The Book:
Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim Published August 16, 2022 by Berkley Date read: August 7, 2022
The Characters:
Sophie
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
Newly minted professional matchmaker Sophie Go has returned to Toronto, her hometown, after spending three years in Shanghai. Her job is made quite difficult, however, when she is revealed as a fraud—she never actually graduated from matchmaking school. In a competitive market like Toronto, no one wants to take a chance on an inexperienced and unaccredited matchmaker, and soon Sophie becomes an outcast.
In dire search of clients, Sophie stumbles upon a secret club within her condo complex: the Old Ducks, seven septuagenarian Chinese bachelors who never found love. Somehow, she convinces them to hire her, but her matchmaking skills are put to the test as she learns the depths of loneliness, heartbreak, and love by attempting to make the hardest matches of her life.
The Review:
This book had my emotions absolutely all over the place. I laughed, I cried, my heart was warmed, and I wanted to throw the book across the room at how frustrated I was for Sophie when she was dealing with her awful parents!
First, the great: oh my gosh, the Old Ducks. I loved how they welcomed Sophie into their found family. I adored that they were still looking for love in their old age, and how they all cheered each other on in their romantic attempts (even the grumpy ones).
There is a hint of magical realism in the matchmaking side of this story. I’ve known about the Chinese legend of the Red Thread for a long time–it is special to some of my family members–so it was really interesting to see it in a fictional book and applied to matchmaking.
Even the parts of this book that frustrated me were amazing in their own way. I obviously hated Sophie’s terrible parents, and loved to see Sophie’s growth in regards to them. Some of the scenes made me want to throw the book across the room, though, when Sophie’s mother was abusing her and her father wouldn’t stand up for her.
The only thing I didn’t like was how the chapters would break mid-conversation, and not just in the case of needing to create suspense. For example, a chapter ended right in the middle of one of Sophie’s client interviews–not a cliffhanger at all. It made it hard to find stopping points in the book.
So many emotions in one book certainly is a testament to how great it is. Roselle Lim is a new-to-me author, but I can’t wait to read more from her!
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