Vibes: Emma, heroines who gotta learn, slow burn, friends to lovers

Heat Level: 2/10

Mumbai-based Jia spends her days writing silly listicles for women's magazine Mimosa. On her off time, however, she works on her anonymous blog, giving what she thinks is very real talk... even if she's in denial about her own true feelings. She wants to get upgraded to a new column--but the only way she can is by helping her coworker find love. Thing is, Jia herself doesn't even realize that her longtime family friend Jaiman has a thing for her. Maybe... more than a thing.

Alright--if you're at all familiar with Jane Austen's Emma, I'm sure you can tell that this is an Emma retelling. I've actually been seeing a lot of Emma retellings lately; but that's not a bad thing for me, as Emma is by far my favorite Austen.

The skinny on this one is that, at least from my perspective it's very cute and well-written. It's a romcom with wit, and there's certainly a lot of chemistry between Jia and Jaiman. I love the setting (it's shockingly rare to find an English-language romcom novel that isn't set in America, and even harder to find one set in India). I enjoy the tone. It's not reinventing the wheel; it goes in the directions that a lot of Emma retellings do. For me, too... I don't mind that it was closed door, per se. However, there were moments cut off in a way that left me thinking "but why?"

The answer is that it was the author's prerogative, and that's valid. I just feel like we were kind of left in a place where there was teasing--and if there wasn't going to be anything, why tease, I suppose?

But nonetheless--if you want a light, fluffy romcom that happens to be closed door, and if you love Emma, I would recommend this.

Quick Takes:

--One way in which this book differs from Emma and that Jia and Jaiman have what I'll call a near-miss about a year prior to the novel's beginning. To me, this was really clever. First off, it swerves away from the typical Emma setup, adding a little tension that I really appreciated. Second, it makes Jia a more interestingly human character, to me. She knows there's this tension, she knows there's something between herself and Jaiman, she just doesn't want to confront it.

--Personally, I think modern Emma retellings arguably work better in a setting wherein matchmaking is still a thing. Jia is nothing if not a consummate matchmaker, and I feel like this plays so well in a book set in Mumbai, where matchmaking is a feasible career (not that it can't be in the west--but it's less common, obviously).

--Like I said: this is a slow burn. Jia and Jaiman have known each other since childhood. Feelings have been there for a long time. So while I understood, and to an extent I mean, it's there in the material... I just wanted them to kiss. I wanted something to happen. Although the book is closed door, that doesn't mean they can't get together earlier in the novel (I'm thinking of a closed door romance by Alexis Hall that I enjoyed not so long ago). It did drag a bit for me.

And ultimately, for all the theoretical tension, that lack of interaction in a romantic sense did keep it from going as far as it could have. I don't mean sexually--I mean as a love story.

That being said--if you're not sure about sex scenes, if you like a slow burn, and you want an Austen update that makes sense... This could be great for you!

Thanks to NetGalley and Dell for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I desperately wanted to like this book but found the reading experience to be frustrating.

Jaiman and Charu were sweethearts, and I was shipping them the whole time. Honestly, I was shipping Jaiman with anyone other than Jia lol. Jia comes across as an entitled, self-absorbed, painfully naive millennial and is hard to root for.

The world-building was confusing as well -- as someone from the same state (Maharashtra) as the main characters, I kept being pulled out of the story by the almost unrealistic and unnecessary portrayals of wealth. And the whole storyline with Jaiman's rival felt pointless. The ending felt rushed but at least helped me get over the finish line.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Read this book if you like:
- Slow burns
- Indian mc's
- Books set in India
- Matchmaking
- Contemporary romance

Thank you to the publisher for this arc, while this book wasn't for me I think if you like any of the things listed above you will enjoy it. This is a debut novel set that is written well. I liked all the Indian culture/foods that was in this and I enjoyed the family and themes surrounding the FMC's mom and the MMC's found family. Unfortunately, the romance just didn't work for me and I feel like there wasn't a payoff for the excruciating slow burn. There were cute moments but overall I was confused with everything happening with the romance, the fmc, and the matchmaking plot. Though this wasn't for me I think if you like slow burns, beautiful covers and Indian matchmaking you should pick this up.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Oh my gosh how I wanted to love this book. And in many ways, I did. It was love at first site when I saw the cover, and I fell even deeper when reading the description. Matchmaking?? A setting in Mumbai?? Lifelong friends to lovers?? He falls first?? Secret pen pals?? We were ticking all the boxes, checking everything off with a flourish. I loved the rich detail Swati Hedge wove into this book, and how much a reader not familiar with Indian culture learned as they fell in love with Jia and Jaiman. I often say how Jean Meltzer's books are unapologetically Jewish, and I would say the same for Swati Hedge - unapologetically Indian in the most beautiful way. Every character, from Jia and Jaiman to their friends and family, were enjoyable to meet and get to know. This book was part Emma, part You've Got Mail, and I would definitely recommend.

