Experiments in Offline Dating by Kat Mackenzie
Genre: Contemporary Romance | Enemies to Lovers | Forced Proximity | Road Trip Romance
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐¾ — 3.75/5
Synopsis
After a lifetime of dating disasters, Maya Davis has discovered that if dating isn't going to bring her love, it can at least provide excellent material for her podcast.
She cohosts A Spinster's Guide to Offline Dating with her best friend, chronicling her adventures, and frequent misadventures, in the world of offline dating. Her latest experiment takes her all the way to Ireland and its famous matchmaking traditions, where matchmaker Jackie Kelly promises to introduce her to some potential candidates.
One of those candidates is Tadhg, a gorgeous but incredibly grumpy sheep farmer.
Their first date is an absolute disaster.
So naturally, he's the man Maya ends up stuck on a road trip with.
When Jackie convinces Maya to travel around Ireland, going on dates and interviewing couples he's successfully matched over the years, she agrees under the impression that Jackie will be accompanying her. Instead, her designated driver turns out to be his son.
Tadhg.
Yep. THAT Tadhg.
And suddenly Maya's matchmaking experiment becomes considerably more complicated.
My Thoughts
After a lifetime of dating disasters, Maya has basically decided that if dating isn't going to bring her love, it can at least bring her content. :D
She cohosts A Spinster's Guide to Offline Dating with her best friend, where she goes on dates and then reports back to their listeners about exactly how badly, or occasionally not so badly, they went. At this point, she's really dating more for entertainment and the podcast than because she expects to find THE ONE.
So naturally, the next experiment takes her all the way to Ireland and a famous matchmaking festival.
Enter Jackie Kelly, matchmaker extraordinaire, who starts setting Maya up with potential matches. And I swear, these dates had me wondering whether this man was genuinely trying to find her a husband or just trying to provide content for the podcast.
Anyway...
Now let's talk about none other than...
(drumroll, please)
Tadhg!
Maya's first date with the gorgeous, incredibly grumpy sheep farmer is such a spectacular disaster that the secondhand embarrassment nearly took ME out.
No. Girl. Stop talking.
PLEASE!!! (hides face)
So obviously that's the man who ends up driving her around Ireland.
Because what could possibly go wrong?
Jackie convinces Maya to extend her experiment into a road trip across the country, where she'll go on more dates and interview couples he's successfully matched over the years. Maya reluctantly agrees, believing Jackie will be accompanying her.
Except when it's time to leave, Jackie is nowhere to be found.
Her driver?
His son.
Tadhg.
Yep. THAT Tadhg!!!
And from there, what begins as a matchmaking experiment turns into something very different.
I really enjoyed watching Maya and Tadhg slowly get to know each other beyond that hilariously awful first impression. Maya is autistic, and one of my favorite aspects of the romance was watching them learn how the other person communicates, what they need, where their boundaries are, and eventually how they fit together.
Their relationship isn't magically effortless simply because there's attraction between them. They actually have to learn to understand each other, and I really appreciated that.
And yes, there are open-door scenes.
Woop woop.
Thank you very much!
The Ireland road-trip setting was also a lot of fun, and Maya's increasingly questionable collection of dates kept things entertaining while her relationship with Tadhg developed in the background.
That said, I did struggle a little at the beginning. It took me some time to connect with Maya and settle into the story, and some of the podcast exchanges between Maya and her best friend felt a little cringey to me rather than funny.
I also had...
feelings...
...about Jackie.
He seems like a genuinely nice person, and I know much of what he does is supposed to be mischievous matchmaking, but there were several moments when I didn't agree with how he handled things, particularly changing plans at the last minute and essentially engineering situations without everyone being completely in on the plan.
Sir.
Communication exists for... reasons!
Still, once Maya and Tadhg were properly on the road together, I enjoyed the story much more. The forced proximity, disastrous dates, Irish setting, banter, attraction, and quieter moments where they began genuinely understanding one another made the romance work for me.
Final Thoughts
Experiments in Offline Dating was a fun, slightly chaotic road-trip romance about looking for love when you're not really expecting to find it—and perhaps finding it with the ONE person your matchmaking experiment definitely wasn't supposed to match you with.
The beginning took me a little while to settle into, and not every element of the humor worked for me, but the story became much stronger once Maya and Tadhg hit the road. Their developing relationship, the neurodivergent representation, forced proximity, ridiculous dates, and beautiful Irish setting ultimately made this a really enjoyable read.
Rating: 3.75⭐
ARC Disclaimer
I received an advance reader copy of Experiments in Offline Dating from Avon via NetGalley. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
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