The Perfect Match (Blue Heron, #2) by Kristan Higgins
Romance Contemporary
Releasing: October 29 , 2013
Harlequin HQN
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote: “This was…what was the word for it? Hell. Yes. This was hell.”
Honor Holland has been in love with her best friend Brogan since high school. Her best friend with benefits. When her gynecologist makes some off hand remarks about her age, motherhood, and the fact her eggs aren’t getting in younger, she makes the decision to ask her Brogan to marry her. After he declines, comparing her vavajay to a well worn much loved baseball glove, she crosses him off her list and begins to look for Mr. Sorta Right.
Tom Barlow is in danger of losing his work visa. A mechanical engineering professor at the local college, he was just informed the college would not renew his contract. He wants to stay in the United States in order to be close to his “almost stepson.”
When Honor learns her Brogan has found his true love and the internet dating sites she signed up for keep trying to match her with her brother, Honor decides that true love is for fools and decides to help Tom secure his green card. Soon they are pretending to everyone it was love at first sight. But pretending is hard when you live in a small town and have a large nosy family. When the chemistry heats up and sparks begin to fly, Honor and Tom soon learn that the perfect match for both of them may be right in front of their eyes.
Kristan Higgins is a master of light hearted romantic contemporaries that uses snarky humor, eccentric characters, and crazy romantic plots to write enjoyable stories you won’t want to put down. The Perfect Match is a small town story of unrequited love and second chances. A fast paced humorous and heartfelt story about two people who start their relationship steeped in lies only to find themselves falling in love for real. The characters are all delightfully quirky and wonderfully flawed with a deep vein of realism running through them. I enjoyed the fact that we got not only the heroine’s POV but also the hero’s. It’s always enlightening to see the story from two different sides. Written in an enjoyable conversational style, the engaging laugh out loud dialogue will keep you entertained all the way to the end.
Honor is the calm rational Holland. When their mother died Honor grew up quickly to become the linchpin holding the family all together. She never fusses, goes wild, or causes trouble. When she is thrown by a huge loop, Honor decides she’s had enough of being the perfect one and decides to take her life and happiness into her own hands. She makes some changes and finds herself in the process.
Tom is an adorably sexy snarky mess. He’s completely shut down emotionally due to his cheating fiance. He practically raised her son only to be pushed aside once she left him. He has a small drinking problem and tends to use sarcastic humor and alcohol to bury the pain and not let anyone close. Yet despite his faults, he does have a delicious compassionate side that shows in all his endeavors to get closer to his ex fiance’s boy and things he does to show Honor she is beautiful and truly deserves to be loved wholeheartedly.
There are actually three story lines about love in here that intertwine; romance, friendship, and family. Each one is given equal time with no sacrifices to the others. When Honor and Tom embark on their make believe relationship, they give everything but their hearts. Both of them have issues that need resolving. The relationship develops slowly but the attraction between them begins to blaze from their first scene together. There is a lot of sexual tension that simmers constantly through the book. They have some wonderfully funny dialogue between them that will leave you chuckling. The love scenes are brief and for the most part off scene, but there is a very good reason for this. The time they do spend together is sweet yet part of me wanted Honor to harden a little. To demand more from Tom emotionally. They don’t have an easy time of it.
The secondary characters in here are wonderfully strange and add a sense of community to the storyline. The Holland’s continue to be a rock that anchors everyone with love and laughter. I love that Mr. Holland is beginning to take a more active interest in his children’s lives and getting on with his own life. We see more of Faith and Levi and of course, big sister Pru who makes sure we know all the details of her and her husband’s sexcapades. Higgins does well with the characterization of Charlie and the emotional complications he and Tom are experiencing.
I really enjoyed how Ms. Higgins doesn’t give an easy fix to any of the relationships in here. The characters have to work to repair the damage to their lives and hearts, and that journey comes across as realistic. The emotional baggage that Tom carries with him needs to be addressed and it takes some time for him to work through it all. The ending is predictable and a bit extreme but nice in how it plays out. The Perfect Match is an amusing and engaging romantic contemporary that will have you laughing and sighing in sadness as you watch Honor and Tom figure out what they want most of of life is each other. I am looking forward to book three, Waiting On You which is Colleen’s story. Release date is March 25, 2013.
Just a note. Even though this is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone.
Rating: B+
Recent Reviews:
Cocktails and Books– A
Paulette’s Papers- A
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Thanks, Tori, for the review, I’m looking forward to reading this one next week but have been curious to see if this was a hit or miss for others – great timing! There are just so many books out next week it’ll be a challenge to decide which to read first.
Did you read the first one? This one surprised me. Higgins really draws Honor out as a viable character.
Tori, I did read the first one and I enjoyed it. I’m very happy that her books are now in 3rd person. While I enjoy the humor, sometimes experiencing it through 1st person is a bit much for me. I was more looking for Colleen’s story after the 1st book but was totally sucked into the idea of this when I saw it was a contemporary marriage of convenience – my fave trope in historicals.
I liked Honor’s character in the first book so I’m glad to hear that she – and the book – worked for you. I was very curious about her relationship from the first book (I’m assuming it involves the FwB guy) – does this one overlap with Faith and Levi’s timeline a bit?
No. We aren’t taken into the past at all.
SOLD!
YEA! lol Did you read the first one?
It looks cute, it sounds cute .D
Hmm I do hope that Brogan gets punched sometime, for using her and then discarding her like a well loved well used glove? Really?
Still, it sounds good. Thanks for the review Tori.