✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨
Holy moly @holymolyjennyholi has done it again! If you loved Mermaid Inn, be sure to grab Paradise Cove when it comes out 7/28! This book explores grief, fresh starts, and hallmark type romances. I cried and I laughed out loud. Witty banter is always a plus and there is no shortage here! If you’re looking for a quick small town romance, look no further! I am a Jenny Holiday fan for life. Thank you to @netgalley and @readforeverpub for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
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📚 DESCRIPTION 📚
Dr. Nora Walsh has just been dumped in spectacular fashion, making it the perfect time for a major life change. She figures taking over the medical practice in tiny Matchmaker Bay for a couple of years will help her get over her broken heart, and then she can head back to the big city. But when the first man she sees looks like a superhero god, she wonders if maybe there's something to small-town living after all.
Jake Ramsey also has a broken heart -- one he never expects to heal. He doesn't need people anyway and is content hiding out in his secluded cottage on the beach. But after helping Nora with a medical emergency, he finds himself opening up to the witty, warmhearted doctor. Soon the local matchmakers are working overtime to pair them off, and Jake begins to wonder if his campaign to get Nora to stay is for the town or because he can't bear the thought of her leaving. •
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The second book in a beachy romance novel, this one was definitely better than the first! I love the connection between the characters!

Dr. Nora Walsh moves to Matchmaker Bay. She moves there to take over a medical practice that has been dormant for a year. She plans to only stay two years and tells everyone in the town that is what she is going to do. She moves there to be over a break up and her plan is is to go back to Toronto when her time is up. Jake Ramsey is a quiet, strong, silent man dealing with grief issues. For some reason Jake befriends Nora by fixing things in her rental. They become friends with benefits. I loved the characters and their meddling. The community also helps there own. This is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the E-ARC. This is my own opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

I enjoyed this book book even more than the previous book in the series. This one gives us: DealingWithGrief, DealingWithBreakup, FriendsToLovers, SecretLovers, NoseyNeighbors, and more. I found the protagonists to be interesting and believable, and you actually got to see their relationship progress for a fair amount of the book before they inevitably ended up in bed together. I look forward to the newly announced third book in this entertaining series.

I’ve never read another Jenny Holiday book, but I am a fan now. It was a sweet story of Nora and Jake, and I loved the whole town who came with them. I was engaged throughout the whole story. Nora comes to town and meets quiet Jake. I loved the intro to him in the salon. Watching the progression for Nora as she grew to love town was lovely. Their story was natural and grew in a way that seemed real. My only gripe - build the lady a bridge, Jake! I am already excited for Maya and Law’s story and have to go back and read Sawyer and Eve’s.

#ParadiseCove#NetGalley
Thank you for gifting me this book. My first by this author but difinately not my last.. There main character Nora is a Dr who has made big changes in her life. She moves to Matchmaker Bag to reset her life from a cheating ex and a stressful emergency room job. She has a two year contract but quickly realized the town is going to do everything they can do to change her mind about leaving. She meets Jake Ramsey a man who hardly talks to anyone who is struggling to get over his overwhelming grief from the death of his child and his mothers death a few months later. Make feels Nora is being taken advantage of by her landlord and helps her out with projects around her house. As time goes by he opens up to Nora, even talking about his Son. When Nora asks his name, Make feels a little comfortable talking to her because she didn't want all the details just enough to let him know how sorry she was. As time goes on they feel they are being drawn together but fight against it. They begin to share their past in little conversations. They are thrown together by Nora's and the town's matchmaking group at the hardware store. Will it just be friends with benefits of will it become something far greater . This book will make you smile, cry, and make you feel like you know the town and the people in it. Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this book.

