There’s something especially charming about a romance where the matchmaker becomes the one caught in the web of love – and Marrying the Matchmaker by Jody Hedlund does exactly that. Set within St. Louis’s Irish immigrant community, this story blends humor, heart, faith, and irresistible romantic tension into a tale that feels both cozy and emotionally rich. If you enjoy clever bargains, growing attraction, and characters who fall long before they admit it, this book might just steal your heart.
Title: Marrying the Matchmaker
Author: Jody Hedlund
Series: A Shanahan Match
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5 ⭐
Disclaimer
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I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
My Thoughts:
It’s time for the matchmaker himself to get on board with the romance train! Bellamy is the town’s budding matchmaker, but he’s finding his position getting more challenging as everyone is slowly expecting him to set an example and start to settle down himself.
Meet Zaira Shanahan. She’s an energetic young woman from a prominent family and left relatively to her own devices. She’s secretly growing her author career – submitting her work under a pseudonym and living her dream. You can find her sneaking around town, scaling a trellis to research what being a spy might feel like for one of her characters. But she starts to run into issues where her writing lacks a personal understanding of romantic experiences.
This is where it got interesting! Zaira asks Bellamy to help her by bargaining for a hug. He needs information that she has and she wants to make a deal. She’ll give him the information he seeks if he just agrees to hug her so can gain some romantic-like experience. It’s all for her writing so that she can more effective writing romance scenes. But this bargain turned into a lot more than either of them expected. Bellamy takes the information and then doesn’t help her, so she shows up at his family’s pub and kisses him in front of everyone. Which quickly turns into strong rumors and their stuck in a difficult position.
I think what I loved so much about their dynamic was that Bellamy was actually already deeply smitten for Zaira from the very beginning. But he’s refused to ever let it show because he believes his family is cursed with relationships and that she deserves someone much more than himself. Zaira on the other hand seems more honest with herself in that she regularly admits that he’s handsome, but she could never see herself being with him.
Now they’re caught inside of an even bigger challenge because their parents match them and they must court publicly now. But they are both pretending it’s all a rouse so they can get the rumors to calm down and then they will go their separate ways.
However, the tension keeps rising. The more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to deny those feelings that are growing for both of them.
A beautiful and faith filled journey that I couldn’t have loved more if I wanted to. Zaira and Bellamy are a great representation of the Irish immigrant community and you also get to see quite a bit of what those communities struggled with during this time.
Publisher’s Blurb:
As the middle child of the Shanahan family, Zaira does her best to keep the peace. She doesn’t share her dream of becoming a published author with her family to spare herself their disapproval. When she’s caught in a scandal involving the local matchmaker, Bellamy McKenna, she must put her storytelling ability to good use and feign a match with him to avoid wagging tongues and her parents’ anger.
Feeling the growing pressure to marry as a well-known, yet single matchmaker to St. Louis’s Irish community, Bellamy reluctantly agrees to a temporary match with Zaira. But even though the matchmakers in his family might be able to find love for others, they have a history of disastrous relationships for themselves. When secrets and danger force Zaira and Bellamy to work together, is it finally the matchmaker’s turn to be lucky in love?
Where to Buy:
Marrying the Matchmaker is a romance that sneaks up on you – with laughter, longing, and heartfelt moments that linger long after the final page. It’s clever without being overdone, faith-filled without being heavy, and brimming with a slow-building love story that feels deeply earned. If you’re looking for a historical romance with charm, tension, and sincerity, this one is well worth picking up.
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