A poet goes on a matchmaking trip in Vietnam but finds herself falling for the unlikeliest person of all. Evie Lang's life is not exactly going great, her beloved aunt has passed away and she's been fired from her poetry professorship by her secret boyfriend. When she receives a surprisingly letter from her aunt telling her that she's been left a deed to a San Francisco row house and all Evie has to do to inherit it is go on a pre-arranged matchmaking tour in Viet Name? Evie can't say no, the house is the place where all her happiest memories are and if it means spending a trip with strangers looking for love (despite being freshly broken up with) she'll do it. Then there is Adam Quyền , a guy who is working round the clock as the CMO for his sister's elite matchmaking business and despite being someone who doesn't know anything about love, he's determined to do the job. Adam and Evie couldn't be more different, she's chaotic and flighty, he's serious and uptight. Yet when they meet each other... something sparks between them. But can a relationship work when they come from two completely different worlds... and the fact that they live in two different places once this trip is over. This was a really sweet read and the romance was cute. I think my favorite aspect of this book however was the exploration of Vietnam and all the traveling and site seeing that happened. It just felt like a magical look into Vietnam and a really beautiful tour. The story itself was a sweet and easy read but the description of Vietnam and all the tourist exploration was what made this book a real delightful read.

Release Date: September 24,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

the beef i have with meddling families is unmatched...

this book has been on my radar for a bit because i saw a picture of the cover and immediately fell in love, it's just so beautiful. the story itself also sounded pretty interesting. usually matchmaking books aren't my favorite but i decided to test this out because i was just so into the cover. overall this wasn't a bad book, the writing was really good and it painted a beautiful picture of vietnam and the places they visited. i just don't think the romance was endearing enough. there were certain parts of the book where i wasn't even sure if i wanted adam and evie to end up together and that's not the best thing for a romance.

the story of evie finding herself and realizing what she wanted to do after leaving her job also just felt bland. like i don't get why she started whatever little thing she started at the end. adam was so hot and cold that it wasn't even fun to read about. they would have sex and then he'd not speak to her for days, i'm sorry but that's not attractive. also the way his sister spoke about evie and just the way she spoke to her brother in general was so annoying. the amount of people that said he was still in love with lana even though she CHEATED on him was crazy. it just wasn't cute and then we found out she lied to him about why evie left and i was pissed.

though this didn't really work for me and did like the writing and all the new characters we met on the matchmaking trip. i would read a story about fen and mei in a heartbeat!!!

*thank you NetGalley for an ARC*

Rating: 4.5/5

“But what I’ve learned is that the best moments are the ones that happen when you’re fully in the moment. The best connections are the ones that happen in good faith, where two people allow each other to become vulnerable with each other. Love, friendship. Art. It’s only possible when you allow yourself to leap.”

(BRB, booking a trip to Vietnam.)

I adored this book. This author did a fantastic job of taking a romantic comedy just a step further to tell a really meaningful story. This book had such a great balance of romance, friendships, complicated family dynamics, humor, and spice.

The themes of grief and identity were handled so beautifully, and it was refreshing to see these characters be so human. I really enjoyed getting to see these fully fleshed out characters try to navigate feelings they never expected to have and find solutions to problems that were actually high-stakes. It makes it all the more worth it when things fall together for them.

In addition to Adam and Evie, we got a full cast of supporting characters who really made the story feel whole. I really enjoyed getting to tag along and experience Evie’s female friendships and Adam’s relationship with his sister. All in all, this book is fantastic and will stay with me for a long time. Firmly in the “more than just a romance” category. I can’t wait to see what Nora Nguyen does next!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for this NetGalley arc.

I really enjoyed Adam and Evie's Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen! This was a fun romance with a beautiful Việt Nam setting!

Evie's beloved aunt has passed away and left her San Francisco house but in order to receive it, she needs to visit her family’s home country and go on a matchmaking tour.

I loved the setting and reading about the beautiful location plus the food in her book. While it was a little insta-romance I liked Evie seeing her family’s roots and finding inspiration for her writing. I liked Adam's devotion to his family and seeing him realize what he needed to be happy.

It was fun to see that the author also writes as Thao Thai (Banyan Moon)!

Thanks to Avon Books for my advanced copy via Netgalley! Adam and Evie's Matchmaking Tour comes out on Tuesday - September 24th!

This was such an interesting book! Yes, it's a romance at it's core, but the beautiful backdrop of Vietnam provided a gorgeous setting for the book!

Evie, poet and adjunct professor at a small liberal arts college, is stalled professionally, personally. Her boyfriend and department head just fired her and her agent seems like he's going to drop her. When her favorite bohemian family member Auntie Hảo passes away, she leaves her a gorgeous classic row home in San Francisco--with one catch. She has to go on a matchmaking tour in Vietnam and attempt to find love.

Adam is CMO of the matchmaking company. He has a huge chip on his shoulder. His Stanford MBA is probably above his role, but his sister asked him to help. Adam's family is straight from Crazy Rich Asians. Seriously.

