I really wanted to love this.
The writing was good. It was easy to read.

But I just couldn’t.
I didn’t like the FMC.
Jia was uncompromising and meddlesome.
When things went wrong for her, people around her weren’t calling her out for her behavior.

Her lack of empathy towards Jaiman’s family situation was appalling. She knew they basically abandoned him there and she still made a snide comment about him being at the family dinner. It doesn’t matter that she felt embarrassed to see him. Her comment was just rude and felt uncalled for.

Then we have the MMC who is not a book boyfriend at all. He was so hung up on Jia that he strung along his other dates. Yeah sure he aware of his behavior, but he’s still doing it.
It’s not cute.

Book: Match Me If You Can
Author: Swati Hegde
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Dell, for sending me an ARC. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. It was a fun and light read. Now, this does not mean that it didn’t take on some tough topics.

In this one, we follow Jia who is working at a relationship magazine and doesn’t feel fulfilled in her work. She runs a blog about relationships and longs to start her own match making business. Jaiman is her best friend and always attends family game night. He has her own pub and is trying to prove to his wealthy family that he can make a name for himself without them. He enjoys being a part of Jia’s family, who have taken him under their wing since his own family moved to America. However, the pub is struggling and it doesn’t look like its going to make it. All of his dreams are coming to an end and he may have to admit defeat. Both of them find themselves in a dark place as everything they have worked so hard for comes to an end.

I liked Jia and Jaiman a lot. Both of them are trying to make it on their own and are wanting something more. We have Jia who thinks she loves her job, but it always being put down by her boss. She has this idea about a new column in the magazine, but is always being put down. She has had enough and is just bidding her time until she can go out on her own. Jaiman is attempting it on his own. He has his own pub and is trying to avoid using his parents’ money. His family views his dream as a joke and he is attempting to prove them wrong. It’s not working. His pub is failing and he may not have any other choice but to give it up. I liked getting to see our characters struggle. Now, both do come from very wealthy backgrounds, but this doesn’t mean that they do not have to fight for what they have. They don’t get what they want handed to them. I feel like that so many times in books, it feels like our characters get everything handed to them. that is not the case here. It made for a nice change of pace.

Now, since this is a romance, you can probably tell who is going to be our main couple. Jia sets other people, but doesn’t pay attention to her own love life. She wants to see other people happy, but has never been in a serious relationship herself. Jaiman has dated, but nothing felt right. Why? Both of them were looking for something that they could not find in a relationship outside of each other. What they were looking for was already in front of them. They just didn’t see it. It made them both stop and realize that what they wanted was already in their lives. They just had to take the plunge. I also like that the relationship is a slow burn. We get to see the relationship develop in a way that makes sense and feels all so right.

The mixture of Indian culture and the fact that this book is set in India made this stand out. I have read several Indian romance books, but none of them actually took place in India. The author did a great job at bringing the setting to life. I liked how it felt like I was being transported to India while reading. The setting wasn’t just the setting, but a part of the story. Indian elements were woven throughout the story that only added to the reading experience. I loved it.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book. I am glad I read it.

This book comes out on June 4, 2024.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/67S-WK_cV64

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my voluntary and honest review!

The characters were charming and the cultural aspects of life in Mumbai were really interesting! Although, I wanted faster pacing and some spice…the friends-to-lovers slow burn was a bit *too* slow for me. Still a fun and unique read! 3.5/5 stars.

The emotional connection between Jaiman and Jia was one of a kind. They grew up together, kissed one time and tried to forget about it. everyone is just waiting on Jia to realize that Jaiman is in love with her and she with him. Getting from “just friends” to “I love you” was a journey that took them through the wringer.

This gave me major Emma and modern You've Got Mail vibes - two things I adore!

This was the slowest of slow burns, but a really sweet story over all! Were there times I wanted to shake the FMC and scream "LEARN TO COMMUNICATE, JIA" - sure. But I was still rooting for her the whole way. The MMC is completely swoon-worthy, the descriptions of Mumbai made me want to jump on a plane tomorrow, and the supporting characters were all so lovable! (Can I get a Damini book next?!) I'm also just a sucker for matchmaking stories, gimme all the (occasionally unsolicited) love advice and set-ups!

Overall a fun friends-to-lovers read (with some closed door romance), despite my least favorite of all tropes - miscommunication.

