The Perfect Fit

I was really looking forward to reading this book and it didn't disappoint me at all it was simply brilliant and has to be Mary's best by far she just keeps improving with each book. I was hooked from the first page didn't want to put it down and it's romantic while being fun and laugh out loud but also heartbreaking and the plot is so amazing along with the characters. It's a heartwarming story and a fantastic read worth far more than the five stars.
Becky who has lived in London and has a fiancé called Cole but Becky wants to move back to her village where she grew up which in the Yorkshire Dales. Becky moves first and stays in every night to chat with Cole but her family are wanting her to have fun and she is asked to the pub to meet people. She gets involved in try to save the village hall and is organising a panto like they use to have. Cole finally moved on but Becky is out most nights and can he settle and when there is a handsome bloke in the panto called Marcus and the further they get into doing the panto Becky wonders if she is with the right person or not. Can Cole be happy or does he move back to London or stay who will Becky be happy with. Also can Becky make money and save the village hall and how does the panto go as its had a number of problems along the way.
This is a great read and highly recommend anyone to read it so fantastic.

Oh my goodness where to start? I loved this book and I'm still laughing about things days later.

It was so good to be back in Egglethwaite. I hadn't realised how much I missed everyone until I saw them all again. All the characters I've come to know and love are back and what characters they truly are. As well as the return of everyone some new characters were introduced. The Perfect Fit is set about four years after A Bicycle Made for Two and let me tell you how good it was to see how much for the better certain characters lives had changed and moved forward.

The Perfect Fit had me laughing in the most unladylike way. I literally laughed until my stomach ached. I will never see, eat or think of Madeira cake again and not chuckle.

Just like with A Bicycle Made for Two this book is full of community spirit and is a gorgeous example of what happens when a community pulls together. This time I think it was even better. It's like all the towns people are parts of a well oiled machine and work together for the cause. Not seamlessly at first much to Deano's distress. Poor Deano!

I love the theatre but haven't seen a panto in years and quite frankly if I ever did again I don't think it would be a patch on what Mary cooked up here. The Perfect Fit might be a book but everything was so vivid, vibrant and alive that I became so immersed I forgot I was reading a book. I felt like I was watching everything play out in front of me for real. From Becky's first rumblings of an idea, through planning, casting, rehearsals and costume changes. By the end I felt like I was sat in the audience watching the panto's opening night. I wanted to stand up and applaud but I'd have dropped my kindle.

This was the sequel I didn't know was happening or that I needed. I don't know if there are plans for a third but if there is sign me up!

*I received an ARC of the book from Netgalley for an honest review ** I loved this book! It had Great British humor and Becky reminded me of Emilia Clark. I read the whole thing in a English accent. It was funny and the characters meshed well. The romance was great and the story ran smoothly! I recommend this for anyone who likes British wit and a good romantic comedy and a retelling of a fairytale this is for you!

A lovely light-hearted romp through the backstage goings-on as a village puts on a panto to save their village hall. It took me a while to get to grips with so many characters and their relationship to each other but once I was in I was hooked. Good to return to this place and these people four years after their last outing, and to meet some newbies too. And, of course, there is a romance, which comes to its finale just as the panto does. I really enjoyed it.

I've read a couple of novels by Mary Jayne Baker now and I've enjoyed every one. This one is no different! It's enchanting, gripping and just an overall lovely novel to read. All of the characters were nice to read about and I loved getting to know them all. The location of this novel was just beautiful and I longed to be there!

Overall, a lovely read. Would recommend

It's panto season!!

Oh not it isn't - I hear you cry!

Oh yes it is! - or at least it feel like it having just read The Perfect Fit.

If you are a fan of the good old British tradition of a pantomime, then you will love this book as putting on a panto to save a village hally is exactly what this book is all about.

The real life situations of Becky and the cast are mirroring the fairytale ones where reality and fiction can become blurred.

All of my favourite sections revolve around the panto, the writing sessions between Becky and Marcus, full of innuendo and groan worthy jokes. The sections of the script we see read and sound just like any panto I've seen, with the right mix between child friendly and hilarious for an adult too. They also I was glad to see were inserting all the key elements of a panto - song and dance numbers, a messy scene with custard pies and the like, audience participation and generally a feeling of a fabulous night out.

The book opens with Becky taking her niece Pip to a panto, and seeing it through the eyes of a 5 year old really set the tone for the book. If you have read the previous book in the Love in the Dales series, then like me you will be delighted to see a whole host of very familiar faces, even if as the story progresses you are seeing them in a completely new light!

