The cover made and title me stop and read the editors blurb. I am so glad I requested and received a copy to read. An absolutely sweet lovely read perfect escape from the hectic world we live in. Eve left Matchmaker Bay 10 years ago with a broken heart and made a promise to herself that she would never ever return. She kept that promise until her beloved aunt passed away and left her the Mermaid Inn. It used to be a summer town, but has grown into a year round getaway with a beloved funny cast of characters. She wanted to get in and get out. No chance of that happening in the tiny town where privacy is just an illusion and a word in the dictionary. The last person she wants to see is Sawyer, aka, the heartbreaker. Not likely as he is the police chief and sees to be everywhere. Join Eve over the next year while she rehabs the Inn, reestablishes old relationships, finally discovers why Sawyer pushed her away and comes to terms with all of it. A well written fun second chance romance with of course a terrific happily eve after.

This story comes as a fun, enjoyable read. It's a second chance romance that started out really great for me even though almost from the beginning I could predict what was going to happen. Jenny Holiday's writing was engaging, thorough, and convincing. The characters are ones you want to root for and spend time with. The second chance aspect of the story fit well with the drama that happened to them as kids even though I wish it would have been a bit more fleshed out and dramatic so I could really feel that old connection. However, the chemistry they had once in the same town again was ever present. The entire cast of characters was colorful and motley creating a true sense of friendship and understanding. The setting itself and the very aptly named Mermaid Inn was as fitting as it was charming. The predictably of the story was a strike for me and then the book really drug on from around 50-75% with the forward motion being stunted. I started to get bored with it because I wanted something a little deeper for these two adults. I was so invested in the characters though that I had to see how it ended and I'm really glad I did. It's a great beach type read for holiday or a relaxing reading experience. I'll look forward to more from Matchmaker Bay particularly a couple of secondary characters that Holiday really left interesting breadcrumbs about.

Mermaid Inn is a fantastic start to Jenny Holiday’s new Matchmaker Bay series. This slow burn, second chance romance is its own perfect getaway in a few hundred pages.

Eve is a Toronto librarian who inherited her aunt’s Mermaid Inn, an adorable lodging in a small town on the Ontario shore of Lake Huron. Eve stayed with her aunt during the summers growing up, but stopped coming to visit after Sawyer broke her heart before she went to college. Ten years later, Sawyer is the police chief of their quaint town and has never gotten over Eve. Eve’s plan is to sell the run down inn as soon as she can, but her aunt included a clause in her will that says Eve must wait a year before she can sell. As these things happen in books, Eve takes a leave of absence from her job in order to renovate the inn and increase its sale value.

Naturally, romance ensues. One of the many things I loved about this book is the way each and every character is as well developed as our heroine. The town residents are hilarious, but each stands out on their own without being stereotypical. The reader can’t help but cheer on Eve and Sawyer as they take their time becoming reacquainted. I usually get impatient with a book that takes a long time to draw out the slow burn, but Holiday’s sense of timing is spot on. The author’s sense of quaint vs hilarious works overtime to make Mermaid Inn impossible to put down. And, fans of her other romance novels will cheer yet another vital scene with grilled cheese.

I adored Mermaid Inn and can’t wait to see what happens next in Matchmaker Bay.

It's true that Jenny Holiday's latest has a very G-rated contemporary fic cover. It rolls along in PG/PG-13 territory for a good while, this second chance, friends-to-lovers romance eventually takes a hard left into R territory, and I couldn't be happier.

Eve returns to her hometown near Lake Huron to renovate and sell the inn her aunt left her. Of all the things she doesn't want to deal with, top of the list is seeing Sawyer, the high school boyfriend who shattered her heart, and is now the town's police chief.

It all sounds small town standard, but Mermaid Inn delivers a moving backstory about how good intentions can sometimes go so wrong. Plus, hey, a sexy cinnamon roll hero.

Meddling but well-meaning townspeople and a friend group help Sawyer and Evie make their way back to each other. Both Sawyer and Eve have a lot to work through when it comes to past hurts, but Mermaid Inn is emotional without being angsty. It's a solid start to the series. But I have to admit, I’m EVEN MORE interested in Sawyer’s buddy Jake and his story.

