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yodamom's review
4.0
Honor's biological click is ticking, and she is going to ask her long time bed friend for his hand because they really love each other right ? Bwahahahha, right. He's not in love with her, he just likes having a sex friend. So she takes her annoying whining eggs, yes they talk, and talk and talk, over to an online dating service where she gets a hit or two. Living in a small town makes it hard to date, being a well known member of the town makes it harder. Dang it, her eggs want some fertilizer and they demand a him ! She finds no matches and starts to grow desperate. Her sweet old granny sets her up on a date with a man who is in need of a green card. Flop, that is what the date was, complete and horrible. He was an arse, she was defensive, hell would freeze over before she'd marry him. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the options are not looking good at all.
Sad at times this romance had a bittersweet edge that left me cheering for everyone on the pages, except one backstabbing insecure witch. The love was earned and had a lot of bumps and sharp edges to muddle through. This was a great audiobook, fantastic narration. My only ugly remark is the dang EGGS, did they have to talk ? It was weird, they were irritating and creepy. Luckily the eggs were only a small part of the book
Sad at times this romance had a bittersweet edge that left me cheering for everyone on the pages, except one backstabbing insecure witch. The love was earned and had a lot of bumps and sharp edges to muddle through. This was a great audiobook, fantastic narration. My only ugly remark is the dang EGGS, did they have to talk ? It was weird, they were irritating and creepy. Luckily the eggs were only a small part of the book
amorol's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
laksita's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I’m so mad.
The thing is, this author is not a horrible author in terms of technicality—great prose, great diction, great humor. Great writing style.
What was wrong was THE PLOT. THE STORYLINE. THE CHARACTERIZATION.
Because tell me why the whole time, not ONCE did we see Honor and Tom actually, you know, BONDING?? GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER?? SPENDING TIME TOGETHER WHERE IT INVOLVED THEM ACTUALLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER ABOUT EACH OTHER??
SO HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR THEM TO BE TOGETHER??
AND MY GIRL HONOR WAS MADE TO BEG FOR SCRAPS OF AFFECTION AGAIN AND AGAIN. FIRST WITH BROGAN, THEN WITH TOM. UNTIL THE END. THE FUCK??
Bro. What is with this author? This author could have done a BRILLIANT JOB making us giggle and kick our feet watching them fall in love what with their ability to write great dialogue with great humor, but the author just chose… not to. Instead, the author had us watch as Tom and Honor awkwardly move around each other when they were ALONE. Not a peep from either of them. And this author wanted us to believe they were in love.
So much wasted potential.
The thing is, this author is not a horrible author in terms of technicality—great prose, great diction, great humor. Great writing style.
What was wrong was THE PLOT. THE STORYLINE. THE CHARACTERIZATION.
Because tell me why the whole time, not ONCE did we see Honor and Tom actually, you know, BONDING?? GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER?? SPENDING TIME TOGETHER WHERE IT INVOLVED THEM ACTUALLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER ABOUT EACH OTHER??
SO HOW THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR THEM TO BE TOGETHER??
AND MY GIRL HONOR WAS MADE TO BEG FOR SCRAPS OF AFFECTION AGAIN AND AGAIN. FIRST WITH BROGAN, THEN WITH TOM. UNTIL THE END. THE FUCK??
Bro. What is with this author? This author could have done a BRILLIANT JOB making us giggle and kick our feet watching them fall in love what with their ability to write great dialogue with great humor, but the author just chose… not to. Instead, the author had us watch as Tom and Honor awkwardly move around each other when they were ALONE. Not a peep from either of them. And this author wanted us to believe they were in love.
So much wasted potential.
steph01924's review
4.0
This is my fourth Higgins book, so I'm really starting to pick up on the patterns of her writing style. It's not all bad, but there are some things that she does that drive me nuts while reading.
Pros:
She's a good mechanical writer. The story flows together; you can tell she's thought out her plot points and there's rarely something in there that makes me stop and go, 'wait, WHAT?' This was so easy to read; I devoured it in a day.
She fleshes out her characters. I'm glad there's more about the protagonist's life, and also the love interest, than thinking about the other person. The secondary characters get the 'real life' treatment as well, and I appreciate that. I enjoyed the all-too-realistic attitude of Charlie, Mrs. J's embarrassment for falling in love, Tom's charm, Dana's shallowness. This, and the cute little town, is where the book shines.
