this was a really fun genre mix for me, the ending felt a bit rushed but i really enjoyed the depth the characters had and how their relationships grew and changed throughout the novel

thank you to netgalley for an arc of this in exchange for my honest feedback!

Thank you to Random House Ballantine for my #gifted copy via NetGalley. My thoughts are my own.

Nura Khan is a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta. She has taken the business she inherited from her Aunt and grown it with the times into a thriving, exclusive, sought-after service beyond the Desi community. She's single, but her best friend Azar is willing to fake-date her at events to keep people from asking questions. Besides, she has enough to worry about with her Aunt's health declining and her cousin pushing her out of the family more and more. But when the regular-grade hate mail (from rejected prospective clients) starts scaling up, and when things start going wrong at weddings for couples she has facilitated, she gets scared. When she and her matchmaking team start to fight back there is suddenly no going back and Nura may have to make some very tough decisions.

I'm not gonna lie, I was super stressed out by this book, lol. The family dynamics were realistic and stressful, the danger was creeping, and I was seriously worried for her and her business. That is to say, the story was very well-crafted! It's a high-stakes game (at home and in the office) and poor Nora was very much balancing it all very carefully. Very, very well done.

Trigger warning: dementia of a loved one

2.5⭐️

Based on the synopsis, I was really excited to read this book, but unfortunately it wasn't for me. I've seen this book described as a thriller and as a romance novel, but I don't think that is accurate. It reads more like contemporary fiction with lots of family/work drama. There is the underlying mystery of who is sabotaging Nura, the MC, but it didn't feel like the main focus of the story, probably because there are so many subplots. The mystery did get more interesting toward the end of the book, but it didn't really hold my attention in the first half. And if you're expecting a rom-com, that's not what you're going to get with this book. Nura's love life takes a backseat to her matchmaking business, so the main romances you'll read about are her clients'. While this one wasn't for me, I am still interested in reading more from the author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a DNF for me I tried to get into the story which I thought was promising but was just wasn't able to really grab my interest. This was a miss for me but have seen a lot of positive reviews and would still recommend anyone to give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley, Aisha Saeed, and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review (Unpaid).

The Matchmaker is an incredible story about family, work-life balance, and love (in all shapes and forms). The mystery had me on edge the entire time I was reading (and every time I had to set the book down), and while I caught the big twist pretty early, I still loved watching everything unravel. The backstory about Nura's parents felt a little unnecessary since nothing came out of it.

Nura Khan is a third generation matchmaker. Her grandmother was a matchmaker in Pakistan and Nura is now taking over for her aunt continued the business after moving to the USA. Nura is a natural at matching people except for herself. I appreciated the setting was Atlanta as I used to live there. When a couple of incidents show that someone is trying to sabotage her business she is on the case.

I enjoyed having a “Desi” lead and learning bits of culture and marriage traditions. Nura relies on her best friend to play boyfriend at events but it felt cliche that he would be the perfect boyfriend if she opened her eyes. There is a lot of family drama mixed into the story as well. I’m not sure if this is a stand alone novel or the the beginning of a new cozy mystery series. But either way I would like to read more from this author. (3.5 Stars)

Nura Khan is a third-generation matchmaker. When things begin to fall apart in her life both business and personal, she & her team must figure out what is going on so they she can live and rebuild her life. Can they do it?

Nura Khan is famous for her matching making agency, which is a business she inherited from her aunt (who has since retired due to health reasons) Business is booming and Nura is great at what she does. She’s extremely busy with work and checking in on her aunt, so the closest she comes to her own romantic relationship is when her childhood best friend, Azar, accompanies her to client weddings. Every thing turns upside down when someone starts sabotaging Nura’s matches. Weddings get called off, couples go missing, negative reviews come pouring in, and Nura can’t be sure she is safe.

This was a cozy mystery with romance at the forefront of the plot. It was an enjoyable read. I liked Nura’s relationship with her family and the growth of the characters. The thrilling parts were a tad over the top, but I liked it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Apr 08 2025

ok this had me at matchmaker agency, and then kept me at mystery/thriller. I really enjoyed the writing style, I loved the end of this book and feel as though it came along nicely.

🦇 The Matchmaker Book Review 🦇

❓ Are you good at solving mysteries?