However. I do have one criticism, and it's why I'm giving 4 stars and not 5. The pacing was, in a word, choppy. I really struggled to get into this book, and then see it through to the end, even though I truly was invested in Jia and Jaiman's story. It also felt quite YA, rather than romance. Jia's voice is just extremely young and naive, and in many places she comes off as pretty emotionally immature and blind to what's going on around her.

Still, overall, I'd recommend this book as a fun summer read!

I really wanted to love this book, but it ended up being just okay.

I enjoyed bits of the book, namely Jaiman and Charu. I honestly would’ve rather read about Charu and her moving to the big city to find love with Jia and Jaiman as side characters. I also really enjoyed the setting and learning more about Indian culture through this book.

However, the FMC, Jia, wasn’t very likable. And there was so much background noise - Jia’s blog, her career issues, setting up Charu (and failing, repeatedly), her tension with Jaiman, Monica’s engagement, the secret emails, Jaiman’s own career issues….. I could keep going. There was so much and the main relationship almost took a back seat and we ended up being told a lot about Jia’s and Jaiman’s attraction instead of shown. I’m glad we got Jaiman’s POV because those were my favorite sections.

This was a fun read! I think the biggest issue I had with it is just that blogs are a little outdated. I would have liked to see a more modern version where she does TikTok videos or vlogs her experience more so than the blogging side (although I understand the anonymity of it). I just know it's insanely had for blogs to go viral these days.

What an adorable romance! I really really enjoyed this rom-com between two desi leads, set in the bustling city of Mumbai. This was an incredible desi romance between two very personable and fun characters. I've read quite a few books about matchmakers and destiny, and I feel that this book executed that storyline very well. I really enjoyed the setting and the fun quirks of the characters. I would highly recommend this to romcom lovers and desi romance readers alike.

The way I absolutely adored this book. I am squealing and itching for people to get their hands on this and I will personally make sure it gets the hype it deserves. Major Emma vibes and a found family aspect which I live for. The way this book oozes with intrigue in setting in Mumbai and the food, it just reads so rich and original. If you for some inexplicable reason aren't sold yet just know HE LOVED HER THE WHOLE TIME!

The perfect friends to lovers slow burn. I gobble up a he falls first story line 🤭 the family and friendships made the book though for me, chefs kiss

Match Me If You Can is a modern Mumbai re-flavoring of Emma by Jane Austen—I just wish it was apparent in any of the marketing materials or even in the acknowledgements. The plot loosely follows that of Emma, though in this retelling our protagonist Jia is a writer for a magazine and incapable of any thought deeper than surface level. Characters seem to cry or tear up at the drop of a hat and we are often told instead of shown how characters feel about one another—specifically in the case of our Emma and Harriet stand-in relationship of Jia and Charu, it doesn't seem like these two are friends, let alone talk about anything with each other that we don't see in writing. She has made two successful matches prior to the start of this novel (one of which being her sister), her love interest is a man she’s known her whole life (though in this version he is fairly incompetent and also has been in love with her since they were twelve which is a frustrating choice), and her father is a hypochondriac—the plot follows Emma in more instances as well that I will leave out so as not to spoil it if you haven’t read it before. Overall this book was fine and I’m sure other readers might enjoy it. For me it was frustrating to read because it heavily relies on miscommunication as a plot device and it is so clearly a re-skin of a famous classic—there is at least one direct quote used without attribution but there may be more that I didn’t catch.

I love "Emma" so I was very excited for this take -- and the cover was so beautiful! I was so glad that this modernization focused on Jia and Jaiman's careers instead of maintaining only the marriage-centric plot line; I especially enjoyed the culinary talk. What I would gave been glad to see more is a subtler development of Jia and Jaiman's feelings for each other. I also think one fewer subplot may have offered more opportunities to really flesh out some core ones, such as Charu's attempts to find a partner and Jaiman's business rivalry. Overall, the author did keep me interested, but I wish she had approached Jia and Jaiman's love story with more nuance!

This is such a sweet and clean friends-to-lovers romance! I love the Mumbai setting and all of the cultural aspects included in the MC's path to their happy ending. Jia is such an ambitious FMC and has a take-no-failures attitude that I would love to possess myself. The author includes dealing with loss and the pain that can still be present years later, but also how someone may do little things to honor them year after year. I love the found family trope and the outlook that no matter what background you come from, rich or poor, you can all struggle with family, work, and love. The dual POV was beautifully done within the same chapter, rather than making each POV a new chapter. I enjoyed this!

Match Me If You Can by Swati Hedge was a fun read. I enjoyed the dual perspectives and definitely liked the family and friends aspect of the story. I felt it was a little too long or slow to start. I found the chemistry between the two love interests to be a little lacking. It just seemed like Jia was indifferent until all of a sudden she was into him. Match Me If You Can was a fun read.

