Review: The Matchmaker's Royal Mess (The First Three Dates #2) by Frieda J. Downing

 
She’d rather give a mountain lion a bikini wax than mess with love again.

REVIEW

This is my (new) kind of fairy tale.

This is a must-read if you want to relax and laugh... and laugh... and laugh...

Warning: reading the book in the evening causes sleepless nights...

Before (reading)

With such a cover & title, expectations are high and any failure to exceed readers’ expectations will be seriously penalized by their disappointment.

After (reading)

Now, the challenge rests with me, the satisfied reader, as I must find the proper words to convince other readers to give a chance to The Matchmaker's Royal Mess.

The task seems even more difficult when the last part of the Warning (see the blurb) conveys exactly what I wanted to tell you: “Sassy romantic adventure, with instances of chaos, misunderstandings, and feels. Oh, and the occasional sheep . Sparks will fly, it’s gonna get awkward, and the Happily-Ever-After will be well-earned.”

So, I’ll just add the following:

- When reading The Matchmaker's Royal Mess I felt that the “magic” of humour akin to the craziness of the Marx Brothers’ – for example in the Traviata scene from “A Night at the Opera”; LARP-ers and friends – including the occasional sheep - were perfectly used in creating the hilarious chaos, realistic chaos in its absurdity.

- Whilst the story is not presented as “comedy”, I think it is one. Saying that, I also have to tell that the romantic comedy part is very well braided with elements of the comedy of manners (giving the satirical accents), and peppered with some sentimental comedy accents (giving the themes of virtue and even overcoming bad influence around you). Therefore, even those who are not into romantic comedies have a great chance to smile (even from ear to ear).

- Coming back to how it is presented - Action & Adventure Romance or Contemporary Romance – the story is all that too: [spoiler]… [spoiler]… all are present to heat up the atmosphere and test the characters.

- A cursive writing style, excellent pace –without dead times but, when necessary, with enough moments to catch your breath to enjoy the next cross (read chaos) – will make pages flow imperceptibly.

Conclusion: if you want to have a good time, accept Hattie Montague’s challenge to read her adventures and laugh with her in The Matchmaker's Royal Mess! After all, it is about a “Sassy romantic adventure, with instances of chaos, misunderstandings, and feels. Oh, and the occasional sheep. Sparks will fly, it’s gonna get awkward, and the Happily-Ever-After will be well-earned.”

Enjoy!

PS: A "muma mapop bowic oco hilijunk, and pisoko Tutnut" or  a "shoddy hundo manspo raunchy froyo with chocolate willy dillies, a dab of crunch, and some King Tut jiggly nuts" is totally optional!

Description:

Publication date: November 25th 2022

She’d rather give a mountain lion a bikini wax than mess with love again.

Been there, went viral, never going back. Hattie Montague’s life as a backcountry guide for the spoiled and famous suits her just fine, thanks. It’s the only place she feels completely safe being herself. So what if she has nightmares that she can only speak squirrel and craves pine cones for breakfast? It beats leaving yourself vulnerable to humans. Fine, all of them aren’t bad. She likes probably three, so when one needs her help, she drags herself back to civilization. If she can navigate white water rapids, she can babysit a matchmaking office for a weekend. It’s not like she’ll have to deal with people or, you know, be nice. Ew.

Alexander Greye ruined her life ten years ago. Not his proudest moment. Known as the Winter Warlocke, he’s a man born and raised to lead a country with logical precision. Yet around her, he can’t seem to think rationally. He’s never met anyone who dives into the unknown like she does or tames chaos like she can. In a world as perfectly controlled as his, that makes her irresistible and utterly dangerous. And he’s willing to risk it all to thaw his frozen heart.

It’s half past too late when he realizes his carefully laid plans to win her over covered everything except the theft of the Crown Jewels, an abandoned mine where they’d have to face their deepest fears, and the betrayal that forces them to let go.Quite literally.

Warning: Not for the faint of heart. Sassy romantic adventure, with instances of chaos, misunderstandings, and feels. Oh, and the occasional sheep. Sparks will fly, it’s gonna get awkward, and the Happily-Ever-After will be well-earned.

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About the author:

Nice to meet you. I’m Frieda. I write sweet contemporary romance as well as romantic adventure.

I blame it on my childhood babysitters. For some reason they thought I shouldn’t ride our family’s buffalo. Believe me, I was just as shocked as you. Though I never did get that buffalo ride, I found plenty of other creative outlets for my adventure needs. Some were good clean fun, some got me kicked out of various and sundry events, and others ended with me getting lost in catacombs. (Not metaphorically speaking. Somewhere there’s an Austrian catacomb caretaker? guy whom I owe dinner and a large apology.)

I like to think I’ve gotten a tiny bit wiser.

I married my best friend and dove head first into the magnificent cyclone known as raising kids. I mountain bike every chance I get, lose my coffee cup daily, and bake a mean lemon merengue pie, if I do say so myself. I may indulge in shenanigans on a regular basis, but I plead the fifth every time.

I suppose it’s important to me that you know how very much I love us crazy, broken humans. We dream so big. We try so hard. Yet somehow, so often, things just go terribly, horribly wrong.

That’s where my books begin… because that’s where the real love story’s found. I hope you enjoy reading them. Most of all, I wish you adventure, joy, and more love than you knew was possible,

Frieda

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