It does work as a standalone though, so if you haven't read the first book don't worry you won't be at a disadvantage.

There are some plot lines that address all manner of topics some far more frivolous than others and this really is a feel good read that will make you keen for the festive season to start without it being a Christmassy book. In fact the story takes place over a year and we don't get a proper sense of Christmas, so although its very panto-centric, its a really pleasurable book to read year round!

So slap your thigh, unleash your inner child and sit back and relax with this joyous book that wil make you groan and also smile, laugh, believe in magic and fairy tales and generally feel like you have had a good night out at the local panto.

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

If you love a book that has lots of swearing, good Yorkshire humour, cringe with embarrassment moments, scenes that make you laugh your head off and characters you can't help but love then this is the book for you. This book follows on from a bicycle made for two. Most of the original characters are there and some new ones. I literally cracked out laughing throughout the whole of this book, the pantomime rehearsals were hilarious and I loved getting to know the new characters and finding out more about the original ones. it felt like visiting old friends, I just couldn't put this book down and was gutted when it ended. I really hope there will be another book to visit this little Yorkshire village again and all of its residents. I will be recommending this book to everyone, loved it!

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is a wonderful and charming story of a local amateur group putting on a panto in a bid to save their local village hall - the Temperance Hall, which holds lots of memories for the various members of the village committee. Really enjoyed this book

Set three or four years after A Bicycle Made for Two, there have been changes in the town of Egglethwaite, if most of the people remain. Becky Finn has returned to her childhood hometown as she awaits her fiancé, he’s still working as a lecturer in London, painting on the side, and hoping to find a job closer to the little Yorkshire town. A move that makes financial sense, and provides the environment that Becky wants to raise her children in: she’s doing the wedding planning (without a date), managing a small costume for hire shop, and photographing clients in her tiny studio, waiting, planning and clinging to a relationship that, from the start, never quite felt that it fit. Reuniting with her friend Lana, meeting her husband Stew, her brother Colin (now Lana’s brother in law) and Colin and Tom’s daughter Pippa: she’s brought right back into the community with an invitation to the town council meeting at the Temp – a community hall now desperately in need of refurbishment and repair, particularly since the funding for the building was cut.

Brilliant idea – a Panto, bringing back the amateur dramatics society that produced a Panto at Christmas, one of Becky’s favorite memories from childhood. Having an idea and actually being ‘put in charge’ she starts to spend more time with other townspeople and less time waiting on her nightly skype call from Cole, or her dining alone while perusing wedding plans. And the story here starts to resemble a panto in many ways – the conversations, outbursts, steps forward and back, and the return of Hunter Brady with his ‘glamor model’ wife and a cameraman in tow. When you mix in Deano as a director, his older brother Marcus, magician by trade, and Lana and Stew’s wait to hear about their own adoption, Becky’s own desire for a baby (or more) with Cole, and her father’s sudden transformation with Billy-Idol bleached hair and staying out all night, concerning and worrying his partner Cynthia who worries he’s having an affair, there seem to be so many things playing at the edges that things could be lost.

And here is where the writing and characters that Baker has developed so well comes into play, and everything seems to fit together, perhaps not comfortably, but it fits and makes sense – if you’ve lived in a small town. At the core is Becky’s attraction to Marcus, someone she’s pending a ton of time with as they re-wrote the original script, laughed and bonded as friends, and are as well-suited as anyone could think. But she’s got a fiancé who now spends all of his time at lectures or in the attic painting, her friends and family still wonder if he’s real (they’ve gone past asking her if he’s right) and the reality television show that is Harper’s brainchild shows everyone BUT Becky and Marcus just what a bond they’ve created. Utterly British in feel, the interactions, clearly present emotions and friendships, and the interactions of these people, most of whom have known one another for years gives just the right mix of accepting eye-rolls and true heart – from grumpy Santa to reigniting long relationships, YoYo’s attempts to ‘pink up’ the world and the inability for Deano to keep his cool for more than thirty seconds at a time, the story allows us to check in with characters so loved in the first introduction to Egglethwaite, see a new love develop, and bring the community together for a show that will be remembered for years to come.

