Well Matched Review

Hello, all!

I've been a big fan of Jen DeLuca's Well Met series (you can read my reviews of the other two books here and here), so I couldn't wait to dive into Well Matched. 

Pub Date: 10-19-21
Adult - Contemporary

April Parker is a single mother who has called Willow Creek home for the past twelve years. Despite living here for so long, April has never felt like she truly belonged in such a tight-knit small-town community. April has never been the type to let people into her life and prefers to do things on her terms. Now that her daughter is leaving for college, April is determined to move away and has enlisted the help of her friend Mitch with some home improvement projects to get the house ready to sell.

Mitch Malone is well-known around Willow Creek. Not only is he a teacher/coach at the high school, but he spends his summers at the local Renaissance Faire where he can be found wearing a kilt and not much else. Mitch agrees to help April in exchange for a favor: she has to pretend to be his girlfriend at a family dinner, so he can stop getting lectured about not having a serious career or relationship. When the weekend draws to a close, Mitch and April can't seem to stay away from one other, and as the Faire kicks off again, April finds herself volunteering for the first time to help out. But when Mitch's family unexpectedly turns up, both Mitch and April find it hard to distinguish between what's real and what's an act. April can't deny that she's never felt this way about anyone before, but will she be able to give away the heart she's been guarding for so long?

I hyped this book up so much in my head. Before I even cracked it open, I had it in mind that it was going to be my favorite of the series. Was it good? Yes. Did it live up to my expectations? Not exactly. I liked the premise and am never one to turn down a fake dating trope, but something was missing. I think that came down to the characters. We've gotten snippets of April and Mitch in the previous books, and they seemed interesting enough (especially Mitch with how loud and confident he is), but I don't think they worked as main characters for me. April was very guarded to the point where she came across as cold, and I kept waiting for the moment where Mitch would make me swoon. It wasn't until about halfway through before I finally found myself clicking with them, and then I did enjoy their character growth. Their relationship did feel like the most mature and natural of the books so far, which I also appreciated. While I may not have loved this as much as I'd hoped, this is still one of my favorite series, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Rating: 3/5