Review: The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

Title: The Matchmaker   

Author: Elin Hilderbrand        

Published: June 2014, Little, Brown & Company   

Format: ARC Paperback, 368 pages   

Source: Publisher  

A touching new
novel from bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand in which a woman sets out
to find love for those closest to her – before it’s too late.

48-year-old
Nantucketer Dabney Kimball Beech has always had a gift for matchmaking.
Some call her ability mystical, while others – like her husband,
celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech, and her daughter, Agnes, who
is clearly engaged to the wrong man – call it meddlesome, but there’s no
arguing with her results: With 42 happy couples to her credit and all
of them still together, Dabney has never been wrong about romance.

Never,
that is, except in the case of herself and Clendenin Hughes, the
green-eyed boy who took her heart with him long ago when he left the
island to pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. Now, after spending
27 years on the other side of the world, Clen is back on Nantucket, and
Dabney has never felt so confused, or so alive.

But when
tragedy threatens her own second chance, Dabney must face the choices
she’s made and share painful secrets with her family. Determined to make
use of her gift before it’s too late, she sets out to find perfect
matches for those she loves most. The Matchmaker is a heartbreaking new novel from Elin Hilderbrand about losing and finding love, even as you’re running out of time.

My thoughts: Reading a new Elin Hilderbrand book each summer is like returning to a favorite summer spot…I have yet to visit Nantucket, but through her books, I feel as if I am returning home. Each book brings more of the island to life for me and this book is certainly no exception.

This latest release is a poignant and heartbreaking tale of first love. I first met Dabney and Clen when I read the short story prequel, The Tailgate, that Elin released last month. (See review here.) That little story had my quite anxious to find out what would happen with these two young lovebirds and boy oh boy what a story it is. I will say this – this book is filled with emotion – happiness, sadness, love, heartbreak, and many heartwarming moments as well.

I loved the character of Dabney. She has this gift for matching couples and I loved how interspersed throughout the book were little blurbs about some of the couples. At the end of the book you find out why these were put together in the first place and it’s so touching – I will say I read the last third of the book with a tissue in hand. I also loved that Dabney is a flawed character – she’s definitely not perfect, and sometimes her decisions were not morally sound. But she was an amazing friend to all she knew and cared deeply about her loved ones.

This book is the type that grabs you from the first page. What would you do if your first love returned home after all this time has passed? You have your life set up – you’re married, your daughter (who’s father is your ex’s) is grown, and you are content with the life you chose. Or are you?

Elin Hilderbrand has such a way with words – her descriptions allow you to feel as if you are sitting right there on Nantucket with the characters, that the salt air is blowing across your face and you can feel the sand between your toes. I’ve read every book she’s written and loved them all. I cannot wait for her first holiday novel, due out in October.