This book made my heart happy. Sara was a delightful character from the very first page. She's sweet and caring. She is selfless and determined to help her family and the people around her. The current day character was excellent, too. I loved the idea of a reverse divorce attorney. This was a great book to read around the holidays, and many Jewish holidays were celebrated in the pages of the story as well. Highly recommended! Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

The Matchmaker's Gift is the moving, marvelous story about Sara, a brave woman with an extraordinary gift, and her granddaughter who may have inherited some of her magic. In New York in the early 1900s, matchmaking is only an acceptable occupation for married men. Sara finds herself and her family subjected to harassment and disdain when word begins to spread that she has orchestrated some unexpected yet successful matches. Decades later she shares her stories with her granddaughter, an ambitious divorce lawyer who has her doubts about "meant to be" until some interesting characters cross her path.

This is a beautifully-told tale of old New York and the limitless bonds of family, integrity and true love.

I liked this book. I enjoyed the sweet matchmakers and the matches they made. I also appreciated the descriptions and inclusion of Jewish culture. However, much of the writing felt uninspired and predictable.

It is a sweet story, which is sometimes just the right fit in a complicated world.

This book was beautiful. Hopeful, magical and it just felt like a big hug. I liked the alternating perspectives between Sara and her granddaughter Abby and how everything intertwined together. Being Jewish, I really loved the historical matchmaking aspect of this, but even more so because of the light behind Sara's matchmaking. It was so sweet. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman. Pub Date: September 20, 2022. Rating: 4 stars. Told in dual timeline format, this magical historical fiction sweeps the reader into the world of Jewish matchmaking. From the perspectives of a grandmother and granddaughter, this novel is sweet, charming, wholesome and all the good feels. Abby is gifted her grandmother's journals following the death of the grandmother. Within the journals, Abby is swept up in her grandmother's matchmaking life and Abby learns more about herself through her grandmother's world. I really enjoyed this novel and recommend to any historical fiction readers. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley

I've never understood "arranged" marriages. Marriage is hard enough when you love your spouse, let alone when someone else picks that person for you. So I wasn't sure I would enjoy a book about a matchmaker. But I was pleasantly surprised with The Matchmaker's Gift. The story is about 2 women - one is a Jewish matchmaker (with a unique talent to find love matches) and the other is her granddaughter who is a divorce lawyer. Kind of polar opposites. The main story takes place after the grandmother has died and the granddaughter is given her matchmaking logs. As she is reading through the logs, the author takes the reader back to that time period to explain what really happened. A fascinating read.

I had never heard about Jewish matchmaking so that story attracted me. However, before the middle of the book, It began to feel very repetitive. Although dual timelines, the stories are very similar and there are no twists.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a complimentary e-arc in a change for my honest opinion.

The Matchmaker's Gift is a wonderful historical fiction story with a dual timeline. Sara Glikman knew she had a gift from the time she matched her sister and her husband in 1910 when she was just a child. She just knows who are meant to be together, soul seekers. When her family moved to the US, things were not easy. When her father dies, leaving her mother and siblings to fend for themselves, she begins making matches, but doesn't take money as payment, but favors to help her family instead. She is constantly being harassed by official, male matchmakers (shadchanim), but she really has a gift and is finally able to practice it. Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients. When her grandmother dies, Sarah inherits her journals and learns about her past and her calling. When it appears that Abby has inherited her grandmother's gift, it seems her job and calling are not compatible. Along the way both Sarah and Abby find love.

I enjoyed the historic aspect of this novel, with matchmaking being an important part of Jewish life. There were dowries, shadchanim hired and contracts entered. These marriages usually lasted, but not necessarily for love. The rules and expectations of this profession were also very interesting. The idea of a matchmaker finding soulmates is lovely and I wish it were true. There was a bit of magical realism there. We also learn about some of the Jewish customs and traditions and how they are practised today. I loved both Abby's and Sarah's characters. They were both caring women, who wanted to see others happy, sometimes at the detriment of themselves. This is a story of family, relationships, love and romance. My review does not do this story justice, I recommend you pick this one up and read it for yourself.

Read if you like: dual timelines, immigration stories.
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This book follows Sara and her granddaughter Abby. Sara is a Jewish immigrant to the US in the early 1900s who has a gift for matchmaking. Sara must navigate life as an immigrant as well as face scrutiny as a female matchmaker. Abby is a divorce lawyer who inherits her grandmother's journals and learns about her life as a matchmaker.
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I loved Sara’s story and wanted to read more about her. While Abby’s sections were interesting, I wanted more on Sara’s courtship with her husband and life in New York.

