I really enjoyed The Merry Matchmaker and its story stayed with me for awhile after I read it. Frankie Lane is a widow with a mission, make sure all her friends' and family's lives have a happy ending. She schemes and plots to get them where they need to be by Christmas. The person Frankie has left out of these maneuvers is herself. Widowed for nine years, she feels like she already had the love of her life and wants everyone around her to have that also. If love is not what is lacking, maybe it's her daughter's career or her best friend's remodel project that needs Frankie's help. She can't see that she is the one who needs to be convinced that she can have a second chance at love. Her attempts to fix others peoples lives may crash and burn, but her heart is in the right place. One of her best friends, hardware store owner Mitch, is also a target of Frankie's Cupid arrow, but he is an unwilling subject, because his heart already belongs to her. Like in Jane Austen's Emma, Frankie's misguided attempts result in some amusing situations. As I said, I enjoyed this novel very much, and thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for an advance ebook to review.

The Merry Matchmaker was a cute story which I'd give 3.3 stars. The main character, Frankie, loves to play matchmaker, and I'll be honest, it actually got annoying to me at some points. The story however, was captivating and funny at times, too. It's an overall heartwarming tale and something good to add to your holiday want-to-read list!


Thanks to NetGallery for an advanced reading copy!

The Merry Matchmaker is Sheila Roberts’ contemporary Christmas romance that is a re-telling of Jane Austen’s Emma. This is a sweet romance which features an older heroine and doesn’t contain profanity or sex scenes.
50-year-old widow Frankie Lane can’t help herself: she has to help everyone around her find love, even though no one wants her help. Frankie has owned a Christmas-themed gift shop, Holiday Happiness, for nine years. She employs her daughter, Natalie, who makes delicious chocolates and should open her own business. She also has a divorced sister, Stef, and her widowed mother, Adele, who live in her town.
Frankie is friends with Mitch Howard, the owner of the local hardware store. Mitch is divorced and has been Frankie’s rock since her husband was killed by a drunk driver. Frankie is determined to find a woman for Mitch because he is so wonderful and deserves love and happiness.
For years Frankie has been in charge of the town’s Santa Walk. Things change when Mitch hires a 40-year-old man to help him manage the store, and this man develops feelings for Frankie. Frankie doesn’t return his affection and eventually realizes that she’s the best match for Mitch.
The Merry Matchmaker is a delightful Christmas romance that contains multiple subplots. The characters are likeable and seem like they fit right into a Hallmark movie. While this story is a re-telling of Emma, I liked that the author used an older couple and set it during the Christmas season. The Merry Matchmaker could easily be adapted into a Hallmark movie and is perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber.
I received an advance review copy (ARC) from the NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This cover really drew me in! I love a retelling as much as anyone else. There were a lot of elements that I really enjoyed but Frankie did have an... kind of annoying aspect to her. That was hard for me at times.

3 stars.

"The Merry Matchmaker" by Sheila Roberts is an ok holiday novel. It'll do. It's not my favorite wholesome Christmas romp, and I won't recommend it to others, but I have no doubt many readers will flock to a story like this for its small-town holiday charm. The main character, Frankie, bugged me a lot. I thought it would stop bothering me, but I couldn't get past it. I couldn't help but think, "good god, woman, get your nose out of other people's business," repeatedly, throughout the entire story!!! She thinks she's helping her friends and family (and in the case of Elinor, apparently, a person Frankie doesn't know she really despises??), but all she does is meddle in their affairs, warranted or not. There are also a lot of characters to keep track of, and I kept getting their stories blurred together because they were so similar. I think many readers will be interested in this Jane Austen reimagining, but know it is, at best, a loose, *loose* adaptation of "Emma." Still, this book will go down easy and was a quick read to get you in the holiday spirit.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sheila Roberts, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and MIRA for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

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 loved Austen-inspired modern stories. Pair that up with a holiday theme and a hardware store? Yes, please! I absolutely loved the relatable characters in this, and the story was just good ole holiday fun! Highly recommend this if you're looking for a fresh holiday read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

There were four reasons that I picked this book up:

🤩 The cover. It is so cute and festive! And I knew Sheila Roberts would deliver a clean, entertaining read.

📚 An Emma-inspired read. It was! Main character Frankie Lane is determined to match up her sister, her friend Mitch, her coworker Ellinor, and more with their own happily ever after. Who is going to give Frankie a second chance at love?

🌲 The holiday setting in a Washington town called Carol has everything going for it: Frankie's store called Holiday Happiness, a Santa Walk, a Mrs. Claus contest, gingerbread house auction, and more. . .

😋 There are recipes, y'all! For Pasties, Peppermint Pie, and Frankies Easy Candy Treats are sure to get your tummy rumbling.

If you are looking for a sweet holiday read that has a side of sass, give this one a try! A big thank you to Harlequin and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas book in October. But in all seriousness this was a cute, funny, book with a meddling and nosy main female character who really just wants to help those they love.

An Emma-inspired Christmas story where middle-aged Frankie tries to match up everyone else around her, leading from confusion to eventual happiness for all. This contains all of the ingredients for a cozy Christmas novel, but Frankie started annoying me after a while and I found it hard to sympathize with her much of the time. This will be fun for many readers, however!

Thank you Shelia, the publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this book for my honest review.

This is my second book by Shelia and I even had the opportunity to meet her in person earlier this year. I loved the first book so I jumped on the opportunity to read her newest Christmas novel.