What a great story about love, family, friendship, and forgiveness.
Nora has just come off a break up from her long time boyfriend and needs a life restart. So she heads to Paradise Cove to be the new doctor, but only for two years. Jake lost his baby son and was unable to save his marriage after the death of Jude. Determined to never love again, he has become somewhat of a town recluse. He helps others, drops in on Friday nights for a drink, but prefers to live alone in his isolated cottage by the lake.
But life has a way of making people rethink their decisions. Can Nora and Jake move past all they have endured and find happiness together, or are some things just impossible to move past?
This is a quick read, feel good story. The characters are "real" with real life issues and feelings. Loved this book. Thank you so much for the advance copy. Was my pleasure to leave my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Forever Grand Central Publishing and Jenny Holiday for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
I’m going to start by stating the obvious: the only thing that would make this book better, is if it lasted for about 8 books. I LOVED this book. I loved the characters, I loved the wit and banter, I LOVED the chemistry and I loved their stories. I would say it’s safe to call me a picky reader but everything about this book pulled me in.
Nora was not your typical female lead in a romance book from the get go. She was smart, successful and spunky from page one. I also really appreciated that she didn’t look like your typical female lead. She was described as being almost otherworldly by Jake more than once. It’s not just her looks that are unique either, it’s how she handled herself. She wasn’t a damsel in distress, she wasn’t a whiner or a quitter and she didn’t bring her emotional junk to the table unless it was invited. Nora was my kind of chick and I think I want to be her best friend.
Now on to Jake. I may have a new book boyfriend. This man was all man. No pretty boy playing games, no Jake was very straightforward. I will give a warning that this book is STEAMY but the chemistry between Jake and Nora was so hot I expected nothing less. I appreciated that while Jake was the one carrying most of the baggage, he handled himself in a way that didn’t damage the people around him. I guess what i liked most about this book is that this was a great story about two ADULTS. I love a good romance but they tend to feel cliche or cheesy. Jenny Holiday is now on my must read list and I’m dying for the next book in the series to come out just to get a glimpse at these two again. The side characters and the town gave me serious Gilmore Girls vibes. After I finished this I learned that there is a book before and each book will be led by different side characters in the other books!

I was so excited to return to Matchmaker Bay. I loved Jake and Nora. I enjoyed their friendship and the slow growth of their relationship. This book had some heavy moments but I thought they were handled beautiful. It was great to see the return of the other loveable characters . Overall I would suggest this book, there are laughs, tears, and love.

This book is just delightful. This book tells the story of Nora...a doctor who recently came out of a long term relationship and moved to Moonflower Bay to change things up. There she meets Jake...mostly a quiet loner who is still dealing with the grief of losing his child. I loved this book. The characters are great. The small town and its people are fun. The setting is perfection. And the feelings are all there. Grief, laughter, attraction, friendship, love. Paradise Cove has it all and tugs on your heartstrings in the best way. While it is second in the series it can be read as a stand-alone. I very much look forward to reading more from Jenny Holiday in the future.

You're a young doctor who is a tad burned out from the city life. Some extenuating circumstances have let you see that you want something a bit different. Of course your next move should be to the Matchmaker Bay!

Thank you Forever Pub and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this read. I found the pace of the story to be just right. I enjoyed the friends to lovers trope of Jake and Nora. The supporting characters were amazing. Dr. Walsh was a hoot! Also, can I have more Pearl please.

This story has some heavier topics that include the death of an infant. I don't want to give up any spoilers but I feel it may be necessary to have this as a trigger warning. This, among a few other hard topics, took this from a rom com to a heavier romance for me. I am not complaining though. The harder aspects of this book made it more enjoyable for me to appreciate the end.

The only thing I would have liked to be a bit different is to have indication of who's point of view we are receiving. There wasn't consistency in this. Overall, this was a fantastic, swoon worthy, at times steamy, adorable love story! I can't wait to read the next in the series!

Paradise Cove is a fantastic continuation of Jenny Holiday’s Matchmaker Bay series. Not only do the well-drawn characters grow and change throughout the story, the town and its colorful residents continue to play a staring role.

