A Fowl Match by Sarah Madeline

A Fowl Match by Sarah Madeline is a fun, cute story about Violet and Dustin falling for each other. They hate each other at first, but learn to deal with each other during an annual competition in their small town. 

The story begins in Violet’s POV. She’s carrying a big pile of pots down the sidewalk when she accidentally trips. All of her pots fly up, scattering everywhere, and one of them hits a man in a suit. 

He helps Violet up. She finds him attractive but also grumpy and a little rude. 

They don’t have a very long conversation. Only a few sentences. Then they go their separate ways. 

The next day, Violet goes to the local bar with her best friend, Olive. As they’re walking down the sidewalk, Violet starts thinking about the town of Thornwood Valley, where she lives. It’s a small town with tons of small businesses and chickens walking around, which is fun. One of the shops has a whole section dedicated to a beloved rooster named Rooster that passed away a while ago. The local bar is also named after said rooster. It’s called Rooster’s Bar. 

As much as I enjoyed learning about the town, I would’ve liked to see a conversation between Violet and Olive to get a feel for their friendship/dynamic. It felt like a missed opportunity. 

When Violet and Olive enter Rooster’s Bar, they head to the bar and greet Mason, the owner and bartender, who also takes care of all the town’s chickens. They’re technically his chickens. He pours the girls some drinks. And Violet notices the man sitting next to her. 

The man next to her is the man she bumped into on the sidewalk. They have a short chat, and Violet decides to call him ‘Grumpy.’ 

Then Constance, the organizer of town events, gets on stage. She announces the teams for an annual competition featuring the town’s local businesses. And wouldn’t you know, Violet and Grumpy - Dustin is his real name - are paired together, much to their dismay.

Violet owns and runs The Not-So-Secret Garden, a garden shop in town. And Dustin is working at his grandparents’ farm, helping run it.

The next several chapters show Violet and Dustin during the different events in the competition. The first event is a chicken race. Each team gets assigned a chicken. Violet and Dustin’s chicken is named Helga. While they’re practicing, Violet tells Dustin that shouting compliments and positive things at Helga will make her run faster and win the race. It’s a funny scene. 

To be completely honest, I never saw Violet and Dustin as a couple. Their story felt more like enemies to best friends rather than rivals to lovers. They're both likable characters. Dustin is a great guy. Violent is sweet and quirky. But I didn’t feel any romantic chemistry between them.

I’m not sure there was ever a scene where they actually shifted from rivals to friends. No realizations that “Hey, maybe this guy isn’t so bad” or “this girl is okay.” Their friendship felt sudden, and so did the beginning of their romantic feelings.

Some of the storylines could’ve been structured better, too. Certain parts should’ve been drawn out more or mentioned earlier. Things that should’ve felt more important didn’t feel important. For example, the journal Violet finds in her shop that once belonged to Darcy, the woman who helped raise her. 

In the journal, Darcy wrote letters to a man she cared for called ‘H.’ 

Violet wants to find out who H is, but the mystery of H’s identity is barely part of the story. I think Violet should’ve read the journal more. There should’ve been more entries shown. And we should’ve met townsfolk who could’ve been H before the actual reveal. It would’ve made it feel more enticing and intriguing rather than just “Oh, okay.” 

Later on, after Dustin and Violet start dating, Dustin is offered a new job in the city. His best friend, Nolan, is starting an accounting company, and he wants Dustin to be a partner. But it didn’t really feel like that big of a deal. Dustin’s feelings about the city have already been revealed, not to mention how much he enjoys being on his grandparents’ farm, so his taking the job doesn’t seem like a possibility. 

It felt like something I should’ve been worried about, but as the reader, I never was.

I’d also like to mention Chelsea. For most of the story, Chelsea is the bitch Violet and Olive hate for good reason. But suddenly, out of nowhere, Violet is like, “Yeah, okay. We can be friends.” It didn’t make any sense. Chelsea never even had to apologize for her mistakes or for what happened in the past. 

In one scene, it seemed like the reader was supposed to have sympathy for Chelsea, but that felt weird. 

So, yes, the story could’ve been structured better, in my opinion, but it had some great aspects to it. The entire small-town vibe was fantastic. I would’ve loved to see more of the town, but the glimpses we got were really fun. And Violet’s inner dialogue made me smile

I would love to try a pepperoni roll from The Cheese Stick, one of the small businesses in the town. Violet loved those pepperoni rolls so much. I would like to know what all the fuss was about. 

I plan to read the next book in the Thornwood Valley series, titled A Merry Pair by Sarah Madeline. 

I’m excited to read Olive and Mason’s Christmas-themed romance.