The cultural backdrop and fun cast of characters set this romantic comedy apart from the others. Fun fact, author Nora Nguyen wrote Banyan Moon under a pseudonym. She wrote this beautiful, but very spicy romance under her own name! I cannot love this more.

I absolutely loved #AdamEviesMatchmakingTour by Nora Nguyen, who's writing was atmospheric, believable, and inspiring. I immediately took to the book and could not put it down. It's a great love story with vivid imagery and a beautiful message -- to love (and live) bravely.

The narration alternates by chapter between Evie; an academic and poet who’s unsure of herself and her place in the world, and Adam; a cynical workaholic who’s determined to prove himself and break free of his overbearing family. It's the perfect amount of slow-burn, with enough tease to keep the reader's attention. The enemies-turned-lovers each struggle internally with their thoughts, family/societal expectations, and physical distance. There's a lot of tension and it's a solid 3/5 level 🌶️.

4.7 ⭐️ rounded up to a 5. A top-notch romance that should be considered amongst the best releases of the year.

I often feel like it’s really hard to find a great romance; most of them are good, if average and a bit predictable, but the same cannot be said of this book because it exceeded my expectations in so many ways.

Set against the backdrop of Việt Nam’s most stunning and luxurious sights, Adam and Evie unexpectedly fall in love over the course of three weeks. They are both so drastically different from each other — Adam, a closed-off, controlled businessman constrained by his family’s expectations; Evie, a wild-hearted poet, grieving her father and beloved Auntie, ready for wherever the wind will take her — and yet they find themselves constantly drawn to each other.

At the same time, this story was so much more than just the romance between Adam and Evie. It was about family and grief, power and money, friendship and adventure. It was ultimately about all the many types and forms of love that exist in the world. And at the heart of it all are Adam and Evie, like fate has destined them for each other (as their names might suggest).

This was truly such a beautiful story filled with poetic moments and lyrical prose. It is full of yearning and heart and excellently depicts the struggle between knowing it’s illogical to be together but not being able to stay away at the same time.

Thank you, netgalley and Avon books! All opinions are my own.

A delightful romcom pairs so well with chicken tendies from my fave spot on a Sunday afternoon… what more could I ask for?!

Evie’s a bit of a mess. She hasn’t been the same since her father died, and her beloved Auntie recently passed away has only made things worse. The only silver lining is that her Auntie left her the San Francisco townhouse. But then Evie learns there is a catch - in order to claim it, she has to go on a luxury matchmaking tour in Vietnam that her Aunt signed her up for.

When her personal and professional lives implode more than she imagined, she reluctantly flies to Vietnam. Once the tour starts she finds herself most drawn to the grumpy CMO of the tour, Adam, who is her opposite in all the ways.

Adam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour by @noranguyenwrites was so fun. Y’all know how much I love complicated, nuanced and well developed characters. Evie and Adam were exactly that - they had real struggles and issues they worked through. And the banter and the chemistry!! 🔥🔥🔥

I also loved how much this book made Vietnam a character of itself. The sights, culture and people were highlighted in a way that I really enjoyed.

Big thanks to my friends at @netgalley and @avonbooks for this ARC!! This book hits sh loves on TUESDAY!!!

#scottonreads #goodreads #goodreaders #storygraph #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #romance #romancebooks #romancebookstagram #avonbooks #netgalley #netgalleyreads #netgalleyreviewer #netgalleyreview #booksbooksbooks

East meets West in this novel by Nora Nguyen. Evie has longed to learn of her father’s Vietnamese culture but has been suppressed by her American mother. Upon losing her job as a college professor, she finds herself on a whirlwind Match-Making Tour in Viet Nam. What will happen when Evie meets Adam, who is the CMO of the tour company? Do sparks fly?

I really liked this book, but I didn't love it.

Evie is a struggling writer and professor. She is battling the grief of her father and aunt's passing. One of the conditions of Evie's inheritance, so to speak, was to go on a matchmaking tour in Vietnam. In comes Adam, a hardworking business man working on his sister's matchmaking tour. They hit it off and it is a story of their adventures while on the tour,

I wasn't a huge fan of the ending of the book. The beginning both characters felt realistic and fairly practical. But towards the end, both characters started to frustrate me because they simply refused to acknowledge what was in front of them.

I would give the book a 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! This book made me want to book a trip to Vietnam tomorrow. I loved the premise of a matchmaking tour and all of the vivid descriptions for the locations in Vietnam. I enjoyed the family dynamics and the role of grief in the decision making for the characters throughout the book. This was way more than just a romance novel. I sometimes wanted to talk some sense into Evie like when she kept leaving her phone in her room when traveling in a new country alone, but overall a great read.

This is very much not your typical romance, and I think will really appeal to those who aren’t self declared romance readers. The writing is absolutely beautiful. The romance between Evie and Adam is woven throughout a tour through Vietnam, alongside an exploration of deeper topics of self discovery and cultural identity. You can tell that the author has a deep connection to the places she is writing about, as they are beautifully described.

Both characters have their own and very different struggles that are very relatable, which made the romance feel real. It’s fantastic watching them learn, grown and develop throughout the book.

