10.21.2024

The Gentleman's Confession ~ Review

The Gentleman's Confession
Matchmaking Mamas #3
By Anneka R. Walker

Jemma Fielding never planned to marry but her deathbed promise to her grandmother changed everything. Now she needs help from the Matchmaking Mamas Society and her best friend Miles Jackson. She needs the Mamas to find her perfect match. And Miles to help her understand love and learn how to make a man fall in love with her.

Miles would do anything for Jemma, but when she asks him to give her lessons on how to understand love, he balks. He's always loved Jemma and the thought of helping her find love with another man is torture. Miles knows that he is not worthy of Jemma or her love, but the promise of an hour with Jemma is just too tempting. 

Everyone has assumed for years that Miles would marry Lisette (Jemma's cousin). Just because he rescued her years ago when they were children. But Miles has always viewed Lisette as a sister and a friend. If only everyone else could quit with the expectations. Even worse is all the unattached ladies of the neighborhood who think he is in want and need of a wife. It is almost enough to make a gentleman run away. 

This is the third book in the Matchmaking Mamas series and this time the Matchmakers have made a doozy of a choice. A gentleman new to the area is there match for Jemma. Some of the situations Miles and Jemma find themselves in are just too much. Jemma's first meeting with Mr. Bentley had disaster written all over it. But some creative awkwardness kept it from becoming a wardrobe malfunction scandal. 

A promise made must be kept. But marrying for love seems more than achievable in Jemma's opinion. If she can find someone she can like surely that is a good place to start. And the Matchmaking Mamas have never been wrong before. But could the Mamas skills gone wrong this time?

There are a few humorous events that keep this book from becoming weighed down with the whole helping the woman you are in love with find love with someone else thing.  Miles is determined to be selfless in regards to Jemma but it grows harder as he is expected to help her. Jemma is more than clueless in how her very good friend treats her compared to his treatment of her cousin. One feels like giving Jemma a good shake to make her open her eyes to what is going on around her. And the rest of the Rebels other than Ian seem just as clueless. 

This was a fun read, even if I felt Miles and Jemma had made everything so much more complicated than it needed to be. But societal expectations, loss, promises, and broken dreams have a way of getting in the way of even perfect insight, so I'll give them both a pass. This book can be read as a standalone title and fully enjoyed without having read the first two books. I have no qualms about recommending this book to ages 13 and up. 

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.



About the Book:

Inexperienced in courtship and love, Jemma turns to her best friend, Miles, for guidance on how to win a man’s heart—not knowing that Miles has secretly loved her for years.  


Brookeside, England, 1822 

Jemma Fielding has always considered herself an independent woman, but to honor her beloved grandmother’s dying wish, she makes a promise that she will marry and fall in love. To fulfill her promise, she turns to the Matchmaking Mamas Society for assistance and is paired with the charming Mr. Bentley. Though he is everything Jemma could hope for in a match, she is clueless about how to win his heart. Desperate to make a good impression, she seeks guidance from her dearest friend, Miles Jackson, a humble rector with a talent for understanding matters of the heart.


However, Miles’s secret affection for Jemma has spanned years, and teaching her to love someone else threatens to betray his own heart. Despite his selfless nature, Miles fears he will never be more than a humble rector in her eyes.


Even as he gives Jemma lessons in love, Miles grapples with the challenge of convincing her that Mr. Bentley may be a perfect gentleman but he is not the perfect match for her. Will Miles’s advice in romance jeopardize their years of friendship, or will it reveal the attraction that has quietly blossomed between them, proving that this time, the Matchmaking Mamas may have made a mistake? Miles must decide if he’s brave enough to confess his feelings to Jemma before she is whisked away forever.


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~ Blooming with Books