The Mistletoe Matchmaker

Finfarran Peninsula, Book 3

By: Felicity Hayes-McCoy

Narrated by: Marcella Riordan

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Beloved author Felicity Hayes-McCoy returns with an enchanting, cozy new novel, perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Nina George, and Nancy Thayer.

It’s Christmas in Ireland, and when Cassie Fitzgerald arrives from Toronto to visit her grandparents, she learns that it’s never too late to come home.

"The perfect winter heart-warmer." (Cathy Kelly, best-selling author of Between Sisters and Secrets of a Happy Marriage)

The days are turning colder, preparations are under way for the Winter Fest, and everyone is hoping for a little holiday magic on the Finfarran peninsula. And as Cassie Fitzgerald, fresh from Toronto, is about to discover, there’s more to the holidays on the west coast of Ireland than mistletoe and mince pies.

Enchanted by the small town where her dad was born, Cassie makes friends and joins local librarian Hanna Casey’s writing group in Lissbeg Library. But the more she’s drawn into the festivities leading up to her first Irish Christmas, the more questions she wants to ask.

Why does her sweet-tempered grandmother Pat find it so hard to express her feelings? What’s going on between Pat and her miserly husband, Ger? What happened in the past between the Fitzgeralds and Hanna’s redoubtable mother, Mary Casey? And what about Shay: handsome, funny, smart, and intent on making Cassie’s stay as exciting as he can? Could he be the one for her?

As Christmas Eve approaches, it’s Cassie, the outsider, who reminds Lissbeg’s locals that love, family, and friendship bring true magic to the season. But will her own fractured family rediscover the joys of coming home?

©2019 Felicity Hayes-McCoy (P)2019 HarperAudio

A Little Disappointed

I really enjoyed Finfarran Peninsula series, but number three not so much. The characters multiplied with too many divisions in the story line. And I wasn’t a fan of the narrator, I prefer Emma Lowe who narrated The Library at the End of the World.

Doesn’t measure up

I looked forward to the release of this book, but it just does not live up to the rest of the series. The story is extremely slow and meandering. The title doesn’t make sense until the very end, and even then, it’s a stretch. The same characters are there, with a few lackluster additions who receive more attention than a lot of the beloved ones.

For the audiobook in particular, the narrator butchers the new Canadian character, Cassie. I almost quit the book because her voice is so insanely annoying. The laugh that the narrator adds to the beginning of most of her dialogue ranges from weirdly out of place to cackling, shrill, and abrasive. The same odd chuckle peppers the Irish dialogue, also in weird places. This kind of ad-libbing really detracts from what would otherwise be good dialogue.