Mermaid Inn gave me the warm cozies of a Hallmark movie, but a little sexier. Themes are friendship, young love, and second chances. I think we’ll get more books from this world. I’m looking forward to them.

I voluntarily read an early copy.

After inheriting her Aunt Lucille’s Mermaid Inn brings Eve back to Moonflower Bay her life takes a sharp turn. Initially intending to sell the inn right away, she finds out she has to stay for at least a year while she renovates the inn, meaning she’ll have plenty more encounters with her childhood love, Sawyer.

Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday was the perfect read for this weekend, full of heart, laughs, Littler Mermaid references and even a little steam. I found this to be a really good take on the second-chance romance and I loved seeing Eve and Sawyer find their way back to each other. I think Sawyer may be one of my new favorite book boyfriends😍 And for real, the way Holiday was able to weave some of the Little Mermaid themes in was such a pleasant addition.

At times, the pacing felt a little off and I found myself just wanting Eve and Sawyer to talk to each other about their problems. But those were both minor issues and overall I loved this story and all of minor plots as well. The town of Moonflower Bay is definitely doing to be a fun backdrop for he rest of this series (and I’m definitely hoping one of those will be about Maya and Law).

4/5 stars

4.5 stars! I adored this romance so much! Jenny Holiday has done it again!

In this story, we have a small town that a lot of people spend the summer there. With things like town sleepovers, Mermaid Parades, and other quirky festivals, it gave me a great Stars Hollow feel! The setting of this story was perfect for a second chance romance.

With a beyond the grave style matchmaking, Eve is brought back to town after her great aunt who left her the Mermaid Inn in her will, with the stipulation that she couldn't sell it for a year. She takes this time to renovate it, and plans to go back to Toronto as soon as possible.

What she didn't expect, was having to deal with grown up Sawyer on a regular basis. He had pushed her away years ago, but never got over her. Now that they are around each other a lot, the sparks start to fly again, and they both worry about how it will effect their lives and plans.

The approach to this novel was amazing, and I really enjoyed what came as a result. I am now forever a Jenny Holiday STAN and would recommend checking out not only this one, but all of her work.

Eve Abbott has returned to Moonflower Bay after being away for the past decade. Eve would visit every summer when she was younger and stay with her great-aunt Lucille. She fell in love with the charming town and a boy named Sawyer too. After having her heart broken by Sawyer, Eve left and hasn't been back. She now finds herself the owner of the Mermaid Inn and doesn't quite know how she feels about the town and all of the people in it - specifically the Chief of police Sawyer.

I love a second chance romance and Eve and Sawyer had such great chemistry. The memories of the town and memories of Sawyer are interwoven so tightly in Eve's mind that she is having a hard separating the two. I felt so deeply for both of these characters. They each had their own reasons for acting the way that they did, but missed it out on so much time together.

It did take me a bit to really get into the book, but I feel that sometimes that happens when an author is setting up the characters and plot for a series. The secondary characters were well rounded and added so much to this wonderful story. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series!

I received a complimentary advance title of this book from the publisher.

Thank you Forever and NetGalley for an advanced copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Mermaid Inn
By: Jenny Holiday

*REVIEW* 🌟🌟🌟.5
Mermaid Inn is a second chance romance, and it's set in Canada, which is a nice change from the normal stuff I read. Eve and Sawyer were a thing once, but that ended in heartbreak. Now, Eve has inherited The Mermaid Inn, and she is back in town. Obviously, Eve and Sawyer run into one another because, how can they not in a small town full of terribly nosy gossips. Seriously, the interference and opinions of know it alls was a bit annoying here. This story is a classic trope, so I'm sure you know where it's going to end anyway. Despite this issues, Mermaid Inn is an entertaining, engaging story to make you smile, and that is always a good thing. I recommend this book for a little dose of happiness and cutesy fun.

This is a lovely funny romance. It is sweet, snarky and Canadian. 100% Canadian content which is refreshing. I love all the characters,, the warmth and the trajectory of the romance. The book is gay friendly. There is nothing horribly racy but most of the sexual content is by allusion. There is swearing but that’s funny in context. This was a random choice for me and I am so thrilled to have discovered it.

