Review: "Matched with Her Runaway Groom" by Britney M. Mills

Matched with Her Runaway Groom by Britney M. Mills
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Matched with Her Runaway Groom" by Britney M. Mills is the first book of the Romance by Love, Austen series, a spinoff of the Love, Austen series. Characters from the earlier books (primarily book #6) make appearances here, though it works relatively well as a standalone. (I haven't yet read the earlier books and was definitely missing some context related to main character Rachelle's sister's "almost wedding" six months earlier, as well as her cousin Tiffany's recent wedding, but it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the story.)

It's been nearly a year since Rachelle Stewart's ex-fiance, Landon Higgins, broke up with her only a month before their wedding. Since then, Rachelle has been checking off items on a Breakup Bucket List to help her forget about him and move on. The cruise she recently won from a matchmaking company called Love, Austen will be the perfect way to finish it off, but she has to get through paintball with her housemate Kenzie first. Rachelle is shocked to run into Landon at the paintball facility, and she keeps running into him over the next few days - first at the grocery store, then when she and her cousin Tiffany board the cruise. Seeing Landon again brings back all of Rachelle's old feelings, and suddenly it seems as if all of the progress she's made in getting over their breakup has been undone. Landon, meanwhile, realizes that he made a huge mistake in letting Rachelle go and becomes determined to win her back. He just needs to come up with a plan to convince her that he's changed for the better and won't break her heart again.

This was a cute story and I liked Landon and Rachelle together, but I wish there had been just a bit more character development, especially with respect to Landon. I really wanted to know more about his past job with his grandfather's company and the fact that he didn't like working there, mainly because it seemed like it was a major contributor to his lack of self-confidence and decision to break up with Rachelle. Whatever his reasons, I appreciated that Landon sincerely apologized to Rachelle for his behavior and didn't try to make excuses for what he had done, but simply admitted that he had been wrong and was sorry.

There were some genuinely funny parts to this story, but I think my favorite was the paintball scene when Rachelle sees Landon again for the first time. I loved how calm she was when she shot him! She was so uninterested in paintball before that, so for her to suddenly turn into the Terminator was hilarious. I also enjoyed Rachelle's housemates, especially Kenzie, as well as Landon's sister Dani. I hope that all of them will get stories of their own in the future.

In sum, I very much enjoyed "Matched with Her Runaway Groom" and would recommend it for all sweet contemporary and romantic comedy fans. I plan to continue with the series.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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