It didn’t click until I started reading this that it was an Emma retelling, and this was sadly a miss in that department. Emma was always one of my least favorite Austen’s anyway, and this one did not particularly endear me to the lead. I also got around 17% through and had a sense it was going to be the kind slow burn I didn’t care for, as the romance had barely been present thus far.

Very cute. Friends-to-lovers, misunderstandings and missed connections, anonymous pen-pals, “what is this feeling? do I love you?”. I know almost nothing about any cultures in India, so this was a nice slice of education for me. Like, I know arranged marriages and matchmakers were/are a thing, but astrology? Like, signs and charts and palms is an bc actual field of study? Who knew? Obviously, not me. Some of the story seemed over the top, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to more from the author.

Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley for review. My opinions are my own.

4/5 stars

This was such a fun read and gave me a side of modern India that I haven’t not read before. I have read a lot of books about historical Indian books stories so this was refreshing.

I have heard about Indian matchmaking and I really loved that this novel centers on Jia, whose dream it is to become a matchmaker. She also harbors feelings for Jaiman, a lifelong friend. Jaiman is attempting to live his dream of running a successful pub in Mumbai.

There are a lot of layers to this story. It is wonderfully written and I am looking forward to seeing what else comes from the author!

Did not finish at 33%. This one was so rough. I encouraged myself to get a third of the way through, and if I still wasn’t feeling it until then, I’d quit. Jia is one of the most deeply unlikable characters I’ve read in a while. She’s incredibly selfish and just outright cruel to her supposed childhood best friend, Jaiman. I understand that this is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, but Emma had more depth that made her decision making more understandable, at least to me. At no point did I understand why Jia was so casually cruel to Jaiman to the point where she’s saying he’s stealing her life and family and has no life outside of them. It was just weird? I should’ve stopped reading when we got to the scene at her sister’s where Jia and Jaiman kiss, but Jia thinks it’s all a bet based on an earlier conversation she heard between Jia and Jaiman. The conversation mentioned no bet regarding Jia and Jaiman very clearly shut down any talk of “landing” Jia. It was so completely frustrating reading this woman’s absurd thoughts. Jaiman was fine, but I don’t understand why he was cooking for his found family instead of working at his failing pub? Unfortunately, this book was just not for me at all.

I absolutely adored this. I love a career centered rom com and this certainly delivered. Lots of swoons and lots of laughs

Jia dreams of becoming a matchmaker, so when an opportunity comes to prove her mettle as a matchmaker, she jumps at it. But how can she be a matchmaker when her own love life is lack luster? As she ventures to find love for others, she may find her own love has been in front of her this entire time!

If you enjoyed Emma by Jane Austen you should check out this book! Set in India, Jia is a 20-something Mumbai woman with dreams for her professional career. I really enjoyed Jia and her relationships with other women especially - how they are portrayed as lifting each other up even when they have differences. The first half of the book was somewhat slow for me, and you definitely have to be able to handle quite a few bouts of the miscommunication trope - but that's typical in a friends-to-lover romance. I really enjoyed the second half of the book and loved the Desi-Emma vibes! I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys rom-com type books.

*3.5 stars*

Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Expected publishing date: June 4 2024

I love a good romance. This one has a ton of potential, the characters are a great fit for each other and the side characters are great but I didn’t love it. I did not fall in love with Jaiman nor did I want to be Jia, I barely even related to them.

Both of the main characters lacked additional interests, flaws, and other things to make me feel connected to them. Jia, a romance columnist, was interested in matchmaking and fashion, using shopping as her solace. Jaiman, a pub owner, really only showed interest in his career and Jia.

I did finish the book and would read another book by this author. I think this one showed the potential but I would love to see more character flaws and varied interests because I was not rooting hard for these characters.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC!

The friends to lovers matchmaking vibes here were SO good! I completely felt immersed into this book, and I couldn't put it down. A really great read!

I was hooked from chapter one!! We get enough background to get insight into the characters and the problems they face without it being too much.

I really struggled with this book. I didn’t find Jia or Jaiman likable at all and didn’t see any chemistry between them. This is presented as a friends-to-lovers, but Jia doesn’t like him. I feel like she feels obligated to like him because her dad does, but in that instance this would have worked better as an enemies to lovers.

I had to force myself to finish the book to see if it got better. It did a little bit, but truthfully it just felt like a ton of repetitive internal dialogue with no real plot. I didn’t care about either character’s career struggles and felt both characters to be whiny. I’d be interested in reading a different book by this author, but this one was a miss for me.

I started off really enjoying this, but ended up with some mixed feelings. It was a quick, super engaging read, and I found myself looking forward to continuing every day. But the longer the story went on, the more I started to miss the chemistry and the connection from Jia's side, and I wish we'd seen more of an emotional build-up towards the relationship from her point of view. I loved Jaiman, and he's painfully pining all throughout the book, but Jia is very focused on other things in the mean time, and for me, her switch towards wanting to be in a relationship with him came on rather suddenly. I do think this is a promising debut romance, and I would be interested in reading more from this author.

