The start of Unlikely Match caught me a little off guard; I felt like it dove right in without any of the usual introductions, explanations, or backstory I feel like you get in the beginning of most books. Once I got a few chapters in, though, I was hooked. The diagnosis of PBC and need for a liver transplant gave a new dimension to romcom that I had not experienced before. Tom and Jules had great chemistry and interesting back stories. Overall a good read!

I finished this book in one sitting after getting approved for this ARC. It is one of my new favorite books, I felt connected to this book due to my mom having kidney failure and never was able to get approved for a transplant.And due to the author also having PSC, she described the medical terms in detail and felt as if I was in the story myself as a friend of Jules. It had me crying one minute and laughing another! I love this authors writing style as well! I look forward to reading everything this author publishes, I loved Tom and Jules and was cheering for them almost the whole book. One of my favorite reads this year!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Jules lives with PSC, a liver disease for which there is no treatment. Only an organ donor offers perspective. Since her family doesn't want to be a part of the donation process, her friends have abandoned her, and her best friend doesn't have the same blood type, the search for a donor becomes even more difficult.
Together with her best friend Alan, she founded a startup, oriented towards guides abroad. In the same building where they work is another startup, one with a rather interesting CEO: Tom Davenport. Tom triggers Jules' fighting spirit. Could he be trustworthy and offer perspective?

The book consists of two parts; where the first part is very dark. The feeling of hopelessness takes the lead and as a reader you wonder whether it will end well. The alternation with the humorous and loving parts means that you do not end up in a downward spiral.

I flew through this book, which is obviously a good sign, because I was very amused at certain moments. I must say that it felt unrealistic to me at times. The events went too fast and I don't think it would play out that way in real life. At times it felt rushed. Like: this also has to be in the story. That felt unfortunate. Unfortunately, the ending was also predictable. I won't mention it here to avoid spoilers, but if you read it, you'll know right away.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and found the topic so very important.

I've been searching for more medical romances and this one was just amazing!
I she'd so many tears while reading this, I tugged at my heart! I loved Jules and Tom!
I love how they both knew what needed to be fixed and went to therapy to work on their issues so they could be together!
I could feel all the emotions and enjoyed it so much!

Overall I enjoyed this enemies to lovers romance. It was a solid 4 for me. The only thing that I struggled with was sometimes the dialogue felt stiff but I loved the story. It was so sweet and the side characters! Perfection! Worth a read for sure and will look forward to further books from the author!

I was given this arc and was really intrigued by the plot. Jules is 5 years into her diagnose for late stage liver failure and is running out of time when she meets tech start up CEO Tom. They don’t get off to the best start but as everyday gets harder Jules wakes up wanting to fight with Tom. They grow an unlikely friendship until things turn the worst for Jules.

This book was really sweet and so heartbreaking at time for what Jules is going through. Her less than helpful family and the day to day sickness broke my heart. Of her trying to find hope anyway she can.

I like that this book shows two very different people & companies can work together to create something better. It shows the reality for terminally sick people. The struggles not just physically but mentally of disease and transplant. I love both the characters in this and their growth throughout the book. This book is split into two parts, before and after. I loved the before part but the after part made me upset. The treatment from her family and the push and pull between her and Tom.

I definitely recommend for clean romance lovers. It was swoony and sad at times but their happily ever after was worth all the hardship they’ve been given. I love they found their own family and it wasn’t all neatly tied up at the end but they’re together and happy regardless of the things they have to get through together.

4/5 ⭐️
0/5 🌶

I was totally hooked by this book! I enjoyed the enemies to friends to lovers trope! I thought the transplant story was so sweet and I definitely cried a few times! Tom and Jules had a great friendship and relationship, and it all felt so natural. I loved the work aspect with the competing companies and CEOs! This was such a sweet book that had me smiling so hard!

This was a very cute read! There was a bit of crossover between tropes- grumpy sunshine, friends to lovers, workplace romance, and even a bit of the dreaded miscommunication trope. I enjoyed Jules and Tom's st0ry. It was interesting to read a transplant story written by an author who has gone through something similar!

At times I did feel like the communication between characters was lacking and that some characters were a bit immature. Overall, it was a good read!

On first impression, CEO Jules thinks Tom is a tech bro who hates women. But she's got more important things on her mind, like running her company and finding a liver donor. As her health declines, she discovers that Tom is more complex than she imagined.

I loved this novel. Despite the serious subject matter, the tone is never maudlin. Jules and Tom have a ton of chemistry. Their romance is heartwarming and hopeful.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book was such a cute, fun, humbling, read! I love that it had a little grumpy x sunshine and also it was a friends to lovers trope!

It’s about two start ups working side by side in the same building. Both are CEOs. One named Jules who has PSC a chronic liver disease and Tom. Jules heard Tom talking bad bleeep about her company, and Jules decided to confront him. That confrontation ignited a spark in her that she longed for! The rest you have to read for yourself, i literally read it in less than a day, I loved it!!

What I especially loved about it, Laura Bradbury the author went through PSC and the liver transplant so her feeling was embedded in Jules. There’s some spice, some dark humor!

Thank you NetGalley for providing my first ARC!!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my review!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book and admittedly don't have first-hand experience with transplants or long hospital stays, especially when reading a romance novel. However, I found I couldn't put this down and finished it in one sitting. I loved Bohemian Jules and straight-laced Tom and their journey together. It made me think, it made me happy, and it made me get kind of depressed thinking about how Jules didn't have to worry about medical bills the way I would as an American (and appreciated that TW from the author).

