This was so good! Such a feel-good, heart warming story. As you may know, I love Broadway and this gave me very Hello Dolly and Fiddler on the Roof vibes. “I have always been a girl who arranges things/Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match..” I loved the dual timeline and dual POV between Abby and her grandmother, Sara. Some of the content overlapped but I think it was inevitable with the dual timelines. It just made it easy to “guess” what was coming since the topic was introduced in the previous chapter. The story had drama, family, love, struggles, loyalty and perseverance. It was an easy read and kept me engaged throughout.

This was a heartwarming story - I was pulled in right away by the premise. It was interesting to learn about traditional matchmaking in Jewish culture, and also refreshing to read it in a non-wartime setting. Additionally, I felt like the dual timeline worked here.

But by the second half of the book, I started feeling a little bored. The storyline was a little flat… and finally everything wrapped up in a really predictable way, which took away some of the intrigue.

Overall, I did enjoy the book, especially reading about Abby and her relationship with her grandmother. I would definitely check out another one of this author’s books in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I desperately needed this book right now. After two dark years, this book provides wonderful hope for not only romance, but positive work environments, courage, and self-confidence. All of the women in this book grow to be self-assured women with clear ideas of what they want their life to be, even if they aren't sure how that will work out for them in the moment. It's very inspiring to those of us who are also figuring out our lives.
I also enjoyed the setting a great deal. I've always been fascinated by Jewish life in early twentieth-century New York, and this novel portrays its highs and lows beautifully. Its use of Yiddish and descriptions of traditions also help to preserve traditions that are slowly vanishing from this area of the world.
Overall, I would say that this book is inspirational, informative, and appropriate for a wide variety of readers.

I really enjoyed this book! I like reading books with dual storylines and really appreciate historical fiction based on true events. Learning more about other cultures is an added bonus! This book checked all the boxes. I loved characters, the family relationships and references to food. Thus book was a joy to read.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are my own.

I really liked this story. It starts with Sara, who seems to have the gift of matchmaking. Then it moves on to Abby, Sara's granddaughter, who is trying to figure out if she has the same gift as her grandmother. It was interesting to read about these characters and how they tried to match couples. Lots of interesting people, with a bit of magic. Highly recommend!

I received a complimentary copy of this book "The Matchmaker's Gift" and all opinions expressed are my own. Definitely an interesting story. A very heartwarming story between the granddaughter and grandmother. This was an easy read. I loved being part of the adventure.

The Matchmaker’s Gift is a captivating story about embracing who you are. Told through dual timelines, we learn about Sara who discovers she has matchmaking abilities at the young age of 10 years old and her granddaughter Abby - in the mid 90s after her grandmother passes away and what she learns from the items Sara left behind for her.

Both women posses the special talent of seeing a unique light threaded between two souls that were meant to be connected. ‘I see what I see, and I know what I know.’ After Sara passes away, Abby is left to face the choice between her career as a divorce attorney and following the path her grandmother left for her.

Thanks to #NetGalley, Lynda Cohen Loigman, and St. Martin’s Press for the e-ARC of #TheMatchmakersGift in exchange for an honest review.

This cover is amazing. Hard copy of this book is a must for my collection. You will love every single page of this book. I laughed and cried. This is one of those that will surely be rereading. Love love love it

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin Press for my ARC

I absolutely loved the charming novel about a grandmother, Sara and her granddaughter, Abby who have the gift of matchmaking.
This such a wonderful feel good story and I would highly recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for ARC
(e version) and to Lynda Cohen Loigman for writing this magical novel

Each and every sentence of this novel was a joy to read.
I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I loved.
I lost myself to this with each gorgeous page I read.

I read this over the course of less than twenty four hours. It is as of writing this review (8 May, ‘22) one of the best upcoming books I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of reading this year.

This will be a definite re-read and when I'm ready, I'll likely listen to this as an audio book. I am truly hoping that Sara’s narrator really puts the New York Yiddish inflection in her voice - it is a voice I can still hear, growing up in NJ (an hour outside of Manhattan) in the 70’s and 80’. I spent the majority of my childhood summers with my grandmother and her friends, many of whom were old country Jewish (I feel like I’m probably among the last generations to see camp survivors and the numbers tattooed on their arms) and that accent and the food - I can still hear it and smell the deliciousness of the food that these other grandmas made for me that became my lifelong comfort food.

And one last thing - how have I never come across Ms Cohen Loigman's books previously?? (Please know that after I read this book, I grabbed her two other books and really look forward to reading them.)

This was a rare book, a true gem and one I’m so so very thrilled to have read. The Matchmaker’s Gift has my strongest recommendation.

So sweet & perfect. This book had everyone that I love in it, historical fiction, romance, and a little magical realism. This book was also heartwarming and was just an all around lovely tale. I hope to read more from this author!

Beautiful. Charming. Heartwarming. Timeless. Romantic. Emotional. Compelling. Absorbing. Delightful. Magical. This novel is a gift to readers. One of the best books I've read in 2022.

Gosh, I loved this one! This one was a delight. I love when magic realism is done well in a story, and this one really did a good job. The magic element only created space to speak to the complexities of romantic relationships and love. I loved both storylines, and was rooting for both granddaughter & grandmother alike. I thought the look at matchmaking in the Jewish community to be fascinating and I learned so much. This one was such a bigwin for me.

The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman

The stunning, colorful cover grabbed me, and I adored the author's last book, THE WARTIME SISTERS. Although fantasy is not usually the genre I crave, I had to give Lynda Loigman's latest novel a try.

And I'm so glad I did!

Abby, a late-century divorce attorney, comes across journals belonging to her beloved grandmother, Sara. Sara had a gift for matchmaking at a time when only Jewish men on New York's Lower East Side earned money in that vocation. Is it possible Sara has passed this gift along to her granddaughter?

