✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰/5

I knew when I read Holiday Romance that I’d love everything she publishes and, like always, I was right.

This was so hilarious it made me cry, so cute it made me cry, so sad it made me cry. I was reading this book through blurry vision literally the entire time.

Each character is uniquely their own and Catherine does such a good job at making them so lovable I found myself rooting for several relationships besides the main characters.

Katie is hilarious and relatable, the type to start rambling when she gets too nervous and doesn’t stop for half a page but its somehow so interesting and funny you cling to every word.

Callum’s passionate and kind ~ the kind to help your granny without expecting anything in return. My heart aches in the best ways thinking of them.

Kenny is here like always and I can proudly say that this book has been cat approved 🐈‍⬛

If you are looking for a little escapism then this book is for you.

The Matchmaker is a romcom set in Ireland that follows Katie who loves her little town and will defend it at all costs against the big corporation who threatens to come in and change it completely. Enter Callum who works for said corporation and already causing drama for our protagonist.

This isn't my favourite Walsh novel, Katie was a little unbearable at times and the writing felt a little more rushed than others. As always with Walsh's work I find the use of US English quite jarring and very out of character for a novel set in Ireland (with no Americans present). However, it was a good way to get lost in a story for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

“I’ve spent my life trying to figure out what made me happy, what I wanted to do with my days if I was brave enough to try. I never found it. Not until I came here.”
Catherine Walsh has firmly established herself as an excellent romance writer - her relationships are always swoony and fizzing with chemistry, her heroines delightful, and her happy endings always full of warm fuzzies.

The Matchmaker, Walsh’s fourth book, is no different, and made fireworks go off in my heart just as her previous novels have done. It’s less focused on romance than her previous novel, Holiday Romance, but’s just as compelling, sweet and swoony.

Katie Collins,has lived her whole life in Ennisbawn, a sleepy Irish town that’s currently being low-key terrorised by a building company, Glenmill Industries, who are intent on destroying Ennisbawn for profit, and Katie is intent on stopping them. The town has one pub left - Katie’s home away from home and place of employment - Kelly’s. And when it’s threatened, Katie pulls out all the stops to save her hometown.

Her big idea? To revive a Matchmaking festival the town used to put on to drum up some notice and sympathy for her little town, and push Glenmill out. This is complicated, of course, by Glenmill’s handsome head of security, Callum, and Katie’s instant attraction to him. Their meet-cute on the building site was genuinely hilarious as well as quite sweet, and Walsh’s decision to fit a romance into this narrative of small-town destruction works so well - it’s not quite enemies-to-lovers but there’s a frisson between Katie and Callum that adds to their chemistry.

And such chemistry! This is, to date, Walsh’s sexiest book. Callum and Katie have an instant attraction that builds over the course of the novel, and there are a couple of slightly steamy scenes in this one that are compelling, fun and add to the narrative. Traditionally a “closed door” author, this is a departure for the author, and a welcome one.

Other stalwarts of Walsh’s writing are present and welcome, too, including loveable side characters (Nush and Monica spin-off pls!), whip-smart, genuinely funny writing, and a sensitive and nuanced look at sadder themes that add richness while never dragging down the plot. In this novel, Katie’s parents have sadly passed away, and Katie still feels the effects of that in her life - but it’s well-handled and even moves the plot forward so it never feels shoe-horned in.

A lovely depiction of the more positive sides of small town life - the sense of community, of working together, and of being one big family.

Overall, The Matchmaker is a big, warm hug of a book that I was absolutely charmed by. Another banger from Catherine Walsh!

Katie who lives in a small Irish town loved the peacefulness until an unexpected character Callum turns up and Katie is thrown into chaos. Trying to fit everyone together Katie seems to forget about herself because on the outside a person doesn’t fit her but little does she realise that someone’s deep inside she does fit! She is everything you want and more in a person

A sweet rom com story set in Ireland, Katie defends her village and pub when developers try to build a golf course and hotel there. Callum is site Forman/developer and sparks fly in this book, until they discover the romance and band together to fight Jack and save the pub.