Cons:
The rat dog. In the first Blue Heron book, the dog was dopey but it wasn't annoying. This "Spike" five pound PITA who bites ankles and gets so many people to coo 'schmoopie-pie' this-and-that to it...SO annoying. Just like in her book with the stupid dog who terrorized the girl's house and houseguests (the one with the delinquent next-door neighbor), I was turned off by the lack of consideration Honor gave Tom when her dog acted up on him (and only him, apparently. What was that supposed to prove?). 'Oh, little Spike peed on your carpet and gym bag - who cares, you probably did something to deserve it.' 'Oh, she bites your ankles and draws blood - isn't she darling, she's just so small!' What the crap? This is not cute. The immigration lady's overly-affectionate attitude to the dog: also very weird. Can Higgins write a decently well-trained dog for once?
The 'eggs'. I know there was some weird phrase/thing in the first Heron book that Faith kept referring to (maybe her lack of insight on men?) that made me roll my eyes, but I can't think of it at the moment, so I guess it didn't bug me too much. But in this book, Honor's stupid aging eggs that she constantly talked to and that made sly comments to her...OMG, MAKE IT STOP. It's eyebrow-quirkingly funny the first time; the fifteenth, it's just freaking strange. Figure out some other way to get these 'nuggets of observation' into your book, because this was just lame.
The 'cursing'. Fine, you don't want all of your characters to constantly be cussing. I get it. But then, please, put on your creative thinking cap and branch out beyond the same stupidly dumb fake curse word that appears every three pages. Oh, fungus. FUNGUS. Fungus, he's saw me. Fungus, I'm in a pickle. Ugh, I got really sick of it, especially when Tom was able to bust out his own 'fucking's any time he wanted, so it's not like the writer has an aversion to curse words. Making it some weird, off-the-wall term like that (and REPEATING IT OVER AND OVER) only calls more attention to it. People use more than one (non)curse word, Kristan.
Anyway...the cons aren't enough to not read the book, they are just the silly things that seem to be her 'signature' that I really dislike.
Pros:
She's a good mechanical writer. The story flows together; you can tell she's thought out her plot points and there's rarely something in there that makes me stop and go, 'wait, WHAT?' This was so easy to read; I devoured it in a day.
She fleshes out her characters. I'm glad there's more about the protagonist's life, and also the love interest, than thinking about the other person. The secondary characters get the 'real life' treatment as well, and I appreciate that. I enjoyed the all-too-realistic attitude of Charlie, Mrs. J's embarrassment for falling in love, Tom's charm, Dana's shallowness. This, and the cute little town, is where the book shines.
Cons:
The rat dog. In the first Blue Heron book, the dog was dopey but it wasn't annoying. This "Spike" five pound PITA who bites ankles and gets so many people to coo 'schmoopie-pie' this-and-that to it...SO annoying. Just like in her book with the stupid dog who terrorized the girl's house and houseguests (the one with the delinquent next-door neighbor), I was turned off by the lack of consideration Honor gave Tom when her dog acted up on him (and only him, apparently. What was that supposed to prove?). 'Oh, little Spike peed on your carpet and gym bag - who cares, you probably did something to deserve it.' 'Oh, she bites your ankles and draws blood - isn't she darling, she's just so small!' What the crap? This is not cute. The immigration lady's overly-affectionate attitude to the dog: also very weird. Can Higgins write a decently well-trained dog for once?
The 'eggs'. I know there was some weird phrase/thing in the first Heron book that Faith kept referring to (maybe her lack of insight on men?) that made me roll my eyes, but I can't think of it at the moment, so I guess it didn't bug me too much. But in this book, Honor's stupid aging eggs that she constantly talked to and that made sly comments to her...OMG, MAKE IT STOP. It's eyebrow-quirkingly funny the first time; the fifteenth, it's just freaking strange. Figure out some other way to get these 'nuggets of observation' into your book, because this was just lame.
The 'cursing'. Fine, you don't want all of your characters to constantly be cussing. I get it. But then, please, put on your creative thinking cap and branch out beyond the same stupidly dumb fake curse word that appears every three pages. Oh, fungus. FUNGUS. Fungus, he's saw me. Fungus, I'm in a pickle. Ugh, I got really sick of it, especially when Tom was able to bust out his own 'fucking's any time he wanted, so it's not like the writer has an aversion to curse words. Making it some weird, off-the-wall term like that (and REPEATING IT OVER AND OVER) only calls more attention to it. People use more than one (non)curse word, Kristan.
Anyway...the cons aren't enough to not read the book, they are just the silly things that seem to be her 'signature' that I really dislike.
mghill40's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jackiehorne's review
3.0
Honor Holland has been pining after her high school friend Brogan for years. The two slipped into a friends-with-benefits relationship soon after graduation, one that Honor has hopes will transform into the real thing—marriage & kids & love. But when she finally gets up the gumption to suggest the possibility (egged on by the humorous Greek chorus of her aging ovarian eggs), Brogan treats the idea as if it must be a joke. And then he goes and gets engaged to Honor's good friend.
