I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun book. I enjoyed it a lot!

I sat on this review for a few days. While I loved the premise and tropes, I felt like the romance between the characters fell flat. I wasn’t convinced the romance between Tristian and Poppy was real. There wasn’t much chemistry or romance… banter, yes, but it didn’t feel real. It definitely was a page turner so I was dying to find out what happens next!

Being a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope, I was excited for this book - especially because Tristan was made out to be a grump. What I got was so far from that, it was beyond disappointing. I found the writing to be amateur, the conversations stilted, and the romance/chemistry severely lacking.

I will often jot notes as I'm reading, especially an ARC, to reference when I'm writing a review. This time I am not going to write out my notes, but simply copy them as I have them:

1. It was random to make a joke about marrying Poppy, especially at the beginning of the book - felt unnatural and forced.
2. There wasn't too much British lingo, which was nice.
3. Tristan is coming off as a wuss - not what I would consider an Investment Banker to act like.
4. The book is leaning HARD into the whole "Poppy vs Grouchy Tristan".
5. I don't get the whole "secretive" thing about the agency?
6. Tristan sounds like a judgmental prude.
7. I'm 38% (roughly 145 pages) in, and there's been zero flirtation, but we already have what could be considered a third act conflict?
8. Investment banker who works 60, 70, 80 hours a week...but then takes off 3 days and never mentions work, but Poppy does?
9. How are you "falling" for your client you never spend time with? I'm calling BS.
10. Poppy is HELLA dramatic.
11. Timeline about the blogger drama is off.
12. If Tristan is "so content" with his minimalist lifestyle and his current income - why stress about the inheritance?
13. 53% in (201 pages)...and still no real flirtation.
14. Even after finding out his cousins aren't twats, and they went to see their Grandfather, you're still only giving them 4 million lbs? Why not split it three ways, since you "don't care about the money"?
15. Most doctors (at least in the US) won't let you go past 6 rounds of IVF.
16. Poppy idolizes Saskia, and I don't get it.
17. I don't get the annoyance with Tristan; feels like Poppy is trying to make him be a jerk when he really isn't.
18. I don't think the author understands what a narcissist is...that word is thrown around mighty freely.
19. If this is "flirting" they both need some lessons on how to flirt.
20. Poppy is SO hot and cold with Tristan. It's annoying.
21. The part with Poppy's Dad having an accident makes no sense, especially since she doesn't leave to go see him and doesn't actually move home...
22. Poppy really has it out for Alfie, and I don't understand why.
23. Ravi is way too dramatic for no reason.
24. The blogger reveal was anti-climatic.

I was hoping for more. There wasn't much about this book - if anything - that I enjoyed. This also felt more like it should have been the second book in a series, especially with the mention of Ravi and Jacinda.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for giving me the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Overall this was a nice read but unfortunately I did find it was a little slow. There were a lot of components to the story and I found it a bit much at times.

The grumpy to sunshine trope was clear in this book and it was lovely to see how the characters of Poppy and Tristan developed.

Poppy works at a match-making agency and Tristan comes to the agency as he needs to find a wife quickly in order to receive his inheritance. Would definitely recommend this!

Thank you for the ARC!

After 40% mark I found myself disappointed in this book. It's a familiar trope she's helping him find a wife which he needs to get inheritance but they ....



*****************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley****************

The Ever After Agency is a secretive match-making company in this fun novel, appropriately titled Match Me If You Can. Poppy works for this company, does well and loves her job. I enjoyed reading all of the escapades within this agency, and in particular Poppy’s activities. Generally I’m not much of a romance reader, but this soon-to-be series may change my mind. Many thanks to #NetGalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #Sandy Barker for this ARC. Release date is September 28.

When Poppy, who works for a secret match-making agency, gets a new client, she’s ready to do her usual professional best. The job involves a will-induced deadline of only a few weeks and a client who looks to be an eternal bachelor. But accompanying Tristan on a few match-making dates makes her realize she had him all wrong, and for the first time in her professional career, Poppy considers if her own romantic happiness is something she wants to put first. I absolutely loved this premise, and it is such a fun read with likable characters. While the story plays out exactly how you’d expect it to, that’s part of its charm. Sandy Barker imbues the right kind of snarky humor and always knows how to take tension-filled meet-cutes to all the right places. It’s just a feel-good read and a great introduction to the Ever After Agency series, with the promise of more match-making adventures to come.

an adorably great rom com. I've loved poppy and tristan along with all the lovable side characters.

the chemistry was good and I loved them together. poppy especially is THE boss lady. definitely recommend picking this up.