Ummm.....not sure what to say except I feel like I read a Hallmark movie. It was sweet and easy to read, but followed the Hallmark movie pattern to a tee. So predictable and cliche. Don’t get me wrong it was sweet, funny, and romantic, but it dragged on and you just wanted to smack the characters so they would snap out of their stupidity.

All in all sweet easy read. Received a copy from the publisher fo an honest review.

Sometimes you read a book that is just so perfect for the reading mood that you are in. For me, this book struck all the right notes, a lovely, hopeful romance with small-town quirkiness and charm to start my 2020 reading off right! I'm a fan of Jenny Holiday's anyway but this book is definitely at the top of my favorites list. Sawyer was the very definition of a caretaker alpha, my favorite kind of hero. Strong, protective (sometimes too much so), caring, compassionate, and willing to sacrifice anything to take care of the people he loves. Eve is kind, smart, open, and a bit too wedded to her current life plan to see what's in front of her but she grows and changes of the course of the book and gains the power to listen to and articulate her true wants.

The basic plot is that Eve's beloved aunt has passed away recently and left Eve her quirky, rather run down inn in a small town on Lake Huron, a few hours from Toronto. Eve has a load of student debt and is angling for a promotion to a collections specialist in her library system in Toronto, so she plans to sell the inn quickly and get out of the small town where she spent her summers as a child, and where her first love, Sawyer, now the town police chief, broke her heart at age 18. Her bad memories have overwhelmed and buried all of the good ones to the point where she hasn't been back for 10 yrs. The only problem is that Lucille's will specifies that Eve must live in the inn for a year before she can sell it. Over the course of the year, she is slowly reabsorbed into the town's rhythms and rediscovers her strong feelings for Sawyer as well as making new friends and learning to communicate what she wants. Although Eve was in her late 20's, this almost felt like a coming of age story, not in the sense that Eve acts immaturely (she doesn't) but in the sense that although she's already accomplished a lot professionally, she still has a lot of personal growing to do. There is (of course) a set up for the next few books, presumably with Sawyer's close friends as heroes, and I will be looking forward to all of them.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A new childhood sweetheartssecond-chance romance from Jenny Holiday with lots of quirky small-town charm. Too quirky, however -- the meddling, matchmaking townspeople, the will-with-the-twist from an eccentric aunt, and a run-down themed inn as inheritance all felt really gimmicky. It's a lot of obstacles and interference from people who think they know better than the heroine, which she probably should have been angrier about. But then her own anger has been misplaced before in the reason for the need for a second chance romance, which seemed like a disproportionate response to the transgression, and I found myself frustrated with Eve fairly often. It takes a while for the story to find its stride -- the pace is very slow to start -- but it gets there after the middle of the book; however, the time jumps take away from more time with the hero and heroine together at the end of the book where it's rushed again.

All that said, it's Jenny Holiday, so it's still funny and entertaining and there's some really gorgeous, heartfelt writing (the metaphor of Sawyer's draining and refilling...which does not sound like it could be beautiful but actually is!).

My thanks to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC.

Mermaid Inn is a great second chance romance filled with the awkwardness that comes when you see your ex/the person who broke your heart, the attitude that you give off to let said ex know that you are fine without them, and the constant dilemma of trying to not be attracted to them when you know they still look good or even better than before.

I really enjoyed reading this story by Jenny Holiday. She gave us the quirky Eve Abbott and the lovable heartbreaker Sawyer Collins. Together these two bring the sass that makes every awkward situation hilarious.

Eve Abbott left her small-town to study to become a librarian and when she goes back to her town years later to take over her grandmother's Inn she comes face to face with the man that broke her heart. And that man is now the Cheif of Police. Sawyer has always been the person to fix things and has such a kind heart.

It is great to see how far they come by the end of the story. You can expect lots of secrets and sexual tension.

I give Mermaid Inn 4 stars. It is such a good second chance romance with an ending that is so satisfying as a reader.