Match Me If You Can

3.25 ⭐️

This beautiful bright cover caught my eye, and I couldn’t resist picking up a book set in Mumbai to add India to my list of read in countries for the year!

Jia and Jaiman are family friends who are very close after years of their dads being friends. Both are struggling to find success professionally, and turn to each other through an anonymous blog.

I enjoyed the close family and friends in this books as well as the dual perspectives! While the back and forth was kind of long, the ending was sweet.

Format: 📱
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

As a Brown Girl, you don't always get to see yourself represented within the characters you read about in contemporary romance novels, so you can imagine how excited I was to read about Jia and Jaiman's story in Swati Hedge's "Match Me If You Can." I loved the setting of Mumbai (hoping this city is on my 2025 bingo card) and the South Asian representation from drinks and food to the Diwali celebrations. Swati did an awesome job of setting the backdrop as we followed the v e r y slow burn that is this childhood friends to lovers romance.

The MMC, Jaiman, has my heart. I loved that there was mention of his wish to define his own success, outside of the shadow of his parents' wealth, as it was nice to read and relate to a lesser-spoken struggle of South Asian millennials. I also enjoyed following Jia and seeing her growth throughout the novel regarding her relationship with Jaiman, her friends, and of course, her ambition to be the Millennial Matchmaker of Mumbai.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Swati Hedge for sharing her debut romance novel with us all and creating the space for Brown Girls who love romance to read about women who look like them.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this new, diverse book while on vacation. I adored it! I loved learning about different cultures and customs. The modern take on match making was fantastic. Every detail was wonderful, and I look forward to more books by this author. Thank you for this wonderful read, and I hope more people enjoy it as much as I did!

📖📖 Book Review 📖📖 I wish I had the opportunity to drop everything and go to Mumbai but that is just not my life but this book was such a wonderful escape! Kudos to Jia, a young lady with her own realistic perspective that there are no universal rules to love or perfect relationships. And while her job as a columnist might be counter to this, she knows that she must balance her ideals with paying the bills and that is something we can all relate to! The universe always sends us funny little signs and although her life has always been intertwined with Jaiman , she has the opportunity to challenge her own beliefs as their relationship takes a new journey. Match Me If You Can is an absolutely amazing read- from the setting to the characters! Love love love!!!!

Review is posted on Goodreads and will be on Instagram ahead of publication!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I give this book a 3.25⭐️

Going into this book I was very excited to dive into a fun matchmaking and Indian culture world. It was a cute story full of found family, yummy foods, beverages and celebration with a very very slow burn.

I was very invested at the beginning and then felt really frustrated with Jia as she seemed very selfish and the rest of the characters were trying to reach in and she was not breaking. Around 60-70% into the book it picked up and after that it was easy to feel the connection and fast pace of the story.

Things I loved about this book:
- The connection Jaiman had with his found family and how they took him in and made him feel loved and valued.

- Loooved all the details of the Indian clothing pieces, the descriptions of Mumbai’s weather, environment, vibes and people. Made me feel like I was there.

-Also really enjoyed and really connected to Jaiman’s pub and how much it meant to him. The story made it a place of comfort to go to celebrate as well as chill when things weren’t go so well.

Things I didn’t really like:
- Although Jia was the main character, it was kinda hard to connect with her. She was very self-centered and selfish, and although it was because she was holding on to a lot of unresolved feelings, it still didn’t justify how she treated most, specifically Jaiman and Charu.

- I didn't really feel the connection/chemistry between Jia and Jaiman, and kinda felt like he was super in love and she didn’t really like him and then all of a sudden around 60% into the book she was into him.

Overall it was a cute story and loved learning more the Indian culture 💜

I love the cover and the title and was intrigued by the synopsis so was excited to read this set-in-Mumbai Romance by debut author Swati Hegde. I think it's a pretty big missed opportunity not to mention in the blurb that this book was heavily inspired by Emma, and to a significant extent You've Got Mail. A lot of readers would be drawn specifically because of that!

For me there were too many distinct threads happening, and sticking so closely to the storyline of Emma rarely works well in modern adaptations. Jia doesn't come off as a relatable sympathetic character, especially as she uses Charu to try to further her career.

I loved the setting, and mainly enjoyed the characters, but overall this book got bogged down with trying to do too much. Be inspired by Austen and 90s RomComs absolutely, but move away from them enough that your characters have their own identities and storyline.

*Review will be posted to Goodreads after the pub date.

Received an ARC of this book through Netgalley.

Read this book in a weekend! There's a lot I liked about this book -- the Desi cast of characters, the backdrop of Mumbai, the Jane Austen inspiration and the world of Indian matchmaking among others. I didn't always understand the motivations of the characters (i.e. Jia's initial dislike of Jaimun) but those are small gripes for a book that was ultimately light, fun and romantic.

I'd be excited to see what Swati Hegde does next!