THE MATCHMAKER: when a dating festival in Ireland brings together the unlikeliest of couples.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Catherine Walsh for this ARC!

Katie Collins works as a bartender at the only pub in tiny Ennisbawn, Ireland. When construction begins on a hotel on the village's premises and her beloved pub is threatened, Katie decides to fight tooth and nail to keep her job, even if she has to clash with Callum Dempsey, a handsome guy who works on the hotel's construction. To prevent the pub from being sold and demolished, she decides to revive an old dating festival that took place every year in the city. But while she's preoccupied with forming couples, she might not realize that she's already falling in love herself... and with the unlikeliest of guys.

Since her debut with One Night Only, I've been following Catherine Walsh's wonderful work, I love her writing and the characters are always incredibly captivating and funny, impossible not to fall in love!

After I read Holiday Romance - her third and first Christmas book - I missed that je ne sais quoi that only exists in Catherine's writing and The Matchmaker finally brought that delicious feeling back. Not to mention that this book reminds me a lot of The Rebound, one of her other books.

Katie and Callum are very interesting and captivating from the first moment. They have wonderful chemistry and never disappoint. The dialogues, as always, are well-constructed and humorous. The story basically reads itself, it happens so naturally and really there's not even a conflict here that separates the couple. What happens is a very sincere and mature conversation that helps to solidify the relationship between them (I love when that happens! No fighting, just love). Another thing I love are the secondary characters, who are just as charming and funny as the main ones. Gemma, Adam, Maeve and Nush stole the show and only enriched the story even more.

I think that out of the 4 books that Catherine has released, this one is my favorite (after The Rebound, of course). It's short, light, well written, cute, funny and delivers everything it promises. I always finish her books thinking "Is there more of this? I want more books like this!" And it's always a delight to follow her new releases. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

catherine walsh has done it again!! this book is absolutely amazing, i DEVOURED it.

the book is a romcom (a brilliant one at that) but also excellently depicts female friendships. the love story between katie and callum was so authentic and felt so real, something catherine walsh has accomplished in every one of her novels.

the characters were all so complex and loveable and i just loved all the little side stories each character had. the community feel of this book made it so loveable and you’ll find yourself feeling immersed in the town dynamic.

you’ll laugh, you’ll cry but most of all you will not regret reading this book. i am quite literally on my knees begging you to read it!

read this book. you will love it.

This was a hard one for me to review. The book started very slowly and I had a hard time investing into the characters. I was annoyed by Katie at times, but I did love Callum and how he seemed to have an endless amount of patience with Katie. The premise of the story was cute. Overall, not my favorite Catherine Walsh book.

4 wishing well stars

How do you feel about gentrification? Does it make the world better? Or sacrifice an existing way of life for those with wealth? And how about love at first sight? Does that work for you?

Our main character is Katie Collins, she lives with her grandmother in the small Irish village of Ennisbawn. A young adult, she bartends at the local pub and adores the beauty and charm of her town, lake, and surrounding forests that may or may not contain fairies.

She is beyond angry at all the early morning construction traffic, headed to the site of a new hotel and golf club. Short of sleep, she heads there one morning to complain. Adorably still garbed in her pajamas with ducks on them!

She runs into Callum (frustratingly handsome!) at the job site and tells him exactly what she wants. Things calm for a bit as Callum reroutes traffic.

When the developer sets his sights on tearing down the local pub which serves as the center of the community, Katie goes ballistic and launches a campaign to save the pub and the wishing well behind it. She exaggerates a bit about the Matchmaker Festival, vowing to revive it and save the pub and wishing well.

The local villagers and Katie’s friends round out a great cast of characters. I loved how they rallied together. I also loved Katie’s grandmother; she makes quite the matchmaker.

As things heat up between Katie and Callum, I worried about how they could be together with his job. There are a few other romances blooming in town and I hoped they would find their match as well. I hoped that Callum could work some magic to save the pub, but money is a powerful force.

