5 STARSAnother stunner from Susan Elizabeth Phillips! I can’t seem to get enough of these books. Match Me if You Can is Book 5 in the Chicago Stars series, and it features Kevin Tucker’s sports agent... Heath Champion, who has enlisted the aid of a matchmaking firm to find him the perfect wife… before his upcoming deadline for marriage, his thirty-fifth birthday. “I’m looking for someone extraordinary.”It seems Heath has his life planned to the “T.” After surviving his disaster of a childhood, Heath has dedicated his life to seeking perfection. He has amassed millions building his highly successful Sports Agency. And along the way he has developed a reputation in the sports world for ruthless negotiation. And his soul-less determination to achieve his goals has left him with a nickname he has undoubtably earned. The PythonBut what it hasn’t left him with… is a meaningful social life. He’s not starving for female company, actually quite the opposite. In fact, his clients wear girls like gaudy jewelry. But what Heath is determined to find is the ultimate wife. Not a bimbo or a trophy, but a beautiful, intelligent, and very well put together class act. A blue blood. The cherry on top of his fame and fortune. Someone who can complete his image. ”…his wife would be the ultimate symbol of his accomplishments, the final proof that he’d left Beau Vista Trailer Park behind him forever.”Unfortunately Heath know’s he’ll never find the woman of his dreams in the company he’s forced to keep, so in order to find his perfect bride he’s hiring out the most prestigious match making firm in Chicago.Annabelle Granger is Molly Tucker’s thirty-one year-old friend from college, and she has recently inherited a matchmaking company from her grandmother. It’s a one-woman bare bones company, but it’s all hers. And she’s determined to make a success of it, since everything else in her life is turning to shit.She just needs a big name… a high profile client to get her the recognition she needs to get her company off the ground. So she’s calling in a favor. Heath Champion would be the perfect client to get her noticed. She just has to find a way to convince him to give her a chance. “He was rich, successful and gorgeous, which made him a dream match, assuming he didn’t scare his dates to death, which was a distinct possibility.”This is such an endearing story. Annabelle seems so sweet and quirky. And it is instantly apparent that she is in way over her head. She is a baby seal swimming in a pool of sharks. But she is so determined to succeed and prove to her family that she isn’t a failure that she’ll do just about anything to get Heath’s business. “Sometimes knowing when to give up is the real test of character.”And it’s not helping that he is making her job just about as difficult as humanly possible. “Nobody’s right for you! I swear, you’d find something wrong with the Virgin Mary.”I loved all of the characters in this one. There was once again a great side-story romance. This time it was Heath’s burly assistant Bodie, and Annabelle’s chief competition Portia Powers. “I want to be judged by my work, not by how much I weigh.” “Then grow a penis.”And then there were the Tucker’s and their lovely daughter Pip, who had this thing for cell phones… and Pwinces! There was a bit of “stupid” female syndrome at the end… but all’s well that ends well, right?!!! “Two different men have ordered me not to call you a twit, but honestly, Annabelle, if the shoe fits…” “Annabelle gazed wistfully toward the doorway. “If I could put my brain in her body, the world would be mine for the taking.”
