARC.

Great romp through rural Ireland complete with big corporate villian who wants to build a new hotel and develop all the land around it as well as, shock of all shocks, demolish the local bar where Katie, the fiesty Irish gal works. It doesn't help that the head of the construction team is Callum who is extremely hot and a rather nice guy.

In order to save the local bar Katie has vowed to bringback a matchmaking festival that was once the pride of the town. This is with little in the way of budget or manpower.

This way a great read. In parts of the beginning of the book was really funny.

Lovely characters all around - I do tend to agree with other reviews it would have been nice to hold the tension between Callum and Katie a bit longer. They had a really good smouldering/ will-they-won't -they going at the beginning.

Read in a couple days and will be looking out for more of Catherine Walsh's books as well as requesting a story about Jack!

This is my fourth Catherine Walsh book and so it came as no surprise to me that I absolutely loved it just as much as the previous three!

The cast of characters were great, I loved katie as the main protagonists but I also loved that I was equally as invested in the side characters! I love a small town romance and throw in the whole village coming together to fight the bad guys trying to take over plus that fact that the love interest (Callum) just so happens to work for that company and you have the perfect slightly forbidden romance.

This was quick, light hearted romance that I absolutely loved! I can’t wait for Walsh’s next book!

“You’re falling in love with me?”
“Understatement of the century”

I was lucky to get my first arc ‘The Matchmaker’ from Catherine Walsh and her publisher!
This is a romance with the small town trope that was absolutely ADORABLE. This was one of the cutest romance books I’ve ever read.

‘The Matchmaker’ is about Katie who lives with her grandma and has been losing sleep due to the construction of a new hotel in their small town called Ennisbawn. But the hotel is trying to change the town completely and make it into a resort. It is up to Katie to save her town and the local bar, Kelly’s, that she works at by reviving the matchmaking festival. While trying to save her bar, she’s also falling in love with Callum Dempsey, who’s a construction worker at the site that’s trying to recreate her town.

The book doesn’t take too long to get into the plot and the romance of it, and succeeds in creating chemistry between the characters. It doesn’t feel forced at all and had me giggling and smiling to myself🛐 The end was wonderful and Callum was SO LOVELY.

Special thanks to #NetGalley for this ARC of The Matchmaker. This is the first book I have read by Catherine Walsh and I was very entertained. I laughed out loud in some parts!

This is the story of a young woman, Katie Collins, who loves her small Irish town just the way it is with no need for further development. Incoming tension-Callum works for the construction company in town to tear down properties and tear up land to build a hotel and golf course for tourists. The best part of this story are it’s supporting characters. They are well flushed out and feel like good friends. The romance was nice and Callum is, obviously, lovely to hear about, but it was really the supporting characters and their quirks I enjoyed the most.

Definitely pick this up for a beach read or a quick weekend read. It will be a fun way to spend some time.

This was such a fun read!

Set in the small Irish village of Ennisbawm, this story had a full cast of quirky characters that were so fun to read… Gemma, Noah, Maeve, Adam, Nush… I loved the little side stories happening with them beyond just the main plot & romance.

I loved the MC Katie. She was funny and unashamedly herself. Being inside her head was hilarious.

I adored Callum. He was so refreshingly frank in declaring his feelings and not wavering.

All the little twists and turns in this story kept me locked in.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the chance to review an advance copy.

Thank you for this book in e Vance for my honest review.
In The Matchmaker, Catherine is the queen of hilarious situations. I laughed my way through this one. Catherine’s descriptions of the setting was vivid and I felt like I was in the book.

This is my first read from this author.
The book started goof for me, It has the small town romance, enemies to lovers. I love how the book have a familial aspect and how Katie is relatable and I can see her character development throughout the book.
Would definitely recommend this book and I will look forward to read books from the same author.
Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

Irish romance & funny one-liners wrapped up in a good story is a win for Catherine Walsh in her book The Matchmaker. This is the 2nd book of Catherine's that I've enjoyed & it won't be the last.
Katie & Cullum's romance is great to read throughout the story & it REALLY makes me want to return to Ireland with all the countryside descriptions in the book.
If you enjoy light hearted romance stories with fun characters that you want to make your new best friends then definitely read any of the books by Catherine Walsh.

This was a cute rom com. A quick read. A nice cast of characters.

Good option for a summertime read by the pool.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was actually a really funny and sweet read. I liked Katie a lot and she was very relatable and I really got caught up in her mission to save the pub and to relaunch the matchmaking festival. . Her friends Nush, Gemma and Adam and Granny Mauve were all great and their interactions with Katie were supportive, funny and entertaining. The author did a really good job of making Ennisbawn feel real and you could not help but root for them against the big bad developers.. The romance between Callum and Katie was cute and they had some very good chemistry. Overall 3.5 ⭐️

Katie lives with her grandmother and works at Kelly's pub in a small town in Ireland. To save the pub from being torn down, she revive's a matchmaking festival. Callum works on the crew who is building a hotel and golf club in Katie's beloved town. At first they were at odds with each other when Katie marches over to the construction site to complain. But over time, Katie realizes her initial impression of Callum might have been wrong.

I really enjoyed this author's writing and humor. So many times I found myself smiling. Katie was passionate and quirky at times. A delightful heroine who stood up for what she believed in. The characters were what really made this book. The strong friendships and the way this tight knit community stuck together like family.

I loved the development of the relationship between Katie and Callum. With so much chemistry and banter, they were definitely a fun couple. I was surprised by how invested I was in one of the side couples. Just shows how well this author is able to write characters you care about.