This was a fantastic read, but I felt the beginning was a little slow, but once it picked up I was hooked and couldn’t put it down.

This was so good! I loved the setting in Viet Nam (the food! the nature!) and the premise of an exclusive, luxury tour that focuses on making lifelong romantic matches between professionals. I liked the characters’ backgrounds and goals and really enjoyed how the story unfolded. The food descriptions had me drooling and I really enjoyed googling all the places to see the sights. So much fun! Releases September 23!

A quick cute read! Love the dual perspective. Việt Nam was a beautiful backdrop to this story and makes you want to visit all the places they mention on the matchmaking tour. Thanks to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC!

Read if you like:
▫️Grumpy x Sunshine
▫️A sprinkle of enemies-to-lovers
▫️Forced proximity
▫️Opposites attract
▫️Different worlds
▫️Travel romances

I recommend this one if you love the grumpy x sunshine trope (and I mean LOVE because Adam is a super grump and Evie definitely knows how to push his buttons 😂). There’s a lot of really great insight into grief throughout the story, which is not something I was expecting when I started reading it.

I think the authors writing was my favorite thing about this book. Her style is absolutely beautiful & the whole thing reads like a love letter to Vietnam. You can tell it’s a place that’s near & dear to her heart. It’s filled with beautiful imagery and descriptions for every location visited during the tour Adam & Evie are on.

Overall this was an enjoyable read & a solid three star romance! Thank you NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC 💛

I typically do not read romance novels - the main characters being named Adam and Evie is just one example of the corny stuff I don't usually gravitate towards. But I have to say that this was a quick easy read that I enjoyed because of the novelty of the setting and the tour aspect. I found myself wishing it was a picture book or hoping for a film adaptation to be able to get a better look at Vietnam. It was also interesting to see Adam/Bao's internal conflict between cultural expectations and more modern Western freedoms and Ruby's realization that you can do the expected things and still end up unhappy and mirroring previous generations isn't for everyone.

Some of the other characters are barely sketched out, making a tour threatening incident feel like it came from left field and not a worthy catalyst for condemnation by Ruby and Adam's father. It's also that disappointing that Riley and Atlas are not at all a threat to Adam which makes his over reactions seem really overblown. Yes Adam and Evie are going to end up together, it's in the title, but maybe give us a bit more doubt along the way, and not the self sabotaging, 'afraid to love', long distance stuff. Make Riley a truly viable competitor. Make Atlas less of a mealy mouth lout. Put something real on the line so that when Evie chooses Adam it's a real choice, not just the only viable option. And no Rooster meet cute at the beginning, let us enjoy the Riley red herring for a bit longer. Again because he's the title character we know it's inevitable that Evie will end up with Adam but make us sweat a bit.

In Nora Nguyen’s 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘦’𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳, the reserved, workaholic CMO of the Vietnam-based matchmaking and travel company Love Yêu and a free-spirited, creative Asian-American client butt heads as the tour group takes in the magnificent sights of Vietnam. While I found the novel to be nicely written with great setting descriptions and interesting characters, I felt disconnected from the story. Romances are meant to draw you in with the chemistry of the two leads, but I wasn’t hooked by Adam and Evie’s banter or romantic potential. Though there is an instant physical attraction between the two, they cling to bad first impressions and misassumptions of each other almost stubbornly. Their particular brand of “opposites attract” and “enemies to lovers” may be interesting to other readers but it just wasn’t for me. Thank you to Avon for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐️

This was a quick, easy, and cute read. I genuinely enjoyed the MCs; their development and their banter with each other. On the surface, these two were complete opposites, but during their entire trip, they kept getting drawn back to one another. I will always eat up a forbidden romance.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who needs a palate cleanser.

Evie inherits her beloved aunt’s San Francisco home, but there’s a catch—she must travel to her family’s homeland and participate in a “matchmaking tour.” Enter Adam, the CMO of his sister’s matchmaking company, reluctantly taking part in the tour to help market it.

I really enjoyed the setting and appreciated how the author highlighted cultural nuances and family legacies. There were also some really poignant reflections on grief.

While the pacing lagged at times, I’d still be interested in reading more from this author in the future.

Adam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour by Nora Nguyen

Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice: 2/5 🌶️🌶️

A huge thank you to Harper Voyager, Avon, Netgalley, and Nora Nguyen for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I loved this one so much! What a fun, adventurous, thoughtful, heartfelt read filled with beautiful scenery, top notch banter, and a love story that will leave you with all the feels. There is such a good balance between adventure/exploration all across Vietnam on an incredible vacation contrasted with handling grief, career struggles, and difficulty finding oneself.

Evie and Adam are truly such a good match! I appreciated how their relationship felt authentic and the progression of the story worked exceptionally well. Their romantic journey shows that love often doesn’t arrive when/how once expects it to, but it’s always worth the time/effort.

Overall, this is an INCREDIBLE romance novel that provides a unique, emotional, and compelling story with a bit of spice, humor, and exciting escapades!

Tropes:
- Enemies to lovers
- Opposites attract
- He falls first
- Forced proximity
- Grumpy x sunshine