REMATCH: Lauren Holbrook Series, Book 2
Erynn Mangum
Th1nk Books
Fiction
ISBN: 9781600060960
327 pages

Lauren Holbrook has two great loves: matchmaking and a good cup of coffee. Needless to say, she is thrilled when her favorite pastimes finally are able to come together.

In REMATCH, the second book in Erynn Mangum’s Lauren Holbrook series, Lauren, fresh off a successfully matched wedding, is on the prowl for a new unsuspecting couple to work her magic on. She’s delighted to meet her chocolate-loving soul sister Hallie, who she has a hunch would be perfect for Shawn, her favorite coffee guy. Of course, she needs one more project to keep her occupied while she waits for Hallie and Shawn to stop moving at a glacial pace. She can’t help but notice that her childhood best friend and boss Brandon seems to be more than ready for a serious relationship. It also has not escaped her that ultra-sweet co-worker Hannah has had a crush on him forever.

With so much matchmaking to do, Lauren seems to have lost touch with her personal life. She gets an abrupt wake-up call when her widowed father informs her that he will be participating in a weeklong single’s retreat far away from home. Having devoted her best years to finding love for others, she hadn’t once considered finding her own father a match. And she’s not sure if she wants him to do so either. She feels confused and conflicted about the prospect of getting a new mother. Her anxiety begins to grow when her father informs her that he has met a wonderful woman who will be coming home to meet the family.

Lauren’s dad isn’t the only Holbrook experiencing relationship drama. Lauren herself is having her share of romantic confusion. Her relationship with cute construction worker Ryan started out as a joke but seems to have turned into something more. She is taken by surprise when Ryan refers to her as his girlfriend and then begins to hypothesize about their future together. She likes Ryan a lot, but is she ready to take it to a new level? A sworn singleton, Lauren has always claimed that while she loves pairing others off, she has no desire for a match of her own. However, she can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy when each new couple walks down the aisle…and she and Ryan seem to be getting closer every day.

REMATCH is a fun follow-up to Mangum’s first novel, MISS MATCH. In her second effort, she grows in both writing style and character development, making it a more enjoyable read than its predecessor and certainly making its characters more three-dimensional and lovable. It does seem somewhat mismatched (pardon the pun) for the young adult category, as the characters are almost all in their 20s and involved in drama revolving around weddings and babies. But the book is light and fun, and will certainly find a ready audience in a coffee and pop-culture-loving generation of teenage girls.

        --- Reviewed by Jennifer Crosby

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