Book Review - Love Is... by Haley Hill

Amazon UK

Title: Love Is...

Author: Haley Hill

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: 8th September

Rating: 4 Stars

Dating Agency doyenne Ellie Rigby always thought that helping people find love with the hard part.

But now she’s all loved up with husband Nick and has hundreds of matchmaking successes under her belt, Ellie ought to know all there is to know about love.

As her struggles to get pregnant put strain on her marriage, and her matchmaking service starts losing clients, Ellie realises she has so much more to learn. So setting off on a global research trip, Ellie makes it her mission to find out what makes love last forever, and whether it’s enough to save her own romance.

Love Is.. was fascinating, as Ellie Rigby is on a search to try and work out how exactly you prevent divorce, stay in love and generally what happiness and love really are, in order to try and offer new services with her dating agency. 

However life has not been going completely to plan since we left Ellie at the end of It's Got To Be Perfect, and she is struggling to conceive, and generally seems a bit distant from husband Nick. Not to mention her best friend is also having marriage struggles and seems to keep popping up everywhere. 

Although this is a second book about a character, it can definitely be read as a standalone, as although I know I have read the first book last year, I couldn't remember any specifics, and didn't feel at a disadvantage for a faulty memory. 

I loved the pacing of this book, and the various witty comments, and some of the imagery when Ellie is meeting her professional gurus are fantastic. I loved the retreat in Texas, and the trip to Iceland, and the technology in Tokyo is something I can see being real within a few years, if it isn't already.  I also really enjoyed the various explanations on just what love really is, and various theories about divorce. 

At times I felt Ellie could be a bit idealistic about the world, and love, then again I may just be a big cynic, but I enjoyed reading her big dilemma in this story, while still rooting for her.  Although I am not going to reveal the ending, as that would spoil the book for everyone, I will say I can't help but think there should be another book for Ellie, as she is a great character and I think has a lot more to offer. 

Thank you Netgalley and MIRA for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Book Review - It's Got To Be Perfect by Haley Hill - Paperback Summer

Amazon UK

Title: It's Got To Be Perfect

Author: Haley Hill

Format reviewed: Paperback

Source: Publisher supplied review copy

Publisher: Mills & Boon

Publication Date: 27th August 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Ellie Rigby isn’t holding out for a hero; she just wants a decent guy

But the promise of meeting thousands of ‘likeminded singles’ has come to nothing and she is fed up negotiating the minefield of one online dating disaster after another.

In a moment of clarity, Ellie realises that she must take matters into her own hands. Her mission? Reclaim Cupid’s bow from soulless software and become a matchmaker. As her client list grows, Ellie becomes an expert. She knows twenty eight is the most eligible age for a women, that most relationships fail and, most of all, that it’s got to be perfect.

Until a match with one of her clients changes everything…

Fabulously entertaining, had me smiling and laughing from cover to cover. If you have ever fancied yourself as a bit of a matchmaker between your friends and acquaintances, then you will love this book, as this is matchmaking done on a huge scale, with very little science, just gut instinct. 

Ellie is fed up of online dating, after having one bad date after another. She decides to become a matchmaker and set up a dating agency, with a little help from her friends. From working in a Chemistry lab to a provider of human Chemistry, it is a sure fire idea to success. 

I loved Ellie target and attempt to sign her original client base, and then watching as the agency grew from strength to strength, with her hiring 2 more matchmakers.. Mandi and Thea. 

Mandi is bubbly, vivacious, full of life, sparkly and a complete and utter believer in true love. Thea is more down to earth, practical and far more interested in making money, than whether "love" exists. I enjoyed seeing the different approaches the ladies had to matchmaking, and how they deal with clients. 

It's Got To Be Perfect is full of laughs from the interviews with new clients, and their usually unrealistic expectations of the opposite sex, to details from some of the dates, this book will have you laughing out loud (or at the very least groaning in recognition at a lot of the details!)

It isn't all laughs there is a healthy helping of romance in this book too, from Ellie's fledgling romance with Nick to some of the agency's success stories, which are incredibly sweet. 

I loved the various characters in this book, even the slightly more obnoxious male clients attempting to be paired up, had their upsides even if it was making me chuckle or roll my eyes! 

It is very clear that Haley Hill's personal experience at running a dating agency must have given her a whole variety of material to base this book on, and it is always lovely to see an author writing about a topic they clearly know very well.

It's Got To Be Perfect is a brilliant book, great Bank Holiday reading, and a whole lot of fun. 

Thank you so much Cara Thompson for this ARC. This was my honest review.