I love Irish settings and romance so I’m eager to read more books by this author. I did love “Holiday Romance” more than this one, but still a fun read!

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4 ⭐️
🌶🌶/5

There will be a massive development in the small peaceful town of Ennisbawn. Not only that they will build a new hideous hotel, but they are also planning to knock down "Kelly's", Ennisbawn's remaining pub. This will be the last straw for the villagers.

Katie Collins is a bartender at Kelly's. She has been and remains loyal to Ennisbawn. To save the pub, she will try to revive the old Matchmaking festival to gain a crowd and supporters against the prominent developer.

Callum Dempsey is the head constructor for the developer company; not only he's handsome, but he works for the devil.

I have to admit I have a soft spot for small-town settings; the tight community is heartwarming. How they help each other is what I expected from reading a small-town rom-com. Katie is lucky to be surrounded by good people, and most of all, Katie has the best Granny! I laugh so much reading their banters and Granny's dark humour.

"Why can't you be a normal grandmother who says normal things?"
"Because it's too much fun to watch you squirm," she says

what I find a bit lacking in this book is Katie and Callum's relationship; it lacks depth. I enjoy reading this book, and it's what I expect from a rom-com. But I can't shake the feeling of how unrealistic their insta love is. I find another couple that meets at the matchmaking festival more interesting than the main couple 😬.

Thank you for NetGalley, the Publisher and the author of the ARC, in exchange for my honest review

Ohhh I just love her books. The characters just suck you in right away in the beginning of the book and then you can’t put it down. Katie and Callam connected so great. I love a good small town romantic book.
Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy of this book. I can’t wait for her next read!

I previously read another one of Catherine Walsh's romances and really enjoyed it, but this one didn't work for me, mainly because of the juvenile writing style.

The Matchmaker by Catherine Walsh
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5 stars)

The Vibes:
- Ireland
- Small town/village
- Women’s fiction and romance
- Callum 🔥

The Concept:

Katie was born and raised in a small Irish village. She loves the simple life she has made for herself there and has deep roots in the community. She works in a pub and her friends have truly become the family that she doesn’t have. Everything Katie knows and loves is threatened to be changed when a hotel developer starts moving in to tear down parts of the town and build a resort. The plan is to make this small village a booming tourist area. When Katie finds out that the pub is going to be destroyed - she pulls out all the stops to save this small village by reviving the town’s famous (and forgotten) matchmaking festival in hopes to show the developers that the world truly does care about little Ennisbawn.

My Thoughts:

I went into this book for a rom com and I got so much more. This was so charming and sweet. This book is about Katie more than anything. It leans women’s fiction and coming-of-age with a really sweet romance thrown in there. Grandma Maeve is just lovely and the village people were the perfect townies. I loved the way that Katie was happy with a simple life and I loved the way Callum was drawn to that. This one was funny, cute, romantic, and could be the next Netflix movie. I’m ready for it.
Releases April 18, 2023.

Thank you so much to Bookouture, NetGalley, and Catherine Walsh for providing me with this ARC to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Matchmaker by Catherine Walsh
Pub Date: April 18, 2023 🗓️

Catherine Walsh does it AGAIN! 🙌🏼

I didn’t think anything could top Holiday Romance, but I’ve been proven wrong! I was captured by the first page and loved how the author made me fall in love with Ennisbawn and the residents. ❤️

Katie Collins, the main character, has never left Ennisbawn, a tiny Irish village. She works at a local pub called Kelly’s and has everything she could want in her quiet, tight-knit community. It was the perfect place to live, until Callum Dempsey and his crew showed up to build a new hotel and golf-course. Shortly after the disruption caused by construction, Katie finds out they plan to demolish Kelly’s Pub.

The pub holds a lot of history and memories for Katie, and is the last connection she has to her parents who were killed in a care accident when she was young. To save the pub and her beloved community, Katie decides to bring back the famous matchmaking festival to bring people to the town and to bring it to life again. Can Katie save her village despite the efforts of Callum and his crew?

