If you enjoy shenanigans and books that make you laugh you will love Amy Matayo's newest book! I was hooked from the first line until the last line, I was having trouble keeping up with my responsibility's because all I wanted to do was read this book. You will be able to empathize with Olivia's neurotic tendencies (aren't we all a little neurotic?) and we all know someone who is so full of themselves, who think they are God's gift to women, hello, Will. You start to wonder if the goody-goody and the bad boy can make a go of this fake relationship that they have found themselves in and then hope that they do...because come on we all like happy endings.
I really appreciate this book because like real life the situations aren't perfect and you can totally relate. We all have found ourselves in relationships that are doomed from the start, yet hoping that we can make it work anyway. I will not give out any spoilers, but you have to read until the end to figure out how this one is going to end. Even though the author has no plans (yet) to write another book about Olivia and Will, I could totally see more coming from these two characters. Thanks Amy for another great book!
I received an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I honestly need to develop a different rating system for myself because it is so, so, hard to rate books! There is "good, great, and fantastic" on so many different levels and a simple, 5-star rating limits one's ability to compare one book with another, you know? But I digress...

I have read every book Amy Matayo has published, each one incredibly different from the others, and they've all scored a high rating, each for a different reason. The Thirteenth Chance was no exception. While incredibly hard to compare it to any other book Matayo has written, (especially after her last one, The End of the World), this book was lighthearted, fun, cheesy in all the right places and heartfelt in all the others. It was full of sarcasm, quick wit, my favorite sport, a cat that got exactly what it deserved (we can't all be cat-lovers, you know) and oh yeah, a little romance, too. Ok, so maybe it was more than a little. There was definitely some [clean] heat! That kiss right around the 80% mark? Yup... read it twice. :-)

I'll be 100% honest with you, though, and if you've read the book, you probably won't like what I have to say. At the very least, you'll likely want to use this to discredit everything I write about it, but stick with me here... (and forgive me.) Truth is, I didn't like Will all that much. Not at first. Not by the midpoint. Not even 3/4 of the way through. Sure, he was a gorgeous, dark-haired, blue-eyed dreamboat and for someone who LOVES baseball, you'd think just knowing he's a pitcher (and a good one at that) would be enough for me to swoon. But just when I'd get a glimpse of the "good guy" I imagined him to be beyond that fabulous physique, his ego would come out and I wanted to smack him just as much as Olivia probably did from time to time!! He was snarky and hilarious... I knew he was hot, but... the ego killed him!

But then.... THEN... just a little past that 3/4 mark, there was this tender, deeply personal moment where I felt Will really connected with Olivia on HER level--in her home, in the face of all of HER demons. And it was so simple, yet so touching that I saw Will for the man BEHIND the ego, for the first time. The Will that was there all along, I just couldn't see past the player he once was and the hot-shot he saw himself as. Once I did, there was definitely some swooning involved. You gotta love when the proverbial egomaniac demonstrates his not-so-egomaniacal side, right? Because when he does, it's a home run!! I [finally] saw what Olivia saw--somehow, try though she might to ignore it--and everything clicked for me.

"Sometimes people throw you. Sometimes they do the unexpected. Sometimes your preconceived notions are not only way off base, but completely unfounded and laced with judgment. For someone like me, that's an especially painful thing to admit."

Olivia learned this in the midst of this book and whadyaknow--I learned it too.

So five stars for another fantastic read from Amy Matayo because I laughed. And then I laughed harder. And then I may have contemplated borrowing my neighbor's cat to go play in the mud. (With a leash--just for kicks and giggles.) I melted, I swooned, I felt every up and down and ebb and flow of Will & Olivia's relationship and came out smiling and having even learned something truly meaningful by the end. Can't say THAT about every book you read, now, can you?

SUCH FUN!!! And also, such a deep, interesting topic to explore.

Ms Matayo is an author to follow and I do so (almost) religiously. She has a very fresh look to life, and to be able to be that way one needs to clean their "messes" regularly and thoroughly (the easiest-looking things are often of the hardest inside works in my opinion).
This book is that way. Just think of the premise - the clumsy teacher and the hot baseball star doing the fake relationship? Oh yes (and give me some popcorn). But the execution and the deep thought process behind this is what make this airy premise being one fun ride with some serious questions under the surface. Like why have I put my life on the back-burner and show my deep feelings of rejection only through my quirks? Like why I seemingly have everything, yet no one truly cares about ME? Why the care often has a face of calling me out? Am I truly beautiful/worthy? And so on.

And yes, Will is hot. I like that he is written like a manly man (one would clap his hands often. Yet one admits that one would do it feeling flustered and yes, happy).

Recommended read for both sunny and rainy days!

Will Vandergriff is a baseball star who needs to have a girlfriend in order to protect his career, where his neighbor Olivia Pratt comes in. The two of them are very different where she is worried about germs and has an elderly cat that she treats as her own child. Will is more free spirited and brings a little bit of excitement into Olivia's life. Olivia however doesn't like baseball since her brother played it and their parents had favored him and ignored her. It would be interesting to see if Olivia can get over her dislike of baseball in order to be with Will.

Are you a baseball fan? Or do you just like to sink into a fun and funny contemporary romance? Well, either way you are in luck! Amy Matayo’s newest rom-com, The Thirteenth Chance definitely hits a home run. With two endearing main characters, some sassy dialog and sparks aplenty (not to mention an adorable cat) this novel was a fun, fun read. Now I am not much for sports, but this book had me ready to head to the stadium for some major league action. Amy did a good job of making the baseball world come to life. Or maybe it was just the chemistry between Will and Olivia that kept the pages flying. Quirky Olivia won my heart and cocky and infuriating Will was too cute to be mad at for long. The Thirteenth Chance can be categorized as a clean read, though there was a bit of mild language. All in all, Matayo’s novel should be a big hit with fans of this genre.

Recommended to fans of romantic comedy.

Audience: adults.

Simply stated, I loved this story. After reading the first couple of chapters, I wasn't sure that I was going to like the "uptight" Olivia. I dismissed that first impression after she quickly evolved into a self-deprecating, self-accepting, and strong-valued heroine for the remainder of the book. I enjoyed Will right from the start, regardless of his playboy persona. He saw past Olivia's "crazy" and fell in love with her quirks and all. At the same time, Olivia helped him become a better man.

Rom-com's are my favorite romance sub-genre, but the perfect rom-com also has that bone deep romantic element. That was exactly what I experienced while reading The Thirteenth Chance. Along with witty banter, physical comedy, and self-deprecating internal dialogue, there were moments of "heart-pounding-out-of-chest" romance that if I were standing, would have brought me to my knees. I can honestly say that one of the most romantic scenes I have EVER read occurred in chapter 25 of this book. It's two pages of Will expressing in 2nd person (a hard feat to pull off!) how he no longer wants to be "pretend" with Olivia. No spoiler, but GAH! it was so sweet and romantic.

Side note: I would like to mention that before I started The Thirteenth Chance, I was under the impression that it was Christian fiction since it was published by Waterfall Press (an Amazon imprint.) Half way through the book, I was questioning that impression and went to Amazon and saw that it was listed as Contemporary Romance; Clean/Wholesome and Romantic Comedy. Personally, I had no problem with the content, but wanted to mention that it's essentially Clean New Adult.