Kristan Higgins, Catch of the Day

Maggie Beaumont is incredibly unlucky in love. Her first serious boyfriend dumped her for another girl without even telling her about it, and for the past year or so she’s been carrying a torch for the local priest. Although Maggie has a job she loves (owning and operating the only diner in her tiny town of Gideon’s Cove, Maine) and many friends amongst the townspeople, she can’t help feeling incredibly lonely at  times. In desperation, she agrees to go on several blind dates, but each one is more catastrophic than the last. Just when she’s about to give up hope, however, a surprising kiss from an unexpected source makes Maggie think that maybe she’s finally met her match.

Once again, Kristan Higgins delivers a fun and fast contemporary romance. I found Maggie instantly likeable despite her flaws — and she actually does have real flaws, not the “flaws” that chick-lit heroines often have that are actually adorable quirks in disguise. Her obsession with her priestly friend, Father Tim, is a case in point: she knows he’s off-limits, but she spends an inordinate amount of time obsessing about him anyway. On the other hand, I didn’t get to know and love the taciturn hero, Malone, in the same way. Maggie is utterly bewildered by his behavior for much of the novel, and I can’t really blame her. If Higgins had developed his backstory a bit more and given us some insight into his point of view, I would have enjoyed the romance more than I did. But even though I thought the hero was underdeveloped, I still enjoyed this book! I definitely look forward to reading more of Higgins’ work in 2013.