🦇 Business has never been better for Nura Khan, a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta. Her exclusive clientele benefits from her impeccable track record. Thankfully, her childhood best friend, Azar, is willing to double as her pretend fiancé at her clients’ weddings—even though Nura’s feelings for him might not be so pretend. While it’s not uncommon to get the occasional hate mail from rejected prospective clients, Nura is blindsided after a couple’s carefully constructed wedding implodes, the first in a cascading chain of suspicious and increasingly terrifying events. Someone is taking things too far. Can Nura survive a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that threatens her safety and everything she’s worked so hard to build?

💜 What a wild ride! I was so excited to hear that Aisha Saeed was making her adult fiction debut with such an exciting premise, and she didn't disappoint! Let's break it down.

✨ Characters (4/5): Nura is a strong, smart, talented powerhouse; an absolute inspiration. She's not perfect, though, making her a realistic character in a female world. Her lingering feelings for Azar, the familial pressure she carries on her shoulders, and her perseverance all make her too real.

✨ Plot and Pacing (3/5): There were a few moments when the story lagged. I was surprised by what happened at the 50% mark happening so soon, especially since it caused tension and pacing to falter, but it was necessary for the story. Still, there are a few sections that could have been cut to maintain pacing.

✨ World-Building (3/5): I'm currently in Atlanta, so reading a book set in this bustling city is always fun. I love recognizing familiar places, but I wish the descriptive language was a little stronger, so readers who have never been could feel themselves immersed in the story.

✨ Romance (3/5): The story starts off with BIG romance vibes, but the genre veers unexpectedly into a mystery. Though the slow-burn romance is realistic, there's also not a lot of time and attention given to it. It's also blantently clear that Nura misread what happened in college from the very beginning, so the flashback/explanation wasn't a shock. I really wanted more of her and Azar. The story would have benefited from the saboteur trying to break Nura's happily ever after apart.

✨ Mystery/Suspense (4/5): Did I guess who the saboteur was? Yes. Was the explanation worth it? Mostly, yes, though the actual reveal is a little messy and unrealistic. Nearly perfect.

✨ Tone/Prose (3/5): This is what killed me. The Matchmaker is one of the best thought-out books I've read this year, but the prose itself is lacking. Usually, heavy annotating tells me I'm holding a four or five star read, but unfortunately, I didn't highlight a single line this time.

🦇 Recommended for fans of mysteries like Arsenic and Adobo or Finlay Donovan is Killing It mixed with Julian Winters' I Think They Love You.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🎯 Mystery / Thriller
❤ Touch of Romance
🔍 Strong Female Protagonists
🔍 Slow Burn
❤ Plot Twists
🎯 Adult Fiction Debut

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #TheMatchmaker

Really good mystery/thriller with even better characters! Loved the premise of this story, scandal involving an exclusive matchmaking company that caters to those with the money to afford their services. Thought it would be more rom/com and less thriller but it was a good mix of both. Great writing made this a solid read.

My thanks to Net Galley, Random House, Ballantine Bantam, and the personal invitation I received to review this arc.

3.5 stars. I was pleasantly surprised at this book.. I thought it was going to be a rom/com, but turned out to be a decent little mystery. My only complaint: the first part was very slow and dragged to the build up. Cute story but it didn't grip or wow me

Nura runs a popular match making business. However, someone is trying to sabotage her succeeding.

DNF at 31%. Good premise, but not exciting enough to get around my absolute apathy toward cozy mysteries

I thought the idea of a mystery and a matchmaking business sounded great. I found the first half of the book to be slow and I struggled to stick with it. The second half was much better, but I was surprised that I’d correctly figured out the culprit by the second chapter. Thanks to Netgalley Galley for the ARC.

Like some other readers, I went into The Matchmaker thinking that it would primarily be a romcom, and boy was I pleasantly surprised to find that it was more of an action packed mystery/thriller centered around a Desi matchmaker (Nura) and her matchmaking business! But don’t you worry, there was still romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for my ARC in exchange for my honest review!

**Read If You Like:**
- Mystery with a touch of romance
- Cultural traditions and family expectations
- Strong female protagonists
- Slow-burn relationships
- Lighthearted yet suspenseful storytelling

Nura Khan has built a thriving career as a matchmaker, helping couples find their happily ever after. But when a string of wedding disasters threatens her reputation, she realizes someone is deliberately sabotaging her business. Determined to uncover the truth, Nura teams up with Azar, her childhood friend and pretend fiancé, to investigate. As they follow the clues, their fake engagement starts to feel more real than either of them expected, complicating an already high-stakes mystery.

