Adventures in Online Dating

Julie Particka

Nov 2018 · Sold by Entangled: August

About this eBook

For Alexa McIntyre, the answer to everything comes down to numbers. Three sons. One divorce. One great life...except her boys are getting older and they really need a man around. Enter the number twenty, as in after twenty minutes with someone she knows whether or not she wants them in her life. So, she hatches a plan to meet any man who remotely strikes her interest—for a twenty-minute date at her favorite coffee shop. It’s the perfect way to find her perfect match in the most efficient way possible.

Too bad coffee shop owner Marshall Calloway isn’t keen on her using his shop as her speed-dating zone, especially since she's made it clear he's too young to be a contender. But against her better judgement, Alexa finds herself drawn to Marshall in ways she can’t quantify. There’s no easy answer, and once the kids become involved, her well-ordered world threatens to fall apart—twenty minutes at a time.

Ratings and reviews

I went into this book thinking I would love it. The blurb was so interesting and unique. This storyline was interesting and unique, though. Twenty-minute dates is all Alexa needs to figure out if a guy is worth a second date. But Alexa was so stuck in her statistics and her dismissal of Marshall, I couldn’t ever get over how she treated him, even up until the very end. I honestly didn’t even want them to end up together because of it. Marshall could have done better. The saving graces in this book were Marshall and Brenden. Marshall is funny, successful, and patient. Brenden was surprisingly insightful for a 13-year-old boy and I loved how he beat his mom at her own game: statistics.

This was an entertaining funny, quick read that is perfect for an afternoon escape. Great writing and characters will leave you with a happy feeling. Loved the fun storyline! Alexa is a serious organized single mom of 3 rambunctious boys. She's worried that her sons need a man's influence on a more consistent basis than they are getting from their father so she sets out on a plan to find a boyfriend via online dating. She meets all her "dates" in a local cafe. Only problem is the cafe owner, Marshall, has had his eye on Alexa for some time now. Watching all the men coming through the cafe has him going crazy. Alexa won't give him the time of day since he doesn't fit her perfect picture of the man she's looking for. He's younger, dresses casually, and seems to take a laid back view on life. He's determined to show her that he's exactly the kind of man she needs and what fun life could be if she'd give them a chance. Recommended read.

This is an entertaining story about Alexis, a single mom of three boys, and Marshall, a coffee shop owner. Alexis is looking for a man to share he life with and be the father figure her boys need. The problem is that she's looking for a man in his forties, to complement her 42. Marshall is significantly younger, so she doesn't take his flirtations seriously, even as she begins a cringe-worthy speed dating system as only an actuary could devise. Anyone who is, or has been, a single parent will be able to relate to Alexis's struggle to find a suitable partner, in fact, struggle to even find the time to look for a suitable partner or to date if she should find him. Her attempts to meet someone are somewhat painful, but also all to real (minus the actuarial analysis). When her unlikely friendship develops with Marshall, she's not sure what to do with it, in fact the only thing she's sure of is that he's unsuitable. I enjoyed this book, even though at times the story seemed to move too slowly. Additionally, while I could identify with Alexis, at times I wanted to shake some sense into her and throttle her ex-husband who could only be described as a man-child focusing only on his needs instead of the needs of his children. So, with those caveats, this is a worthy read that fans of the genre will enjoy. I'd give this 3.5 stars, but will round up to 4 stars.

About the author

Julie Particka was told to get serious about her future in Junior High. Several years after getting a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, she realized being serious was overrated and went back to her first love—writing. Now rather than spending her days in the drudgery of the lab or teaching science to high school students, she disappears into worlds of her own creation where monsters sometimes roam, but true love still conquers all. She can most often be located in the Detroit area with her favorite minions (the ones who know her as Mom) where she is currently hatching a plot for world domination. It involves cookies for everyone, so she’s pretty sure there’s no way it can fail...except the minions keep eating the cookies.