While I loved the plot-line of this story, I struggled to keep track of the various characters and their relationships to one another and found that the romances did not seem very realistic. I could see this story making for a cute movie, but unfortunately the writing and character development just fell a bit flat for me.

To be perfectly honest this was a bit of an oddball story.

I do like reading about women in the mid/late thirties to early forties, trying to find love. I don’t mind the occasional age gap, where the women is older, or women going through a midlife crisis and how friendships change, or parenting when freshly divorced, etc.

I am in this age group, but sadly could not connect with any of the characters. This was a miss for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book put me on an emotional rollercoaster. We had twists, we had turns, we got our happy for now.

I loved being able to follow Saffie, Milo, and Tamara. I never wanted to put it down!

So, I closed this book at 42%...

If you are interested, it was when Tamara's date turned out to be a ventriloquist. (Why oh why did he even bring the suitcase on what was supposed to be an adult date??)

At that point the story just became too ridiculous.
I wasn't really that impressed by the story up until that point, but after the dates were introduced, it was like... Come on!!

Not that funny, not romantic, just plain ridiculous - and my life is too short.

I really hope other people enjoy it, though.

The 24 Hour Dating Agency took too long to get me interested. Unfortunately, since I have so many wonderful books to read I chose not to finish it.

I didn't connect with the characters, as much as I wanted to. And I couldn't get invested in their storylines.

Such a shame as the I found the premise interesting, hoping it would hook me like The Soulmate Equation did.

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

The 24 Hour Dating Agency by Mary Jayne Baker reads like an extended triptych, but I will say first hand that this novel is less of a romantic comedy than it is about midlife crises. It’s ambitious, reaching to tell the story of wanting to start over for different reasons and how a new relationship can factor into these rebirths, but in practice feels rushed and incomplete.

This book follows Saffie, a 36 year old staff writer at a small family owned magazine, and her two best friends, the siblings Tamara, the 41 year old editor in chief, and Milo, the 36 year old graphic designer. Following individual crises, the three decide that a date set up by The 24 Hour Dating Agency is just what they need to reinvent themselves- Tamara to remind herself that she’s more than a single mother, Saffie to write a feature allowing her to leave for a better job, and Milo to find the love he feels he’s missing. After their dates are over, the three are a study in contrasts in how the day affects their lives moving forward.

In several ways, The 24 Hour Dating Agency is a study in three possibilities: there’s the midlife crises of the main characters who alternatively cover self, family, and work. There’s the reaction to the dates. There’s how they process emotions. This doesn’t even touch on the three love interests and how they all differ to perfectly match their counterpart. As I was reading, I had built up immense respect for Baker for the scope she wanted to achieve through the three mains. However, I couldn’t help but leave the book feeling like Baker bit off more than she could chew. This book is theoretically about Saffie, Tamara, and Milo in equal parts but ends up working out to percentages like 60/30/10 respectively. Because of this, I found Saffie so bland and static to be so prominent, Tamara to be the most interesting if annoying to trudge through, and Milo to be basically a stereotype. Committing to a single story line and telling the others in dialogue, or even separating this novel into 3 novellas, in my opinion would have helped a lot with the development of the characters and the world.

Even now, what has stayed with me and bugged me the most about The 24 Hour Dating Agency is that, for it to be the title of the book, the actual dating agency and dates in the book are poorly explained and quickly over with. What could have been spread over several chapters and explained through the three different perspectives was instead discussed over beers and done with. The interview and questionnaire intake is said to be over 100 questions but we the readers hear maybe 5. All three are sent on elaborate 24 hour dates, and we see the beginning clues for all three couples, but past that only Milo’s experience is explained. We meet up with Saffie and Tamara at the end of their dates with comments as to part of what they did (or were supposed to) but not what was so magical about the entire thing.

Then, as I mentioned above, there is the lack of romance elements in a book marketed as a romantic comedy. When I see that a book is being marked as a romance, I read with the expectation that the love interests will have development and roundedness that may not match the level of the main character but still far exceed side characters. We get that to a small degree with Russell/Richard, Saffie’s interest, but we learn so little about Harry and Christian that a stick with a magazine cutout could take their place and no one would notice. Again, I think focusing the scope to just one couple or instead doing three novellas would have prevented this problem.

All in all, I probably will forget I read this book within a month and not bother with another by Baker. It might be another’s cup of tea but the world views of the characters and plot development just did not match what I enjoy. 🤷‍♀️ It’s not on Baker and it’s not on me. I’m going to chalk The 24 Hour Dating Agency up to a mislabeling sell and different reader expectations on both ends and move on.

Rating: ⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 0/🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 (Fade to black, sex is mentioned/implied but never explicitly, would receive a PG-13 rating if a movie)

**I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Great abd loveable characters, really easy to follow and enjoyable read. Loved the plot and jus really enjoyed it.

This was a very whimsical cute romance. I enjoyed the three main characters they were all lovable along will little Willow. Unfortunately, I felt like this book dragged on more than it needed to.

