From the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners comes a novel about love, loss, and the beautiful mess of family.
Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers … change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy.
Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions. While it’s not exactly the change she envisioned, it looks like instant family to Marnie. But Patrick, afraid of being hurt again, retreats further into himself. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off her feet?
But some love stories are worth waiting for. And what’s love without a little chaos anyway?
more
Maggie Dawson does the best characters. I fell in love with them all.
I enjoyed Matchmaking for Beginners and loved getting to know Marnie, but I actually preferred A Happy Catastrophe. It went deeper and covered a lot of serious topics and life changes and endeared me even more to Marnie (and the rest of the characters in her quirky world). I love Dawson’s writing and look forward to her next book.
I received an advanced copy in exchange for my review.
Maddie Dawson, Author of “A Happy Catastrophe” has written a heartwarming, memorable, captivating, thought-provoking, and entertaining novel. This is the sequel to “Matchmaking for Beginners”, but I feel this book can be read as a stand-alone. Of course, it is wonderful to see some of the wonderfully quirky and delightful characters and meet some new ones. The genres for this novel are fiction, women’s fiction, romance, and family drama. The timeline for this story is set in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events. The author describes her colorful cast of characters as complex, complicated, flawed, mostly likable, and dysfunctional.
I love the way the author vividly describes the characters, the events, and the plot in her story. Marnie and Patrick are still together in the Brownstone that had been left to Marnie. Marnie works in a flower shop and her relationship with Patrick. Marnie seems to still have that magical ability to sense when other couples will be together.
One of Marnie’s dreams and goals is to have a baby and be a Mom. Patrick is not quite on board with this. Neither Patrick nor Marnie is aware of what will be waiting on their doorstep. Actually it seems that about nine years earlier, Patrick had an affair with a woman that left a permanent souvenir, that is quite a surprise. Patrick is a “Bio”-dad”, and now a precocious, energetic, and curious 8-year-old girl is now being left in his charge by the mother who never told him that she was pregnant.
Patrick has been very moody and depressed, and Marnie is trying to figure out what is going on, and how she can be helpful. Marnie is having a hard time coping with everything. I love the way the author describes the importance of love, communication, family, friends, and hope. I would highly recommend this entertaining novel.
A sparkling, funny, uplifting story. I love this writer.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED “Matchmaking for Beginners,” so I was thrilled to get my hands on the sequel, A Happy Catastrophe.
It was nice to spend time with Marnie and Patrick who have been together a few years now. It appears that the couple are looking for different things.
This is a beautifully written and heartfelt story with complex and complicated characters.
I related to the grief as a theme in this story.
At times, the story was heartbreaking and at times the story was happy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story.
As soon as I began reading this book, I felt it’s magic! It’s a rare thing but sometimes it happens with movies and sometimes with books. This is one of them!
Without getting too specific, the novel contains brilliant highs, depressing lows, and everything in between. And throughout it all is woven the magic of love.
One of my favorite books I’ve read in a while!