Expected publication date: March 9th, 2021
Blurb:
From the USA Today bestselling “master of witty banter” (Entertainment Weekly) comes a hilarious and heartwarming romance about two enemies whose feud turns red-hot.
Maya Mehta will do anything to save her tiny, beloved community theater. Put on musicals she hates? Check. Hire an arrogant former-pop-star-turned-actor? Done. But what Maya really needs to save her theater is Matchmaker Bay’s new business grant. She’s got some serious competition, though: Benjamin “Law” Lawson, local bar owner, Jerk Extraordinaire, and Maya’s annoyingly hot arch nemesis. Let the games begin.
Law loves nothing more than getting under Maya’s skin, and making those gorgeous eyes dance with irritation. But when he discovers the ex-pop star has a thing for Maya, too, Law decides he’s done waiting in the wings-starting with a scorching-hot kiss. Turns out there’s a thin line between hate and irresistible desire, and Maya and Law are really good at crossing it. But when things heat up, will they allow their long-standing feud to get in the way of their growing feelings?
**
The third entry in the Matchmaker Bay series is all about the contentious duo of Maya and Law, who have a long-standing relationship of bickering over everything. Parking spots, a smoky pizza oven, the annual sandcastle contest-you name it, they’ve most likely argued or competed over it. In the previous books there has always been a hint of attraction simmering between the two neighboring business owners, and their feuding has always added humor to the storylines. From Maya refusing to order pizza from him (due to the aforementioned pizza oven) to Law bribing his customers in the bar with free drinks to get them to vote for Maya as mermaid queen four years in a row.
However their rivalry kicks up a notch when the town announces a new development grant to be awarded to a local business owner. Maya is close to having to close her community theater while Law dreams about opening a new restaurant in town, making it an imperative for one of them to win. In an attempt to save her theater Maya decides to stage Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” the rollicking tale of Beatrice and Benedick, whose sparring relationship mirrors that of Maya and Law. (Of course they don’t see it themselves at first!) At the same time they start to spend more time together, especially after Maya discovers Law has access to watch her beloved English Premier League soccer games and begins spending late evenings in his apartment to watch them. As they grow less combative, Maya’s costar in the play begins to show a more prurient interest in her and Law finds himself in another competition he is determined to win.
There is a lot to love in this book, though the romance portion was slower burning than in the previous installments so the ending seemed rushed. But the meddling seniors are back and the group of friends we have met of course make reappearances in this outing, and a couple of new ones are introduced as well. (I’m already looking forward to one particular pairing I hope will be next!)
Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the chance to read this early!