“As daughter of a well-known matchmaker, Catríona Daly is no stranger to the business of love--and sees it as her ticket away from the sleepy village that only comes alive during the annual matchmaking festival. Enter Lord Osborne's son, Andrew, who has returned to the festival after being disappointed by a rival matchmaker's failed setup. Catríona seizes the opportunity to make a better match for the handsome man--and for herself!
Cattle farmer Donal Bunratty is in desperate need of a wife after loss left him to handle the farm and raise his daughter on his own. Shy and lacking the finer social graces, he agrees to attend the matchmaking festival to appease his daughter. But when he arrives, it's not any of the other merrymakers that catch his eye but rather his matchmaker--who clearly has eyes for someone else.
Catríona will have to put all her expertise to work to make a match that could change her life forever. Will her plan succeed? Or will love have its own way?”
Series: Does not seem to be connected to any other books as of this time.
Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, read, remembered, discussed, & thought over; Bible reading; Prayers, Talking to God, & Thanking and Praising God; Sara refers to her mother’s passing as “making the trip to the angels”; Catríona says a little prayer that her future includes luxuries; Donal has a bit of a shock when he says a prayer because his faith has struggled with the idea of a good God allowing “His children to suffer, go hungry, even homeless”, but think that a “wee plea to the Auld Man Upstairs could hardly hurt”; He prays again later and finds it unnerving that it feels foreign to him as he hasn’t prayed much since praying fervently for his wife to be healed and it wasn’t answered in the way he wanted; A friend calls Catríona out on making plans for her future without talking to God; Sara talks to her dad about “The Serpent on the Mound” (Sermon on the Mount) & it’s referred to again over a handful of times; Donal recalls the nuns in his schooling telling him and the other students that the Bible needs to be interpreted for their “feeble minds” to be able to understand it (secretly, Donal always wondered if that was true because why would God give it to His people if not to read it for themselves?); Donal isn’t sure about trusting God for their food or income as he thinks God has taken that away from them; At one point, Donal wonders why the weather isn’t nice for him to do something that he thinks is God’s plan for him; Donal isn’t sure if he’s comforted or infuriated about a Scripture constantly coming to mind (*Spoiler* Towards the very end, he wonders about something being God’s provision and Him organizing in a conclusion that’s happened *End of Spoiler*); There is a nun that doesn’t show much compassion to someone in a hard situation; Greetings literally meaning “God to you” and “God and Mary to you” are said; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God, Jesus, His love, & Him taking care of us; Mentions of prayers, praying, & Thanking God; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of Mass, churches/chapels, priests, nuns, & a bell being a call to prayer; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A mention of Donal pondering the “mystery of Providence”; A mention of Easter; A mention of the Pope;
*Note: The phrase “for Pete’s sake” is said thrice; A storm is described as “hellacious”; Catríona teasing calls someone a saint; A few mentions of fairies; A couple mentions of being lured like as if a siren; A couple mentions of Sara pretending something has magical powers & fairy dust; A couple mentions of spas proclaiming to have healing powers; A couple mentions of Santa Claus/Father Christmas; A mention of fate leading someone to the right person; A mention of luck; A mention of Cupid’s arrow; A mention of Mother Nature.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘biddy’, a ‘bloomin’’, a ‘darn’, a form of ‘idiot’, a form of ‘shut up’, a ‘stupid’, two ‘bah’s, three ‘hang it all’s, and five ‘blasted’s; Mentions of curses & biting back an oath (Donal & Catríona each up to thrice for the latter; none are written out); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A bad storm & being concerned for a loved one (*Spoiler* Sara is trapped and injured in a collapsed building; Donal is distraught at the fact that he almost lost her *End of Spoiler*, up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone suddenly ill & dying (up to semi-detailed); Grief (Donal for his late wife); Going to pubs & Drinking (Donal, twice, one which causes his chest to warm and fill with “resolve and courage”; Catríona drinks wine, once, and wishes it was tea or a ladies’ pint of stout; Side characters including Catríona’s father drink on page as well); Sara is picked on & teased by bullies (both physically and verbally, which makes her slap one of them & cry at their mean words, up to semi-detailed); Catríona purposefully sends a man she’s interested in on dates with girls she knows won’t interest him (because she wants to stand out to him and thinks that he is her only way out of her town; She feels a bit of guilt later); Mentions of deaths, illnesses, & grief (including Donal for his wife who passed six years prior & Sara for her mother and what could have been, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of bullies & their physical and verbal taunts; Mentions of pubs, bars, bartenders, alcohol, drinking, drunks, & being sober; Mentions of rumors; Mentions of injuries and deaths of cattle (including being eaten by a lion, breaking a leg, & a run-in with a horse and buggy, all barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of manure; A few mentions of thieves & stealing; A couple mentions of wars; A couple mentions of two of a man’s daughters passing away; A couple mentions of arrests & wanting to beat someone up; A couple mentions of hunting & hunters; A mention of a fistfight; A mention of lying; A mention of smoking;
*Note: Catríona was raised in a poor farmhouse & is determined to not have to go through that ever again (she comes across a bit prideful at times); Catríona’s mother left their family when Catríona was young; There is a comment on most Irishmen turning to either a cup of tea or a pint (of alcohol) when it comes to healing wounds of the heart & it’s added that some “sorrows were simply too strong for the pint” and had to be handled by the cup of tea.