Nora is a doctor from Toronto who left her big city emergency room job and her cheating ex boyfriend behind to give herself a fresh start. This small town on the banks of a Great Lake seems like the perfect short term solution. She’ll take a break from the stress of city life, save some money and then head back to the city in a few years.

Jake has lived in Matchmaker Bay his entire life. He married his high school sweetheart, but their marriage fell apart after the death of their young son. Now he is a friend to everyone in town and always helps when needed, but never talks about his ongoing grief.

When Nora and Jake meet, they feel a strong connection. While they are attracted to each other, they start off as friends with no intentions of going further. As their attraction grows, they decide to become friends with benefits since neither one is interested in a romantic relationship.

I loved this book. Not only was it sweet and steamy, but Jake and Nora are fully realized three dimensional characters
Their grief is realistic and heart wrenching, but surprisingly not completely depressing. I also adored how supportive the entire town is of their relationship. Everyone is shocked that Nora gets Jake to open up about his past, and she’s amazed that they all think it’s such a big deal. On top of everything else, the chemistry between these two is off the charts. It’s rare to find a book that can be both steamy and emotionally satisfying, but Paradise Cove exceeded all my expectations.

Paradise Cove was a fantastic romance. I wish Matchmaker Bay was a real location that I could visit this summer! But, I know that I will reread this book many times so I can spend more time with these amazing characters.

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

LOVED this book! This opens with Nora taking a time-out to reboot her life.....haven't we all wanted to do that at one point or another?....then moves on to Jake, the silently brooding man whose child died several years before, except he's not silent and brooding with Nora. Add in all the community busybodies that are hard-wired to interfere in the lives of the residents, and you have all the makings are a wonderful novel.

The characters felt real and came to life on the page. I was invested in the characters and wanted them to get their HEA ending The author made their circumstances feel real and used a gentle touch to address grief in the death of a family member.

I found myself transported to Paradise Cove and only wish I could actually visit there....especially to Jake's home. Put this one at the top of your TBR. The author is on my must read authors' list.

This was an enjoyable book with fun characters and dialogue. It was an easy summer read that is a good read to pick up by to pool or on the beach.

Dr. Nora Walsh is taking a two year trial at being the doctor in this small town. Leaving the big city and a horrible ex-boyfriend behind, coming to this small town is just what her heart (and savings account) needs. Upon arrival, Nora is welcomed to the community and then she meets Jake Ramsey. Wrapped in his own grief, neither Jake nor Nora know what is headed their way as Nora settles into Matchmaker Bay.

Matchmaker Bay is the idyllic seaside town where Dr. Nora Walsh hopes to get her life together. She looks forward to being the town’s only doctor and they are thrilled to have her. Nora needs to get over her boyfriend Rufus and make a new life for herself. She never expected Jake, the man who is grieving after the death of his son, would become her best friend. Neither wants a relationship but they find a connection. The characters are genuine, ones you would love to be around, and the town is a place you would love to visit. Great book!

HUGE CW: death, grief, and specifically loss of a child. (Don’t worry, this doesn’t spoil anything, you know this going in). The loss of a child does not happen on the page, but is discussed a lot. ⁣
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𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘯 was the first in this series and I adored it, so I was really excited for the next in this series! This is the story of Nora, a doctor who has recently relocated to Matchmaker Bay, and Jake, who has become the town recluse after losing his son a few years earlier. ⁣
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This was a heavier romance - heavy in the sense of there was a lot of thoughts and discussions around the subject of loss - there was a lot going on but it worked! ⁣
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The book flips some gender stereotypes - Nora has short hair, and Jake has really long hair. They meet in the first scene and not long after Nora ends up helping a woman give birth in a park, so the story jumps right in! ⁣
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It’s a bit of a slow burn: Nora & Jake are truly friends before they are romantically involved, but again, it works! I enjoyed this book, and definitely want to read more in this series! ⁣

The first book in this series was something of a miss for me. While I don't usually have a problem with flashbacks or dual timelines, the combination of heavy-duty worldbuilding to support an entire series to come plus the flashbacks that described the couple's teenage love affair gone wrong made the pacing just too slow for me.