I want to start off my saying that I received ebook arc. In return for my honest thoughts and review.
I also want to state that I apologize for a late review. I do know that this book is already been released but I still wanted to give my full review and thoughts. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read such a beautiful book like this. This is the first time I have read anything from this author. This will not be the last book I read from this author. I love the two main female characters. A book about matchmakers was something new for me. Very informative with how matchmaker’s in the Jewish community. When I started I couldn’t put this book down. The author brought such a beautiful story to life. What I mean is it didn’t feel like a book to me. It felt like a movie that I could sit and rewatch over and over. I do plan rereading this book. I do plan on purchasing my own copy. As a reader who parents went trough a nasty divorce. I related so much to certain parts of this books. I highly recommend this book. This book had me smiling and smirking at times. I wasn’t disappointed at all while reading. Love all the characters. Love Abby and her grandmother Sarah. And that special gift they both share. I can’t image having a gift or can see people who are truly meant to be. And also see those who think they are in love with each other but who aren’t supposed to be together.

This book is set in two different times and two different POV grandmother Sara and granddaughter Abby. Sarah doesn’t realize what she is doing at the age of 10 years old . Where she starts putting couples together. When the. Matchmakers in her town noticed weddings in town that they haven’t set up they start questioning Sarah. They start threaten her and telling her she is in their way off providing food for their families. But Sarah promises her father that she would stop matchmaking until she is married or does she?
You have Sarah granddaughter who parents went through a nasty divorce. Sarah felt so bad for mother and how she lost so much in the divorce. She went to school and studied to be a divorce lawyer. Shorting after Abby grandmother Sarah passes away. Abby starts to notice something with her clients. And her boss Diane doesn’t like lit. I highly recommend this book. Again thank you so much. My reviews will be on Amazon, goodreads, bookbub,

4.5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and Lynda Cohen Loigman for letting me read and review this book.

This is such a sweet and heart-wrenching story about soulmates and true love. It will make you believe in soulmates and that love is worth fighting for.

This book goes between two perspectives, the grandmother Sara and her granddaughter Abby. The time period also bounces from anytime between 1910 to 1994 for Sara and stays around 1990 for Abby.

This story is incredibly well written, and the characters are super loveable. You won't be able to help but love this book.

The Matchmaker's Gift was a heartwarming story of a grandmother and granddaughter and their keen talent of matchmaking. The story is told throughout multiple periods in time yet about a community who is resisting their extraordinary ability to make love matches between two people. I absolutely loved this books and have been recommending to anyone who loves a little magical realism.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

This was my first story by this author and I chose it for the premise. So glad I did as this story grabbed me in the first few chapters and immersed me in the Jewish life in New York from long ago. Sara and Abby were such wonderful characters their dual stories so interesting. There’s humor, sadness, love, family traditions, career choices, and women standing up for what they truly believe.

Oh, if only there was someone that could find the perfect someone for you. Love and life would be so much easier. :) That said this book toke match making on this beautiful magical adventure. Match making has been going on for centuries, today we have computer programmers that spit out possible matches for you. I found this book both entertaining and informational about Jewish matchmaking. I loved the fact that Sara was a women doing the matching, competing with man that for centuries have done. She had to fight for her place and prove her worth.

Sara Glikman has the gift of match making and seeker of soulmates. However, Sara's vocation is dominated by devout older man and believe Sara is a threat to their tradition and livelihood. Sara has to fight for her rightful place, in the mean time she continues to make matches in secret. When she passes away she leaves all her match making journals to her granddaughter.

Once Abby starts reading the journals, her life and what she thinks she should be is not who she was meant to be. Can you she follow the dreams of who she is, keep her job and her life style she has become accustomed to?

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the gifted copy of this book for my honest review.

I really enjoy books with two story lines. I like seeing the connections made throughout. This one did not disappoint.

Sara Glikman has a secret gift- making matches. And it needs to remain a secret, as the elders of the church are not okay with a woman taking over their role, or their money. But she can see the strings that connect souls and cannot ignore the pull to bring people together. Keeping a journal in secret, she catalogs all the couples she helped bring together.

The other story line follows Sara’s granddaughter, a successful divorce lawyer. She is disenchanted with love. When grandma Sara dies and leaves her journals for Abby, she is confused about the reasoning behind it. As she digs into these journals she begins to learn so much about her grandmother and in turn about herself and the gifts that were bestowed upon her family.

