Well Matched by Jen DeLuca
Well Met series #3. Contemporary romance. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series since characters from the prior books appear and play significant roles.
April Parker plans to put her home on the market as soon as her daughter goes off to college. She’s put her daughter first since the father signed away his rights. April never wanted to be in Willow Creek so never got involved with communicate events or school activities. Mitch Malone agrees to help April paint and make some repairs around the house if she will pretend to be his girlfriend to his family. Dinner turns into a weekend which turns them into more than casual friends. She also volunteers at the Renaissance Fair and finds herself getting involved with community and making friends. Maybe she shouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave.

After meeting Mitch in the prior books, it was nice to find some depth of character in his coaching. April had some issues to overcome which causes problems all around. Communication is a must, then the heart wins for the perfect resolution.
Delightful. ( )

{Third of 4 in [[[Well Met]]] series; romance, renaissance faire, steamy} (2021)

Continuing our sojourn in Willow Creek with its annual summer Renaissance faire; one year on from the previous instalment and told in first person from Emily's sister's point of view. Emily's niece, Caitlin, is now almost eighteen and about to graduate from high school before leaving for college. Her mum, April, has been looking forward to the day when raising Cait successfully as a single parent is over and she can move out of this small town (which she only moved to to bring Cait up) and closer to where she works.

One day Mitch Malone, Ren Faire's hunk in a kilt (and not much else), helps her out by deflecting a persistent ... er ... admirer and as a return favour asks her to be his fake girlfriend at his next family get-together at Thanksgiving. The Mitch we've seen so far is easy going, aware of his good looks but steps in anytime to help out a friend and we see more of this side of him in this book.

April is conscious of their age gap, her approaching empty-nester status and the scar on her leg from the car accident (which took place just before the first book). Until now, she hasn't got involved with school activities nor, after her marriage unexpectedly failed, is she close to other people in town. She's been to Ren Faire once before, as a visitor, but this time she decides to join in - and gets to see Mitch's and Simon's (her brother-in-law) human chess match for the first time.

Having started getting to know about the people in town and realising that they support her and with her relationship with Mitch getting hot and heavy - does April still want to go through with her long-held dream of leaving Willow Creek?

This was fun and fluffy, like the first two. Mitch's Grandma is a breath of fresh air;

'Good,' Grandma Malone said. 'Then you and Lulu go off and have fun. You can come and find us later.'
'Oh.' I blinked and glanced over at Lulu. 'Um ...' There was no polite way out of this, was there?
'Are you sure?' Lulu's eyes were concerned as she leaned toward them. 'It's hot today. We can go back to the hotel if you want.'
'Not yet.' Grandma Malone sipped her water. 'I thought I could sit here and look pathetic, and maybe those kilted boys will come out.'
I choked on my sip of water, but Lulu just rolled her eyes and Grandpa Malone tsked. 'I'm sitting right here, you know,' he said.
'I know.' Grandma Malone spoke to him but looked at me, dropping a wink, and I fought to keep a straight face.

However I thought the plot had a few rough spots and, apart from the fact that they're both good people and physically attracted to each other, I wasn't sure why they fell in love. Which, I grant you, is all you need in real life but I thought the story would provide that - you know - lightning bolt. And I wasn't too keen on the answer to the question 'Is what's between us real?' being more sex as opposed to an actual reason.

I must say, my favourite characters are still Simon-as-pirate and Emily. We get to see more of April's sister, especially as she's April's support system, as well as Simon(-as-pirate) from the first book and Stacey as well as a bit of Dex from the second book. I think the books can be read as stand-alones but if you're going to read the whole series, they are sequential as they take place at consecutive Ren Faires so there will be spoilers for previous books.

(November 2023)
3-3.5 stars ( )

Spice level: ( )

April and Mitch are sort of friends, especially after he spent months wandering through her house helping to plan both the local Renaissance Faire and April's sister's wedding, last summer. When Mitch asks April to pretend to be his girlfriend at a family function in exchange for helping her to do a couple home renovations projects, she agrees. What April doesn't expect is for the fake relationship to feel so good. As events push April and Mitch to pretend they're together several more times over the course of the summer, can April find the courage to tell Mitch she wants it to be real?

As the third novel in the series, I had a rough idea of what to expect with this novel and I was not disappointed. April was a familiar character for me as a fellow withdrawn introvert who only requires a small circle of friends. She also brings a lot of baggage into her relationship with Mitch as a result of her divorce and being a single parent for her daughter's whole life and I think DeLuca dealt with that really well. This novel is a bit lighter on the Ren Faire moments as April has more limited involvement, so that might disappoint some readers. My only small issue was the lack of exploration of Mitch as a character, which is somewhat the result of a limited first person narration, but I feel like previous novels in the series gave the men more time to reveal themselves as whole people. Mitch gets a few details but spends a lot of the book being tall, muscular, handy, and in a kilt. Which has its own appeal but I'd hoped for a bit more. Should please fans of the series. ( )

April Parker raised her daughter Caitlin as a single mom, and now that Cait is graduating she's ready to sell the house and move out of the stuffy small town where everyone gets into her business. Then Mitch, the gym teacher and hunk who wears a kilt at the local Ren Faire, asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend for a visit to his grandparents', so that maybe his family will take him seriously for once. But perhaps their fake relationship is more real than April is willing to admit.

I liked this the least of the three I've read so far, which is a shame, because I really like the fake dating trope in rom-com movies. I was disappointed with its execution here, which didn't have the slow burn of realizing one's feelings for each other were genuine. Instead, it's super obvious to the reader early on, and April seems to lack a lot of self-awareness, as well as being oblivious to her daughter's and Mitch's feelings about her choices, for all that she's supposed to be a mature 40-year-old. Also the Ren Faire doesn't factor into the story until closer to the end, and that setting is part of the appeal to me. ( )