A fun, light debut novel in the chick lit genre that nonetheless creates a heroine of substance. I underestimated this book when I started, and am still not quite sure about the ending, but the ending (without spoilers) both surprised me and made me have more respect for the rest of the book.

It apparently comes from the author’s experience working for a matchmaking service and now writing as a dating columnist, and as implausible as having that career path might sound, it was fun to learn about it through the book. And Sasha may be young, but she’s not as naive as one might initially expect, and handles herself well in some complicated situations.

If you like books about single women and men navigating what it’s like to date in NYC, this is a very good example of the genre. I didn’t know that BlackBerrys were still around, much less talked about so much in the iPhone/Android era, but otherwise, the book felt reasonably authentic to me. And quite enjoyable as well.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Very fun quick read! I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a light Summer read. It is nothing revolutionary, the plot has been done 1000x before and let’s face it, will be done 1000x more. However, I was looking for something breezy and fun and this did the trick.

After reading I suppose I can see why so many people have enjoyed this but unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. The cover and title both caught my attention, but for some reason the overall story just didn't work for me.

I can see the appeal for this book but I don't think I'm the target audience. I felt this was "too young" (for lack of a better way to put it) for me (I'm in my 40's).I hated to, but with so many good books on my tbr list I decided to DNF. I do appreciate the arc in exchange for an honest review and thank the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity.

This is a whirlwind novel about a young woman new to the matchmaker business that loses her love only to find another while working. However, he creates an insurmountable problem which, in turn, leads her to find out who she really is and what life holds for her.

Super cute, fun and easy read!

I enjoyed reading Playing with Matches! At first the main character Sasha seems a little naive and young but she quickly grew on me. The books centers around Sasah as she grows into matchmaking and trying to figure out how to maintain her personal life while it is exploding all around her.

I wish there was more at the end -- the end was a twist and then it just ends, would have loved another chapter or two to see how she does.

For some reason, I just could not get into these characters, Maybe it was that they seemed so naive about everything.. maybe the profiles on all of the dating sites... it just wasn't a good fit for me.

Playing with Matches was such a fun, delightful read. I loved almost everything about this book: a gorgeous eye-catching cover, tongue-in-cheek title, and the most important - a smart, funny and relevant story about dating, finding yourself and finding love in the modern, social-media driven age, with bustling New York as the backdrop to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this quirky and romantic debut. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending, the story felt unfinished. So I really hope we'll get another book with these characters because I am not ready to say goodbye to Sasha, Adam, Caroline and co.

Playing with Matches is a fun and exciting novel that fits into the world today! With realistic characters and plenty of shenanigans, readers are going to be delighted with this one! I know I was, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh!

I really enjoyed this debut novel! I found the vibe to be very much like The Devil Wears Prada and Bond Girl, both books I also liked a lot. Great writing style. It was so much fun reading about a young matchmaker with zero experience trying to set other people up while her own relationship was imploding. I liked Sasha a lot. She had her flaws, but she was a good person at the heart of it and so, so young. The book managed to be very sexy at times without ever being graphic. I found that impressive. I would definitely shy away from matchmaking services now that I know so much of it is done with dating sites I could do myself! The ending really threw me for a loop and I did not see it coming! I hope the author has another book coming out because I'd love to read her sophomore effort.

I loved the cover of this book! I gave this book 3.5 stars, as I found the book to be geared more toward young adults & had a hard time relating to the main character, Sasha, for the first half of the book. The last half of the book, it picked up & was an interesting story.

