Adventures in Online Dating

By: Julie Particka

Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny

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 20, as in after 20 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 20-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 - 20 minutes at a time.

©2018 by Julie Particka. This edition is made possible under a license arrangement with Entangled Publishing, Inc. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Desperate, unlikeable single mom dates barista

At its core, I found the premise of this story, that children require two parents to thrive, distasteful. I found little to like in this judgy single mom subjecting men to 20 minute interrogations to find a father figure for her teen sons. There was zero comedy or chemistry; just a series of bad date caricatures followed by Marshall being a best date caricature while she put him through passive aggressive purgatory. And the HEA is her realizing she hated being a successful business woman and loved being a fellow barista to her man? No thanks.

Random thoughts: Somehow, I thought this was a cozy romance, but there are F bombs and detailed (but dull) sex scenes. I suppose Vivienne Leheny was appropriate for cougar Alexa, but she’s never been my preferred narrator for romance.