However, there was a lot to love there. A town with a tight-knit (though welcoming) community and traditions? Meddling senior citizens? The beginnings of trademark Jenny Holiday female friendships? Well, let me say I didn't hesitate a single second when I was offered an ARC of the second book.

The five stars are probably a spoiler, but this book does everything I was looking for in the first book and then some. The promise of the community is more than fulfilled. The couple is achingly perfect for each other in all of that, "Oh, you sillies: you're in love and you don't know it yet" way.

If you like your protagonists competent, you'll be sold. If you like your heroes quiet and stoic, ditto. I'm not usually a person who cries when reading (like, hardly ever) but this one made me tear up a couple of times. (CW: offscreen death of two different characters, one long in the past, one in the book.) The exploration of grief and healing was very raw and real and handled with a specificity to the two main characters that was powerful to see.

I was given an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Saving the CEO, the first book in Jenny Holiday’s 49th Floor series, was one of the very first contemporary romance novels I ever read.  Since then, my history with Holiday is mostly hits, and a few misses.  Which makes it rather fitting that I’m on the fence grading Paradise Cove, the second book in her small town Matchmaker Bay series.  I enjoyed the romance, principal characters, and their small group of friends, but the setting – the oh, so twee Moonflower Bay - and straight-out-of-central-casting small town, meddling, ‘matchmaking’  secondary characters nearly sabotage this deeply emotional second chance love story.  (Maybe I just don’t like the small town trope?)  I didn’t read the first book in the series and had no problem reading Paradise Cove as a standalone, but fair warning; while this is a mostly uplifting and heartwarming story, it also delves into some emotionally heavy subject matter - cancer, depression, loss, and grief.

When Jake Ramsey and Dr. Nora Walsh first meet, there’s a spark of attraction that catches them both off guard.  Nora, a former Emergency Room doctor in Toronto, has just relocated to Moonflower Bay, having decided, after catching her partner in bed with a much younger resident, it was time for a change.

She’d responded to a classified ad in the Ontario Medical Review . . . and here she was. New town, new specialty, new life.

 She popped into the Curl and Dye Salon on a whim for a root touch-up, and was delighted to discover they could fit her in and they had her hair color.  When CJ, her stylist, asks her how she ended up at the salon that day, Nora mentions she’s taken over the medical practice, quickly adding that she only plans to stay in Moonflower Bay for two years - to find herself - but she doesn’t mention that part.  She also isn’t looking for a relationship or a new man, but it doesn’t mean she can stop staring at Aquaman’s twin… er, the big, handsome, long-haired man sitting across from her, who CJ introduces as Jake Ramsey.

Jake lost his infant son Jude (flu) and his mother (cancer) in the span of six months, and since then, he’s struggled to get past the grief that often overwhelms him.  Divorced, single, quiet and reserved, Jake spends time with a close knit group of friends, working at his carpentry business, and alone at his beach cottage.  He doesn’t date or ogle attractive women, but he can’t stop sneaking glances at this one - who showed up at the beauty salon while he was getting his weekly wash and trim, or eavesdropping on her conversation with his friend and stylist CJ.  When Dr. Walsh confesses that she’s arrived in Moonflower Bay with little more than the clothes on her back, he suspects there’s more to her story than she’s willing to tell, and when she mentions that she rented a place sight unseen, he makes plans to pay her a visit and check it out for himself.  Jake isn’t sure why he’s suddenly so interested in the health and welfare of a complete stranger, but he is.