A lovely HEA story which although containing multiple expletives, had closed door sex scenes so would only be about a 12 rating. The romance was a slow build and it was nice seeing how the main characters became friends as well as having romantic feelings. I loved all the secondary characters and how they interacted in the book too. It’s a very enjoyable read

I’ll be honest, when I first started this book, I wasn’t sure if I would like it. It alternates points of view between the two main characters, Poppy and Tristan. In the beginning, I felt like Tristan had no real personality at all. Which, I suppose is meant to represent the “grumpy” trope, while Poppy was the “sunshine”. I’m glad I kept reading and gave this book a chance, because I did end up liking it. As the story progresses, the main characters definitely gain depth, and Tristan actually becomes likable. There’s definitely some unexpected situations that keep the story interesting.

One thing I enjoyed about the book was the variety of settings. The majority of the book takes place in London, which is admittedly one of my favorite cities. The characters also go to Greece and Edinburgh, which were beautifully described and fun to visit through the eyes of the characters.

Overall, this was a fun, lighthearted read. As I got closer to the end, the book kept me so engrossed that I may have stayed up later than I should have to finish it that night.

I will note that the book included a trigger warning in the beginning regarding infertility and IVF. It was a pretty minor part of the story, but still good to know in advance if it’s a bothersome topic for someone.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the free advance copy of Match Me If You Can! All opinions expressed in my review are completely my own.

Thanks to an archaic grandfather, 'banker wanker' Tristan has forty days to marry before his 35th birthday or forfeit a £30 million inheritance. Unable to find a loophole, his lawyer best friend Ravi refers him to elite matchmakers, the Ever After Agency, where he's assigned to former psychologist and Australian expat Poppy to find him a woman to marry for convienience.

There's some fun banter and wit between Poppy and Tristan. Poppy refuses to coddle Tristan's grouchy behaviour, which he finds refreshing. However, after a while this fell by the wayside and we were told more than shown Poppy volleying back barbs. I also think their attraction was signposted (along with their respective best friends voicing it) too early, so again we were told more than shown their attraction. I'd have preferred more of a slow burn there while ramping up the stakes with the candidates.

The pace really started to drag once we got into the matchmaking. Too much time was spent in the Greek scenes which should've been tightened. While it served to force Poppy and Tristan together to bond, the urgency for him to find a suitable candidiate was lost. Perhaps starting with Alexandra then Vittoria given how over-the-top she was to build on the bonkers reasons these women were unsuitable would've raised the stakes? Also, for a professional and elite, referral-only service I didn't buy Ursula's excuses, nor Poppy's unprofessionalism to recommend Vittoria. It would've worked better to just remove that part and focus on her behaviour as reasons why she's unsuitable.

The side-plot with a leak threatening to expose the agency and its clients added some fun intrigue (I am all for mystery in romance), but fell flat for me. Perhaps it could've been a B plot slowly running through a few of the books seeing Match Me If You Can is the start of a new series?

Overall this was a fun read with spark and banter, a fresh premise, well-rounded supporting characters plus London (and Greece!) as the backdrop. Judging by the excerpt at the end I'm looking forward to seeing how Poppy's relationship with Tristan grows, along with new characters to see matched.

Thanks to Boldwood and NetGalley for the ARC.

Match Me If You Can
By: Sandy Barker
Review Score: 5 Stars

Boogie’s Bulletpoints

-I loved Poppy and Tristan from the start.

-Barker always has the best destinations in her books (England? Greece? Scotland? Sign Me Up!)

-If you like the movie “The Proposal”, you will love this book!

-There is also a great theme on family that I felt really added to the book.

-This is such a fun book, I loved every minute of it.

——

Match Me If You Can was kindly provided as an ARC by Netgalley and Boldwood Books. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

Release Date: 9/28/23

Match Me If You Can is such a fun book! We meet Poppy, who works at an agency that discreetly matches couples, and Tristan is in need of a wife. No spoilers here, but we follow that journey, all while feeling the vibes between Poppy and Tristan.

Obviously, this book has a ton of really funny moments, but it’s very thoughtful too. Barker touches on family, friendship, legacies, and the very important decision of deciding who you want to spend your life with, and why.

I loved this book. Barker is really a must buy author for me, and this one is no exception!

#bookstagram #books #readingnow #boogiereadsbooks #fivekeyfeels #audiobooks #audiobook #arcreview #fiction #netgalley #boogiesbulletpoints #matchmeifyoucan #sandybarker #boldwoodbooks #theproposal #sandrabullock #ryanreynolds

The setting is unique and I enjoyed the process of matchmaking described in the story! The portrayal of a diverse cast of side characters with quirks, including Poppy and Tristan's best friends has been done beautifully. I particularly enjoyed the description and hilarious situations that ensued in the yacht in Greece! It was great to read about an Australian farmland setting as part of one of the main character's background - an unusual backdrop that one doesn't come across regularly. I thought the parts in the book where one yearns to be close to home yet wants to live far away to make a life for oneself was bang on!

