Having recently finished the Brides of Bonneterre series, I was thrilled to find out that Kaye Dacus had started a new contemporary series called “The Matchmakers.” YES!
Love Remains is the first book in the series and tells the story of Zarah Mitchell and Bobby Patterson, who loved and lost one another because of someone else’s interference. They’ve spent the past fourteen or so years believing they didn’t love each other and possibly thoroughly disliked each other… until God brings them back together. There’s a complication, though. Zarah doesn’ t know it, but she’s a suspect in a criminal investigation, and Bobby is the special agent in charge of digging into her life. Can the two overcome the past–and the present–in order to fall in love again?
My favorite thing about Kaye Dacus is that she never fails to surprise me. I always think I know where she’s going and that I’ve got the whole thing figured out when she zings me over in a totally different direction. I really hate it when I’m reading a book, see a cliche’ coming, and basically tense up the whole time waiting for it. Totally in love with the way the cliche’ never happens in Love Remains.
Zarah and Bobby lived and breathed for me. It’s the way Kaye pays attention to tiny little details and off-hand comments that really draws you in. Some writers will leave small, everyday details out because they’re looking for the big plot points that move the book forward. But it’s those little things that make up real life, and enough of them are sprinkled through this book to almost make the characters step off the page and shake your hand in introduction. For example, there is a point in the story where Bobby does something just a little south of of odd with his french fries, and Zarah remarks, “That’s new.” Believe it or not, I read the few lines of that scene seven or eight times, because that one little line grabbed me right in the gut. That tiny remark–which could easily be read over–spoke so much about their past and their relationship as it stood at that moment. It made the scene come to life, and the whole book is full of those little details and moments that just make everything work.
I definitely recommend Love Remains. Can’t wait to see what book two has in store!
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