Publisher: Kensington

Published: September 28, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

Available Formats: Digital, Audio, Library Binding, and Mass Market Paperback

My Review: What a beautiful romance. It was time we learn the love story of the greatest matchmakers in fiction, Anna and Felty.

I really connected with Felty because his stories of the Korean War were so similar to the stories my dad tells of his time in the Korean War. To this day my dad doesn’t like the extreme cold.

My heart hurt for the cruelty Anna experienced from the others in her community. She was trying her best without a mom to guide her. I loved her perseverance to keep putting one foot in front of the other and how her fun-loving spirit never truly wavered. The cruelty she experienced shows us how no matter your community unkindness still exists.

If you have not read this series, you should check it out. You will laugh your way through and find a smile on your face long after the last page.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed above are entirely my own.

From NetGalley: The endearingly mischievous matchmaking grandparents Anna and Felty Helmuth have helped generations of their Wisconsin community – including many of their own grandchildren – find love over the course of USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Beckstrand’s beloved Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill series. Now, in this heartwarming prequel set in 1952, Anna and Felty’s own love story takes center stage as the young couple spends their first uncertain Christmas together.
 

Before irrepressible eighty-somethings Anna and Felty Helmuth became Huckleberry Hill, Wisconsin’s most-beloved matchmakers, they were mismatched young lovers facing seemingly impossible obstacles…

She can’t cook, sew, sing, or clean. And no matter how hard young Anna Yoder tries, she’d much rather help people in trouble than be a well-behaved pretty face and properly perfect Amish maidel. So she instantly reaches out to her old schoolmate, Felty Helmuth, when their Amish town ostracizes him for his Korean War army service. He’s still the only one who’s ever understood Anna—and liked everything from her green Jello carrot salads to her love of books. And this holiday season, she can’t help hoping that somehow she and Felty can find a way to be the perfect match…

Felty sensed he was called by Gotte to serve his country, though it went against his community’s peaceful ways. Troubled by his wartime experiences, he is resigned to being an outsider avoided by most eligible Amish girls. But lively, intelligent Anna has grown into a warm-hearted generous woman who accepts Felty for who he is. And in the face of family and community opposition, he and Anna will take a leap of faith to prove they are made for each other—and a lifetime of happiness.