REVIEW: "A Very Merry Match" by Melinda Curtis
I have, historically, been very uncomfortable around the elderly.
I’ve always attributed this discomfort to the fact that I grew up without living grandparents and, as such, have little practice dealing with those past middle age.
I just feel like I don’t know what to do around them. I always try to talk too loudly, accommodating a hearing loss they may not even have, explain technology too simplistically, assuming a deficiency that may not be real, and assist too much, implying an incapability that might not exist.
I've been working on this defect since I married my husband — who is rich in grandparents with three still living. It's kind of like a 12 step program but, instead of 12 steps, there's only 1: spend more time around the elderly.
As I’ve worked to overcome this weakness, I have actually grown fond of this older generation. And this growing fondness made falling into this novel natural and delightful.
The male and female lead of this novel were not, themselves, elderly. But their budding love-affair was encouraged — and at times even fully arranged — by a group of adorably argumentative women: the Sunshine Valley Widow's club — think THE GOLDEN GIRLS but without the Miami vibe.
Though the Sunshine Valley Widows Club might not be the best group to provide it, our hero and heroine do need some help.
Our heroine, Mary Margaret, honestly doesn’t even have time to think about love. She’s too busy trying to survive on a relatively meager kindergarten teacher salary.
As an educator can tell you, living on a teacher’s wage is a challenge. But the task is made even more difficult by the fact that she is also trying to repay the debts accrued by her now deceased husband, Derek. As he battled cancer, Derek allowed himself to partake in some of his most destructive vices — one of which was gambling. While he enjoyed gambling, he certainly wasn’t good at it and, as a result, amassed a major debt.
Mary Margaret is noble almost to a fault. So noble and fact that she is entirely unwilling to ask for help. Instead she insists on doing anything she can to right her husband’s wrongs and repay his debts.
When the burden of his debts becomes too intense for her to handle, she turns to an occupation she undertook in college, one that she found to be as shameful as it was lucrative, burlesque dancing.
Despite the fact that it is unbecoming of a kindergarten teacher, Mary Margaret takes to transforming a local strip club — the Hanky Panky — into a decidedly classier burlesque hotspot. But no one can know of her side hustle. After all, few would accept that the same woman teaching their children their ABC's is shaking what God gave her in front of anyone willing to fork over a cover charge.
Meanwhile, Kevin, the mayor of Sunshine Valley, is still nursing his wounds from his divorce. Making it harder for the aforementioned wounds to fully heal is the fact that his ex-wife, Barb, still continues to insert herself into his affairs, both personal and professional. While the former couple will likely be bonded for life, thanks to the young son they share — a son who happens to be in Mary Margaret’s class — Barb’s intrusion into Kevin’s life goes far beyond what would be necessary to successfully co-parent.
But Kevin is intent on moving on with his life. To him, moving on means two things. First, finding a new partner in life. Second, moving out of local politics and advancing to state and maybe even national levels.
Complicating matters, he has his sight set on one particular woman: Mary Margaret. He knows that she will make an ideal partner, an ideal stepmother to his son, an ideal first lady in whatever capacity he may need her. And it also doesn't hurt that he happens to have a little bit of a crush on this surprisingly enigmatic kindergarten teacher.
But can this budding romance survive the scandal that would come from the mayor cozying up with the burlesque dancer? Can Mary Margaret keep her secret identity secret from those who may seek to look deeper into her past? Or, instead, is this romance doomed from the start?
With a more complex and nuanced plot than I typically expect from romance novels — especially ones of the Christmas variety, where magic tends to flitter through the air as freely wind-blown snowflakes — this Melinda Curtis novel was largely successful.
This success is owing in large part to the strength of the characters.
Both Mary Margaret and Kevin had robust personalities and strong backstories that upped the stakes and increased readers’ desires to see them somehow work it all out, despite the odds stacked against them. The hero and heroine of this novel were obviously the most developed, but Curtis also successfully built a robust cast of assorted secondary characters, giving them all sufficient backstory and personality to make them feel real within the world of this novel.
While I was fully satisfied with the character development in this novel, I can’t quite say the same about the development of the setting. Like so many Christmas romances, this novel was set in a tiny, close-knit town. Unfortunately, though, I’m not left with a strong lasting impression of Sunshine Valley because little attention was paid to developing it as a setting.
As I read along, snuggled under a blanket and sipping a coffee I had dressed up with peppermint and chocolate and spiked with Bailey’s, I found myself wanting to taste and smell and feel the festivities that would undoubtedly take place in a Christmas-season Sunshine Valley.
But I couldn’t.
I was left wishing that just a little bit more time had been spent transforming Sunshine Valley from a paper place into a real one. As successful as Curtis was in developing her characters, I am sure she could have transformed what was a relatively flat and forgettable town into something warm and special and inviting.
All things considered, this is a novel that lovers of Christmas romances will likely devour as quickly as I downed my boozy coffee concoction.
It earns 3 out of 5 cocktails.
What is the weirdest job you’ve ever had? For me, it would be freelancing as an “invisible girlfriend” — it’s a long story to which I won’t subject you here, but feel free to email me if you’re curious. Tell me about your weird side hustles in the comments, below.
I think I’m going to deviate from the Christmas romances with my next read. Want to see what I pick? Follow me on Goodreads and subscribe to updates in the sidebar on the right.
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