Power of the Matchmaker (Heidi Ashworth) Books in Order

Power of the Matchmaker is a shared-world romance project, so the idea is a little different from a standard single-author series. The books are linked by Pearl, a mysterious matchmaker whose own backstory appears in the series prequel, but each novel stands on its own with a different couple, tone, and setting. On Heidi Ashworth's page in that world, the key book is O'er The River Liffey, which means readers get both the larger series concept and a full, self-contained Ashworth romance.

Pearl is the thread, not the center.

Ashworth uses that setup to tell an Irish Regency story with a softer, more reflective feel than some of her broader comedies. In O'er The River Liffey, Niall Doherty has lost the future he expected and comes to Ireland to work as tutor to two boys at a grand estate. On the way, he is told that he will meet his true love over the River Liffey. That promise hangs over the book, but the story itself stays grounded in awkward class lines, family ambition, and the slow work of two people learning whether affection can survive real obstacles.

The heroine, Caroline Fulton, is an Irish heiress whose father wants what money alone cannot buy, a title and the social shine that comes with it. The house party she attends is supposed to look festive and respectable, but underneath it is a kind of audition. Caroline is being watched as a possible wife, measured for her fortune as much as for herself. Niall, meanwhile, occupies an uneasy middle ground. He is educated and well-born enough to move in conversation, but poor enough to be reminded that he is there to work.

That class gap is the engine of the book.

Ireland matters here in a real way. This is not just an English country-house romance moved west for decoration. Ashworth builds the story around Irish folklore, local storytelling, and the social tension between English expectations and Irish feeling. Niall and Caroline are drawn together partly because they share a love of those stories, and that shared imagination gives the romance warmth. The River Liffey itself, along with the promise attached to it, becomes a quiet symbol of crossing from one life into another.

The tone is gentle, patient, and clean. The stakes come less from melodrama than from pressure, duty, and the fear of reaching for something that seems out of bounds. That makes this a nice entry point for readers who want a standalone historical romance with atmosphere, rather than a long commitment to a continuing cast. If you like matchmaking as a light frame, Irish setting and lore, and a love story shaped by class and choice, this is where Ashworth's corner of the series shines.