This is a heartwarming and emotional tale of second chances at love, making it a perfect fit for readers who enjoy stories about overcoming past traumas, finding redemption, and embracing the power of love to heal and transform broken souls.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

In the Matchmaker and the Marine by Lucinda Race we learn about Melinda and Adam and the secrets they keep. It’s a sweet and easy to read romance. A matchmaker helping others find the happiness she had and a marine going back to dating.

This was such a sweet book! I absolutely loved Mel and Adam, and their group of friends. It was very nice to see a solid friendship being born and then slowly grow into love. The only thing I have to say, the more I got to know Mel and Adam, the more I thought that their story deserved a better title (and to be honest, I never really give titles a second thought). However, as I was reading this book, I couldn't get it out of my mind. "The Matchmaker and The Marine" sounds way too generic for those two.

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day.

Sadly this book wasn`t for me, the characters were boring and hard to care for and like. The story was just long and boring and it did not help that i did not care for the chemistry between the main characters.

This is a hard review to write. I'm not sure how to rate this book. I'm giving it four stars but it's a weak four stars. Race writes well. The characters are good and the story entertaining but it never really pulled all the emotion from me I expected it to. The book is worth reading.

As a Marine, I'm more often than not disappointed with the Marines in books. It's incredibly hard to get the emotions and intensity of a Marine right if you've not been one and lived the life or lived with a Marine. The jargon and attitudes really need to be experienced to be understood. Race gets several parts right and others wrong but keeps it generic enough to not spoil the story for those in the know or for outsiders. And now I've said too much about this aspect.

Melinda and Adam are likable. Adam's stresses and lingering battle scars (physical and emotional) are believable. The same with Melinda's past traumas. Their story is interesting to watch unfold. Their friends and support characters all add to the story. But I was left wanting even more emotion from Mel and Adam. I wanted to feel their pain even more as well as the joy of their eventual HEA. The super intense feels this story could have come with were just a tad out of my reach.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley and MC Two Press.

Two characters who are in emotional pain meet and form a friendship. Can they heal each other and deepen their relationship? This was a light read but a very good story and it drew me in. I loved the writing style and it was a great escape book.
Many thanks to MC Two Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

If you like clean romances, then this is the book for you.

I wanted to like this story as the blurb sounded promising, but it was a little flat for me. The buildup was most of the book and there was very little going on. I'm all for "getting to know you" before anything happens, but nothing ever did. Melinda and Adam were both agreeable and perfectly nice, almost too nice. The ending felt rushed as so many books do lately.

Lucinda Race is a new-to-me author, and since I generally love wounded warrior romances, this novel sounded right in my wheelhouse, and while it wasn't at all what I expected after reading the blurb, it was fairly well-written, and had an interesting cast of characters, but, at least for this reader, the pace was too slow, not much happened, and while it wasn't a bad read, it was less than I had hoped for, which is the reason I can only give it a 3-star rating.

The matchmaking heroine, Melinda, married her high school sweetheart, John, a police officer who, not too long into their marriage, lost his life in a hit and run accident. She's been grieving his loss for the past five years, and to escape the memories, she abandoned psychiatric practice, and moved to the small town of Chester, Connecticut, where she changed her last name, and opened up her matchmaking business, at which she's been quite successful. While I could understand changing her residence, and even her psychiatric practice, it seemed odd that chose to drop her beloved husband's surname and use her maiden name instead.

It's through her matchmaking business that she meets retired Marine, Adam, the former teammate of Will, one of her successful matches. Adam didn't retire from the Marines by choice. He was wounded when an IED exploded, and his injuries were the end of his relationship with his then girlfriend, Anita. He's hasn't really dated since then, wrongly assuming that no woman would want to tie herself to an amputee, and he certainly hasn't discussed his injury with anyone, but seeing how happy his friends are, in matches made by Melinda, he shyly seeks out her services. Since he's now working as a handyman/carpenter, he also ends up working for her, building her the pergola she's wanted in her backyard, and very slowly, their friendship develops, but his first dating match clearly lied on Melinda's questionnaire, and his second date lacked chemistry, and Melinda soon realizes that Adam wasn't fully forthcoming on his questionnaire either.

