a lovely fun short novel! pretty fast paced but still really enjoyable. the writing style was easy to follow and i love the concept of moms being matchmakers flipped. super fun and quick read perfect for summer time

I liked this book. It was an easy read that made me smile. The character development was evident and Neil and Leora’s relationship was adorable. There was a little bit of second hand embarrassment, but overall I enjoyed the book.

I really enjoyed The Unmatchmakers!

Leora and Neil's Mum's aren't like the "traditional Asian mother" who wants nothing more than to marry off their children, no, these women want the complete opposite!

Leora and Neil are so unbelievably sweet and wonderful that I couldn't help smiling while reading

The Unmatchmakers is an easy and enjoyable read. As soon as I finished I immediately read Donut Fall in Love because I needed more Jackie Lau!

A quick, fun read. Enjoyable, I've never actually read a book with 2 Asian MCs before, the premise of the mother's being the opposite to the stereotype was a good twist. I expect Lane Kim would have been very happy with mother's like these. However, it shows that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
With the novel being such a quick read it didn't delve to deeply into the clear issues and I actually found myself so annoyed with the way the mum's were acting. I feel like Dee was a good balance to this, as well as a little more rational.
Although this has a HEA, I think the characters needed more development, which I suppose would have taken it more from the fluffy side of things.
To be honest, I was more interested in Erin and Robbie's story - I'd love to know how they got past their issues.
A grumpy v sunshine, friends to lovers Romcom with some VERY spicy scenes (written v well), perfect for the upcoming summer.

I loved Neal and Leora. They were so great. I loved their background history and their chemistry, the love and support for one another, the angst, the push and pull, the sexual tension between them, everything was so well executed by the author. The characters were not perfect, they had their own struggles and obstacles they had to overcome before they came to the realization that they are better together than apart.

I’m so happy with how everything wrapped up at the end. It was such an enjoyable book. I hope the author continues to put out more stories like this!

3.5 stars

Really liked the found family/community built by the three single mothers, but the shorter word count was detrimental for the romantic ship and mother-daughter conflict.

Jackie Lau has done it again with The Unmatchmakers! Leora and Neil are so sweet together and a true example of opposites attract! As you read you get to hear and learn about what they were like as children and then you get to watch them reconnect and fall in love with each other as established adults. Their moms are the perfect amount of annoyingly meddlesome in their effort to keep them apart, while also being simultaneously funny about it. Facing their moms about their parenting styles and learning to overcome that hurdle truly made for a wonderful story! Five star read for me!!

I really, really enjoyed this book! It was cute! It was witty, romantic, and charming and it was hard to put down!

As my second Jackie Lau book, this was definitely a good read!

The friendship between the mothers honestly carries the whole story. It is very much The Summer I Turned Pretty vibes. The fact that they don't want Leora and Neil to fall in love makes it even more humorous. I think that my mom and their mom would get along just fine!

There were some parts of the book that I 100% loved and others that just fell a bit flat. However, it is still a pretty great read made by a fantastic author!

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced copy, however all opinions are my own and unbiased :)

This is my first Jackie Lau book. I had seen The Donut Love doing the rounds on booksta a few months back & really wanted to read this one.

Leora was a lovely character. I couldn’t imagine having a mom who pushes me away from love! My mom is always asking me when I’m going to find a man 😂
I loved the friendship the mothers shared & that they bought a vacation house together (ABSOLUTE BESTIE GOALS!) The creative ideas the mothers used to distance Leora & Neil were really funny!
My mom would have gone to extreme lengths to actually set me up with a Neil IRL considering he is the epitome of a perfect man - he is hot & intelligent, he cooks, cleans, irons, understands Leora, respects & loves her.

Wasn’t my fav but also wasn’t a DNF! I liked a lot of parts & a lot of parts were just meh! Overall, this was a fast-paced & light-hearted read!

Thank you to the publisher & the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

When I'm looking for a fun, humorous and light romance read, Jackie Lau is one of my favorites. The Unmatchmakers is exactly that -- a funny, enjoyable, and easy to read romance. Heroine Leora was raised by a single mom who tried to protect her from the hurt she experienced by telling Leora not to believe in romance or men. This has caused a lot of conflict in their relationship, but Leora hopes she can have a relaxing time when her mom invites her for a week's vacation at a lakeside cottage, Leora's mom and two of her BFFs own the cottage, so the children of the friends are also invited. It's a kind of reunion, since the children spent a lot of time together as children.

When Leora arrives, she discovers that Neil Choy, son of one mom's BFFs, is not only a hottie, but also sweet, funny and a great cook. Leora and Neil begin a flirtation but they need to keep it under wraps since Leora's mom is opposed to Leora having relationships. This is a relatively short book so their romance moves fast (although the fact that they knew each other as children arguably takes this out of the Instalove category). You'll find humorous hijinks, meddling moms, and a HEA. I very much enjoyed the book as an upbeat, amusing and quick read with happy summer vacation vibes.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Ugh! I so wanted to love this book, but it sadly ended up falling flat for me. I made it to nearly 60% percent before I started to feel the temptation to skim creep in. I could sense early on that Neil, the love interest, felt underdeveloped, but decided to push through thinking that feeling would change. Unfortunately, it did not, making the connection between Leora and him hard to believe.

I thought the premise had a ton of potential since I don't think I've ever come across a romance novel that involved parents actively trying to keep their children apart. The execution just ended up missing the mark and I was bummed when I ultimately chose to DNF.

the unmatchmakers was a sweet romance, but missed the mark for me. leora and neil grew up together since their moms are best friends. after 10 years, they reunited again on vacation with their moms and attraction struck. their moms though, very much against it and doing everything they can to stop it. for me, leora and neil just didn’t have chemistry and there wasn’t enough between them for me to believe they fell in love after a week! there was barely any interaction between them. nevertheless, the unmatchmakwrs is a rekindled, family forbidden romance that has some sweet spots

This book is written in a way that draws the reader right in as if they are a close friend it was equal parts hilarious and heart warming.