Unlikely Match is about Jules Kelly, who has a rare autoimmune disease. It attacks her liver and bile ducts and she needs a transplant. Despite this, she continues life as normally as possible, keeping her disease largely private at work. Hating Game-esqe antics ensue when her company shares a workspace with tech bro Tom Davenport. Loathing turns to something else.

I would recommend this as a light read that has a lot of heart!

I want to sincerely thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my review. This is an own voices review as I also suffer from autoimmune related liver problems.

This book was so much more than a rom-com. It was education, informative and telling of the real life struggles involved with being chronically ill. Being able to incorporated lived experience into a relatable fiction story takes immense talent, and that’s exactly what Bradbury has done.

This is the first book I have read by this author and it certainly won’t be my last.

Unlikely Match is a sweet and charming story of two people with very different personalities experiencing the magic of inexplicable chemistry.

Jules Kelly is a CEO of a promising start-up that matches travelers with local travel guides. She is 26 and was recently diagnosed with a rare liver disease. She will need a liver transplant to survive and is on a waitlist. Only a few people, including her best friend and COO Alan know what she is going through. Tom Davenport is a CEO of another promising tech start-up. He is very driven and just as socially inept. Jules and Tom are sharing a workspace with their teams. After a disastrous first encounter, both Jules and Tom discover that they may have misjudged one another. But how can Jules start a relationship while battling her illness. And doesn’t she hate Tom anyway?

I enjoyed this very much - Jules and Tom and their friends were great characters. There is a good balance of medical details and events and relationship development. Read if you enjoy rivals-to-lovers romance with some high stakes health-wise, and moments of levity.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this via NetGalley.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

The boss babe attitude... the bohemian vibe... new business owner... fighting spirit... and eventually the vulnerability. I could not get enough of Jules and Tom.

Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite tropes and this did not let me down. But this also includes forced proximity and chemistry at first sight. CAN IT GET ANY BETTER?! Yes. Yes, it can. It's also funny!

You can feel the vibe as soon as Jules meets Tom and you're on pins and needles just waiting for Jules to realize the vibe. It's pretty clear how the story is going to go, but you're left wondering if the health aspect is going to make this a sad ending or a happily ever after. I won't spoil it for you though...

Jules Kelly, a certified bohemian boss babe, whose hip tech company just won subsidized office space in the coolest co-working space in town. From a distance I seem poised to take over the world (or at least the travel industry), and I would be if it weren’t for two big complications:

1. A rare and seriously inconvenient disease is tanking my health by the day, and my only hope for a cure—a transplant—is moving further from my grasp.

2. A soulless database company is sharing my new office space, and its coldly gorgeous, judgmental, CEO is on a path to world dominance (at least in his mind).

Tom Davenport represents the very worst of bro culture in the start-up world. Naturally, we despise each other.

The thing is, as much as Tom's antagonism annoys me, he has an uncanny ability to conjure up my fighting spirit and vitality at a time when my illness is robbing me of both. I'm drawn to him in ways I can't (or would really rather not) understand. 

A mysterious angel investor forces our companies to compete for a life-changing amount of money just when my relationship with Tom becomes infinitely more complicated. To make matters worse, things get cutthroat just as my health and time start to run out.
A truly enjoyable read definitely recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Laura Bradbury
I just reviewed Unlikely Match by Laura Bradbury. #unlikelymatch #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🔥🔥
Tropes: Women in STEM, enemies to lovers, workplace romance, medical romance

As a healthcare professional, I enjoyed this book and how it explored medical trauma mixed with love. Initially some quotes pertaining to individuals in medicine were pretty negative which worried me but as the book went on the narrative changed to being more appreciative. I particularly enjoyed the parts with Stewart. Unrelated to the medical part the romance was super cute and the banter top notch. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romcom novels or movies because it reads like a movie!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is 3.5/5 Stars for me, a promising premise that didn't really connect for me.

Massive appreciation for the author getting vulnerable and sharing about her health issues, and the bigger issue of organ donation, but the simplistic approach she had to living with a chronic illness and the mental health issues involved made this more of a miss than a hit for me. The first portion of the book flowed better than the second, in the "After" part the writing was choppy. This appears to be a stylistic choice, but it was one that added to the confusion of the timeline. The book takes place over a couple of months, stops and starts in the storytelling stop the reading from being able to organically see this, resulting in the reader having to pull back a little to figure out a timeline. An easy read, but no one I am going to be thinking about for days or weeks after.

There were two continuity errors in the book, one on the same page!

I did like that the author invites you to further exploration of the epilogue with links to an additional one on her website. Great connection piece!

It’s been a while since I’ve read a romance that’s so refreshing. Let me just say books dealing with terminal illness or that have characters dealing with terminal illness sometimes annoy me because I find the pacing achingly slow or the book very difficult to fully engage with. That being said Unlikely Match breaks this stereotype. It was so wonderfully paced and well written.
The characters are adorably awkward. It gave me heavy Hating Game vibes but it was more wholesome in that the animosity between Jules and Tom gives Jules moments to look forward to. A feeling of being alive, something she desperately needed as her PSC progresses.
Overall, it’s a quick fun read with wonderful characters and an engaging plot line. I recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for this copy.

So I did actually really like this story. I had no clue it was taking place in the Pacific Northwest until over halfway through. I would have liked way more details about the area as I live in the PNW. I thought Alan was a great character but maybe could have been a tad funnier. I didn’t love the Gary story but get that it was necessary when trying to show that Tom was a a good person. All in all the story was engaging. As a nurse and a mother it broke my heart to see how her family responded to her illness.

Unlikely match is perfect for fans of The Ex Talk! If you’re a fan of enemies to lovers, then this is for you!!