Rating: 3.75🌈

I had real trouble arriving at this rating. Matrimonial Merriment is the last Valor and Doyle book by Nicky James. It’s a 7 book series that I found incredibly strong and emotionally compelling at the start, only, imo, to chart a very strange path for the characters and their various storylines.

This story has its strengths and its weaknesses, much like its characters.

Quaid Valor was a tragic character. His young sister had been kidnapped while he and his father were ‘in charge’ of her during a parade. But he was a child himself and his father was a policeman at the parade occupied with security. It destroyed his family and him emotionally, as his mother left them shortly afterwards, abandoning him. Also the devastating betrayal by a man Quaid thought loved him. These events reverberate throughout the series, including finding out how the events happened and who the kidnappers were.

Then there’s Anslan Doyle who has his own personal demons to fight. That includes his professional reputation, the on the job abuse of alcohol, his alcoholism, his emotional recovery on and off the job. He is the opposite of Quaid. Where the Doyle clan is loud and boisterous, it’s just Quaid and his now retired father, quietly playing chess in a house that’s frozen in time.

The journey that takes them through the start of their relationship, the beginnings of understanding of each other’s faults , severe struggles and strengths , all while solving missing persons cases and murders, that’s what makes the series and this couple.

But then as the author wove their personal histories and solved their mysteries into the cases each book was featuring, certain things started to unravel. The very strengths and failures that led to them becoming more powerful and complete individuals were starting to be forgotten in parts of their dynamics . In their interactions the forward movement in overcoming certain obstacles or challenges now seems stalled or even moving back towards what they were in the books that were written earlier.

Especially the penultimate book when Aslan actually caused Quaid to have an emotional breakdown over a poorly thought out proposal. In fact most of that book came close to a DNF as it felt like the author had backtracked the relationship between the two characters and their understanding of each other. The astonishing lack of communication and understanding that brought about a crushing emotional breakdown of Quaid should have been unthinkable by this point in their relationship.

Now comes the finale story and a couple of different issues. Both seen here, one of word choice and another again of author’s characterization. The word is one that’s shown itself increasingly throughout this series.

Imagine a story where the author uses the term ‘purple orb’ every few sentences. Or at least, ten times a page when speaking with regard to a character. Now how distracting would that be?

Sneering is James’s purple orb. It’s everywhere. It’s a feature of Quaid. He sneers constantly. He even smiles sneeringly. It should have been retired. The “sneering”. The overuse of this word is beyond tired. It starts in the first book as a part of Quaid’s common facial expression.

“Can you bring the binder?”

“What binder?”

I stalled and sneered at my phone. “Please tell me you’re joking. It has been attached to my hip morning, noon, and night for a week.”

“Gross. Save it, Valor.” Jordyn’s sneer won a solid silver medal on the sneer-scale, but it would never surpass the master’s.

Quaid sneered back—proving my point—then closed his eyes and let me continue to work.”

So many sneers.

Also, although I get why, James turns Quaid from a thoughtful interesting layered character with issues to caricature bridezilla. For the majority of this book he’s beyond frantic over the wedding planning process . All due to the fact that Doyle decided they must be married before Christmas.

Solution? Don’t get married before Christmas. No one is forcing them to do this, except a whimsical decision (by Aslan and the author). But no, per the author’s storyline, it increases the stress on Quaid to the point he lands in the hospital, again.

Yet, it’s never acknowledged that at least some of the issues lie with the fact that the short deadline was his partner’s choice and could be changed.

It’s all on Quaid, here. The imbalance is stark. And while the push to have Quaid seek therapy is a good sign, there’s also another side that’s being ignored.

From men who fought to get a deep understanding of each other and their relationship dynamics to people who seem to forget they know each other and each other’s foibles.

There’s good elements here. The gardener’s who marrying them. Quade’s relationship with Ruiz, something that has greatly evolved over the series has Ruiz will talk about here. That’s a remarkable and heartwarming thread.

It’s also setting up the new sequel series, which will feature Ruiz’ cousin and a ex police officer.

So this raises the question. The rating. It’s a finale book. Yes, the final part of the story with Aslan and Quaid finally getting married was heartwarming and satisfying. I think it was the best part of the story and made me happy to see this come to an end. It was time.

The narrative before was a mix of lovely bits of storytelling that reminded me why I loved this series and couple entwined with sections of scenes and moments that made me want to stop reading, remembering why I thought it had lost its charm.

So read it for all the above. To finish the series, to see the couple off, and, if you’re curious, get an introduction to the new series to come.

Valor and Doyle:

✓ Temporary Partner #1

✓ Elusive Relations #2

✓ Unstable Connections #3

✓ Inevitable Disclosure #4

✓ Defying Logic #5

✓ Disrupted Engagement

✓ Matrimonial Merriment #7 – finale

Buy Link:

Matrimonial Merriment (Valor and Doyle Book 7)

Blurb

Quaid Andrew Valor and Aslan Ronan Doyle cordially invite you to be an honorary guest as they join their lives in matrimony. The ceremony is set to take place at Strongwind Castle on December 23rd. Save the date!

Time is short. Quaid has less than three months to plan the wedding of his dreams. A wedding that happens to land two days before Christmas. Don’t be fooled. It is not a Christmas wedding—at least not if Quaid has anything to say about it.

The wedding binder is fat and the list of things that need to be done is long, so when the department decides to implement a mandatory team-building Secret Santa event that will take up every one of Quaid’s available Saturdays, he is livid. There is no time for nonsense on his tight schedule.

When Aslan sees what the stress is doing to his fiancé, he calls in the cavalry to help plan the wedding. What could possibly go wrong with Ruiz and Torin on their side?

Relationships grow deeper. Friends and family come together to celebrate. And Quaid and Aslan finally tie the knot.

**Matrimonial Merriment is the seventh book in the Valor and Doyle series. Unlike the other books, this one does not contain a mystery and is wholly focused on our two favorite detectives finally getting married. It was meant as a bonus book but somehow came in at over 100k words. Oops. More of them to love.**

• Publisher: (December 7, 2023)

• Publication date: December 7, 2023

• Print length: 380 pages