This is a wonderful, beautifully written, heartwarming, historical fiction story set in New York City. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for approving my early access. I will be highly recommending this book to both of my book clubs!

We are introduced to 3 generations of the Glikman family in pre, post war, and 1990's New York City, It's historical fiction and blends the tales of real world matchmakers with some magical realism as we learn the history of Sara's journey into matchmaking to support her family and hone her gift. Growing up poor in the lower east side in the 20's and 30's, Sara realizes that she has an intuitive gift to see couples who should be together. Oftentimes they are married or engaged to other people, or deemed 'not marriage material' by the traditional male matchmakers that have dominated this neighborhood. This part was fascinating. How Sara steps up for herself and goes against the traditional men that control this process has many implications in today's struggles we all face. In the acknowledgements, the author lists out all her sources for Jewish matchmaking, many of which will make for some interesting future reading.

Upon Sara's death, she leaves all her journals to her granddaughter, Abby, detailing all her matches, as well as some very touching stories of helping refugees after the Holocaust. This woman had a fascinating life! In an ironic twist, Abby is a divorce lawyer, and soon starts to realize that she may have inherited Sara's unique gift. The drama and outcome this creates is a feel good story of reevaluation, and fighting for love, not against it. I think a 2nd book could be written on where Abby goes from here with her gift and career. A touching, beautiful story that will reaffirm your faith in love and humanity!

Sometimes I take a break from reading my usual genres and enjoy a good historical fiction. Having fallen in love with two previous novels by Lynda Cohen Loigman I assumed The Matchmaker's Gift was a sure bet and I was right.

Told on two timelines, 1910 when a young Sara Gilkman discovers her gift, and the 1990s after her death when we meet her granddaughter Abby who is mourning her loss.

Abby has become a divorce lawyer after having watched her mother go through a messy divorce in which her father basically dumped the entire family, leaving them to struggle to meet basic needs while he flourished in his new footloose and fancy-free life.


Sara never backed down and grew into a strong woman who "sees what she sees and knows what she knows" and never let anyone change that.

After Sara's passing, Abby inherits her journals and seemingly her gift of seeing which couples will make a perfect love match. Will she ever find her own soul mate?

I feel like I learned quite a bit about Jewish tradition from this novel. It was such a heartwarming story that this surely must be what is meant when someone says to expect the feel-good hit of the year. Loigman creates the kind of characters that make me wish I was part of their family. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction/women's fiction and anyone who just wants something lighthearted, high-spirited, and fun to read.

4 stars. Highly enjoyable dual timeline!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me take a peek at an early copy. My views are my own.

A beautiful historical fiction read about Jewish matchmaking! I always will pick up books with realistic Jewish people/culture. I really enjoyed the dual narrative between the matchmaker grandma and her granddaughter who is a divorce lawyer. It was a fast paced book, but a thoughtful read. I’m impressed with how the author really did her research, I particularly enjoyed reading about Jewish Americans in NYC during early 1900’s. Overall, it was very sweet, magical and fun read! I truly loved this book so much that it’s one of my favorites that I’ve read this year. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Hitch meets The Devil Wears Prada! Such a sweet story of the Jewish tradition of matchmaking. Sara's family moves from Russia to NYC in the early 1900's and she makes her first match at age 10 for her sister. Her gift allows her to see what a true love match should be between two people. The story goes back and forth in time between Sara and her granddaughter Abby, who is a divorce attorney in NYC. Abby works for a demanding attorney who makes her hours long and her stress level very high. But she wants this job to represent people like her mother who was not well represented when she divorced Abby's father. The stories from Sara's matchmaking overlaps with her stories she shares with her Abby. A sweet and interesting story which was enhanced by the author's note at the end of the book. My thanks to Cindy Burnett at Thoughts from a Page and Net Galley for this e-book. I am looking forward to Cindy's interview with author Lynda Cohen Loigman.

I love a good feisty grandma, and the one featured in THE MATCHMAKER’S GIFT, is no exception! I loved (and flew through) this dual-timeline saga of Abby, a divorce lawyer in the 90s, and her grandmother, Sara, a matchmaker in 1910s New York City. As Abby uncovers journals left for her by Sara, she discovers there is more to her grandmother’s work than she could have imagined. The strong historical detail in this novel, highlighting the life of Jewish immigrants in NY, is both fascinating and compelling. I particularly enjoyed the alternating chapter structure that perfectly juxtaposed Abby’s work vs Sara’s work. Abby is such a fantastic heroine in her own right—I loved spending time with her and her fast-paced lawyer life just as much as I enjoyed the historical aspect. This was an all around delightful read from beginning to end, with vibrant female characters, & perfect for those of us who are a little obsessed with love.

The Matchmaker’s Gift was the perfect book to read snuggled up in bed while recuperating from covid. It took my mind off not feeling well and I escaped into the life of matchmaker, Sara Glikman, and her granddaughter Abby. This was a magical, feel good read filled with love, good deeds, and Jewish customs. Lynda Cohen Loigman thank you for this most delightful, enchanting read. NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press thank you for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved, loved, loved this story. it is written in a dual timeline. very interesting characters.. my first book by this author, will definitely read others.