I absolutely adored Katie and Callum and found myself smitten with their relationship. I also enjoyed the strong character development of characters like Adam, Gemma, Nush, and Noah. And how could anyone not love Katie’s grandma, Maeve?

Overall, I found this book to be absolutely perfect and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cute HEA romance!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to the publisher, Bookouture, the author, Catherine Walsh, and NetGalley for a gifted copy of The Matchmaker!

Posted on Goodreads on March 19, 2023: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
Posted on Instagram (full review) on April 18, 2023: https://instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Posted on Instagram (mini review) in April 2023: https://instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Posted on Amazon on April 18, 2023

This five-star read had me wanting to visit Ennisbawn and starting a protest. This swept me up and make me fall in love with Katie from the very start, I am wholeheartedly with her when it comes to sleep, so I feel like we are kindred spirits in that regard, but there is no way I would be as strong as she was when it comes to fighting for what she believed in and keeping her home safe from developments. Could you imagine having a wishing well in your local pub, if there was one in mine, there would be drunk people in it every week trying to find the gold I’m sure, but in Ennisbawn it’s a true history and that comes with a special presence. There was something about this story that will keep you hooked, the more you get to know Callum and all of the characters, the more you fall in love with this story and the place. You will be cheering for the town as well as the people within, the oddest thing was that I ended up loving them all, even the baddies, hoping they all get their happily ever after.

I LOVED this book and could have quite happily reread it all over again straight away!
It gets right into the action from page one. It starts strong and doesn’t stop. This book had me laughing out loud all the way through.

Don’t mind me I’m just off to work out how i can live in Ennisbawn. The scenery sounds stunning, and the community spirit was so heart-warming. There were so many sweet aspects to the book from stubborn gran's to salty soup and cheese toasties in the village pub. I normally prefer books that purely focus on the romance but the supporting characters and storyline surrounding the festival was so good and enjoyable that I didn’t even notice - and there was plenty of great romance too!

Callum and Katie’s relationship felt so realistic and well developed. This book truly felt like a warm hug🥰

I couldn’t have asked for more from this book and I highly recommend you give it a read too!

And if all that hasn't convinced you to read it yet here are some of the great tropes/features it contains: he falls first, no third act breakup, rom com, small village vibes, forbidden romance vibes,

Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh was one of my favorite reads last year so I was very excited to get an early copy of her latest work, The Matchmaker, I was not disappointed.

Katie and Callum’s initial meeting was one of the best “meet cute” scenes I have read in a romantic comedy in a long time. Katie immediately dislikes Callum on principle, she’s doing everything in her power to save her charming Irish town from a big developer and Callum, although handsome, works for the enemy.

These enemies to lovers are never truly enemies and soon they can’t deny their mutual attraction. However, Katie is never going to stop fighting to protect the town that has been her home and safe place since the death of her parents when she was a young child. It’s obvious that despite their differences they are starting to develop serious feelings for one another, they just have to figure out a few things first.

I was completely charmed by Katie and Callum, the townspeople of Ennisbawn, and all of its wonderful characters. I cannot wait to read more from Catherine Walsh.

Callum ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I really enjoyed this book!! If a book is set in Ireland it's a must read and this one didn't disappoint. Who doesn't love a small town and meddling, snarky grandmother's?? I'm going to need a book about all the other characters ASAP.

My only complaint is Katie and Callum got together around the 50% and I just knew I was in for some bullshit...and sure enough lol but otherwise I enjoyed it!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ four star read! This book was so cute, I found myself excited to sneak away and read more about Katie and Callum’s story. I love how the typical grump vs optimist trope was spun a bit, highlighting the multi faceted aspects of each of the MC’s personalities, and how well they fit together! I am so appreciative to the publishers and netgalley for providing me this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I will definitely be looking up more books by this author!

This was my first book by Catherine Walsh and I thought it was enchanting! The quick, witty banter of the likeable characters, the pleasant setting, and the overall premise made this a joy to read. I loved Callum and thought Katie was delightful, so while a few parts felt slow to me, it was still a fun romance that I enthusiastically recommend!