A Very Merry Matchup

De: Becca Kinzer

Narrado por: CJ Bloom, Adam Verner

In this charming small-town Christmas rom com by award-winning author Becca Kinzer, a travel nurse who loves to play matchmaker gets a taste of her own medicine when her friend conspires to set her up with a minor league baseball player.

If there’s one thing travel nurse Ivy West prides herself on, it’s her matchmaking skills. She’s even convinced she knows her own perfect type, a man who, unlike her parents, isn’t traveling the country for the sake of a career. It doesn’t matter Ivy hasn’t met him yet. She’s sure she will in a few years. At least, it’s one of her goals. Then Beau Wall—a minor league baseball player with his sights set on the big leagues—lands in the hospital, and there’s an undeniable spark between them. No need to worry. Ivy will just match him up with her friend Lucy, and she won’t be tempted to date him herself.

A few months later, Ivy’s convinced everything’s gone perfectly when she hears Lucy’s engaged. But when Ivy arrives to spend Christmas in Iowa and celebrate the engagement, there’s one little problem. Lucy has set her up. Sure, Lucy’s engaged, but not to Beau. And Beau isn’t about to lose this unexpected shot at winning Ivy over. Neither are his mom and grandma who also try to throw the two together.

Amid twinkling Christmas lights and hours spent watching holiday movies, Ivy finds herself falling for Beau. Maybe it’s time she ditched her plans . . . because it’s looking like Beau might be her perfect match after all.

• A clean, sweet love story for listeners who enjoy holiday romances by Courtney Walsh, Jenny Bayliss, and Sheila Roberts
• A standalone Christmas novella for fans of cozy Christmas movies and opposites-attract sports romances

©2025 Becca Kinzer (P)2025 Tyndale Fiction

Cute

This is such a sweet Christmas story 😍 Romance, match makers, family reconciliation and a couple of naughty pups too. Completely enjoyable!

Fun holiday story

If you’re looking for a cheery Christmas read A Very Merry Matchup is just right. The characters are charming, quirky and fully entertaining. In Becca Kinzer’s characteristic style the story will keep you laughing and give you a warm cozy holiday feeling.

Hallmark Worthy

Super cute, and maybe just a little cheesy. But who doesn’t love cheesy holiday stories!

So sweet

As always, Becca captures the fun and tenderness of a meet-cute! A little corny is always good for the soul and it has a nostalgia of a Hallmark move combined with the vibes of While You Were Sleeping.

A mix-up for the matchmaker

She's a travel nurse with a plan for her life. Work until she's 30, then marry a teacher and live a very stable happily ever after, making up for the broken home she was raised in.

He's a baseball player on the verge of breaking into the major leagues. When an injury lands Beau in the hospital, he instantly falls in love with his nurse Ivy, but Ivy knows a professional athlete (just like her father!) can never fit into her plan... but maybe she can set him up with her best friend Lucy.

Ivy has worked every Christmas for years, since her family stopped spending holidays together. This year she's supposed to spend the holiday with Lucy, but busy days and illness cause Ivy and Lucy to lose touch only to reconnect when Lucy announces her engagement, and Ivy can't believe things moved so quickly with her and Beau. Ivy agrees to change her plans to travel to Beau's hometown to celebrate Christmas with them...

...except the matchmaker has met her match. A series of misunderstandings, assumptions, and outright deceit land Ivy in a place where she's forced to either reevaluate her plans or stick to her guns. Are her plans God's plans? Or does He have something more amazing in store if only she can trust Him?

I really liked the setup of this book. All of Becca's books are based on massive misunderstandings, and this one might be the funniest yet. Like her other books, this one tends to stretch the mix-ups past suspension of disbelief so there's more eye-rolling than laughing, but I also appreciated the depth that was packed into this fun little Christmas novella. If you enjoy over-the-top stories with a side of faith, you might want to check this one out for next Christmas.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy either of these narrators. Here's hoping that the next Kinzer book is narrated by someone other than CJ Bloom.