Blog Tour Review: Gouda Friends by Cathy Yardley

Posted March 22, 2022 by Lisa Mandina in Blog Tour, Review / 6 Comments

GOUDA FRIENDS by Cathy Yardley is out now! Check out the gorgeous friends-to-lovers romcom and grab your copy today!

I received this book for free from InkSlingerPR in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Blog Tour Review:  Gouda Friends by Cathy YardleyGouda Friends by Cathy Yardley
Series: Ponto Beach Reunion #2
Published by Montlake on March 22, 2022
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Adult Romantic Comedy
Pages: 304
Source: InkSlingerPR
Format: E-galley
My Rating: five-stars
Goodreads

Blurb:

Two high school BFFs reunite and endeavor to fix each other’s lives in this geeky romance from the author of Love, Comment, Subscribe.

Tam Doan dumped her boyfriend after he threw away her gourmet cheese. Sure, it’s a little more complicated than that, but the point is, he had it coming. Newly single and unemployed, Tam calls up her best friend from high school and utters the emergency code word—goldfish. Next thing she knows, she’s on a plane back home.

Josh O’Malley was a troubled, unconfident teenager. Now he’s the successful owner of a multimillion-dollar ghost kitchen. Tam, his high school BFF and fellow member of the Nerd Herd friend group, was instrumental in building his self-esteem. When she calls him out of the blue, he jumps at the chance to return the favor.

Josh and Tam immediately get to work fixing her life—but again, it’s complicated. Their close friendship was always a lifeline between them; a blooming romance might confuse things. Still, at least one thing is for certain: their chemistry is un-brie-lievable.

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My Review

Oh my gosh, I adored this book! And it’s not just because I, like the main character Tam, love anything to do with cheese. At least it’s mostly not because of that. I love how she got so mad at her then boyfriend who had thrown out her good cheese. In a way I immediately thought of that book, Who Moved My Cheese?. But then of course I just knew how mad I would be if someone threw away my own perfectly good cheese. Although in my case it would be block of colby jack from Osceola cheese in my home state of Missouri.

This book kept me turning pages as I needed to know how the story would all fall out. While I didn’t finish the first book in this series of standalones, I kind of wish I had. I remember when I was reading that one that we got a lot of flashbacks for those characters that I’m sure included the couple from this book in some scenes I’m sure. I wish I had all those to remember for this book. Not that I was left wondering or anything, because this story took us down the path with the characters in just the right way.

The story had a lot of depth, and in a way kind of hit me where I am at in my own career at the moment. I’ve gone from a job I loved, to a job that I hoped I’d love, had things like a better salary and “closer” to my home to make it better, but now I don’t love it anymore. And it makes me wish I was younger and could do exactly what Tam did in this book, as well as what she had convinced Josh to do when she had helped him before the story began, to find what she loved to do and make that her career.

As Tam tried out each of the different areas they’d come up with, I was right there with her, not quite sure what she was going to end up falling in love with. So I love the way the author kept us right in the story. We got some glimpses into the things that she did really well at, but none of those quite led to her final path. And when the perfect job came along, I also love how it didn’t mean that everything else, her relationship, where she lived, etc., fell right into the perfect place right away as well. Again, really made me think about the move I made in my career this past year, and how I may have let the good job go.

The story had so much heart, but not only that, it had tons of laughs! One line, “And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for his meddling toothbrush!” had my Scooby Doo loving heart giggling. And like Tam, I really would like to find my own “Cheese Daddy”. I also want her cheese t-shirts!

Such a great story. I can’t wait to order my own physical copy to put on my bookshelf, and then hopefully get signed this summer at Book Bonanza when I, fingers crossed, get to meet the author!

About the Author

Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin’s, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and sometimes being a little wrong is just right. She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures, because she’s had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society of Creative Anachronism; she’s spent a New Year’s on a 3-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert; she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of East Seattle, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth of any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs (and one husband.)

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6 responses to “Blog Tour Review: Gouda Friends by Cathy Yardley

    • Lisa Mandina

      It is adorable! And cheese! You should totally read the first one and then pick this one up too.

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