• Title: Power of the Matchmaker(A Prequel Novella to the 12 book series)
• Author: Heather B. Moore
• File Size: 3402 KB
• Print Length: 60 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Mirror Press (November 3, 2015)
• Publication Date: November 3, 2015
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B013FIOAE0
• FTC, FYI: I received a review e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
• Reviewed by:Sheila

Book Description:
A prequel novella to the POWER OF THE MATCHMAKER Series
Mystical . . . Beautiful . . . Romantic . . .
Read the matchmaker’s story to find out where it all starts . . .
Mae Li has been in love with Chen Zhu for years, and he with her. But when the matchmaker arrives at the Zhu family home, she recommends another village girl for Chen.
Heartbroken, Mae Li watches as Chen does his duty by marrying another. Mae flees her village with the clothes on her back and her only possession—a pearl embedded comb, given to her as a goodbye gift from Chen Zhu.
Upon Mae’s arrival in Shanghai, she quickly learns that she’ll starve within days unless she sells her prized comb or joins a courtesan house. She goes to the Huangpu River and promises the River God that she’ll always be selfless if he will save her from becoming a prostitute . . . Her wish is granted when Ms. Tan, the matchmaker of Shanghai, finds Mae. But Mae must completely change her future and her name if she is to become the next matchmaker. 

My Review: 
The Power of the Matchmaker,though only a novella and 60 pages long, has a huge message. The matchmaker truly has a tremendous power to change lives for good or bad. At the beginning of this story, a prequel to the 12 book Power of the Matchmaker series coming out in 2016, we see how a matchmaker destroys Mae Li’s hopes and dreams to marry the love of her life Chen Zu. You can clearly see through Heather’s beautiful writing how much Chen and Mae Li love each other.

Mae Li runs away from home and the man she didn’t want to marry, when she realizes Chen Zu will marry another girl arranged by the village matchmaker.

With no hope in her life to be able to survive on her own, she meets Ms. Tan, a matchmaker in the city of Shanghai. Mae Li, now Pearl, is taken under Ms. Tan’s wings to become the new matchmaker once the old woman dies. She is given a coin that is the “Power” of the matchmaker, in that it will only work if the matchmaker forsakes her own true love in order to bring together others in love. There is also something very secret that the coin can do, but I’m not going to say what it is because I’ve already given too much away.

The very end of this short story had me crying. The last scene takes place many years later when once again Chen Zu and Mae Li/Pearl meet again. They still love each other and it’s a very tender scene. Pearl stays true to her calling as the matchmaker sacrificing her own love for others. But, there is a moment between them that has to do with a pearl comb that made my heart ache. Oh, Heather Moore, you are a master at your craft in creating emotions and making your readers feel deeply for your characters.

This novella is a must read before you begin reading the first of the 12 books that will be coming out in 2016 about The Power of the Matchmaker. Personally, I can’t wait to read each and every one.  

This sweet, 60 page novella get’s 5 sweet stars***** from me!

Purchase HERE at Amazon
Meet Author: Heather B. Moore

H.B. Moore is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than a dozen historical novels set in ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica. She attended the Cairo American College in Egypt and the Anglican International School in Jerusalem and received her bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University. She writes historical thrillers under the pen name H.B. Moore, and romance and women’s fiction under the name Heather B. Moore. It can be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom.