This was a DNF for me, unfortunately. I couldn't connect with this even though I had heard great things about it. I found every holiday book I tried to read this past season centered around grief and mentally, I was not looking for that in a holiday read. So sorry and thank you for the opportunity,

A cozy, festive read with charming characters and small-town holiday vibes. While a bit predictable, it’s light and heartwarming—a nice pick for the holiday season!

Frankie loves her family and friends and only wants what is best for them. That's why she tries to set-up her shy employee, and finder her daughter a full-time job making her chocolates. She even tried to help a friend by setting him up a profile on a dating app and screening the applicants and setting him up on a date, all done while he has no clue. The problem? Frankie can't see what is in front of her nose and misses out on what can make her happy.

This is a cute romance where the heroine continually misses all the clues and does the wrong thing. It was easy-to-read and a nice little escape. The characters are fun and add to the laughs and groans. Sheila Roberts is a great author.

The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts is a cute, cozy holiday read. Just kind of average for me- easy read.


Thank you NetGalley & Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This one was just average to me. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it, either. I didn't think that the characters were very relatable and that bothered me a little bit. I love a connection to the characters. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

In The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts, you will find a cute and humorous Christmas story. Frankie who owns a holiday store decides to try help her friends and family members to find love whether they want it or not. What results is a a great holiday rom com!

"The Merry Matchmaker" tells the tale of Frankie Lane, a business owner in a small-town who loves the holidays.

A bit of a romantic, she sees the lives of people she loves and knows something is missing from each one. Her best friend Mitch deserves a loving relationship, as does her younger sister Stef. And her daughter Natalie should be doing more with her talents, while her employee Elinor, who is painfully shy, just needs a gentle shove to "get out there" more.

And while she's busy "helping" everyone else make changes (that they weren't necessarily ready for or interested in), she's able to avoid the fact that her own life is at a standstill. Having lost her husband Ike in an unexpected manner many years before, she refuses to open her heart to anyone new because she just knows she won't be able to survive the pain of another loss.

While I know Frankie's heart was in the right place and things do eventually work out "for the best," I found her behavior to be a bit too much at times. She frequently ignored what others were telling her in the interest of pursuing what she felt was needed. So, her ability to accept and acknowledge boundaries was severely lacking.

If you believe the ends justify the means, you might find this story to be highly entertaining! It was certainly well written. I just wished I enjoyed the main character a bit more.

Thank you to Sheila Roberts, Harlequin Trade, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

The Merry Matchmakers by Sheila Roberts is a holiday romance about Frankie, a widow in her 50s who is determined to play matchmaker for her friends and family. While the book is marketed as inspired by Emma by Jane Austen, it diverges significantly, focusing more on Frankie’s attempts to set up her loved ones rather than on a young, clueless woman finding romance. This leads to a predictable and at times slow plot, especially for readers expecting a lighter, more whimsical story.

Although the book features multiple characters and varying points of view, the large cast can sometimes make it hard to keep track of everyone. The story is heartwarming and cozy, and the holiday setting adds charm, but some readers might find it a bit too interfered with and overly idealistic. Overall, it’s a sweet but somewhat predictable read, more suited for fans of Hallmark-style holiday rom-coms.

One of Sheila Roberts' best! I really enjoyed the characters, and although it was predictable, there was a coziness to that. I will recommend this to library patrons looking for a light, stress-free holiday read.

This was a cute holiday read, but it fell a little flat for me. While the premise had potential, the story felt repetitive at times, and there were just too many character storylines to follow, which made it hard to stay fully engaged. That said, it has all the ingredients for a cozy Hallmark-style Christmas movie. If you love books that give you those hallmark vibes, this one might be worth checking out!

What an insufferable main character! She was such a meddling individual. I wouldn’t take advice from her or seek her out if she was a real person! Loved the small town setting and several of the side characters enough to give this one a 2 star review but ultimately this one fell really flat for me unfortunately.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Predictable, over the top, and a tad ridiculous. It was festive for sure but so overdone I had a hard time enjoying it.

*The Merry Matchmaker* by Sheila Roberts is a heartwarming and festive read that’s perfect for the holiday season. The story follows a matchmaker who helps people find love during the holidays, all while navigating her own romantic challenges. Roberts' writing is light, charming, and filled with holiday spirit, making it an enjoyable escape for readers looking for a feel-good story. It's a delightful, cozy read that will definitely put you in the mood for the holidays.

🌟REVIEW🌟

The Merry Matchmaker - Sheila Roberts

Here’s the thing about this book: I have already recommended it to several reader friends because it’s just so wholesome and cozy.

The whole story is built around family and community and celebrating the holidays together.

Now, here’s what made it different in my mind. Our main character, Frankie, is a widower. She’s not the 20 something from most Christmas romance novels and maybe, for me, that made her feel more relatable.

She is a mom and a grandma, sister and friend who has lost the love of her life. She is a key leader in the community and thinks she knows what’s best for everyone. Yes, she does some matchmaking, but, obviously, it’s well intentioned but, perhaps, it’s time for her own Christmas miracle?

Read this one if you like
🌲 strong connections between community
🌲 family love and multi generational representation
🌲 second chance at love
🌲 holiday hoopla
🌲 no spice
🌲 friends to lovers romance

My only criticism is that there is a secondary love story between Frankie’s sister and a recent widower. It started far too late into the story to feel like it was running parallel. I would have liked it to be introduced sooner so it could have blended better.

Overall really liked it and thankful for the tone of the story. Cozy, happy. Hopeful. Wholesome. There’s not a lot like that anymore and it just hit the spot.

The Merry Matchmaker was a story for a slightly older audience. The characters are not your typical 20 something’s but instead are people that are later in their life and have been widowed or divorced. It does have multiple characters and story lines and they are all sweet and fun with lots of holiday vibes.

The Book is loosely based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen and the MC Frankie is just as much of a meddling match maker as Emma herself. Even if it does repeatedly backfire on her!

Overall this one was cute and a lot of fun and I enjoyed the different characters in different stages of their lives

This was a cute holiday romance, filled with lots of happily ever after's. But I struggled with the main character Frankie. She got into everyone's business, spent so much time focusing on finding matches for everyone else and just ignoring her own life and what she was feeling. It drove me a little batty.

The other characters and the town setting made up for it a bit. Fans of Roberts other books will enjoy it.

I don't know how I didn't realize this is inspired by Jane Austen's Emma! I realized it toward the end of the story! Big shout out to NetGalley and MIRA for the eARC!!!!

What to Expect:
⭐ Meddling Mothers
⭐ Holiday Love Story
⭐ Small town charm!
⭐ Hallmark vibe 100%
⭐ Friends to lovers story
⭐ Grief & loss
⭐ Aging this is definitely a later in life story. Main characters are in their 50s
⭐ Story of the importance of friends and family!

My Thoughts:
OH the meddling mother Frankie. I REALLY REALLY struggled with just how much her character meddles. She is the main character of the story trying to match up every single person in town except herself. She calls it "helping" but it is nothing short of meddling. So much so I stopped reading for a few days because I needed a break from the immaturity of it. I wish the author hadn't harped so much on it. It could have been done with a lot more light heartedness around it. Less of annoying friend who can't stop being nosy. Especially when it hurts one of the sub characters.

Frankie "helps" everyone but herself through the majority of the story. Owing it to the fact that she knows everyone and believes they fit together in ways others can't see. Instead of focusing on her own journey at the start. It takes her 90% of the book to realize she has been on some sort of journey of healing after losing her husband unexpectedly and young. She has spent many years friends with the handyman in town, so much time that many think they're together without actually being together. It takes her realziing this at the very end inevitably hurting someone else in town along the way. The awkwardness it causes truly made me uncomfortable for Frankie. Silly games i think for someone who has lived some life in my opinion.

All in all it didn't really standout as a favorite for me. I didn't speed read through it. Wasn't deeply attached to the story to get through it. Just enjoyed the holiday part of the story that winds it way through.

Synopsis:
Inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, this joyful Christmas romp tells the story of a woman who can’t stop trying to help everyone around her find their happily-ever-after—even when her help leads to disaster.

Frankie Lane knows what’s best for just about everyone but herself. Her divorced sister, Stef, who is too young to give up on love; her shy employee, Elinor; and her daughter, Natalie, who works in Frankie’s shop, Holiday Happiness, and really needs to start her own business selling the delectable chocolates she makes at home; even her best friend, Viola, who is trying to renovate her old Victorian. Frankie knows she could help all of them, if they’d just let her—and if all of her help didn’t end in utter disaster.

Then there’s Mitch Howard, the owner of the local hardware store. They’ve been friends ever since Frankie opened her store, nine years earlier. He got her through the nightmare when she lost her husband in a freak accident, and he’s her favorite shoulder to cry on. He’s been divorced for years, and it’s such a waste of man! Mitch is the fittest, finest man Frankie knows. He’s easygoing, wise and kindhearted. Mitch needs someone. And she’s determined to help him find that someone—whether he likes it or not.

I really hate doing this but I DNF this one at 42%. The characters were just so so negative, judgmental, and unlikeable. I really wanted to love this one as I have another book I’m looking forward to by this author but it was not giving me any Merry vibes. Hoping the next one is a better fit!

The Merry Matchmaker is now my third time reading Sheila Roberts not to mention seeing the Hallmark movie version of The Nine Lives of Christmas (adorable). I love Roberts’ writing and I haven’t read a book of hers I haven’t liked, but this one wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I found myself getting rather annoyed with Frankie and her constant need to set up people around her instead of looking internally to fix her own issues. I have never read Emma so I have no idea how it compares to this book, but I have to hope Emma is better in that regard. Minus that, I thought this had lots of funny moments and I loved the Christmastime setting.

The Merry Matchmaker is at times quite dramatic, and I thought this was perfectly captured on the audiobook thanks to the narration of Ann Marie Gideon. I would have liked more narrators since Frankie isn’t the only viewpoint, but Gideon did a great job on her own despite not doing anything to differentiate her voice between characters. As with any book that reads like a Hallmark movie, you can feel that HEA coming, and the touching ending really made the entire story for me. Read this if you enjoy Hallmark holiday rom-coms, older main characters (Frankie is in her 50s and a widow), and small-town charm.

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

Unfortunately I just didn't like this book. I found many of the characters annoying especially Frankie. She's trying to help half the town find love but she's really just meddling and making a mess of things. She fixes up her employee and then gets jealous when she flirts with Frankie's best friend enough so that Frankie takes back her "man" betraying the employee. It's supposed to be a cute little Christmas story about everyone finding love but I didn't like it.