Quandaries of a Quirky Romantic

Quandaries of a Quirky Romantic by Secretive
She's a hopeless romantic that is terrified of falling in love. Quirky? You have no idea... He's misunderstood purposely so and has a past. A dark one. So...what happens when their small town matchmaker decides they're destined for each other?
Banner Credit: Jacky

Ciara Thinks: Once again the legendary Secretive/Analytical Calico has come out with yet another brilliant story in Quandaries of a Quirky Romantic. The town’s feared matchmaker pairs up the slightly crazy good girl Nadine and bad boy Thatcher and they agree to the match mainly to get her off their backs, but as their relationship develops, it starts to become more real.

Nadine isn’t your typical sarcastic know-it-all protagonist, instead she’s refreshing and just a little bit mad so the comments she comes out with make you snort with laughter at your screen. She loves romance stories, but fears falling in love (and Thatcher). I found her loyalty to her best friend heart-warming, despite Nadine’s tendency to allow her to walk all over her given her best friend has also been paired up by the matchmaker, Megan, and is really condescending about how Nadine does not have a boyfriend.

Thatcher is made likeable the instant you learn of how loving and protective he is of his grandparents, Nonno and Nonna and that he will pretty much do anything for them. The poor guy rally earns your sympathy when you find out about his traumatic past, which comes back with a vengeance at the end of the story.

All the supporting characters are vibrant, particularly Nadine’s family (and her demonic cat) and Thatcher’s best friend Huey, and are well fleshed out. The drama too is realistic and gives our story its bittersweet ending that leaves you shouting ‘why?’ at the screen. Secretive’s writing is excellent as usual, and it really lets you connect with the characters, with only the odd spelling or grammar mistake, that don’t really detract from the flow of the story.

One point to note however is the sequel which carries on where the ending leaves off, hasn’t been updated since 2010. But don’t let that stop you, the story is a good read all on its own too!