I’ve been talking a lot about Susan Mallery recently, but it was my love for Kristan Higgins that prompted someone (likely Amazon) so suggest Mallery in the first place.
Because I’ve been reading Higgins for awhile, I’m caught up on her books and must wait with everyone else for her next.
Finally, the follow-up to The Best Man arrived in my mailbox.
It’s The Perfect Match and it’s pretty darn perfect.
I’ve noticed a trend in contemporary women’s romance and it’s more and more books are being set in an idyllic small town and the stories are about various residents. Susan Wiggs has her Lakeshore Chronicles. Debbie Macomber is in Cedar Cove. Susan May Warren lives in Deep Haven. Susan Mallery and Fool’s Gold. I’m sure there are more.
Higgins has now joined the small town series trend with these two books set in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. Her fictional Manningsport has a little over 700 people. The Best Man was Faith’s story and was set at the Blue Heron winery, just outside of town.
The Perfect Match is about Faith’s sister Honor, who made her debut in Faith’s book.
Now Honor is front and center. She wants to be married. She wants a family. But who can she meet in tiny Manningsport? She loves her job at the family winery and she loves her childhood friend and crush Brogan. They’ve been casual “friends with benefits” since college and Honor decides on her thirty-fifth birthday, to take their relationship to the next level and she proposes. He laughs. She regroups and heads home, agreeing with Brogan that it was a crazy idea.
Honor is stunned when six weeks later, Brogan and her best friend announce their engagement. Stunned and heartbroken and betrayed. And desperate to change her life. So when her grandmother offers to fix her up with the nephew of a friend who needs a green card, Honor agrees.
Tom needs to stay in the US. He’s desperate to remain connected to his almost step-son. The law and the family won’t help this kid, Tom is Charlie’s only constancy. So, even though it’s illegal and all kinds of bad things, he agrees to meet this woman.
I had some concerns about how Higgins would handle the illegality of the marriage. Of course, we know Honor and Tom are going to fall in love, but could I still respect them after they indulged in fraud.
The good news is there is no fraud. The bad news is … well, there’s no bad news.
I loved Honor and Tom, I love Higgins’ setting, and her words. She paints real characters who move off the page and into my heart and mind. The sex is off the page, another thing I love about these books and it proves that you don’t need graphic sex to engage your reader with the story and the characters.
Oops, there is one bad thing. Now I’m waiting again for her next book.
Writer of Sweet Small Town Stories of Love and Family 