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋

Fun and entertaining Romantic Comedy.
Great characters with easy banter that flows.
Some wonderful moments that will have you giggling for sure.
Easy to read and follow.

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

Sent from my iPhone

I wanted to love this book… but I just didn’t. I feel like something was missing. I didn’t connect with the characters like I was hoping to. It had cute moments and was a super quick read though. Just not the book for me

Perfect for those going through the dating cycle or that left it long behind

Tinder, Hinge, Bumble – thirtysomething journalist Saffie has tried them all. Now she's wondering whether it's time to throw in the towel and give up on love for good – and she's not alone...

Saffie's boss Tamara has been single since her divorce four years ago, but at forty-five, running her own magazine and with three kids at home, she doesn't feel she has the time, energy or confidence to go through the dating mill again. Meanwhile, Saffie's best friend Milo has just been dumped – again. A hopeless romantic with terrible taste in men, this is his fourth break-up in six months. There must be a secret to finding Mr Right, surely – but what?

Step forward The 24-hour Dating Agency, a matchmaking service with a difference. Instead of wasting months on casual dates, they promise to send you on an intense twenty-four-hour date with your perfect match – like speed-dating but in reverse. And even better, the agency offers a soulmate guarantee: meet The One or your money back.

Figuring they have nothing to lose, the three friends sign up. But when their matches turn out to be not what they were expecting, it seems like even the soulmate guarantee can't find them what they're looking for. Or can it?

Molto carino, lo consiglio, mi è piaciuto davvero tanto.
Una lettura scorrevole e estiva, leggetelo vi regalerà dei minuti in cui potrete estraniarvi dalla realtà per immergervi nella vita della protagonista.

Thank you Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the eARC! All opinions expressed are my own.

☆☆☆ Overall

I expected something completely different from this book than what I got, but not necessarily in a bad way? I’m not really sure how I feel about it. The book itself is well written, but I feel like there are ways to be Out of the Box without being so against the grain at times, if that makes sense. This was an enjoyable read, but I felt like there was so much going on at times.

Rating: 3.5/5 (rounding up to 4)

Summary: Three friends and coworkers feel as though they have tried everything to find love and have completely run out of luck. After finding an ad for an agency that guarantees a soulmate they each decide to give it a try for a different reason. Tamara needs a distraction from the fact that her ex-husband is back in her life, Milo feels as though he has dated every man in the area and they have all ended poorly, and Saffie believes it would make an interesting story for their magazine.

Thank you so much Head of Zeus for the eARC of this book. I was so intrigued by the concept of this book and could not wait to read it! I really loved that is was about three friends with very different outlooks on love and experiences. The beginning of the story was a little slower paced <spoiler> and I wish we had more content when they were actually on the 24 hour date. </spoiler> I also wish we had more content about Milo as I felt his story deserved a little more time. Overall it was a very cute read, especially for the summer. If you like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Love Guaranteed then this may be the book for you!

This was a bit slow to start but very fast paced once I got into it! This book follows three friends all trying to fall in love. They decide to join a 24 hour dating agency that promises to find their soulmate. I enjoyed the dynamic between the three friends and the witty banter makes it a quick, easy read. I really liked that the dating matches focused more on personality than looks and how that can relate to the struggle in finding love. I wish each character had their own book as it was hard to completely connect to three main characters and their love story and some of the time there was way too much information and detail all at once.

3.25 stars

Different premise, this book was fun and engaging. The characters were very likable and relatable, and once I got into it, it was hard to put down. I enjoyed the three different stories of the main characters, each had a great story in their own way. The British slang was hard to follow sometimes but it was a fun story!

Saffie, Tamara and Milo all signup to a new matchmaking service, which promises to find your perfect match while sending you on a 24 hour date. The dating agency offers a soulmate guarantee where you meet “The One” or you get your money back.

Mary Jayne Baker is on my list of favourite authors This book was just wonderful.

A very fun idea and executed well!

Saffie, her co-worker and best friend Milo, and his older sister and their boss Tamara are all in romantic ruts. When Milo stumbles upon a dating agency claiming to help you find your soulmate or your money back, guaranteed, he decides to sign up. After much convincing, Saffie and Tamara sign up as well, and the three of them embark on blind 24-hour dates with their supposed soulmates. All three of them end up with something they very much did not expect.

I thought this book was charming. It was a little slow at first, but when you get to the actual dates, it really picks up. I only wish that there were more time spent with each character—I think that's the downside of having three POVs, you can really only do so much with each one.

Overall, I would recommend! An entertaining, easy summer read.

THE 24 HOUR DATING AGENCY is a tale about three friends, all involved in publishing a small family-owned periodical, who decide to try out a new dating service. Although this book is really about so much more than their trial 24 hour dates. Each main character has a fully developed storyline, with ancillary characters and backstory galore. The characters move between their own lives, their shared workplace and their mutual friendships; this book is a joy to read. Nothing is a complete surprise but every detail is well constructed and created with care. I enjoyed this book enormously. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Really enjoyed reading this books. Enjoyed the story line and the characters. Definitely need to get the physical copy of this to display on my shelf :) 😀