I loved the premise of this book and enjoyed the ride. It was fascinating learning a bit about Jewish Matchmakers and the story line moved along very nicely. And of course there's a nice romance mixed in. You just feel good by the time you finish this book and miss the characters as soon as the book closes.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this dual timeline book: one taking place in the early 1900s, the other in 1994. It was a sweet, heart warming story with almost a fairytale quality to it.

👍
+ The two main characters were probably the biggest highlight for me. Two very strong women who eventually find the strength within themselves to stand up for themselves. I loved reading about their journey.
+ A matchmaker grandmother, a divorce lawyer granddaughter, one totally believes in love and its power, while the other lost faith in it long ago; I quite enjoyed the juxtaposition between their characters and chosen careers.
+ Especially the grandmother was awesome. As well as her overall outlook at life as she grew older. I loved her relationship with the granddaughter, and how she shared her pearls of wisdom with her, without being too overbearing.
+ The setting was so well done. Starting in the 1910s, reading about a Jewish community in New York, I felt like I learned a lot about the history, the traditions, the food.. I also really appreciated the extensive author’s note at the end to understand even more about the inspiration.
+ I really enjoyed the way the matches found each other. How fate and matchmaker worked together to make it happen, and especially the little coincidences that brought them together.
+

👎
- At times the story felt a little slow or repetitive, especially since we would hear about one story from one timeline and then hear it in more detail in the other.
- I’ve always been against the idea of “the one”. This book really reinforces that, so I kind of struggled with that.
- At times this feels a bit contrived. As an example, the matchmaker happens to start seeing same sex matches only in 90s, as if there wouldn’t be any gay matches before.

Overall rating: 3.8⭐

Thank you so much to St Martin's Press for both the eARC on NetGalley AND sending a package of the finished copy with a pickle kit!

While the book was interesting to me because I am aware of the matchmakers in Jewish history, I felt that the actual story was rather slow. Also, the characters were simplistic and that made the book less dynamic for me.

his is a delightful historical novel told in the dual timelines of Sara, who lives on the Lower East Side of New York in 1910, and her granddaughter Abby in 1994. Sara has a gift for matchmaking, but faces resistance from the traditional matchmakers within the Jewish community. Abby is a divorce attorney who reluctantly discovers that she shares her grandmother’s gift.

I absolutely loved learning about the Jewish and immigrant cultural of the Lower East Side of New York during the early 1900s. It reminded me of my visit to the @thetenementmuseum many years ago. I did not realize that most matchmakers were men, I had been too influenced by Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof. While both Sara and Abby faced challenges in this novel, it was a much more lighthearted story than many historical novels and I really appreciated that. I also found it so interesting that the author was got her inspiration from an old New York Times article about a local Jewish Matchmaker.

This is a charming story about finding love that comes out September 20th.

And that cover!! So pretty. 😍

Sara Cohen knew at a young age she had a gift, not just for matching people, but for recognizing true soul mates. Despite heavy opposition she worked her magic for years in the early 1900's connecting couples within her Jewish community. But, will she ever find her own true love and can she help her community when tragedy strikes?

Decades later, her granddaughter, Abby, has been soured on love through her parent's divorce and sets out to be the divorce lawyer her mother needed. When her beloved grandmother passes away she leaves Abby her notebooks. As Abby reads the notebooks she's reminded of her grandma's many stories of matching couples and begins to experience some job dissatisfaction when special couples enter her life.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Abby's life and the corresponding stories to the notes Abby reads in the notebooks this is a heartwarming story of intuition, women's power, what makes a good partner and (mostly) happily ever after's.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This book covers two time periods - Sara in 1910 and Abby, her granddaughter, in the current time.

Even as a young girl, Sara is a natural matchmaker - a shadchanit in Yiddish. She "sees" people who belong together. But, in an era where Jewish marriages are arranged by married, male, professional matchmakers, she has a problem. They feel she is taking their business away! She must fight to get the recognition she deserves.

At Sara's death, her journals are left to her granddaughter, Abby. As the product of a broken home, Abby has become a divorce lawyer to help ensure women get their due. Does she have her grandmother's talent? How does that conflict with her profession? Can Abby's fond memories of her grandmother help her navigate life?

Do these women really have the ability to "see" perfect pairings or are they just mixing in? Is this a gift or a curse?