Calling on the Matchmaker is Lacking

After the tragic accidental death of her youngest sister, Finola Shannahan vows to become a nun to serve impoverished immigrant families believing that she doesn't deserve to have a family. When the local Irish matchmaker her father hires pairs her with Riley Rafferty, she finds her usual tactics to escape another match unsuccessful. 

Local wagon-maker Riley Rafferty is running for a mayoral election and sees his pairing with Finola Shannahan as helping him not only win the election, but also make a difference together. 

There were some hilarious moments in Finola and Riley's courtship that had me laughing out loud more than once and were my favorite parts in the book.

Jody Hedlund is an author that excels at creating chemistry between her hero and heroine and Calling on the Matchmaker will have you turning pages to find out if Riley and Finola get their happily ever after. Overall, Calling on the Matchmaker is a solid story. The characters are multi-dimensional, the plot has good pacing and doesn't lag. My only issue is the faith thread of the story was almost non-existent. Other than the characters mentioning the Lord and doing charitable works there was a minimal faith thread. I'm willing to admit that it's possible I completely missed the author's point if there was a faith storyline. 

SPOILERS AHEAD - Stop reading if you don't want to know major plot points. 

Personally, I thought Finola's story of the guilt over her sister's passing dragged out a little too long for my preference and continually trying to sabotage her engagement to Riley bothered me. I would have liked to see her married to Riley sooner and see how she deals with becoming a wife. All this to say, if you are okay with a minimal faith element and want a strong romantic story then Calling on the Matchmaker is for you. I'm such a fan of Jody Hedlund, however, this book was a 3 out of 5 stars for me overall. It just didn't pull me in the way other stories by her have. 

Ms. Hedlund does set up the reader nicely in anticipation of the 2nd book Saved by the Matchmaker releasing in August. It looks like book two contains one of my favorite tropes.... marriage of convenience.