Sexual Content- Four hand kisses (one being semi-detailed), four cheek kisses, a nose kiss, three forehead/hair kisses, an almost kiss, two not-detailed kisses, six barely-above-not-detailed kisses, four border line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, four semi-detailed kisses, and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses (one being slightly unwanted); Remembering kisses (including unwanted ones, up to semi-detailed); Staring at another’s lips & Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Snuggling, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Shivers, Nearness, Smelling, & Butterflies (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch, embrace, & dance (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Catríona wonders if she’ll ever find her match & imagines it happening (including dancing with a man, up to semi-detailed); Donal and his late wife got married due to necessity of stability and financial reasons, and while it was “never a passionate love affair…eventually an amiable compassion formed between them” and then they had their daughter; A man tries to hold Catríona incredibly close when dancing & his hand goes lower than she prefers (& she comments on his hand which makes him move it; it’s more awkward than romantic, up to semi-detailed); Catríona tries to convince herself that she wants a man to kiss her & that her hesitation is just because she hasn’t been kissed in a long time (they do share a kiss after he’s been drinking and she stops him before another one, thinking that he didn’t force himself on her because she didn’t ask him not to kiss her); Sara teases and makes kissy noises; A man says that he can “still live [his] life” and “have some real fun” (by playing around with multiple women) after getting married & another man calls him a “dirty dog” with tone of awe rather than judgement; A man says he doesn’t want anyone’s “sloppy seconds” when referring to a woman who’s already in love with another man; After a wedding, a newly married couple are teased by men with a “knowing gleam in their eyes” about having to go get “their beauty sleep”; All about many, many mentions of matchmaking; Mentions of a man being “far too familiar” with the staff girls (touching maids without their permission, smacking one’s bottom, eyeing them like food, making them cry, & blowing one a kiss, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of longing, passion, & Donal never caring about passion in a relationship until recent events; Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of flirting & winks; A couple mentions of a man being seen with multiple different women alone out in the countryside (implied player reputation); A mention of a couple “snogging” in the middle of a crowd; Love, being infatuated, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Catríona comments (in her head) about inheriting her mother’s “big bones”; Sara wonders if she’ll get lost in Catríona’s bosom if she hugged her (also noticing her build being “thick and full”); Catríona’s mother would tell her off for spending time on her looks, told her that no one will be looking at her anyway, & to eat less to be able to maintain her figure to be able to get a man (Catríona recalls these comments with pain); Catríona eat less when in front of a man & later ties the laces of a dress so tight she won’t be able to eat (because of wanting to maintain her appearance); Catríona curses her tick waist and full bust at one point; A couple mentions of a song about a man falling in love with a woman old enough to be his grandmother because of her money; A mention of a client finding all of his matches to be either “too tall”, “too fat”, or “not fat enough”; A mention of a stud (bull).
- Catríona “Caty” Daly
P.O.V. switches between them & Sara
Set in 1905 (Epilogue in 1908)
320 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I have mixed feelings about this book. It started out really cute, but started getting a bit too notice-y on his muscles and kissy for my tastes and past what I want to recommend for BFCG’s target ages. The prior book I read by this author would be fine for high school girls, but this one has me shaking my head for them because of the prior mentioned content and a player side character that Catríona is infatuated with.
I knew based on the back cover that Catríona was going to be infatuated with the wrong guy and even though I knew that it would drive me a bit crazy, I was still very interested in this book because of the matchmaking element. I did get annoyed at her for being so smitten with a player and unable to see past his ability to take her away from her small town. She made some bad choices that made me want to fuss at her. I really liked her with Sara, but elsewise I wanted to smack some sense into her. I was so excited when Sara’s point of view started because I already really liked her and her father. Donal was trying so hard for the sake of his little girl and it was really sweet to see. I did really like the importance of father-daughter relationships in this book between Catríona and her father & then Donal and Sara.
I wasn’t a fan of the drinking elements—particularly when Donal drinks a pint and it’s noted that his chest was filled with courage to tell the truth to someone.
Not being very familiar with Irish history and terms (such as “plucking of the gander”) I had to research quite a bit because not everything was explained. There was a glossary at the beginning which covered a lot, but I’m also just not aware of the history of Ireland of this time (or any time, really).
Some have said this book has a love triangle, but I don’t think so at all because we never see the other man’s perspective— thankfully, because he was a player and a jerk that brought these ratings down enough as it is.
There really were a lot of cute parts and it was an easy-to-read story that while may have been completely predictable, was still cute at times. So, I hate to mark it so low, but I truly don’t think it’s the best choice for those in high school.
I liked how the Sermon on the Mount was mentioned and thought about so much, but at the same time I wish we would have seen more development in both Catríona & Donal’s faiths on page. By the end, you get the impression that they’re each “good with God”, but after comments and concerns they both had, I would have liked to see it actually discussed and resolved. While we never see them cross themselves after praying, there are mentions of Mass, priests, & nuns that imply the typical Catholic faith for these characters at this time in history. That said, we never see them go to church or Mass once.
I liked some aspects but there were definitely parts that lowered my rating and content (lots of kissing, noticing muscles, and jerk of a player to name some) that make me mark this book not the best choice for those in BFCG’s target age range.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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