Along with a delightful and heartwarming storyline, I loved learning about Jewish culture and the historical tradition of Jewish matchmaking.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this sweet book.

Stars: This was a fast, easy, enjoyable read. A little chick-litty, but more interesting - and lots of little romances instead of one big one. A topic I don't think I've seen before - that of two Jewish female matchmakers; one working her literal magic in the 1900s and beyond, and one who discovers her gift in the 1990s. I was very impressed by all of the author's research as noted at the conclusion of the novel.

Wishes: This book teetered on the predictable and hokey a bit but I still enjoyed it.

4.5 stars rounded to 5 stars

What a wonderful story this is! A little backstory first. I chose this book based on who wrote it. Several years ago, I was reading thrillers only. In 2016 I was hearing a lot of good things about a historical fiction debut novel called The Two-Family House by Ms. Loigman. I really liked the blurb except for the part about it being set in the past. On a whim I decided to try it. I loved it. Must have been a fluke, right? Nearly 3 years later, I was invited by the publisher to read her second book, The Wartime Sisters. I loved that one too! Maybe the first hadn’t been a fluke after all so I put Ms. Loigman on my radar. Around the same time, being emboldened, I decided to enter a Goodreads Giveaway for a historical fiction novel with a lot of buzz called The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I entered. I won. I read. I was now officially hooked, not only on Ms. Loigman, but Ms. Hannah, and on historical fiction in general. I’ve only read a handful of thrillers since. My historical fiction reads gave me the courage to take even more chances, and now I am a huge fan of many genres. I will always give Ms. Loigman the credit for expanding my reading horizons, and I plan to read everything she writes.

The Matchmaker’s Gift is told in 2 timelines: Sara’s story from 1910 to 1994 and her granddaughter Abby’s timeline totally set in 1994, the year that Sara died (not a spoiler as she passes very early in the book). I loved the characterizations of Abby and especially Sara. Sara is a shadchanteh (a Jewish matchmaker) on the Lower East Side in New York City in the early 20th century. Abby is a divorce lawyer with a cutthroat boss in Manhattan. Though Sara and Abby have a wonderful relationship, Abby does not find her grandmother’s matchmaking stories all that believable. It’s only after Sara’s death that Abby begins to see how remarkable and wise her grandmother really was and uses that realization to really think about transforming her own life.

Ms. Loigman did an impressive amount of research for this book and speaks of the process in her Author’s Notes. Many of the people in this novel are Jewish, and we get a good sense of the Jewish culture in NYC in the early 1900s. I found this fascinating, and I absorbed it all like a sponge. Furthermore, the prose is just excellent and the story glides. The individual stories of the matches are so heartwarming. The themes are several-fold and include loss, heartbreak, women’s rights, religion, soulmates, and the wisdom of our elders.
There is an epilogue, which I always appreciate. And just look at that cover! Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the unexpected very last sentence of the book sent waves of chills up and down my spine. Absolute perfection.

This book made me happy! I highly recommend it to all interested in a captivating and very satisfying story weaved by a terrific storyteller. I hope we don’t have to wait long for another novel by this author. Well done, Ms. Loigman!

I would like to thank Ms. Rivka Holler of St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to review the book. Thank you, Net Galley and Ms. Loigman as well. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

4 Stars

Lovely, heartwarming story about the love between a grandmother and granddaughter.

Abby is a divorce attorney and, due to her parent's painful divorce, has little faith in love or marriage. Her grandmother Sara used to be a matchmaker. When Sara leaves her journals to Abby, Abby begins a journey of discovery into her grandmother's past, her mysterious gift and the stories of those Sara helped to find love.

I especially loved reading about Sara's life in New York as a young girl. Her struggles to abide by the customs of her community while forging a new path for herself make great reading. The long tradition of matchmaking by men in the old country and the changes brought about by life in a new country with it's greater freedoms and opportunities, particularly for women, are the source of much trouble for Sara, who is determined to help her family and do what she knows is right.

For Abby, the journals are a source of hope, a different way of looking at relationships, and an opportunity to decide what really matters.

This book is like a cup of hot chocolate, a warm fire, and comfy chair. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

This story was SO cute; I couldn’t put it down! 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.

I absolutely love reading about Jewish culture, in any genre of book. The characters are always so vibrant! And this story is no exception. Sara and Abby are both determined, passionate women with sharp minds and quick wits. They are also both kind, compassionate souls looking to do good in the world around them. They are a fun juxtaposition at the start — an early-century matchmaker full of optimism and a late-century divorce attorney feeling a bit burned out. You come to realize that the goals of these two professions are not really so different as they first seemed.

The pace of this book is fast, and it is relatively short — I didn’t want it to end! I actually got chills at the man in the café scene, and at the end over margaritas. Fabulous storytelling that swept me along effortlessly! I would (and will) highly recommend this feel-good read to anyone and everyone.

Thank you to Lynda Cohen Loigman, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Such a sweet and delightful book!
Dual timelines, a grandmother’s and a grandaughter.
It starts with the grandmother, Sara in 1910 as a young girl in New York’s lower east side.
The grandaughter Abby’s timeline is set in Manhattan two generations later where she is a divorce attorney.
Both of these women have a special gift of matchmaking that includes a bit of magic.
This book has a lot of heart!
4+ stars

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Wonderful, absorbing and mystical. Grandmother and granddaughter, both sharing some many qualities and both fighting against the traditional view of life and profession. Add in some glamor and a big dash of romance and you have this delightful tale.
I love the idea of a thread of light that connects two people who are destined to be together. The historical facts were fascinating and I loved how it interspersed with a matchmaking success.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. I loved it.