Review: Make Me a Match

by Diana Holquist
Rating: 3/5

Cecelia Burns has it all until her long-lost, psychic sister, Amy, shows up to tell her that her One True Love as destined by Fate is dying. If Cecelia wants to save her only chance at True Love, she’s got to ditch her perfect life and find a stranger. Fast.

This is book one in the Make Me a Match/One True Love trilogy by Diana Holquist, or Sophie Gunn when she writes “small-town women’s fiction” which is another way to say contemporary romance set in a small town. Each book in the trilogy is one I enjoyed and will likely reread, however the trilogy’s continuity is not so good. Why did I like this one?

It toys with the concept of a One True Love without giving a definitive statement. You get to make your own mind up. Plus the “rules” of the One True Love were sensible, kids don’t have them and fate seems to intervene to get them into proximity with each other at least once.

Cecilia is engaged to the kind of boring Jack, who represents everything Cecilia wanted as a little girl. Basically stability.

Amy and Cecillia are about a quarter gypsy and Amy runs around in typical gypsy get up and conning strangers. But Amy really does have a gift, hearing the name of a person’s one true love. Cecilia saw the turmoil of knowing the name of your one true love and how horrifyingly that can screw up your life. Especially when Amy as a little girl told their parents their true love’s names and they acted like horrid people. Their mother dumped them and took their little sister to India to find her true love. Their father dragged them across America looking for “his” Jane Smith, one year not giving them Christmas. So Cecilia made Amy promise never to tell her the name of her true love.

Ten years ago after a last con Cecilia and Amy parted ways. Cecilia is now a cardiologist and looking forward to life with Jack. When Amy show up looking for money she notices that the name she hears when she touches Cecilia is fading and that means her true love is going to die soon. Despite her insistence she wants nothing to do with true loves, Cecilia tracks down all the Finn Concord’s she can find through Google, except one who has no address or number in Baltimore. Just a membership of a baseball team.

Finn is in Baltimore because Amy tricked him with the help of his daughter and Trudy, an 80 year old chain smoking Bette Midler. Amy’s gift is fading and she thinks that it’s because Cecilia isn’t with her any more. She wants to get them together so that Cecilia will help her.

The actual story between Cecilia and Finn is adorable. Cecilia learns to lighten up and let go while Finn is Finn-licious (it’s a perfectly cromulent word), and a brilliant father and such a great complement to Cecilia (and vice-versa). In fact I loved that aspect of their relationship, the way they fitted together. They run in the mornings together, support each other, just generally cute.

It was great to see that a true love is what it is, not what you expect it to be. Even Jack gets what he deserves, sort of. If you’re in the mood for something light and fluffy this is a good pick.

Currently Listening: Control – Metro Station