I've been duped by books twice in my reading career. The first was when I didn't read a description well enough and ended up reading a Jane Austen retelling when I'm just not a fan, and the other time was this book. I loved the book. All the way up until about 95%, where, I am very sad to say, the ending completely ruined the whole thing for me.
The premise is great: fresh from college, Sasha needs to job. She sees an ad for a matchmaking service, and, given her parents' relationship, applies immediately. A book about a matchmaker setting people up on dates? Yes, sign me up for that perfect little rom-com! The characters were great. So many varied personalities that I never felt like I was simply reading the same person with a different name. They were perfectly villainy or funny or sweet or swoon worthy, whichever the case may be. The guys she was finding were too funny and as a reader, you empathize with her plight.
She begins with a boyfriend, so it should be no shock to the reader that something happens there. The what, the how it was handled, the place in the novel it occurred were all done well enough to keep an avid chick lit reader flipping to the next page (or swiping, as was my case). The after drama with the wedding they were both in was so well done, so realistic, that I almost reached for a glass of wine myself.
The new guy who comes in, the guts it takes to reach out and pursue the way she did- I loved it. It was 5 star material. Around 60%, the novel started to drag, I won't lie. I didn't mind that though because the way the author handled it was like time was just passing and there was nothing important to share. As the reader, I appreciated that gap in time to make the story, and specifically the romance, seem real, even if I'm also like oh, let's get going again. Still good. Still 5 to 4 1/2 star territory. The characters weren't perfect, which made them perfect, the dialogue was funny, and the romance was hot and yet clean and not explicit.
THEN. I will try to be as vague as I can to avoid spoilers. The last area of drama, around 95%, was an excellent addition to the story, dont read me wrong, but made me nervous that we are just getting into it at 95%. Didn't matter; I wanted to see how the author resolved it in 5% of the book. And in those very small percentages, that is where Ms. Orenstein lost me. And where I felt like I had been duped as a reader. No longer was I reading a cute rom-com, chick-lit. No, now, I was simply reading literary fiction - a feeling that was confirmed when I read the author bio. Girl, write what you know, sure, but give me the ending you know I want as a reader. (Hint: it's the romantic part of rom-com.)
That ending completely killed it for me. It was so disappointing! It took a 4 1/2 star book down to a 3 star book. That's how disappointing the last 5% of the book was. I wanted more. I wanted something specific, obviously, but I wanted more. If there had been another 20 pages, another couple of chapters, something to just wrap it up in a nice, Tiffany blue, rom-com bow.
Did I enjoy my time reading? Until 97%, yes, very much so. And I greatly appreciate that the author took the time and effort to write this. It really was an enjoyable read until the ending. Would I recommend it to a girlfriend? Probably not. The ending really killed it for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to preview this book in exchange for an honest review. Honestly, thank you. If I had bought this for my Kindle, I would've ended up returning it as soon as I finished. The ending is the last impression.

What originally drew me to this book was the title and the cover! Cover gush! <3. I love the matches that are pictures of men! Super cute and oh so true haha.

I feel like this would have been the absolute perfect read for me before I met my fiance... because I met him on a dating app! :). So... I can DEFINITELY relate to all those horror stories of meeting some yucky men to say the least. And.. all those omg moments that you're thinking.. wow did I just get catfished by someone?! Yup... I sure did haha.

This book follows our main character Sasha who is a recent journalism graduate trying to figure her life out. She is a matchmaker for the elite... and she ends up coaching her clients along. Little does Sasha know... she is betrayed by her own boyfriend. She can barely hold herself together let alone her clients!

This book is a change to my usual thrillers... and a nice light summer read. If you're aching for a change of pace/light read then I would say give this one a try :).

Thank you to Touchstone and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.
Published to GR: 6/17/18
Publication date: 6/26/18

Sasha is a 22 year old graduate from NYU, expecting her boyfriend to ask her to move in together.
Sasha ends up working for an elite dating service, however she has no idea how tinder or anything else works. This was a fun fast paced read.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun positive book about a young woman starting in the city and determined to make a life for herself despite multiple obstacles. Great read.

“You don’t get a decent scholarship to study journalism at NYU and still take out a sickening number of loans like I did just to fold t-shirts at the Gap.”

So begins our narrator, Sasha Goldberg, as she becomes a matchmaker for an elite New York City dating service.

It’s exactly as it sounds, and I’m sure it will do well for people looking for some light chick-lit to take to the beach. My biggest issue is that there doesn’t seem to be any originality to this book. Upon reading the author’s bio, we find out that she is a journalism grad from NYU and worked as a matchmaker for an “elite dating service” in New York City. That’s literally the plot of this novel. I’m all for writing what you know, but I think this would’ve worked much better as a memoir of the author’s time as a matchmaker rather than some thinly-veiled fiction.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to curl up and live in this book. I was so enchanted by the heroine and couldn't help but want to be her friend. This was a cute, fun, light chick lit read. While I typically like a HEA, I thought it was well plotted, but the ending left me a tad unsatisfied.

I found this to be a pretty quick chick lit type read. I'd almost say it's more NA than adult due to the main character being 22 and that''s where I had my biggest issue. While I kind of liked her, I found her to be very self centered, guidable, and too wishy washy for my taste. But again maybe she was supposed to be based on her age. I initially found the whole matchmaking concept interesting for about the first 35% then it wore on me. The inns and outs of the dating apps don't interest me in the least. I enjoyed the NYC setting although the way the details of it were wrote were definitely geared to a younger audience. I thought there were a couple nice surprises toward the end but the ending itself felt very abrupt. i think this book will really appeal to single millennials

I received a copy of Playing with Matches by Hannah Orenstein from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the summary initially and am happy to report that I found this novel to be a fun read overall. Generally kept to a fast paced story, had mostly likeable characters, and an interesting plot. It was an enjoyable way to pass a lazy weekend day.

A fun, breezy beach read that you won't be able to put down. This is equatable to a good rom-com, something you need to cleanse yourself.