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

A young magazine writer in Mumbai must prove her matchmaking skills—and contend with growing feelings for her close family friend—in this debut romance

Thank you, NetGalley and Dell Romance for the ARC! Match Me If You Can brings you right into Mumbai, I loved the descriptions of the festivals, parties, fashion, and the culture. Family relationships, the matchmaking, the hard work, I felt like I was there!
Now while I loved Jaiman and hurt for him with his "unrequited feelings" for Jia and his unsuccessful pub, the miscommunication was killing me! And Jia was so wrapped up in herself,  she couldn't see what was right in front of her. I wish Jia had been a little more patient and a lot lesss judgemental in her matchmaking attempt but I think she learned her lesson there. She showed a lot of growth, but it took her a long time to have these realizations - in work and in love. Jia and Jaiman complimented each other perfectly and their chemistry was clear from the start. 
This should be on your radar if you like:- Slow Burn romances- Friends to Lovers- Mutual Pining- Mysterious Pen Pals- Emma retelling- GORGEOUS covers!

All I want now is a sweet, bartender boyfriend who cooks me dinner and sits through all my shenanigans! It is no wonder that Sarah Adams wrote a blurb for this because fans of Practice Makes Perfect will love this friends-to-lovers romance.

Jia Deshpande is a millennial woman in her prime! By day, she writes the relationship column for Mumbai's biggest magazine and by night, she writes her anonymous blog "Love Better with J" and racks up thousands of followers. Her goal is to build up a readership reader for love so that she can launch her modern-day matchmaking business. And she has credentials - she set up her sister with a doctor and her old-maid of an aunt with a single father. Since her own mother's passing, Jia just wants to bring happiness to everyone's life.

Jaiman would be happy if Jia let him into her life. Raised up together by their fathers who were best friends, Jaiman can't remember a time that he hasn't love Jia. But a misunderstanding has her doubting his intentions, so instead he steps back into the friend zone to protect his found family. If I had Jaiman in my friend zone, I would be a very VERY happy girl. The man is like an on-call chef for his loved ones and I was STARVING.

He doesn't believe in Jia's matchmaking nonsense but he can't stay away. So the two tumble through love stories together as Jia tries to make the ultimate match for her coworker. The pinning in this book gets a gold star! Jia has a very objective perspective on love, not one to be swept away by feelings, and I really related to her voice. It was beautiful to read a story that respects matchmaking and the astrological arts in a way that only an own-voice author can. This is like the Great British Baking Show version of Netflix's "Indian Matchmaking". Heart-warming and hilarious all around.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Thanks to Netgalley & Random House Publishing Group for the E-ARC! This was cute! Loved the romance & the vibes. Definitely will read more from this author.

This was an interesting read, not my favorite but good nonetheless. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The story follows Jia, who has a knack for matchmaking, and Jaiman, who has had a long-time crush on her. This was a slow romance, but there was just enough build up that it wasn't exasperating or boring - although I could have perhaps had a little more of them. The author does an excellent job with this modern twist on Emma, plus there was pretty solid character development.

I also enjoyed the cultural representation of Indians - it is always a pleasure to read a book set somewhere that is not frequently represented in literature, and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting and cultural references.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dell for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Dell and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Match Me If You Can.

Awww! This was a cute one. I really enjoyed this quick read. Swati Hedge did a great job of introducing the main characters AND the side characters in a way that made them feel like family to the reader. I found myself cheering for the good guys, booing for the yuck guys, yelling at the FMC to open her eyes and see what was right in front of her, and yelling at the MMC to take more charge even though that so wasn't his style. So glad I picked this one up!

As a matchmaker and never matched, Jia is on a mission to start a matchmaking column at Mimosa, Jia's place of employment and, also, Mumbai's top women's magazine. She successfully matched her sister and brother-in-law and also an aunt and uncle. She's thoroughly convinced that she can match ANYONE even though she hasn't successfully matched herself. Jaiman is a family friend and local pub owner. When his family moved to America, he stayed back and kind of just adopted Jia's family as his own since the two families have always been close. He wants nothing more than to see his pub succeed, but it's getting harder and harder to hide the struggles that he's facing on that front. When Jia faces a bevy of problems (matchmaking gone askew, friendship with Jaiman and coworkers in peril, yada yada yada), she may have to decide that matchmaking isn't as easy as she originally thought.

