Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: matchmaker

The Beekeeper's Ball by Susan Wiggs

While transforming Bella Vista, her childhood home, into a destination cooking school, celebrated chef Isabel Johansen finds her plans interrupted by war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill who has arrived to dig up old history. (Publisher Summary)

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

A touching novel from bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand in which a dying woman sets out to find love for those closest to her - before it's too late. (Publisher Summary)

The Wanderer by Robyn Carr

When newcomer Hank Cooper inherits beachfront property in Thunder Point, Oregon, he holds the fate of an entire community in his hands as he decides whether this small town of rocky beaches and rugged charm is the place he can finally call home. (Publisher Summary)

Change of Heart by Jude Deveraux

Best friends Elijah J. Harcourt and Chelsea Hamilton, who were separated when they were teenagers, are reunited in Edilean, Virginia, where they overcome the distance that has grown between them by investigating a tragic story together. (Publisher Summary)

The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

After being trapped in an isolated car crash, the life of an elderly widower becomes entwined with that of a young college student and the cowboy she loves in this new romance from the New York Times best-selling author. (Publisher Summary)

Country by Danielle Steele

Struggling to achieve an independent life when her stale marriage abruptly ends, Stephanie Adams embarks on an impulsive road trip and discovers herself in the course of a whirlwind relationship with a famous country music star. (Publisher Summary)

Elin Hilderbrand's latest novel, The Matchmaker, landed on the New York Times Bestseller List this week. Although Hilderbrand's characters change from book to book, she always sets her novels in the same place - the historic island of Nantucket, making her collection of works the perfect summer reads.

In The Matchmaker, main character, Dabney Kimball, who is a known matchmaker and island resident, has her life turned upside down when her love from the past returns to Nantucket.

Already read The Matchmaker and are looking for read-alike titles? Check out these suggestions from NoveList, our reader's advisory database:

Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer
Natalie is house sitting in the Berkshires when she becomes friendly with a shopkeeper who is caring for an aging parent and a stay-at-home mom with whom she commiserates over romantic complications.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

Three generations of women come together at a family beach house and gradually reveal secrets that include a pregnancy, a terrible crush, and a deeply-held resentment for past misdeeds.

50 Harbor Street by Debbie Macomber

Corrie McAfee and her husband, a private investigator, try to solve a mystery from their past, while their daughter, Linette, moves back home to Cedar Cove, Washington to open a new medical clinic and finds unexpected romance.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

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