Let me start by saying this: I admit I'm a "sexist" and I read romance novels mostly for the hero. As long as the hero is worth it and the heroine isn't a pain in the a$$, I'm happy.That said, I have to state that the best thing about Match Me If You Can was Annabelle and not Heath. She was just adorable in her quirkiness, the kind of friend I cherish in RL. She loved Heath, so I wanted her to have him. Not because he was to-die-for, but because he was "the one" for her. Seriously, I spent a large portion of the book frustrated with his "blindness" and wanting to shake some sense into him. In the end, I was thrilled to see him voicing my feelings brilliantly:"I'm sorry it took me so long to get my head straight, but, as you've been quick to point out, I'm an idiot (...)"Yes, you were, Heath! Obviously, that simple statement wasn't enough to win Annabelle right back. She needed deserved the whole package and not the scraps Heath was willing to give at 1st, so kudos to her for sticking to her principles until he finally proved to be worthy of her.This was only my 2nd book by SEP, but I've been told she likes to make her heroes do some serious groveling before conquering their heroines back. Groveling scenes are complicated to me, because they usually come after some ugly and almost unforgiveable behavior by the hero, so I was happy to see that Heath's actions weren't that damaging and unforgiveable. The usually ruthless and goal-oriented man was just clueless when it came to wooing Annabelle, which only showed how much she was important to him.I loved the cast of secondary characters - all of them, but especially little Pippy and her fascination with cell phones - as they added an interesting layer to the story and helped me understand Heath and Annabelle's personalities better. Their scenes were great at "showing, not telling" what made Heath and Annabelle tick, and there was some great writing there, IMHO.All in all, this was a very enjoyable read, light, funny and downright hilarious at times. A straight contemporary novel with neither sudden plot twists nor emotionally-draining angst, a lovely heroine, a nice (but emotional slow) hero and a bunch of secondary characters that didn't feel like fillers. I can't say SEP has become one of my favorite authors yet, but she's on my radar and I'll definitely give her another try.
What do You think about Match Me If You Can (2006)?
Match Me If You Can is about Heath, the wealthy sports agent, who wants the perfect wife. Of course, he's too busy to look for this perfect woman and instead has two different match making agencies in search of her. Annabelle is the owner of one of those agencies and she's determined to find him the perfect woman. Heath's demands on Annabelle created a lot of fun banter. Having Annabelle attend all the introductions between him and the potential candidates built lively conversation between the two of them. At this point, in the story, she had fallen for him and of course he was totally clueless to her feelings towards him. Match Me If You Can is part of the Chicago Stars series and while it's book #6 in the series I was able to read it just fine even though I've only read book #1. Don't let the series numbers stop you from giving it a try. I enjoyed listening to this audio while I painted our fence. It helped pass the hours. My kids thought it was funny the only place I ended up with paint was on my ear (from pulling out my headphones).SERIES: And the author has announced she is making another book- http://susanelizabethphillips.com/f-a-q/
—Amy (Foxy)
And the magic continues. Though I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I was going to love this one as much as the other. I wondered how SEP would pull it off since these two characters were not part of the immediate Chicago Stars family but she did it. I. LOVED. IT.I’m going to try to keep this one short and sweet.In Match Me If You Can we meet Heath. He is Kevin Tucker’s agent. He was sexy, had a killer smile and dressed to kill. He was also known as the Python. Having just about everything he wanted, having met all the goals he set for himself, all that was left for him to do is find the perfect wife. Enter Annabelle. Or as Pippi would say Belle. :) Annabelle will do what’s needed to keep Heath as her client with her match making company. But one little misunderstanding involving a Princess Party creates a bit of a bump in the road for the both of them. Sweet Pippi Tucker was Heath’s nemesis. He wouldn’t admit to it but he loved the little girl. It would be a secret that Pippi whispers in his ear that will make her his little angel.Heath was certainly hard to please. With every perfect woman Annabelle handed over to him came one rejection after another. Slow to realize what he had right in front of him Heath ends up making a mistake that might not be fixable. Like I said, I wasn’t sure if I was going to love this one as much as the others. But I did. It was fun to catch up with Phoebe & Molly. The ladies book club was a hoot too. I loved going back to Wind Lake. Something sexy always goes on in one of those cottages. ❤I enjoyed meeting Bodie (Heath’s driver & partner). The side story with him and Portia was a great offset to the main plot. Their story was just as sweet and sexy too.This is such an amazing series and I will highly recommend it to anyone who already loves Susan Elizabeth Phillips writing or to anyone who has yet to read anything from her.
—♥Sharon♥
Mo wrote: "Nice review, Renee. Yes, I seem to remember this one was a tad different to the others.... might do a re-read."LOL... You will never hear any objections about re-reads from me. I know some people can't do them, but I love them! Enjoy x
—Renee