“Well I’m not doing it,” Gerry said, folding his arms. “Red’s not my colour.”
Sue nodded. “Clashes with the blood vessels in his nose.”
“Come on, Gerry, why not?” Tom said.
“I’ll look daft, that’s why not.”
Lana snorted. “And yet, you and the Egglethwaite Morrismen’ll happily attach bells to your arses every first of May.”
“That’s different. We have to do that to summon the summer.”
“This is Yorkshire, Gerry. We don’t get summer.”
He shrugged. “Never said we were any good at it.”

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-a1w/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Becky Finn was a great addition to this series. I love this little town and all the towns people. I really wish I lived in such a place. I enjoy keeping up with these characters growth, the way their lives are shaping into adulthood, and of course, the original adults growing old, even in denial.

This book is about loss, but it's also about learning about yourself and growing up. As you get older you realize more and more how important YOU are. You learn to make your needs a priority. That's exactly what Becky did and it was a fun journey along the way.

I loved the first book in this series and this one is a great follow-up! However, it also works quite well as a stand-alone if you haven't read A Bicycle Made for Two. Becky has recently moved back to her hometown of Egglethwait, a charming English village, and is determined to help the village hall raise funds to stay open. She's juggling that, along with her fiance, her costume business, and working her way back into the community. There's plenty of humor, romance, and drama, both on- and off-stage. The story kept me entertained and I really like the characters. They make me want to visit Egglethwait and I appreciate their strong sense of community. The ending was quite satisfying, though not without some bumps in the road. I'll be looking forward to reading more books by Mary Jayne Baker!

I received an advance copy of this book and this review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

I am going to say honestly that I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I don't read a lot of romance or chick lit but as a new librarian, I am trying to expand my reading and explore genres that I am not familiar. Right off the bat I enjoyed the writing and characters, Becky was instantly likable and the supporting characters were given enough story to be important but didn't take away from the main love story. I liked that the author wrote as if we were friends with these characters and didn't feel the need to over explain or rehash the existing relationships. (full disclosure, I have nor read #1 in this series but did not feel that I needed to in order to enjoy or understand this one.)

One of the plot points that has usually made me put down romances is the idea that there has to be a bad guy in the story. I loved that Baker didn't feel the need to make Cole into some super villain that the audience had to hate in order for them to feel good about the blossoming Becky/Marcus relationship. Sometimes in life, people fall out of love or find themselves not "fitting" as much as they did in the beginning and that's fine! That's life and the author did a great job writing about the end and beginning of relationships.

Overall, I enjoyed the writing (especially the British terms!), the characters, and the non-cheesiness of the story. Even the somewhat over the top finale was fun! I would recommend this book to people hesitant to try romance and hope they will like it as much as I did.

A good easy read. This is a sequel so is better read after the first book (I bought the first to do just that) as the characters will make more sense to the reader. The humour in this book is excellent and using the pantomime to play out the lives of the characters is inspirational. I didn't see 'the dress' coming in to play again so the author surprised me there. It's easy to warm to the characters and i really like the fact it is set in my home county of Yorkshire which is more unusual than you think.

What I love about this author and this series is the humour that dominates the plot and acts as the perfect counterpoint to the deep emotion of some scenes. Again, this story concentrates on community spirit. How after a little persuasion and give and take, they work as one for the good of the village.

The storyline is engaging and unique, again a characteristic of this author. The quality of characters, the events and emotions bring James Herriot's Vet stories to mind, which I love.

There's romance too, which is a realistic mix of poignancy and laughter and adds just the right amount of sweetness and spice to this delightful story.

Love in the Dales is a great series, well worth reading.

I received a copy of this book from Mirror Books via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Becky has moved back from London to Eggelthwaite, but her fiance Cole is still there until he can move as well which is always a recipe for disaster...... especially with leading man Marcus on the scene! To start off with Becky stays at home talking to Cole every night but then she gets involved with trying to save the village hall and organising a pantomime with hilarious results...... how will her relationship with Cole pan out now that she is back here on her own territory?

Loved this book and it was great being back in Egglethwaite with old friends. A great fun book with loads of comic episodes that leaves you with a big smile on your face

This book was exactly what I needed in my life right now. With all the stresses of starting a new career, it was amazing to cuddle up by the fireplace and totally escape into northern England for this cute story. I don’t typically love “romance” novels, but this was different. The story center around a small town trying to save their little community center from going under by starting a panto theatre group to raise money. All of the characters were great, I love a story with quirky characters! Totally recommended for someone looking for a nice, not overly complicated, feel good book. I’ll be keeping an eye out for any other books written by this author!