British professor Tom Barlow is having his own share of problems. His visa is about to expire, and the college won't rehire him unless he can get it renewed. He needs to stay in the states to be there for Charlie, the son of his (now dead) fiancee, who has been sent to live with stuffy, un-with-it grandparents who only know how to preach at him, not relate to him.
Of course Honor and Tom end up in a marriage (or engagement) of convenience, so that Tom can gain his visa and Honor can make Brogan jealous. And of course love ensues.
Interesting not for the ovarian chorus, but for Higgins' construction of Tom. On the outside, he appears a to be a guy's guy: he boxes, he teaches mechanical engineering, he drinks a lot. But like Honor, who appears amazingly tough on the outside, he's really someone who is just too nice, someone who doesn't speak up for his own needs and lets others push him around. I wasn't quite convinced that two people with the same character flaw could actually help each other to change, or even serve as catalysts for change, and so I couldn't entirely buy into Tom and Honor's character arcs, although their romance was sweet.
British professor Tom Barlow is having his own share of problems. His visa is about to expire, and the college won't rehire him unless he can get it renewed. He needs to stay in the states to be there for Charlie, the son of his (now dead) fiancee, who has been sent to live with stuffy, un-with-it grandparents who only know how to preach at him, not relate to him.
Of course Honor and Tom end up in a marriage (or engagement) of convenience, so that Tom can gain his visa and Honor can make Brogan jealous. And of course love ensues.
Interesting not for the ovarian chorus, but for Higgins' construction of Tom. On the outside, he appears a to be a guy's guy: he boxes, he teaches mechanical engineering, he drinks a lot. But like Honor, who appears amazingly tough on the outside, he's really someone who is just too nice, someone who doesn't speak up for his own needs and lets others push him around. I wasn't quite convinced that two people with the same character flaw could actually help each other to change, or even serve as catalysts for change, and so I couldn't entirely buy into Tom and Honor's character arcs, although their romance was sweet.
alwaysbooking's review
5.0
This book was wonderfully written. I instantly fell in love with both characters especially Tom. Such a nice read should be on every book club list ;)
rebroxannape's review against another edition
4.0
A very strong finish saved this book from being 3 stars. I did not like Charlie, Tom's "stepson". There was just no excuse for his behavior. He was just stupid. Even at almost the end he was sullen and ungrateful. I would have liked to see him redeem himself much more sufficiently. Maybe in the next book, we'll hear tell of an epiphany. Did not buy him at all. Or Tom's devotion to him, for that matter. Talk about a glutton for punishment. The english accent was slightly too much. This book has the usual Kristan tropes, for example using a substitute cutsie pie word for a genuine curse word. That got old 7 books ago. But still, she is a very talented and funny writer who can bring the tears as well as the guffaws. She can add suspense to a relationship even when you know you won't be betrayed by the end. The highest praise for a romantic comedy is that she keeps you turning the pages in delight. Those authors are few and far between. (SEP is another one.) I already have #3 on pre-order.
***revised 05/02/2017****This time, I was much more OK with Charlie's reformation. He did turn it around at the end and realized that Tom was his real father, not his bio-Dad. I still think Tom was too much of a saint to put up with him, though. The end still saved this book for me. I was on the edge of my seat and greatly moved at the same time through the climactic scene. One more note, brought up by a few other reviewers, is Honor's constant dialogue with her ovaries. It was very tiresome. Very.
***revised 05/02/2017****This time, I was much more OK with Charlie's reformation. He did turn it around at the end and realized that Tom was his real father, not his bio-Dad. I still think Tom was too much of a saint to put up with him, though. The end still saved this book for me. I was on the edge of my seat and greatly moved at the same time through the climactic scene. One more note, brought up by a few other reviewers, is Honor's constant dialogue with her ovaries. It was very tiresome. Very.
amym84's review
3.0
Honor Holland was presented as the practical sister in [b:The Best Man|15803757|The Best Man (Blue Heron #1)|Kristan Higgins|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1354847301s/15803757.jpg|21365435]. She was the one that ran the business side of Blue Heron Winery. It's her 35th birthday and she's just been informed that the biological clock is ticking. She's always wanted a family so she decides to propose to her on-again, off-again friend with benefits Brogan. She and Brogan have been friends since childhood and have been sleeping together for years. Plus, she's in love with him. Unfortunately, he doesn't feel the same way (I believe a comparison to that of a baseball glove sums up the total of his affections). So Honor does what most women would do in this situation, and that is go to their best friend's house, eat Ben & Jerry's, and watch Shark Week. A few weeks go by and Honor is determined to find love. She signs up on the websites, the whole nine yards. When she gets a call from Brogan wanting to meet up for drinks she knows that he must be rethinking their relationship. So she gets dressed up only to find out that said best friend is now engaged to Brogan. Obviously this scenario doesn't end well.