Mermaid Inn is a witty, small-town second chance romance that I absolutely adored. It has a charming lakeside town setting, interesting characters, humor, and heart. Eve and Sawyer were childhood sweethearts, but Sawyer betrayed Eve and broke her heart ten years ago. Eve left Moonflower Bay and didn't return for ten years until she inherited her beloved aunt's Inn. Now she is back in Moonflower Bay, she can't escape Sawyer, who is the town's police chief. Sawyer wants to make amends with Eve and their chemistry is as strong as it was when they were teenagers, but will Eve be able to forgive Sawyer for his betrayal? Second chance romance is my favorite trope and Jenny Holiday nailed it! I cannot wait to read more books set in Moonflower Bay.

I have read and enjoyed this author in the past, but she's a bit hit or miss for me. And, unfortunately, this one was a miss. On its face, it looks like it should be right up my alley: heartfelt second chance romance filled with heaps of small town quirk. But the pace was very slow, and filled with things that felt like filler. It falls more into a women's fiction than a romance category, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but it didn't grab me by the head or the heart the way I wanted it to. Ultimately it was a DNF this time around.

Title: Mermaid Inn
Matchmaker Bay #1
Jenny Hold
Romance
rating: 4.5
Eve Abbott has a problem-actually, make that a lot of problems. And they're all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, now the tiny town just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt's beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She's definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street...

Police Chief Sawyer Collins always does the right thing, even when it costs him everything. Like Evie. He's spent the past ten years trying to forget her--to forget how right she felt in his arms, to forget the pain in her eyes the day she left. The last thing he expects is to see her back in town or to find that the spark between them is as strong as ever. Sawyer knows this is his only chance to prove that his feelings have always been real... before Eve turns tail and leaves for good.

My thoughts
Would I recommend it? yes
Will I read more of the series? yes
Will I read more by this author? yes
A cute and adorable slow burn romance that will make you laugh and smile as your reading it, and in a town that everybody and I do mean everybody knows your business and where matchmakers try to work their magic, and while it is slow and might take you a while to get into it like it did me I still enjoyed it. With that said I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Forever for letting me read and review it and I can't wait to read more of this series .

This was another one where I had to get it because of the cover alone. Thanks to netgalley and Readforever publishing for the book to read and review. I was excited that the book was set in Canada since I had recently visited Toronto! I must say after all the descriptions of The Mermaid Inn I want to go visit. This was a sweet second chance romance and start to a new series. I've never read this author before but it was very easy and smooth reading and can't wait for book 2!

Thanks, Forever and Netgalley for letting me read!!

I went into reading Mermaid Inn knowing that it would be a cute, light romance but ended up loving how much growth and personal connection I felt to the characters. After reading a couple of heavier books before it, Mermaid Inn was the perfect palate cleanser to keep my reading game going and my love for romance strong! Fun story, quirky and love able small town supporting characters and a perfectly flawed couple who have to find their own way to coming back together. So much fun.

I enjoyed this cute story by Jenny Holiday. It's a second-chance romance for Eve and Sawyer, who ten years ago were summertime sweethearts when Eve would visit her Aunt Lucille in Moonflower Bay. The summer they were 18, however, Sawyer betrayed Eve in a way that she was not able to forgive, and she not only left him, but she left town.

When her Aunt Lucille passes on, Eve heads back to Moonflower Bay to fix up and sell her aunt's beloved Mermaid Inn. But things never go quite as planned!

What follows is a sweet story of forgiveness and falling in love again, both with each other and also as Eve falls back in love with the town and all the characters in it. Moonflower Bay, or as the locals call it - "Matchmaker Bay", due to its meddling inhabitants - feels a little bit like Stars Hollow, from Gilmore Girls. I love that small town feel, the characters all being invested in each other and caring for each other.

Also loved that Eve grows and overcomes some personal fears throughout the story as well. And Sawyer - attractive police chief, sensitive, good with kids, and *POSSIBLE SPOILER BUT NOT REALLY* - he builds her a little free library! I fell in love with him a little bit too at that point ;)

The ending wrapped up a little too neatly almost, and while the book wasn't anything groundbreaking - it was a cute story, the chemistry between Eve and Sawyer was great, and I loved the secondary characters as well and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy, all opinions are my own.