This novel strikes a balance between romance and suspense, delivering a charming yet intriguing story. Nura is a compelling protagonist—smart, independent, and deeply connected to her South Asian heritage. The chemistry between her and Azar adds warmth to the unfolding mystery, though the investigative elements remain light and secondary to the emotional journey.

While the plot’s twists may not be overly complex, the novel shines in its portrayal of cultural traditions, family expectations, and the complexities of love. Readers looking for a cozy, engaging mystery with a heartfelt romance at its core will find much to enjoy.

Thanks to the publisher for my gifted arc!

Nura has inherited her aunt's matchmaking business, and she runs it well. It's grown more than ever expected, and while they do have a dating app that anyone can use, there's still the personal service. For those who can afford it. But the people who use Piyar need to be open to love from anywhere - wealth and social rank are not considered in a match, which can be met with resistance. And sometimes working on yourself is required before you're ready to find your right match as well.

All in all, while Nura has many people singing her praises, she has just as many who want to bring her down. When she starts getting negative reviews, it's only the beginning of her problems. One wedding is brought to a halt when a false mug shot leads the family to believe the fiance hadn't been truthful about his past. When another couple is kidnapped, Nura has to face the fact that someone is blatantly sabotaging her weddings. Their sights soon turn more personal, and Nura is targeted directly.

Is this all because she refused to match someone with unlimited resources? Or could the source be even more personal?

With a good balance of mystery, plot twists, and romance, Aisha did a wonderful job of moving the story along and keeping you on your toes. Friends to lovers can drive me crazy at times (which is why I'm personally labeling this trope as "friends to misunderstanding") but the payoff is sweet, and comes a little earlier than I thought it might, which was nice. I hate waiting until 85% of the book for them to get together, only to have another obstacle come up. But there was so much more going on in this book, that I was able to get past the yearning and disappointment! I'll definitely be looking forward to her next book!

3.5 stars
This was an interesting book. Nura has learned the skill of matchmaking from her aunt. She is the best in the business but something seems to be wrong when a wedding gets called off which hurts her reputation. As they are discovering someone seems to be trying to ruin her business but why?

As most of you know, I usually don’t read anything in the romance category, but I’d seen so many good reviews for this book that I went ahead and tried it out. There is some romance in it (it’s about a matchmaker, after all) but this is definitely more of a mystery book. I just wish it had a little more grit…

Nura Khan is our matchmaker, and she runs a successful agency that has been around for three generations. Her auntie Khala was running the business, but after she had a stroke and was diagnosed with early stages of dementia, Nura took over. She has a small but dedicated staff, and her best friend Azar pretends to be her fiancé when they are at her public events. (Nura doesn’t want the world to know that she can’t find a match for herself!) Everything is meticulous, until it isn’t.

Things start to unravel when the night before a wedding, the bride’s family says the relationship is done and the wedding is off. They were given a mug shot of the groom-to-be, and proof that he’d been incarcerated for assault. Nura is perplexed - she has a private investigator who checks out every single person they deal with. None of them should have criminal records or anything untoward in their background. Soon, she realizes the mug shot and police record was a lie, made up to ruin a wedding, and her business.

Then, an unknown podcaster starts talking about the Piyar Matchmaking Company, and not in a flattering light. Rumors begin to swirl online, and soon, people Nura has been working with suddenly want no part of her services. The mystery in the book is who is trying to sabotage her business, and why?

Overall, this book was entertaining, but not exciting. The story was relatively benign and I think there definitely could have been more suspense. It was still an enjoyable read though, and this is the author’s adult fiction debut. Going from writing books for younger readers to writing an adult mystery novel can’t be easy, but this turned out okay. I thought this was a bit too cutesy, but if you like cozy romance/mysteries, this one is for you! 3.5 stars.

(Thank you to Random House - Ballantine, Aisha Saeed and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on April 8, 2025.)

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

The MatchMaker was an incredibly enjoyable read! A society matchmaker discovers she’s in peril as her clients' weddings are sabotaged in increasingly unsettling manners—an entirely unique mystery. I adored the vibrant culture, charming romance, family dynamics, and cozy mystery woven throughout this book! I simply couldn’t set The MatchMaker aside! The characters were delightful and endearing, and the narrative unfolded seamlessly.