Eleven books into Miss Mabel’s Matchmaking Registry, and I still get messages from readers who just discovered book one — and messages from readers who’ve been with me since the beginning, still waiting on the next one. That kind of staying power isn’t something I take for granted, so I sat down and asked myself: why does this series keep pulling people back in?

Here’s what I came up with.

1. Miss Mabel herself. She’s stubborn, she’s nosy, she’s never wrong (in her own opinion), and she means well every single time. Readers don’t just tolerate her meddling — they root for it.

2. Every book stands alone. You don’t have to read all eleven in order to enjoy any single one. New readers can jump in wherever a blurb catches their eye, which makes the whole series easy to fall into.

3. The couples are never quite what they expect. A blacksmith who didn’t want a fussy wife. A sheriff who asked for a cook. Miss Mabel has a habit of sending exactly the opposite of what everyone thinks they need — and being right anyway.

4. It’s clean, and it stays clean. Faith, courage, and a slow-building romance you can feel good about handing to your mom, your daughter, or your book club without a second thought.

5. The towns all have their own quirky residents that you can’t help but fall in love with. You see the whole country, not just one town, and you meet lots of new friends.

If you’ve read even one Miss Mabel’s book, I’d love to know — which reason resonates most with you? And if you haven’t started yet, The Blacksmith’s Stubborn Bride is exactly where I’d point you.