🌻💕 "Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart" (The Golden Matchmaker's Club #1) (2021) 💕 🌻 - Book Tour & Review
A home renovation…
Could change this friendship forever
Heidi Welch has her eye on the perfect home…until Reid Masterson buys it! Now Heidi has one last chance to get back the home of her dreams from her childhood friend and longtime crush. If she helps Reid with the renovations, he'll sell her the house. But “just friends” seems just about impossible…especially when friendship keeps getting in the way of falling in love.
Tour Giveaway
Prize #2: $10 Amazon e-Gift Card (Open Internationally)
The first book of a new series is often the most prized – it sets the stage for the series, whether it is three (3) books or more. And, Stealing her Best Friend’s Heart is a great way to start this series off
I was introduced to the author with the last book of her Meet me at the Altar series, Always the One. I LOVED that book. And, Randel did not disappoint here either. While the first books can act as a standalone, I definitely want to and do recommend reading the second one because of a hanging plot.
The cover is cutesy and whimsical, and I was INSTANTLY drawn to Heidi and Reid’s friendship.
Unlike most books, and while this is Heidi and Reid’s story, this begins with two older ladies who are trying to match Heidi and Reid up. I almost started laughing. And, to be honest, there are times when the older folks steal the show and I LOVED it!! It gets even cuter when a retired judge, a GUY, wants in on the action.
Gayle Ann Masterson is a wily old gal (no offense) who happens to be Reid’s grandmother, her friend Alveda raised Heidi after the girl’s mother didn’t seem interested to.
Then, there’s the judge – Harry. Rounding off The Golden Matchmakers Club is Bunny and Wanda Sue. Though this book primarily features Gayle, Alveda, and Harry. It’s told through the POVs of Gayle Ann, Heidi, and Reid.
Obviously this is the “childhood friends to something more” kind of romance. But, it will take most of the novel to get there. I’ll admit, this took me bit to get into with the longer chapters. But, the author’s descriptive and engaging writing kept me interested despite my lack of DIY (do-it-yourself) prowess or enthusiasm. It was interesting to see the behind the scenes of it. At one point I could almost taste that juicy pie. Certainly, there were times that the dialogue was emotional.
The plot is an interesting one – Reid has bought a house that Heidi wanted. His goal is to “flip” it, so this has some HGTV home renovation vibes. If that is your idea of fun – you definitely might like this book. I only got introduced to HGTV and the “flipping”/DIY renovation shows when I’d take my mom to the doctors’ offices (no matter which one it was).
Anyway …
There are a lot of fun moments, but there is a heart-stopping terrifying one towards the end that kept me reading until the very last page. Fair warning – it is really rough.
Moving on …
Reid isn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of Heidi doing sweat equity to get first crack at the house. And, the flipping houses thing is more to keep his mind off the family company. The only reason Reid isn’t working for the company? His father.
I disliked Reid’s dad almost immediately, and even towards the end I was still waffling on him. It is clear that Reid’s father wants Logan in charge of the company and feels Reid is “competition”. Who would want to work in that environment?
In the midst of Reid trying to gain his father’s trust, his grandmother (Gayle Ann) is trying to set him up with suitable ladies though she is hoping he’ll choose Heidi. Alveda is a bit less “match-making”.
Heidi does notice that Reid is less fun-loving than he was when they were younger. Even their friendship isn’t enough to have him on board with her ideas.
Heidi, despite not knowing much about home renovation, hangs in there and even enjoys DEMO day. The thought might make you cringe, but it sounds like fun, especially when you need to demolition something.
While Heidi gives of herself, she doesn’t want to take. She’s also self-conscious about affection given how she grew up. And, Reid also learns about Heidi’s “night” problems as a result of her mother’s lifestyle. It is also the reason she came to Golden to be with Alveda.
There are a LOT of cute and sweet moments in this book. One is Heidi making a tea cabinet with little help. I loved when Heidi used a class to demonstrate how math worked for the students she tutored.
The “matchmakers” club gets started around 60% into the book.
Reid’s decisions come to a head when his father’s health begins to decline and he might have to take care of the company, but that could cause him to make a sacrifice he doesn’t know he’s making.
The “romance” between the two doesn’t get going until 67% of the way in, so there is a lot of lead up to it and definitely a lot of will they/won’t they moments. Those who enjoy a slow-burn, friends to more romance will definitely enjoy this.
There is also a very emotionally confrontational scene between Reid and his father. The ending was without a doubt heart-stopping and frightening. I found myself speed-reading and turning the pages to see what was going on. It definitely wasn’t something I would have expected from the Heartwarming line. Just an advanced warning on that ending.
I also saw something between Harry and Gayle Ann and I want to see where that goes, as I do enjoy seeing older folks’ romance.
The Heartwarming line is a cleaner read for those not interested in the steamy romances. Those who are fans of the author and those who enjoy HGTV DIY projects are sure to enjoy this. Though, hang on for that ending – I didn’t even see that coming!
I am looking forward to the second book of the series as there is a plot point here that remains a bit open and I would be interested in seeing concluded.
FYI: My copy had some intermittent ink “splotches”
on it, culminating on page 138 where it obscured a few words on three lines. It
made it difficult to read the sentences. This is in no way the fault of the
author, but it can make it difficult to figure out what is going on. This is
likely a printing issue and may or may not affect all books.
RATING:
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)
Thank you for the lovely review! So happy to be featured here today!
ReplyDeleteYou're so very welcome! It was a pleasure.
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