I now realize why Emma retellings, even looser ones like this, just don't work for me. Emma is absolutely insufferable, and that's forgivable in a teen, like Cher in Clueless - or the 21-year-old Emma in the original, who still comes across as a YA character. In a grown adult, Emma's behavior is relentlessly obnoxious and it makes it hard to root for a HEA for her. Jia is a rich young woman in Mumbai who dreams of becoming a matchmaker while toiling away creating listicles for a women's magazine. Her childhood friend, Jaiman, is deeply woven into her family life, and Jia is totally oblivious to both his feelings for her and her own for him. There's a set-up for a colleague that goes wrong, other events that challenge both Jia and Jaiman, but this is a romance novel and I hope I'm not spoiling it too much for anyone when I say that they do eventually manage to get their heads out of their asses. There is quite a lot to like in this book, despite what my review sounds like up to now! The Mumbai setting is vibrant, with great cultural, food, and clothing descriptions. I really enjoyed quite a lot of the supporting characters, and by the end I was rooting for Jia in spite of spending most of the book frustrated with her. That's the eternal charm of Emma's character, I suppose. I look forward to reading what Hegde writes next despite my mixed feelings about this book, as her writing was great and my issues with the Emma story are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Dell for a digital review copy.

Thank you Random House and Dell Romance for my #gifted copy of Match Me If You Can!

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐌𝐞 𝐈𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐒𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐢 𝐇𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

★★★★★

Match Me If You Can was an absolute delight! I loved everything about this sweet friends to lovers desi romance and I am so excited to read whatever debut author Swati Hedge writes next!

This book gave me such amazing Emma vibes and I LOVED it! I always love modern day retellings, and feel like this one was so well done and I could not get enough! On top of that, I loved the characters. Not only were Jia and Jaiman perfect, but all of the side characters were just great. This book was so fun and oh so sweet! It’s one of those books that will leave you with such a huge smile on your face when you reach the last page, and I love that feeling. This is definitely a book you will not want to miss and I cannot recommend it enough!

💜Desi Romance
💜Set In Mumbai
💜Friends to Lovers
💜Slow Burn
💜Lovable Characters
💜Emma Vibes
💜Matchmaking
💜Closed Door

Posted on Goodreads on May 14, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around May 15, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on June 4, 2024
**-will post on designated date

This book comes out June 4! First of all this story takes place in Mumbai. I love learning about areas and cultures I am less familiar with. Jia is the romance writer for a magazine but she does not believe in love. Jaiman is Jia’s best friend. They have been best friends their entire life. Jaiman owns a pub. It is a friends to lovers. Very very very slow burn, but I liked it. It was a cute story with interesting and dynamic characters.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Jia is happy to assist a new employee. She is hoping her manager will see how good she is. She is learning that life is more difficult than she thought. I liked this book.

My second surprise Austen retelling in a month - this time it's Emma. Jia is trying to get her matchmaking business off the ground while working for a magazine and trying to come to terms with her feelings for her childhood friend Jaiman. The good - the cover is gorgeous, I loved the location (Mumbai) and loved the BIPOC spin on Emma. The not so good - there was absolutely nothing wrong with this book, it just didn't hit me as hard as I was hoping. I am a huge fan of dual POV and usually wish I got the hero's POV in single POV romances, but I think this book might have benefited from just Jia's perspective? I'll still definitely be on the lookout for what this author releases next.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me this early copy in exchange for my honest review. This novel is set in Mumbai and it was very immersive. This is a slow burn romance, which isn’t everyone’s favorite trope, but if gave good vibes until the very end. The main characters were very relatable. This book also helps readers to realize love is complex but worth all the struggles.

Match Me if You Can is a cute friends-to-lovers story based out of Mumbai. Jia is a writer for a contemporary Indian magazine who is trying to hard launch her matchmaking service. Jaiman is an owner of a struggling pub and a long-time family friend of Jia. Both of them have had feelings for each other but have misunderstandings about how the other one feels. When the pub runs out of money, Jaiman plans to shut it down and move to San Francisco, where his parents are relocated. When Jia realizes her emotions for her best friend, she comes up with a plan to save the pub and keep Jaiman in Mumbai. I loved the Indian culture aspect in this book and enjoyed learning about matchmaking. However, this story has a very basic plot with little surprise. Overall, it was a cute, fast read that is perfect for anyone hoping to read a romance book with little to no spice.

DNF @ 33%.

I love the MMC and some parts of the FMC, but she was a tad too manipulative to me. She’s a tad to obsessed with her own goals that she’s ignoring other peoples feelings and trying to make things go her way. I don’t mind her as an FMC really, but I just felt that she came off as too intense sometimes. I love how this author writes though, so I will try to read more of her stuff in the future .