Have you ever been victim to a matchmaker? Ever played matchmaker to someone else? Julie Arduini is chatting with us today about her new book, part of a series of matchmaking romances. It sounds like so much fun. See what you think.               JoAnn Durgin and Lori Soard are the masters behind the Dogwood Creek Matchmakers series, and they also include Leah Atwood, Robin Bayne, Dawn Kinzer, Lisa Prysock, and me. We release a novella set in fictional Dogwood Creek, Tennessee, an hour outside of Gatlinburg, and each book contains a matchmaker that JoAnn and Lori created.
              Clean Sweep is my first of two releases for the Dogwood Creek Matchmakers. I chose Alicia Caruso as the matchmaker. She hosts the matchmakers at her farmhouse that she shares with her husband Luca, and twin sixteen-year-old daughters, Arianna and Bella. Alicia is also a stained-glass artist.
              The heroine is Abbi Gearheart, a recent Youngstown State grad who was marketing manager for a minor league baseball team outside the northeastern Ohio city. She moves to Dogwood Creek for a fresh start after a humiliating viral moment. She wants nothing to do with sports or athletes, except for the name she gives her new cleaning business, Clean Sweep.
              Clean Sweep’s first client is Alicia, who broke her wrist. As Abbi tries to scrub her heartbreak away, the Caruso family befriends the young woman and helps her heal.
              Seth Chamberlin is the athletic director for the Dogwood Creek school district, and also coaches and teaches. When the school’s top athlete needs tutoring to stay on the basketball team, Seth drives out to the Caruso home to ask Bella if she could lend a hand.
              The Caruso farmhouse is where a lot of the story takes place, so I love the cover. It’s the front door to their home, complete with a stained-glass window with a dogwood. Seth, smitten with Abbi, finds reasons to visit the house because Abbi is often there cleaning. Of course, with the matchmakers also meeting there, you can bet that the ladies are working a plan to help Abbi forget her no sports vow and take a chance on Seth.
              Writing Clean Sweep was a challenge in that, as I was writing the third book in my Surrendering Hearts series, Building Hearts, I learned that the vision problems I had experienced were actually undiagnosed cataracts that I had my entire life. Other issues were going on, so my vision declined throughout the year. By the time I completed Clean Sweep, I had one good eye that was recovering from surgery, and a second eye surgery scheduled before the November 1 release.
              Despite the typos and other vision-related issues, I immediately fell in love with Seth, Abbi, and the Caruso family. The ladies have done an amazing job developing Dogwood Creek. The people are warm, there are great places to visit, and food to enjoy. It was an honor to bring Seth into the fold and introduce Abbi to Tennessee.
              You’re invited to check out Seth and Abbi in Clean Sweep. It can be read as a standalone, but the books are priced so that it’s affordable to start from the beginning.
              I’ll see you in Dogwood Creek! ​Sometimes the messiest moments lead to the most miraculous grace.
After a public breakup leaves Abbi Gearheart humiliated and heartbroken, she escapes to Dogwood Creek, Tennessee, hoping to rebuild her life far from the spotlight—and even farther from athletes. With her new cleaning business and the gentle encouragement of stained-glass artist Alicia Caruso and the fellow Dogwood Creek Matchmakers, Abbi begins to find peace in the quiet rhythms of small-town life.
Seth Chamberlin is a beloved coach, teacher, and mentor at Dogwood Creek High. His faith runs deep, but so do the wounds from a strained relationship with his father. When he meets Abbi, he’s drawn to her strength and vulnerability, but she’s made it clear that friendship is all she’s willing to offer.
A powerful sermon on forgiveness challenges them both. For Abbi, to release the pain of betrayal, and for Seth, to seek reconciliation with the father he thought he’d lost. As they walk separate paths toward healing, could God be gently sweeping them toward something more?
A tender story of grace, second chances, and the kind of love that only grows when hearts surrender.
Small-town charm and rediscovered dreams are always in season in Dogwood Creek, Tennessee.
              To purchase Clean Sweep: https://www.amazon.com/Clean-Sweep-Co...
              To purchase the Dogwood Creek Matchmakers series, including Clean Sweep: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DS1WPYMK
Julie Arduini transforms hearts with faith, small-town love, and chocolate therapy. She’s the author of the series SURRENDERING HEARTS (Anchored Hearts, Repairing Hearts, +four more). Her other romance series is SURRENDERING TIME (Entrusted, Entangled, Engaged). She also co-wrote a YA/Women’s Fiction series with her daughter, SURRENDERING STINKIN’ THINKIN’ (You’re Beautiful, You’re Amazing, You’re Brilliant). Her stand-alone romances include MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN and RESTORING CHRISTMAS. In 2025, she joins Leah Atwood, Robin Bayne, JoAnn Durgin, Dawn Kinzer, Lisa Prysock, and Lori Soard with the small-town romance series Dogwood Creek Matchmakers. Julie maintains a blog at juliearduini.com and Substack. She resides in Ohio with her husband and daughter. Learn more by visiting her at http://linktr.ee/JulieArduini.