I have read a couple of Aisha Saeed’s YA novels and really enjoyed them, so I was pleased to get my hands on a digital copy of her first adult novel. I really enjoyed reading about the main character’s connections with her family and friends.
The Matchmaker is a cozy mystery that all can enjoy. It is a fun and gently suspenseful read, but it also doesn’t offer any major surprises to those who are well versed in mysteries. However, the exploration of relationships between the family and friends is heartwarming…and a bit crazy. (You’ll know what I mean after you read the book.)
I enjoyed reading this story.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I just loved it! 5 ⭐️

I can't really explain why, but this cozy mystery just made me feel so good, I didn't want it to end.
I loved the characters, the relationships, the settings, the twists and turns. It made dream, and I truly got immersed in their world. It felt so fresh.

I must say, this has a strong romance plot (which was definitely a plus for me), on top of the mystery. So if you like both, you're in for a treat!

Thank you, NetGalley, Aisha Saeed, and Ballantine Books for the e-Arc.

Are you going to find your match or meet your match?

Nura, an overworked matchmaker business owner, with seemingly everything going right in her professional and a perfectly good fake fiance in her best friend since childhood.
What's not to love about finding love? All is comfortable in Nura' world until one of her clients wedding is canceled due to false allegations and the blame is placed on Nura.
The further Nura and her team look into someone determined to ruin her reputation (and maybe her?), the more Nura's life is thrown into chaos.

This book was an amazing story that talks about the challenges of being 31 and not partnered up and the pressures that come with that in desi culture. I enjoyed the side plot of romance where Nura explored what it meant to love someone and maybe never have it reciprocated by them. The mystery while I was able to guess right near the end kept me engaged and captivated in finding out what would happen. There were a few plot points that I would have wished to dive deeper into, but I understood their addition in making reader guess who was responsible for trying to ruin Nura's business and life.
This is a great book for fans of romantic suspenses and Nisha Sharma!

Thank you to Random House Publishing via NetGalley for this arc 🫶

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Nura runs a matchmaking agency based in Atlanta and focused on the desi community. Her business has been thriving until she begins to get threatening messages. Someone is out to sabotage her success, the question is who?

I thought this book was very entertaining and full of twists and turns that I was not expecting. There was a lot going on but I did always find myself wanting to read more. I thought the character development was great and I enjoyed following Nura's personal, romantic, and professional life! I do think there was a lot going on and the overall motive for the villain was a bit weak but I still really enjoyed the book!

I also loved the playlist included in the back of the book! I thought that was a fun touch. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by Aisha Saeed!

I wish I had better things to say about this book, but ultimately, it fell flat for me.

Plot summary: Nura runs a matchmaking agency for the desi community. She is threatened, and bad things start happening to some of her couples. Who is out to get her?

I love the idea of a culturally-focused matchmaking agency with a mystery. It started out strong, with a wedding and a death threat. The tone was a black comedy of sorts, a little dark, but with the focus on the dating app and weddings. What fun!

Well, that's not what ensued. It couldn't decide if it was a romance or a thriller, and while there are many books that can combine both well, both parts didn't take off here. The romance was ridiculous and predictable, and the huge twist at the end was underwhelming. The plot suffered from a lack of complexity and red herrings.

There were three separate times where the plot device used was that someone just couldn't bring themselves to say something hugely important, I mean for years and decades. Instead of moving the story along, it just made me want to shake them.

It also used the word "desi" way too many times. We all get this is the focus. There was too much "tell" in the showing.

2.5 rounded up to 3.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded interesting to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have decided to stop reading this book
and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I stayed up until 2 AM to finish this book. I was engrossed in the unique premise, and I liked the combination of mystery, family drama, and romance. It was very suspenseful with many twists and turns, and I was surprised by the ending. I think the author did a great job bringing the characters and their complex situations to life. With the title and cover, one would expect the book to be chick-lit, but it really is more of a mystery/thriller. I think it would be a great vacation read. Highly recommended!

