title: Match Me if You Can
author: Swati Hegde
publisher: Dell
publication date: 4 June 2024
pages: 304
peppers: 2 (on this scale)
warnings: alcohol-induced vomit, heavy drinking
summary: Jia is bored by her job writing a dumb romance advice column for a newspaper, so she funnels her passion into two things, her successful anonymous blog and her plans to open her own match-making business one day. Her family friend Jaiman is the only person with whom she's ever felt any sparks, but he's a playboy who's not interested in anything long term. She has started an email correspondence with one of the blog's followers who really seems to get her, but that could be anyone. She might as well give up on love for herself and focus on finding a soulmate for her young colleague.
tropes:
- friends-to-lovers
- secret pining
- oblivious about everyone's hearts, including her own
- great friends
- family connections
what I liked:
- Since Austen's Emma is one of my favorite novels of all time, it was hard not to enjoy this Mumbai-set homage to that clueless (pun intended) heroine.
- Both main characters' voices and reasons for not telling/knowing their feelings.
- The side-stories kept me interested.
what I didn’t like: n/a
overall rating: 5 (of 5 stars)