I loved this one and loved the different characters in the book. I also loved how it was her version of a retelling of Emma by Jane Austin. I love That book so it was so much fun to review it in a new way.

The Merry Matchmaker is my first Sheila Roberts that was inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma. It follows a widower in his 50s, Frankie Lane, who owns the small-town shop, Holiday Happiness. She is a well-meaning matchmaker who loves to meddle in the love lives of everyone around her. Additionally, there is Frankie’s divorced sister Stef, her new to town employee, Elinor, her daughter Natalie, and her best friend Mitch Howard. Frankie decides to go on a mission to find a partner for Mitch, which leads to a huge amount of antics to make this a reality.

I love Emma and I love Christmas stories, so this story seemed perfect for me. There are a lot of characters to track at times, so I wish the author found a way to include them. I think the number could remain the same, but it just needed a little more nuance to make it clear enough. There were some moments in the story where I believe some additional editing was needed as some characters speak to others that didn’t belong in the scene. It read as if the author lost track of her characters where if you were paying attention, it takes you out of the reading experience as you work to make the characters make sense. The actual other elements of the story were sweet, and I enjoyed the ties to the source material. Overall, this was a nice story and I look forward to reading more from Roberts in the future.

Here are my thoughts on the book: The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that this book was set at Christmas time and was a romance story. Two of my favorite things. I thought it sounded like a really fun read.

It took me a few chapters to start getting involved in the story but once I did I found it to be a very enjoyable book. I loved the various characters in the story. They were interesting people and the author made them sound believable. Frankie, the main character was always trying to match up people or help them out with one thing or another even if they weren't aware of it. This often caused some hilarious or disastrous results.

A lot of time these romance/rom-com type books seem very stereotypical of Hallmark type stories/movies. - With this one it had elements of that in it but also was more involved with the different characters so you go to know them as people rather than just a "bit player" in the story. I wanted to keep reading to find out how things would end up for everyone.

I'm not going to give away how it ended but I will say that it was indeed a fun read that had just the right touches of romance without being overly sappy.

I would recommend this book to those who like clean romance stories and a entertaining cast of characters. I'd give this a 4 star rating. The only thing that I'd mark it down on was perhaps that the book was a tad slow to start off and then towards the end of the story things picked up at a fast pace almost as if the author needed to get to the end of the story in a hurry. That's just how I felt about the story.

Thanks for stopping by to read my review.

Maybe I should have read the blurb for this, I didn’t realize until I read other reviews that this was an Emma retelling.

I liked it okay but Frankie’s meddling was just so much and all the time. I don’t feel like there was a lot of character depth, but man did she dislike Elinor the entire time. Who calls someone white paint?

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for my unbiased opinion.

This book was the perfect holiday read. It had fun small town Christmas activities, letters to Santa, a scrooge, and even a merry matchmaker who was not always merry. I enjoyed reading about Frankie, her daughter Natalie, her mom Adele, and her sister Stefanie. I cannot wait to try the recipes that were mentioned in the book!. I received an advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas book in October. But in all seriousness this was a cute, funny, book with a meddling and nosy main female character who really just wants to help those they love.

This was such a CUTE read!! I know it’s not yet Halloween but this is getting me into the spirit for Christmas. I loved the characters and loved the story!

Frankie, 50, owns and runs her shop called Holiday Happiness which offers lovely Christmas themed gifts and decor. Her husband was killed by a drunk driver some years ago leaving her devastated. She misses him every day. In her hometown of Carol, she is surrounded by loving family. There’s her widowed mother, Adele; her daughter, Natalie and grandson; her sister, Stef, who is divorced; and her many friends such as Mitch who owns the hardware store next to her shop. He is divorced and has been a good friend and anchor since she lost her husband.

Christmas is a big thing in her city and for some time, she has been in charge of planning a Santa Walk where people come to the shops and receive samples and can win drawings. But when Mitch hires a young man to help him manage the store, the guy who is age 40 says he is totally in love with Frankie. This is not what she wants and while his attention is nice, she does not feel comfortable with it.

Frankie is always looking to match her friends up with someone and lots of times it just doesn’t work out as she would like. But she is tenacious and often times she’s successful.

The characters in this book are all so real and the author has done a good job of creating them. Christmas is very important to all of them and they wring every drop out of it enjoying all of the fun and happiness that it can bring. I loved this story and hope that it will bring joy to other readers.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a really sweet Christmas book, retelling of Jane Austen’s “Emma”.

The biggest difference is that I hate Emma, but I absolutely ADORED Frankie. She’s a widow and a meddler— er… helper? 😅 She’s sweet and had good intentions, but doesn’t come off as condescending.

I really love all do the characters, and I love that the author highlighted so many different character arcs. It feels a lot like an ensemble Christmas movie, I could see it becoming one easily.

If you love Christmas, and loveable small towns, read this book!!

I enjoyed reading The Merry Matchmaker by Sheila Roberts. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

I'm almost mad at myself for finishing this one -- I kept waiting for it to turn and pick up but it just didn't. I didn't like any of the characters and the setting was not unique. Frankie's "epiphany" over Mitch is not worthy of a comparison to Emma. Hope you have better luck!

The Merry Matchmaker comes out next week on October 1, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

WHO KNEW THAT HELP COULD TURN INTO A FOUR-LETTER word? Not Frankie Lane, that was for sure.