I did not like the author’s choice of villain. It was not an unreasonable choice, and the motive was understandable, but it was a character I liked. That being said, The Matchmaker is a very enjoyable book. There are plenty of surprises, and the author has secrets revealed that raise numerous possibilities for the person or persons out to destroy Nura.

Loved all the fun layers in this book! Mystery, romance, and all the fun real life moments that it captured. I wish the book was longer though! Some of the parts were rushed but I still loved the pace of the book. Hope there is a second book!

I loved this book! The tension and dynamic between the characters was amazing and it truly kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat throughout the book. Saeed did an amazing job with this book and I can't wait to read future publications by her. 100% recommend and would read again!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this book!

The Matchmaker is the debut novel by Aisha Saeed, following Nur, a dedicated workaholic who runs a thriving matchmaking business with her aunt. She reminds me of Jennifer Lopez’s character in The Wedding Planner—someone deeply invested in love for others but reluctant to find it for herself. With a best friend who plays the role of her fake fiancé at weddings and a trusted team by her side, Nur is fully focused on her career.

However, things take a dark turn when she starts receiving an onslaught of hate mail, both online and in her inbox. At first, she brushes it off, but as the messages grow more aggressive, they begin to disrupt both her business and personal life.

I was drawn to the premise of this book, but at times, it felt a bit scattered. I would have preferred it as a straight mystery rather than a romantic mystery, as the romance felt somewhat forced and unresolved. I also wished for more development with Logan, who played a crucial role in resolving the conflict.

Although mystery isn’t my usual genre, this book was compelling, and I’m glad I gave it a chance. One of the highlights for me was how Nur acknowledges that South Asian culture isn’t just about the bright and festive exterior—it has depth, complexity, and unspoken challenges beneath the surface.

3.75 stars

Desi (someone from or the culture of India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh) matchmaker Nura Khan inherited her aunt's successful business as her aunt has experienced medical problems. This is an elite and careful operation - they do an incredibly thorough background check and exhaustive research to match candidates successfully.

But something strange is going on. Someone is sabotaging the business, trolling on social media, stalking clients, disrupting weddings, and publishing fabricated lies.

Nura is more than a workaholic. She has no time for a personal life and her family misses her. She is pining after a childhood friend who is her plus one for work related events, but he shows signs of wanting a life and relationship of his own too since she won't let him know how she feels.

The mysterious events escalate to where Nura and clients and family are in danger. Nura discovers some secrets from her own past which have shaped her business and her family's reaction to it. Suspenseful glimpse into an expensive world. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Matchmaker is a mystery, rom-com story. Nura has taken over the matchmaking agency that has previously been owned by her aunt, Khala, when bad reviews start to appear. Bad things start happening to Nura which accounts for the mystery part, while romance seems far off with her best friend, Azar.
The descriptions of the typical South Asian wedding weekends are amazing and very interesting in reading about the Indian culture. There are lots of twists and turns in this story which keeps you guessing as to who is the “bad” guy.
The story is well written and easy to follow. It's a very quick read.

I love mysteries and enjoy romances so a combination like this one is a perfect read. Nura’s life is going great as a matchmaker in Atlanta. Even though she’s not married, her best friend has agreed to attend weddings as her fiancé. She may have more feelings for him that she’s too scared to explore though. But when weddings start to go wrong, it quickly seems like sabotage that turns dangerous. The book is a combination of figuring out who is trying to ruin her business and dealing with her feelings for her best friend/fake fiancé. This book was so suspenseful that I read it in a matter of days. Definitely recommend! Thank you Bantam for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This book is so wonderfully written. I was completely hooked. I enjoyed reading about the glitz and the glam surrounding the matchmaking company, yet I also appreciated the conversations on not having money. This book touched on some important and heavy topics that were effortlessly incorporated into the plot and did not make me feel like the story was being bogged down. I highly recommend this book to people who are looking for a mystery that isn’t just about detectives or police; there is also a romance subplot that was cute. And I loved that the main character was a Desi Muslim woman. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. 5/5 ⭐️

This book was funny and light hearted. I enjoyed this story very much, I loved the main character and I'm so glad I was able to read this book early. Thank you so much to Netgalley.

