Maddie Dawson - A Happy Catastrophe (Matchmaking For Beginners #2)

 

Maddie Dawson - A Happy Catastrophe (Matchmaking For Beginners #2)

 3 ⭐

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Fiction

Pages: 380

Format:  Kindle Book 

Favourite Quote: 'In fact, now that I think about it, everybody I know and love has been broken a time or two. They've all had to climb out of darkness, to push back against the overwhelming, seek out the unknown comfort in crisis' (Page 302).

Book Blurb: 

Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off her feet?

My Review: 

I spotted this sequel to the 'Matchmaking for Beginners' on Kindle Unlimited and of course I couldn't help myself...

Was it better than the first book? Honestly, it wasn't. I gave it a solid 3 stars because again, the ending was so rushed and Marnies characters' progression was getting worse. 

The book again started quite nice and was rather exciting, especially how both Patrick and Marnie enjoyed their life in a big city. So the start of the book looked really promising...but again, the book quickly turned into Marnie being a whiny and now even nagging character. Not surprised there! At least this time she had a reason to be that way, but I just couldn't stand her lack of communication and support for Patrick, especially when he was going through some deep problems from the past. She completely ignored Patrick's depression dismissing it as a sign that he doesn't love her when in reality he really needed some help, whilst he was fighting his inner demons. 

Also, the whole long-lost-kid-turning-up-on-a-doorstep plot really felt like I was re-reading Jojo Moyes 'After You'. 

Overall, I do think the ending again was rushed. It just seemed that Patrick's struggles disappeared in one day (one chapter), easily and quickly, making the build-up that went on through the book a bit pointless. I still loved Patrick's character and the fact that I learned his backstory in detail in this book. Another positive thing was that plot of this book was really good and it wasn't all over the place as the first book was. Also, it was quite an easy and quick read, which was really nice.

Again, I recommend this book for someone who wants an easy romance read and don't mind getting frustrated at characters throughout the book.