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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club is a very heartfelt novel about love, grief, acceptance, and discovering who you are. Sophie Go returns home to Toronto after completing Matchmaker school in Shanghai. While at a party where Sophie hoping to begin establishing her business, her overbearing mother shows up and announces to all that she never received her certification. After the fiasco and in need of clients, she discovers a secret club in her condo complex and decides to start helping the group of Old Ducks.
The story is heartwarming and gut-wrenching at the same time. I loved watching Sophie do what she loves and helping this group of elderly men find love. The gut-wrenching part was learning about the relationship with her parents, and how utterly heartbreaking watching her mother treat her the way she does.
At times, I felt the story moved a bit too slowly, but overall it was a good read.
3.5/5 stars
Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC!
The story is heartwarming and gut-wrenching at the same time. I loved watching Sophie do what she loves and helping this group of elderly men find love. The gut-wrenching part was learning about the relationship with her parents, and how utterly heartbreaking watching her mother treat her the way she does.
At times, I felt the story moved a bit too slowly, but overall it was a good read.
3.5/5 stars
Thank you Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC!
Interesting concept but I was just bored. Too many characters and storylines to follow. Family plot remained kind of unresolved and the main character wasn't that compelling.
Very cute, easy read. This book was listed on a "cozy fantasy" list. Cozy is the perfect way to describe it. The story is interesting, but low key. A good pallet cleanser if you've read too many emotionally intense books recently. I'd classify the book as magical realism rather than fantasy.
This was a tasty little read. I saw some very positive reviews of this book and decided to give it a whirl. This isn’t my usual read since I’m frequently immersed in a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and history but I’m glad I spent time in this magically real little world with Sophie and her band of merry older gentleman. This book is worth the read just for the tantalizing food descriptions. The next time I’m feeling down, I’ll have to come back and see what else Roselle Lim has in store for us. This was fun!
Count this a new favorite of mine. The definition of cozy fantasy—low stakes, lovable characters, and a little magic. WILL read again
Beautifully written, similar to the author’s previous work, with magic realism and descriptive language that kept my synesthete brain engaged. The romance element is light — there is a love interest for the main character, but the central focus was on the deep connections she formed with her friends and chosen family. The main character’s parents were infuriating horrible and may seem comically unrealistic to some readers, but if you’ve experienced (or are familiar with) traditional Asian parenting and the deeply problematic aspects of filial piety, the author’s depictions are actually very realistic. (Also, fun observation: Sophie and the seven ducks = Snow White and the seven dwarves.)
I admit I renewed this book the maximum amount of times I was allowed from the library, not because I didn't want to read it but it came along for me when I picked it up this week on deadline. While initially a little slow, it picked up and I didn't want to put it down and finished last night.
Sophie Go is a matchmaker, a profession highly respected and regarded in her Chinese culture- except by her parents, particularly her mother. I have to add a trigger warning here because Sophie's mother wasn't just the actual worst, she was horribly gaslighting, hurtful, manipulative and abusive. And her dad unfortunately enabled his wife's behavior out of fear or compliance.
Despite her awful mother, Sophie is a lovely human. She has returned to Toronto after 3 years in Shanghai at matchmaker college. She has a beat friend Yanmei, who I absolutely loved. Sophie isn't fully accredited as a matchmaker because of an unfortunate situation that went bad, but wasn't her fault. Sophie has a few months to get clients to match and prove her skills to become accredited. When her mother undermines her efforts to gain clients and humiliates her, Sophie has to go outside the box.
Helping the senior residents of her new apartment building find love matches while determined to get her parents approval, Sophie bends over backwards to succeed and keep her independence. I loved these secondary characters (Ducks!) and Sophie's nicknames for them. There's also the possibility of a romance with Mr. Particular who hires her to find his match despite her mother's interference. It was wonderful to see Sophie's confidence grow and equally maddening to see her mother attempt to strip her of who she is, calling her broken and worthless. I understand the cultural expectations to respect and obey your elders, but her parents took advantage of her so many times. It was obvious they were setting her up to fail so she would have no choice but to move back home and work at a bank. The kind of sabotage no parent should take over their adult child. But everyone got a HEA even though there was a sad twist towards the end. Sophie may never resolve things with her parents but her found family was even better. 4/5☆
Sophie Go is a matchmaker, a profession highly respected and regarded in her Chinese culture- except by her parents, particularly her mother. I have to add a trigger warning here because Sophie's mother wasn't just the actual worst, she was horribly gaslighting, hurtful, manipulative and abusive. And her dad unfortunately enabled his wife's behavior out of fear or compliance.
Despite her awful mother, Sophie is a lovely human. She has returned to Toronto after 3 years in Shanghai at matchmaker college. She has a beat friend Yanmei, who I absolutely loved. Sophie isn't fully accredited as a matchmaker because of an unfortunate situation that went bad, but wasn't her fault. Sophie has a few months to get clients to match and prove her skills to become accredited. When her mother undermines her efforts to gain clients and humiliates her, Sophie has to go outside the box.
Helping the senior residents of her new apartment building find love matches while determined to get her parents approval, Sophie bends over backwards to succeed and keep her independence. I loved these secondary characters (Ducks!) and Sophie's nicknames for them. There's also the possibility of a romance with Mr. Particular who hires her to find his match despite her mother's interference. It was wonderful to see Sophie's confidence grow and equally maddening to see her mother attempt to strip her of who she is, calling her broken and worthless. I understand the cultural expectations to respect and obey your elders, but her parents took advantage of her so many times. It was obvious they were setting her up to fail so she would have no choice but to move back home and work at a bank. The kind of sabotage no parent should take over their adult child. But everyone got a HEA even though there was a sad twist towards the end. Sophie may never resolve things with her parents but her found family was even better. 4/5☆
It just was not capturing me and I got another Abby Jimenez book from the library that was ready so I went with that one and it drew me in faster.
This was such a fun book! It's the story of Sophie Go, a young woman who is an Asian matchmaker. There's a lot of romance, a lot of food talk, some family drama and a few secrets. The author takes her time with each character and we get to know all of the main characters well.
Besides being a quick fun read, the whole matchmaking thing was really interesting. I loved the answers from the various clients in response to Sophie's "three questions." I laughed with the characters, cried with them, were angry along with them.
The title of the book is a Beatles reference. Sophie is a big Beatles fan and there are quite a few mentions of songs throughout the book. I felt like this was a little gimmicky and it became a crutch in the book. I'd say this is what stopped it being a 5* book for me. Deduct a half-star for it.
I would love to see this made into a film, if they did it right. Because Sophie is a heroine, and the world should be cheering her on, all the way to the end.
Besides being a quick fun read, the whole matchmaking thing was really interesting. I loved the answers from the various clients in response to Sophie's "three questions." I laughed with the characters, cried with them, were angry along with them.
The title of the book is a Beatles reference. Sophie is a big Beatles fan and there are quite a few mentions of songs throughout the book. I felt like this was a little gimmicky and it became a crutch in the book. I'd say this is what stopped it being a 5* book for me. Deduct a half-star for it.
I would love to see this made into a film, if they did it right. Because Sophie is a heroine, and the world should be cheering her on, all the way to the end.