About a Book Mondays: Chatting with Mamma Lou

About A Book Mondays: An Interview the Matchmaker Louise “Mamma Lou” Gates

Today I have the great pleasure to chat with Louise “Mamma Lou” Gates, the matchmaking dynamo from Celeste O. Norfleet’s wonderful Matchmaker Series. She has been hooking folks up since she hit the scene in Priceless Gift and she is at it again in Celeste Norfleet’s latest novel When Love Calls . I’ll tell you after following this series and enjoying reading about the passionate love that she guides folks into finding, all I want to know is where was she when I was in the dating game. LOL. I’m really happy to have the chance to talk to her today and find out what makes this wonderful woman tick. So, welcome Mrs. Gates! And I hope that I am not being to forward by acting like family and calling you Mamma Lou. After reading about so many of your matchmaking missions, I feel like know you!



So my first question is what made you decide to try and help folks find love? Is it a calling you’ve always had?

LG “Mamma Lou”: First of all thank you so much Gwyneth for giving me the opportunity to spread the word about my matchmaking. And yes, please call me Mamma Lou, everyone else does. Now, your first question was very interesting. The answer is yes indeed, matchmaking is definitely a calling, one I’ve listened to and acted on for years. Not to sound too full of myself, but I’ve always had the talent to see the spark of love. And before you ask what it is, the spark of love is the innate glow of passion between two people. When you see it, that’s when you know a match is perfect. I know some of my matchmaking schemes aren’t too popular at first, but folks eventually come around to see that I always know what’s best when it comes to matchmaking.

GB: Out of all of the couples that the talented author Celeste Norfleet has chronicled for you in her telling of your matchmaking tales, do you have any favorites? Which couple gave you the hardest time trying to resist your matchmaking efforts?

LG “Mamma Lou”: Oh heavens no, I don’t have favorites. I love all my children and all my matches. Each one is special and unique. I’ve joined so many wonderful couples over the years including Celeste and her husband, Charles. What a sweet couple they are. They just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last year. Oh, they fought me at first, most of my matches do, but in the end I knew they were the perfect match. As for the hardest and most resistant couple, I can’t think of a single one. They all come around in time.

GB: Wow! I had no idea you’d hooked up Celeste and her husband! That’s wonderful. The latest installment in the Matchmaker Series, When Love Calls sounds like another wonderful love story as well. I hear that the hero might have even sought out your help this time. Can you give us some information about this new installment in the series?

LG “Mamma Lou”: Oh yes, Senator Randolph Kingsley from California is a wonderful man. I met the honorable senator when my grandson’s brother-in-law, JT Evans, got married to the Senator’s sister, Juliet Bridges. Randolph is a brilliant intellect with astute insight. He didn’t really need me to help him. All I did was move a few old memories out of the way and gave love a bit of breathing room. It’s like my garden on Crescent Island, some memories are like tangled weeds and prickly nettles, you need to cut them away to keep the richness of life blooming. Sometimes we hold on when we should let go. A dear old friend of mine learned that just recently. I’m so delighted to say that Randolph and Alyssa are just as happy as can be.

GB: I noticed that you’ve branched out of late and have moved on from helping just family member, spreading love to friends as well. Do you think you’ll ever branch out even further? Maybe set up a Mamma Lou dating service and help people all over the world find love? Or do you prefer the personal connections that you have with friends and family?

LG “Mamma Lou”: (laughter) Oh my, wouldn’t that be the limit, me running a dating service. No baby, I think my matchmaking days will be better spent right here in my backyard. I have so many wonderful new and old friends that need my help. At over eighty years old, I don’t think I have the energy to circle the world but, wouldn’t that be a joy to see.

GB: As I think about the series and how much I have enjoyed it over the years, I can’t help but imagine it as a cool television series. Can you imagine it? A woman going around hooking up couple each week? It would be like Murder She Wrote but instead of helping to find out whodunit you’d be helping people find love. And instead of a little old white woman we’d have a sassy African American grandmother such as yourself. If you had to pick a movie star to play you in a great television show about your life as a matchmaker who would you pick and why?

LG “Mamma Lou”: (laughter) Sweet child you are too kind to an old lady. I’ve heard this mentioned before and I’ll tell you what I told them, it would be an honor to inspire such a television show. Now as to who might play me, I’d have to say my dear friend Ruby Ann Wallace. We met years ago when she attended Hunter College. She’s so talented and as an Oscar nominated actress, I can think of no one more perfect to play me. You all know her as Ruby Dee.

GB: I could totally see Ruby Dee bringing your wonderful persona to the screen! What is in the future for Mamma Lou and Celeste Norfleet’s wonderful series and how might readers find out more about the books?

LG “Mamma Lou”: Well Gwyneth, I don’t know what the good Lord has in store for me, but for right now and the foreseeable future, I’ll be matchmaking. There are still so many in need of my services. Since our first book together (Priceless Gift), Celeste and I have gone on a wonderful journey celebrating my matchmaking in eight delightful novels. I can’t imagine stopping now when there’s so much more to do. So as long as Celeste continues to write, I’ll continue to be right there with her. As a matter of fact, I just told Celeste about a good friend, Trey Evans. Heaven knows it took a while. Trying to catch up with Trey was like trying to catch the wind, impossible. But, he came around. I just wish I was the one he went to for help. He called my dear friend Colonel Wheeler. Imagine that. I believe Celeste calls that novel, And Then There Was You. It’ll be out the end of this year so watch for it. Now, since I don’t know any of that fancy computer stuff you young people talk about, I’m gonna let Celeste take it from here. If folks want to chat with me more about my matchmaking, have them contact Celeste.

Celeste O. Norfleet: Thanks Mamma Lou and thanks Gwyneth for inviting us to stop by, About a Book Mondays. I love listening to Mamma Lou chat about love and matchmaking. Her insights are truly awe-inspiring. That’s why I enjoy writing her stories. So, to chat more with Mamma Lou send an email to conorfleet@aol.com. Put “Mamma Lou” in the subject space and I’ll get it to her. Or check out my website at www.celesteonorfleet.com.

GB: Thanks for taking the time to do the interview, Mamma Lou. I appreciate it!