This book was absolutely charming! The characters were lovingly crafted, and I really felt for Sara and Abby as they navigated their respective landscapes. The magical realism works splendidly, and I loved the ways that each woman came into her powers.

I'm a sucker for a dual timeline, and I enjoyed that approach in this book, as well. My primary note on the book was that the timelines ran a bit TOO parallel at times. I would like to have seen the details teased out in a more nuanced manner.

The same goes for Abby's matchmaking endeavors. It was just a little too easy at times. I would have appreciated a more robust secondary cast of characters so that the pairing could feel a bit more organic.

That being said... I blazed through this book and found myself eager to get back to it. None of the previous observations hampered my enjoyment in any significant way.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an ARC of this book to read and review. Wow. This book was brilliant. I loved how the story was told from multiple perspectives and timelines. Both Sara and Abby were independent and special in their own ways and it was great to see how they were similar over the years. I truly thought the story was magnificent and I loved the Jewish heart and soul I felt come to life throughout the entire thing. I was captivated by Loigman's storytelling and how immersed I was in all of the events that eventually unfolded. Like the title, this book was truly a gift. Both women were brave and I felt the power of community through what they had accomplished. I loved the feminism and the idea that women could do what the men do and they could do it better. The love stories from each match were riveting and I enjoyed the role that religion played. Overall this story was light, full of love both familial and romantically, and I genuinely loved this book so much.

Utterly charming with a mix of historical, humor, romance, mystery, and a little stardust of magic!

Lynda Cohen Loigman returns following The Two-Family House and The Wartime Sisters (loved both) with her latest THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT — a family saga of two generations of women with the family gift for matching soulmates.

1910: Sara Glikman is the grandmother who was a "shadchanteh," a Jewish matchmaker on the Lower East Side in NYC in the early 20th century. She was ten years old when she made her first match.

1994: Her granddaughter, Abby, is a divorce attorney in Manhattan. She is pretty cynical when it comes to all things love. Her mom and dad separated and divorced when she was young (her dad with younger girlfriends), and she decided to become a divorce attorney after her mom got the raw end of the divorce.

It is 1994, and Sara, the grandmother, has passed peacefully in her sleep. She misses her so much. Fourteen years earlier, her Grandma Sara abandoned her retirement in Florida to help Abby's mother raise her two daughters. Even at 94, she still lived on her own. She led a good life and was a wise woman. Her husband died at age sixty of congestive heart failure.

Sara's boss Diane is pretty cutthroat, and they have high-end, famous, wealthy clients at the firm they represent.

After her grandmother's death, she inherits her matchmaking journals. They are quite intriguing, and Abby had no clue of how detailed and invested her grandmother was in her matchmaking business. So much history. Who would have known?

The more she reads and pours through Sara's handwritten journals, she wonders why they were left to her. What is it her grandmother wants her to know?

Is Abby willing to sacrifice the career she has worked so hard to keep her grandmother's promise to a stranger?

Soon, Abby realizes she may have inherited the matching gift too. She is excited about the possibilities. She must rethink her life when her job is on the line for stepping outside the boundaries.

Sara had trusted Abby to find them and piece together the stories. Somewhere in this remarkable collection were the lessons Sara wanted Abby to remember.

"One day, my brilliant skeptic, I'll be gone, and all of my stories will belong to you. When the time comes, try to remember what I taught you. Who knows? Maybe you'll make a few love matches of your own." — Grandmother Sara

Wow! I loved Sara's Chapter Openings.

Meticulously researched (as always), Loigman dives deep into the history of matchmaking and Jewish cultures. What a fun and fascinating story. I always learn something when I read one of her books.

Not only were there thousands of Jewish matchmakers (1910) in New York, but the majority of them were men. She mentioned when she created the character Sara, she wanted to make sure she was unmarried in a business dominated by older men. LOVED THE AUTHOR'S NOTE and the Epilogue (1995).

With the dual timeline, the author knows her way around being a young lawyer in New York during Abby's timeline. I enjoyed the sprinkling of Yiddish throughout and the interesting NYT articles which inspired THE MATCHMAKER'S GIFT.

Lynda's books have a strong sense of family and the importance of things we can learn from our prior generations if we only listen.

If you love well-written magical tales with a bit of history where the past meets the present with two strong women finding their place in the world, this book is for YOU!

A special thank you to #StMartinsPress and #Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #CoverCrush #SMPInfluencers

PS. Check out my #AuthorElevatorSeries Interview with Lynda (2019) THE WARTIME SISTERS, where we go behind the scenes of the book and the author.

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My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date: Sep 20, 2022

I flew through The Matchmaker's Gift in a couple of days. Sara and Abby's stories were so fresh and compelling, even though they were set about 50+ years apart in NYC, that I couldn't wait to read how they turned out. That's my favorite type of reading experience. Both women are "gifted" with the ability to help others find their mates, and each faces cultural and social obstacles when she applies her gift. I like to think that their gift was a divine one. The author's resolution of major heartaches for Sara and Abby took me by surprise but had me cheering! As a former history major I was especially hooked by the unique scenes from Sara's early life in NYC, and it made me wish to revisit the Tenement Museum. I highly recommend this book!