This book is utterly delightful. Just like I didn’t know I needed Netflix’s “Indian Matchmaking” until I watched it, I didn't know I needed this romcom set in Mumbai. I wish all of the characters were actual people in my life and all my best friends.

Jia and Jaiman
Childhood friends to lovers
SLOOOW BURN - closed door

Based in Mumbai
Jia - writer for a magazine and her blog. Caretaker but very driven. Can she start her own matchmaking business? Is her advice good enough?
Jaiman - pub owner. All his drinks sound good but…
Miscommunication
Lots of side characters, interesting but a bit difficult to keep up with all of them at times.
Fun, easy summertime read

This book is filled with miscommunication tropes and the majority of this book is about Jia trying to play match maker with her friends rather than her pining over the love interest. This doesn’t really feel like a romance book. Jia doesn’t even realize she likes her bff Jaiman until the last 30ish pages. I had a good time with this book, but I didn’t super love the FMC. Jaiman is to die for tho I love him

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5

This Debut Novel by Swati Hegde is the most delightful modern day retelling of Emma, we here at The New Romantics are big fans of Desi Romance stories, and @swatihegdeauthor did not disappoint with her Debt Novel set in Mumbai, India we found the author gave us an image that light to this area of India and people you call this area home.

We found the story was so sweet and and fun Friends-to-Lover story, we adored the Main Characters Jia and Jaiman who are two complex characters with passion and careers but love for family and connections bring them together. This book has me laughing and internally screaming with the slow burn love these two destined for happily-ever-after lovers went through. You can Pre-order this book on Website! Link In Bio!

💜 Tropes 💜
- Friends to Lovers
- Desi Romance
- Slow Burn
- Matchmaking
-Mumbai Setting
-Closed Door Romance

"Match Me If You Can" by Swati Hegde offers a delightful insight into Indian culture, vividly depicting the food, traditional clothing, and the vibrant celebration of Diwali. However, the frequent miscommunications between the lead characters, Jia and Jaiman, and Jia's preoccupation with her friend's love life can be frustrating at times. Despite these flaws, Hegde's debut novel shows great promise, and I look forward to her future works.

The cover for this book is absolutely stunning.

3 Stars

I probably wouldn't have rated it this much but I liked the MMC. He was solid, sensible and dependable. Also, I have a soft spot for men who harbor an unrequited love.
Jia, our FMC on the other hand, I could kill and gladly. I don't mind know-it-alls. They're interesting sometimes and can be entertaining. As long as it pertains to facts. Jia though, did not know it all and honestly, was a bit manipulative in the beginning. Her need to prove that she was the best matchmaker in town and "knew" when people just belonged together really made me hate her and rant about her to my friends. Like I told them, I almost DNFed there but I wanted to see her realise how horrible she'd been to people especially when Jai had tried to help her.
Luckily this didn't take long. The rest of the book was fine but Jia was so oblivious and I just wasn't very interested. They got together. woo hoo
I don't care.

Read this book if you enjoy:
- Friends to lovers
- Found family
- Slow burn
- Contemporary romance
- Foodie romance
- Writer x Pub Owner
- Closed door romance

A young magazine writer, Jia, located in Mumbai must prove her matchmaking skills and contend with growing feelings for her close family friend. I'm a sucker for a good friends to lovers! But I will warn you, the burn was slowwww. I found the MMC to be easily lovable but had a hard time relating to the FMC. But I had a lot of fun reading a Mumbai-based book! I've never been to India and this has really made me want to go.

Overall, a charming, sentimental, and romantic tale. Congratulations to the writer of this amazing debut book!

Thanks to Dell for the copy of this book!

MATCH ME IF YOU CAN is a slow-paced, but diverse debut romance set in Mumbai. Jia Deshpande works for Mimosa, one of Mumbai's top women's magazines, but also writes about the messiness of love on a personal blog. What she really wants to do is write a matchmaking column, so she starts by trying to make a match for her coworker.

What I appreciated most from this book was the setting in Mumbai and learning about some of the culture there, and also that this is a desi romance, which I thought was also described really well. This is a really unique take on a fan favorite trope: childhood friends-to-lovers,

An Emma retelling a la Clueless. Jia is the kind of heroine people generally dislike but also secretly want to be. She’s prideful (bordering a bit on arrogant), pretty (and she knows it), never wrong (in her opinion), rich (extremely), shops (frequently) exclusively designer, and has the wardrobe of dreams, but underneath her superiority complex is a heart of gold. And that’s exactly how ‘Emma’ is supposed to be. The cast of supporting side characters are also fun and distinct in personality, my favourite side character was Charu. Usually characters who are more ‘traditional’ have to go through a condescending makeover montage and I’m glad that wasn’t the case here. However, compared to the rest of the lively cast, Jaiman, the mmc, comes off a bit bland. He was also way too passive as a love interest. As a result I couldn’t quite feel the romantic connection between him and Jia, who has a much stronger presence. Romance wise I was more invested in the Charu-Manoj drama and wish we had gotten to see a bit more of their story. This is a closed door romance. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the arc, this title releases June 4th, 2024.