DNF: Sparks the Matchmaker by Russell Elkins

Sparks the Matchmaker
written by Russell Elkins
published by Inky’s Nest Publishing

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Goodreads

Why did I pick this book: I participated in the blog tour hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. (I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)

Where I stopped reading: Nook page 73.

Why I stopped reading: I just could not get into this book. It started slow and didn’t grab me. I didn’t like Sparks from the beginning. I thought he was kind of creepy and I didn’t want him to “help” Ollie.

With that said, Mr. Elkins has a great idea but it is one that has been done many times. This is the first time I have seen it from the male’s perspective and that had me excited. It just didn’t do it for me and I couldn’t finish it.
What others have rated this book: According to Goodreads, the average rating for Sparks the Matchmaker is 3.94 stars. It looks like a majority of readers gave this book 4 stars. There were 5 4-star reviews on Amazon. At Barnes & Noble, the majority of the reviews were 4 stars. Just because I didn’t finish this book doesn’t mean you may not.

About the book – from Goodreads: Ollie just wants one thing. The girl.

Things haven’t been going so well with Anne lately, though; their relationship has become a perpetual study date, and Ollie’s roommates are starting to worry about him. How to fix things? Why, with a marriage proposal, of course. Unfortunately for Ollie, his relationship with Anne has run out of gas.

Life feels like it’s counting down to one. And that one is the only person in Ollie’s life he really cares about: Ollie. Perhaps, then, he should get over himself.

But first he has to deal with Sparks, the irritating little Yankees fan who invades his life in order to “help” him. And while Keith, his best friend, is doing all he can to help, Ollie’s other friend Richie never fails to show up and threaten to ruin everything just by being himself. Never mind all the drama Sparks brings to the party by forcing Ollie to take a job actually helping people in need.

Will Ollie meet the girl? Will it be in history class? On a road trip to Colorado? Can he get over Anne, or should he try to mend the relationship? Should he pursue the new girl Sparks is trying to set him up with? As the strings of the puppeteer tangle with the strings of the heart, only one person can sort out the mess Ollie has made. It seems that the harder he tries, the more Ollie messes things up. Is Sparks a cruel manipulator, or is he really going to help Ollie find his match?