Leora is a hopeless romantic. Her mother, who raised Leora alone, is hopelessly against romances and happy endings, worrying that Leora will experience the same pain she once did. This means that Leora often hides her romantic entanglements from her mother. This generally works out well, until she goes on a vacation with her mother and her mother’s two best friends (also single moms) and their adult children. Leora may not have seen Neil Choy in years, but she’s instantly attracted to the young architect. But Leora’s and Neil’s mothers seem to be doing everything within their power to keep the two of them apart!

This was an absolutely adorable novella. The Aunties are a riot - these three Chinese women have had to build lives and families without the help of a partner for one reason or another, which has created a familial bond. While it relies a bit on insta-lust as many romance novellas do, there’s a childhood friends component too, giving Leora and Neil a shared past and believable level of attraction. And while this one is a slow burn for such a short novella, it does pay off with some very satisfying moments between Neil and Leora, who you want to root for all the way!

I’ll be honest, my only regret was that I was not sitting on the dock at a cabin on a lake in the middle of Canada while reading this… ok, that and the fact that I was lacking Timbits (Tim Horton’s version of Munchkins, or donut holes, for the uninitiated.)

Jackie Kai’s The Unmatchmakers was a quick and easy read, perfect for summer. I enjoyed the main character and how she didn’t let her mothers opinions on life and relationships negatively affect her own.

Unfortunately, the downside to the book being short and single POV, I didn’t feel much depth to Neil’s character. And the small insights we did get to see about why he acts the way he does, didn’t happen until after the main characters got together and I believe that insight should have been a cornerstone in their foundation before falling in love.

While it was played off as childhood friends to lovers, to me, it felt more like insta-lust. I would have liked to see the main character talk more about her attraction to Neil as more than just his body. And I would have liked to see Neil show in more small ways that he cared for Leora outside of the physical attraction.

It fell a little short, but I still devoured it in two sessions and enjoyed the dialogue and hijinks concocted by the meddling mothers.

First of all, Leora was a beautifully written female lead. She’s not afraid to be her own person and she’s not afraid to go for what she wants. Even if her mom is not having it. She is wise and witty and my heroine! Loved this book. It didn’t need lots of layers or unnecessary drama. The storyline was great as is. Loved the banter between the Aunties - found myself smiling and giggling at them. There is nothing like reading books of any genre that have diversity in characters dealing with everyday life. Because we are still under the impression people of color have such drastically different lives than others. Excellent book!

Its not completely clear if Jackie Lau's latest, The Unmatchmakers, is supposed to be a goofy summer lake cabin rom-com with two cute Asian leads or more of a melodramatic women's fiction story in which every character needs serious therapy. Maybe a little of both, but with too many mentions of Timbits and not enough personal therapy. Basically, if you removed all the unnecessary references to Tim Hortons and Timbits, this is a story about a young woman who needs to communicate better with her single mother while hiding her tepid secret romance with her mom's best friend's uptight son who has his own communication and daddy issues.


I’m a bit torn. Not because I feel super guilty about starting anything with Neil now—I’m too pissed at my mom for that. Rather, I’m torn because I half want him to pull me to the ground and ravish me, but I’m also tempted to finish the s’more first. After all, how often do I have s’mores?

If you're with a good-looking guy and all you can think about is how much you want to finish your s'mores first, this guy may not be The One for you. And maybe you should deal with your mom first, too.

Leora has a complicated relationship with her mother who got pregnant with her at a young age and now insists her daughter needs no man or romance. Instead of talking to her mom like an adult, Leora hides behind her internal fairy tale romantic fantasies, and growing secret crush on her mom's friend's son Neil. For someone who loves frilly and frothy romance, it is hard to fathom why the yen for Neil, a man who irons his clothes on vacation. The budding romance isn't helped by their moms who engage in ridiculous tricks to keep them apart, leading Leora, Neil and their moms to fight bitterly over who's right and who cares more,

Without giving away anything else, Leora has a lot of figure out about her feelings for Neil and her feelings for her mom. Not to mention her mom needs to deal with her own unresolved feelings about raising Leora on her own. So while Leora and Neil have HEA, I felt it was more of a HFN with the hope that those two kids and their moms got much needed therapy.

3 stars. Thank you to the publisher and author for a review copy.

This is a fun and quick read for summer! I read the whole book in a day. I absolutely loved the family antics and how it was flipped from the usual matchmaking, trying to set your kid up with someone to the opposite. There were several laugh out loud moments for me plus a few short, but steamy scenes. I liked the childhood friends to lovers trope which made the insta-love a little bit more believable. I almost wished it was a little bit longer or had more scenes with the love interests sneaking around together so we could have seen their chemistry more. There was forced proximity since they were in the same vacation house, but I was hoping for more secret glances and touches, more sneaking around because of that.

3.5 stars

Thank you ValentinePR for an advanced copy to read.

Overall, this book fell flat. It was very short and therefore the characters and plot didn't feel developed enough for me. The love story was based on insta-love and I didn't feel the chemistry between the main characters at any point throughout the book. I loved the cultural references and the idea of the moms being "un"-matchmakers since this is the opposite of what we normally read about. The story had a really cool premise, but it simply didn't hit the mark.

Thank you NetGalley and Kobo Originals for the e-book ARC of this story.