Matchmaking For Beginners
Matchmaking for Beginners by Maddie Dawson is a fun and light read that is perfect for the beach or curling up with a cozy blanket and some hot chocolate. This story does have a bit of levity, and Dawson offers up some serious themes like living life on your own terms, death with dignity, hope, and love. There were also some funny laugh out loud moments and some tear jerking moments too.
Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would.
When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbors running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps.
And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.
Marnie and Blix are our two extraordinary main characters, and the story is told from both their points of view. I enjoyed Marnie’s character, but as a women in her 40s, I was so happy to have the character of Blix, who doesn’t care about convention or being socially acceptable. She collects a plethora of misfits and free spirited folks and has the strongest bonds of friendship with them. She was my favorite. I just loved her eccentric ways, zest for life up till the end, and her aura seeing, vibration sensing, love conquers all attitude. Honestly, this is a woman I can see myself becoming (I’m already quite a bit eccentric as is). The best and most quotable lines in the novel go to Blix and are worthy of reading all by themselves:
“Just look at all the fake smiles and sour faces around here. I’m going to have to take a bath with a wire brush to get all this negativity off me.”
“The subversive truth about love is that it really is the big deal everyone makes it out to be, and it’s not some form of security or an insurance policy against loneliness. It’s everything, love is. It runs the whole universe!”
If you think Dawson’s tone is a little too light and syrupy for your taste, why then, you’re probably right. I found it just the right touch to balance some of the dark, heavy stuff of which life is made. When Noah turns out not to be the man of Marnie’s dreams (self-absorbed bastard), Blix manages to reach out from the great beyond and envelop Marnie in the life she’s meant to live and helps her open up to the love she was always meant to find. She is Marnie’s personal fairy godmother. Who doesn’t need one of those?