The Matchmaker is a cozy romance mystery which could have been a great read but falls short with its predictability and overly dramatic storyline.

Synopsis
“Business has never been better for Nura Khan, a third-generation matchmaker in Atlanta. Her exclusive clientele benefits from her impeccable track record. And while a single thirty-one-year-old matchmaker would normally raise some perfectly threaded eyebrows in the community, Nura’s 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.

But all that glitters isn’t gold. 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, and with Azar and her matchmaking team by her side, Nura embarks on a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that threatens not only her safety but everything she’s worked so hard to build.”

What’s to like
This is Aisha Saeed’s first foray into adult fiction, being an author of children’s and young adult stories previously. The prose is simple and well written. The descriptions of the fancy weddings for Nura’s clients were fun to read and I wish that there were more of these in the story. Overall, it is a decent ‘Feel Good’ category novel.

What’s not to like
There are many things that a reader would wish were different about this book. For starters, everything is a tad bit over dramatic and over-hyped. Whether it’s the suspense or the romance aspect, it seems lacking. There are many parts of the plot that are surface level only and the story and its characters need greater depth. Along the same line, there are parts of the book where the narrative seems to be repetitive or dragged on such as the part about Nura and Azar’s relationship or the dissatisfaction of rejected clients. I found myself skimming this part of the story to get it to move along.

Moreover, for a mystery novel the worst critique can be predictability of storyline and unfortunately, it is true for The Matchmaker. Readers will most likely be able to guess or predict three-fourths of the story. I was able to anticipate most of the plot about Darcy and Azar.

Perhaps the main thing I did not like about the novel was my own expectation about what its multi-cultural storyline will offer. Nura Khan belongs to a family of Pakistani immigrants and is in the match making business, while there are parts about her Indian clients and their desi weddings which bring in South Asian culture, we do not get anything else from the story about Nura’s Muslim and Pakistani American character that would speak about this part of her identity. Even in her interactions with her family, something was missing.

Book Review Rating: 3/5 (rounded up from 2.5)

This was a fun read, if you didn't think too hard. I'm a sucker for matchmaking stories or tv shows, so this was an immediate request from NetGalley for me. I didn't entirely LOVE the MC, who seemed rather selfish when it came to how she treated her loved ones. Like making her best friend be her pretend date to weddings every single weekend? Even if he said he was okay with it, that is an incredibly selfish ask.

The mystery part was fun also, though I didn't think either genre of the book was particularlysuccessful

I think this book was the victim of poor advertising. What I thought would be a cute romance with a touch of mystery was really more of a mystery with a rather terrible romance. It also seemed to poorly sprinkle some family relationship topics in there too. Since none of the themes were done particularly well (nor paced properly) it was really hard to sink into this and care about the main character's journey. Probably won't read more from Aisha Saeed.

Nura is a well-respected and trusted matchmaker, specializing in helping people become their best selves before matching them with their perfect matches. She has a huge success rate, and has quite the following... until someone starts sabotaging the weddings of matches she's made. Suddenly, Nura needs protection, and her staff is scrambling to find the culprit.

First, I am the whitest white girl, so I will not be commenting on how well the South Asian community is represented because I'm not equipped. I will only say that everything with regard to their culture as a whole seems to be respectfully written.

That said, this was quite the ride. I've read a few books lately that deal with matchmaking, and this definitely takes a look at a different side to the whole idea. This one focuses on what might happen in a match went wrong. There's documents being faked, people being kidnapped and drugged... and when everything feels like it's pretty resolved, you still have a third of the book to go!

I really liked the storyline, and the twists of how and why. I think my one hesitation is that I didn't like the romance parts. It felt like they were shoe-horned in, making the "obvious" become the direction the plot went, instead of letting the eventual partner resolve things the way they were already going until the last 50 or so pages. It felt almost like a cop-out. If I could have taken off half a star, I would have because of this.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!