I love a good slow burn romance and I thought this was well flushed out until about 70- 80% of the book. After that, the pacing seems to be a bit off and kind of picks up too quickly. IMO, the ending seemed somewhat too rushed.

Overall, I enjoyed it and will be interested to read the author's next!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am loving this as a first book in a new series, set at the Ever After Agency - an ultra elite matchmaking services.

I especially loved getting to know Poppy, and her newest client who has been given the case name of Mr Impossible. For Tristan isn't looking for love, but rather just needs a wife within the next 30 days in order to pick up a massive inheritance.

But he's not the easiest guy to get to know, and he isn't sure what he really wants in a wife who he will have to live with for 2 years, but Poppy, and mentor Ursula do have some choices for him.

And what fun it was getting to see various of his options, as well as the banter between Poppy and Tristan. Not to mention their dynamics with their own friends.

As this is a Sandy Barker novel, I' was ecstatic to see not all the action took place in the UK and there was a trip to a destination that I loved getting a passing feel for, as Sandy is absolutely fabulous at travel fiction.

I had a great time reading this, and can't wait to see what the next book in this series brings.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

When I read the blurb I liked the concept and obviously was curious about the outcome, but I felt like something was missing

I really like the idea of it but I felt like it needed to pass more time for the main characters to fall in love.

I felt like it was rushed, okay the plot is that the MMC has to marry someone fast but it really felt like it was a little too fast.

Also I felt like also I couldn't connect with the characters that much maybe we should have known more about each one of them before having them meet.

Even the book has this part at the end where they say that the main characters went through a lot of tropes befores being together, which sometimes I like when books do that but in here, with the time given to develop the love story, it made me kind of mad.

Something I really loved was the places the main characters went to when they were falling in love, it kind of remind me of people we meet on vacation with all the concept of visiting many different places.

Thank you so much to NetGalley

Poppy Dean is a psychologist turned matchmaker for a prominent London agency. Tristan Fellowes is a rich bachelor who needs to marry quickly so that he can receive a large inheritance. Sandy Barker did a nice job of developing a cast of likable characters. This is a cute story but overly predictable. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC. 3.5 stars for me

This started out as a fun read, but I liked it less and less the more I read it. By the time I hit the last ten percent, I couldn't wait for it to be over.

The characters were completely devoid of personality, to the point there was nothing compelling about any of them. This is a huge issue in any book, but particularly in a romance, because I couldn't get invested in their relationship at all.

A final note: as this is an ARC, I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and assuming that the awful google-translate Italian will be fixed in the final version. If it wasn't an ARC, I would be rating it one star for Vittoria alone: if an author wants to include a character whose first language differs from the language of the text, they can either refrain from sprinkling their native language into their dialogue or they must ensure that it is used in a grammatically correct manner.

The HEA (see what I did there?) was predictable, but the book was delightful. I wanted a bit more banter between Poppy and Tristan, and some of the secondary-storyline of the leak made not a ton of sense and needed more fleshing out in the book (or less of it all together). I want Shaz's story soon. Fun!

At the Ever After Agency, founder Saskia and employees Poppy and Ursula have perfected the art of matchmaking… but Poppy’s most difficult case yet is the focus of this amusing, super cute book!

Tristan needs to marry before his 35th birthday to fulfil the terms of his grandfather’s will and inherit a multi-million pound fortune, but as the clock ticks down it looks less and less likely that Poppy will be able to find him a suitable wife. As they travel to Greece and Scotland to meet potentials, Poppy and Tristan’s relationship evolves from professional to friendship to a tiny bit of a crush…

I loved both of the main characters in this book and the fact it was set in a female-founded business. There were also a number of hilarious scenes that had me giggling out loud! The book did feel fairly long though and there wasn’t quite as much chemistry as I hoped for.

Overall, it was between three and four stars for me and I have gone with three.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC of this entertaining novel!

Match Me If You Can by Sandy Barker


The plot was soo good! A match making agency! Shaz, Ravi and Jacinda were absolute sweethearts! I loved how the story unfolded, though I have a doubt. I think I remember reading that the will's condition was intended to Tristan's dad or something? Well, then, wasn't he married already?

The book was funny, engaging and kinda a slow burn but it was amazingly good and heart warming. Hoping to read more of this series. Crossing my fingers for one of the next books to be about Shaz!!!