While the plot of this novel had possibilities, much of it, especially the slow moving relationship between Adam and Melinda, and their own past histories, made for more than a few awkward moments, and even more awkward conversations between the two. While there were plenty of opportunities for angst and drama, those opportunities repeatedly fell by the wayside. As a romance reader, I already knew these two characters would eventually work it out, finally open up to each other honestly, and have their own happily ever after moment, but it took way too long to get there, the ending was far to abrupt, far too short, and far too lacking in depth for this reader. As I stated at the outset, this wasn't a bad read, but too many missed opportunities led to it not being a great one either.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

The Matchmaker and the Marine turned out to be absolutely amazing. It is a contemporary romance about finding love unexpectedly.
Melinda moved to a new town after her husband died and is a very successful matchmaker. Adam was forced to retired from the Marines after his last tour left him injured. He signed on to Melinda matchmaker in the hope of finding love. His friends had luck with her service, maybe he would.
The chemistry between Mel and Adam is beautiful and real. I loved how the story flowed and so much can be learned from it. Sweet, sexy and emotional! I loved it!!

ARC Provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Things I liked -
I liked Stacy as she was super nice and sensible as well as her husband Will.
I liked Beth, the girl Mel set Adam up with after his disastrous date with Susan. She's understanding and nice. I liked her.
Mel's job and her passion for gardening.
Things I disliked -
Adam sort of pushed Mel to share about her past but he was always holding back.
Adam went on date with Beth after admitting himself that he's falling in love with Mel.
I knew Adam not telling Mel about his leg gonna be problem but it didn't. That part of the book somehow didn't feel right. Maybe it's the way Mel reacted so unnaturally as she wasn't even upset or angry with Adam for not telling her the truth.
I felt the book is kinda rushed at the end but their relationship was too slow for my liking.
Mel and Adam first kissed after 80% of the book.
I felt so emotional reading about their past. But for some reason I didn't like Adam. Even though I cried and felt emotional here and there, I really didn't fell connected with the characters as well as the book. Although it started out good. I love sweet romance books but I seriously for some reason didn't feel connected. Then again, people have different taste.

I think this is an important story to tell in a light fluffy romantic story that helps take the edge and seriousness off of loss and heartache. Two individuals who have felt loss in two very different ways. One who lost the love of her life and the other a war vet who lost parts of himself both physically and emotionally at what he's experienced in the military. United through him wanting to heal and her wanting to help and realizing they could be the answer to one another prayer. Loved it

The Matchmaker and The Marine by Lucinda Race

A matchmaker psychologist and a battle scared retired marine are the stars of this show.

This is a sweet romance reasonably well written. It was a sweet story.

However it was very repetitive at times and you were often left waiting for something to happen.

Could be used as A nice gentle read on a lazy day.

This was a dnf for me. All the interactions between the characters felt forced and I really couldn’t connect with them. There wasn’t anything overly bad about the book, but I just didn’t click with it.

Such a sweet romance! I mean, how can you not fall in love with a Retired Marine, and the Heroine who is widowed because of a terrible incident? And, of course, they have issues that they have to get through before they realize they have fallen for each other.

Was a solid book, liked the romance and the characters. the plot was just okay, wasn't super invested in anything else but the characters. took me a bit to read it, but when I was reading it I was enjoying myself, it just took me a bit to want to pick it up. This was definitely a slow burn romance, and I liked that. it added to the characters romance and chemistry.

I really wanted to like this but, while I liked the premise of the story, I didn't enjoy the way it was written, and I couldn't really connect with the characters.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book! I loved this story so much. We all have something no matter how big or small it may seem to others, that cause us to keep it to only those we know won't judge you or pressure you etc.
Melinda is a business owner of "It's Just Coffee" matchmaking service and she's got a pretty great track record with it. We learn a lot about her in this book and my heart broke for her.
Adam, what a guy! I won't give much away about him but he was so sweet, yet tough and new in town. He and Melinda become close as she helps him get matched up with potential dates, and he helps her by building in her backyard garden area.
Secrets have a way of showing themselves even if you're not ready to air them out.
This was done so well. Highly recommend.

Fantastic book, lovely idea and can see it becoming a series. Really enjoyed seeing the way the relationship between Melinda and Adam developed, dealing with the hidden trauma for both of them, great that they found each other and have a happy ever after together . Lovely book for a cosy afternoon read, with real feel good factor.