What a delight this story is! Thank you so much St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this advance copy.

Sara and Abby are a grandmother/granddaughter possessing some rather inexplicable gifts. You see each of their stories develop alternating then and now. I was hooked from the first chapter!

“You have been blessed with eyes that can see the light of soulmates reaching for each other.”

The Jewish tradition of matchmaking is the subject of this well crafted novel beginning in 1910 with young Sara Glikman who has immigrated to the U.S. She struggles to find her way, provide for her family and stay true to her heritage. Fast forward to 1994 as Sara’s granddaughter Abby, who after reading her grandmother’s journals, begins to understand the power of the message she tried to share with her. From Lower East Side tenements, to swanky A-list parties, Ms. Loigman sets the stage with skill and her portrayal of New York City enriches the narrative.

This dual timeline novel, historical fiction with just enough magic layered in, was a reader’s delight for me! There is truly something exceptional happening, when an author guides you to learn without the feeling that you’ve read <insert historically accurate fact> and instead just threads information through a fun plot with engaging characters.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Currently Reading Podcast for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Will share on my social platforms closer to publication date.

The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen follows Sarah as she makes her way through 1920s New York and discovers her talent as a matchmaker. This book has dual timelines, so we also follow Sarah’s granddaughter a lawyer in 1990s New York City who also has her grandmother's gift of matchmaking.

What first drew me in about this book was the description. I love dual timelines and the fact that it shows us grandmother and granddaughter, each in their own timelines, struggling through similar things decades apart felt really profound to me.

The book actually begins in 1910 and tells us the story of Sara Glikman and her family as they migrate to New York. While on the ship, Sara discovers that she has the gift of matchmaking: described as being able to see love/soul connections between two people.

The second timeline introduces us to Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, a divorce lawyer (how ironic when she has the matchmaking gift!). When her grandmother passes away, Abby discovers journals that allow her to understand her grandmother better and she is able to come to a sort of peace with her own gifts.

This is a fantastic and heartwarming story of love that spans generations. Yes, there is romance and matchmaking, but the real love story? That is the one between Sara and her granddaughter.

This book was well written and kept me reading page after page. It also has a dash of magical realism which I LOVE! I also found it very interesting to learn about matchmaking within the Jewish culture. I did not know anything about this so I’m grateful to the author for introducing me to this. Sometimes it can be confusing for some readers when the story skips between timelines but that will not be a problem for any reader. It was very clear when and where we were at any given time.

This was just the refreshing, light-hearted read I needed. I highly recommend it!
The expected publication for The Matchmaker’s Gift is September 20th 2022 by St. Martin's Press

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an Arc of this book. This review is entirely my own.

This was a magical historical fiction, feel good book.
Written in a dual timeline of the early 1900’s and early 1990’s, we have the stories of both Sara and her granddaughter Abby.
If you’re in the mood for a pick me, you can’t help but smile and feel happier after reading this, so I highly recommend picking this up.
For me, I found it a bit slow moving which made it a longer read for me but it was good.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC eBook in exchange for my honest review.

When I read a teaser for this ARC, I knew I had to read it! Sara, a Jewish matchmaker. Dual timelines including Sara’s granddaughter. Women standing up against male harassment. The Hebrew and Yiddish words & phrases. I enjoyed learning more about New York and Jewish immigrants in the early 1900’s. It was delightful! I’m grateful for Cindy @thoughtsfromapage for giving me early access to this upcoming release!

I absolutely adored The Matchmaker's Gift! It was a refreshing story unlike anything I've read before. The dual timelines of Sarah and Abby were both so intriguing. I couldn't wait to find out what happened to each woman on their journeys to find themselves and what they wanted in life. I loved learning more about matchmakers and the Jewish culture. I highly recommend this book!

This was a delight. I love books that have a story line/characters from two different time periods. I loved learning more about life on the Lower East Side of NYC. It was light hearted and entertaining.

The Matchmaker’s Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman swept me off my feet with the perfect amount of familial love, friendship, romance, and characters that I wanted to befriend in real life. The pacing in this dual timeline narrative was spot on and I equally enjoyed both the historical and current day storylines.

Sara and Abby have a special bond as granddaughter and grandmother and it was further cemented by their mystical skills of matchmaking. Usually, I find journals or photos hidden or left behind to be a crutch to further the storyline but not in this case. Here the journals left behind just strengthened the case that Abby is better at putting people together rather than taking them apart.

Imagery of the Lower East Side during Sara’s youth was well described and the push and pull of Abby’s job as a divorce attorney was felt by the reader.

The cover of this book was not only beautiful, but it was wonderfully fresh and should appeal to readers who appreciate good cover art. Extra bonus that the story between the pages lived up to the cover!

Overall, this was a mesmerizing story about love that both the cynics and romantics will adore. Definitely the full package – heart, easy humor and good people.