When Jake and Nora keep running into each other, and he keeps insisting on fixing up her rental, Nora initially demurs.  But Jake is friendly and persistent - just like most of the other residents in Moonflower Bay - and before long he becomes a familiar presence at her house.  They bond over pizza dinners on the newly repaired back deck, and Nora finds herself quickly assimilated into Jake’s small and lovely group of friends.  Jake is surprised by how easy it is to talk about Jude with Nora, and if he’s honest with himself, he’s attracted to her, too.  Their burgeoning friendship doesn’t go unnoticed, but Jake and Nora ignore the local matchmakers.  They’re just friends (in lust)... until Nora finally can’t take it anymore.  She asks Jake if he wants to have sex.  He’s surprised, but friends, he does.  Like, immediately.  So they start secretly having sex.  Lots of it.  And getting all the feelings.  All the time.  Uh oh.

Predictably (because this is a romance novel), being best friends, spending lots of lovely time together, and having lots of passionate sex leads to relationship problems.  Both Jake and Nora keep reminding themselves they don’t want one - except they’re in one, and they know that, too.

When Nora gets a not unexpected call from her sister that their grandmother, battling cancer, is close to death, she drops everything and goes to Toronto.  Jake misses her - desperately.  Nora misses him - desperately.  And when she returns to Moonflower Bay and turns to Jake for solace, it marks a turning point in the affair.

As someone who lost a baby and struggled afterwards, I appreciated Holiday’s deft, sensitive handling of Jake’s devastation and grief and his inability to deal with both.  I sought help; he didn’t - and that is the crux of the problem in Paradise Bay.  Jake equates personal happiness with disloyalty to his son, and until he meets Nora, he’s managed to live a life mostly devoid of joy.  He can’t do that with Nora, so he withdraws from her altogether.  Nora, who knows Jake still struggles with Jude’s death, can’t know about the waves of grief that still swamp him (he’s hidden it from her) - or that their last long weekend together triggered a relapse.  Rejected by Rufus, healing from the death of a beloved relative, and surrounded by new friends who love and support her, Nora - true to character - cuts her losses, decides the affair is over and moves on with her life.  She’s practical, capable, smart, and unwilling to let a man dictate her life choices, and although those are all good things, they preclude her from following her heart.  Holiday carefully, cleverly constructs her story based on the versions of Nora and Jake they show each other at the start, and since we know that foundation is shaky - Jake hides his depression; Nora pretends she hasn’t found a home and family in Moonflower Bay - it’s no surprise when they baulk and then quit at the first hurdle.  Fortunately, Jake reaches out for help from an unlikely ally, and Nora finds support and solace from her friends.  These found families help them see their future through a different lens, and sparks a happy reconciliation.  I hated the last minute twist that ends their silent stalemate - I HATED IT - but since Holiday rather heavy-handedly foreshadows the possibility early on, I can’t say I was surprised.  Disappointed, but not surprised.

Paradise Bay starts off as a small town romance much like any other, but Holiday refreshes the trope with a second chance love story that’s deeply moving, heartwarming, and sexy.  Her fans will be well-pleased.

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I'll admit this isn't my usual type of book, and I'm not sure how I ended up requesting it. The small town setting was charming in this novel and I liked the main character well enough. For what it was, this book was sweet and uncomplicated. I do prefer my novels to have bit more meat to them and even in a cute romance, I like to learn something or explore something new. Even though this was set in a small town in Ontario, there was absolutely no diversity in the characters. I was hopeful that there would be more on the issue of opioids, but it was merely thrown out in conversation and never really discussed again or dealt with. I think it did a good job of discussing vaccinations and their importance, but it was weirdly focused on the flu vaccine and not other vaccines that people are more alarmingly resistant towards. Anyways, I realized after I received the advanced copy, that this is #2 in a series so not sure if I missed something with the first one, but I won't be racing to read another novel by this author.

If someone is looking for an easy, lighthearted read that is reminiscent of the show, Hart of Dixie, I'd recommend this, but again, I just don't think this type of novel is for me.