Tom Barlow is a mechanical engineer teacher at a local college. He's British and good-looking, thereforethe majority of his students are females who just want to stare at him. It's not the most glamorous job, but he stays because of Charlie, his "unofficial stepson". He was engaged to Charlie's mother and she died in an accident three years ago. Since meeting Charlie, Tom has loved the boy so he tries to stay in his life as much as possible, which is more than Charlie's real father can say. When his work visa doesn't look like it's going to get renewed Tom has to figure out a way to stay in the US for Charlie. Enter Honor who's just ready to have a family even if that means that love isn't necessarily in the equation.
I can always count on Kristan Higgins to deliver a sweet heartening story and The Perfect Match doesn't disappoint. It basically followed the same formula adopted in much of Higgins' work, but I'm ok with that. I liked the addition of the "marriage of convenience". It was an interesting twist on the relationship wondering if two people who genuinly feel no love for each other can form a relationship that will eventually grow into love.
Tom's issues with women go back a long way so you can begin to understand why he would be hesitant to open himself up to someone who admittedly loved another man just maybe a month ago. You can see Honor's hesitancy as well when she's been in love with a man for at least half of her life only to find out he doesn't return that affection.
Both feel an attraction to one another but neither wants to make the first move and put themselves out there when they've both been hurt before. Regardless of this, I did find Tom to be a little cold towards Honor. I understand he's in a situation he doesn't want to be in, but I honestly really liked Honor and didn't think she deserved to be treated with such irritation and disdain. True, he wasn't always like that, and when he would show a vulnerability or do something sweet you couldn't help but like him. And his devotion to Charlie, even with Charlie's teenage reluctance, often brought tears to my eyes. Honor would also find herself softening towards Tom in instances like that.
I felt like the ending seemed a bit rushed. Things took awhile to heat up between our characters. By that point we were already half way through the book, but of course Higging has to throw in a final conflict between our characters that only makes them realize their true feelings for one another. In this case I just didn't think the revelation was that spectacular.
Still a good read and I can't wait to see who's next in line for a story of their own, possibly Jack? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Tom Barlow is a mechanical engineer teacher at a local college. He's British and good-looking, thereforethe majority of his students are females who just want to stare at him. It's not the most glamorous job, but he stays because of Charlie, his "unofficial stepson". He was engaged to Charlie's mother and she died in an accident three years ago. Since meeting Charlie, Tom has loved the boy so he tries to stay in his life as much as possible, which is more than Charlie's real father can say. When his work visa doesn't look like it's going to get renewed Tom has to figure out a way to stay in the US for Charlie. Enter Honor who's just ready to have a family even if that means that love isn't necessarily in the equation.
I can always count on Kristan Higgins to deliver a sweet heartening story and The Perfect Match doesn't disappoint. It basically followed the same formula adopted in much of Higgins' work, but I'm ok with that. I liked the addition of the "marriage of convenience". It was an interesting twist on the relationship wondering if two people who genuinly feel no love for each other can form a relationship that will eventually grow into love.
Tom's issues with women go back a long way so you can begin to understand why he would be hesitant to open himself up to someone who admittedly loved another man just maybe a month ago. You can see Honor's hesitancy as well when she's been in love with a man for at least half of her life only to find out he doesn't return that affection.
Both feel an attraction to one another but neither wants to make the first move and put themselves out there when they've both been hurt before. Regardless of this, I did find Tom to be a little cold towards Honor. I understand he's in a situation he doesn't want to be in, but I honestly really liked Honor and didn't think she deserved to be treated with such irritation and disdain. True, he wasn't always like that, and when he would show a vulnerability or do something sweet you couldn't help but like him. And his devotion to Charlie, even with Charlie's teenage reluctance, often brought tears to my eyes. Honor would also find herself softening towards Tom in instances like that.
I felt like the ending seemed a bit rushed. Things took awhile to heat up between our characters. By that point we were already half way through the book, but of course Higging has to throw in a final conflict between our characters that only makes them realize their true feelings for one another. In this case I just didn't think the revelation was that spectacular.
Still a good read and I can't wait to see who's next in line for a story of their own, possibly Jack? I guess we'll have to wait and see.