Match Me If You Can is a fun spin on a rom-com. I enjoyed the tension between the main characters, and the edition of the blog entries!

This was a retelling of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” and there were moments when it was just… ok. There were also moments when it was enjoyable.

Jia wasn’t likable to me. She was a bit selfish and unbending. Jaiman was what redeemed this story. Their lack of communication was frustrating, and while I’m not a fan of books where just communicating would fix the problem, this was still enjoyable.

It’s a slow-burn romance, for sure, and I was definitely rooting for them. Overall, enjoyable.

3.5/4 stars

+ Thank you Netgallery / Random House Publishing Group for providing an e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review +

First off, can we talk about how gorgeous this book cover is? That's definitely one of the reasons it intrigued me because I feel like I'm getting a preview of what I'm about to read. I love supporting AAPI authors who represent the community, so I was super excited I got the chance to read this lovely book and review it for y'all!

Second, I absolutely adored Jia Deshpande and Jaiman Patil's lifelong friendship since they were little. I love that both of their parents are close friends so they have that history together. I enjoyed the build-up, but I did feel like it took a while to finally get there. It's a slow, SLOW burn lol.

Bless Jia's heart, I know she wants to be THE matchmaker since she matched her first two without a hitch. I think her expectations for herself kinda messed up her journey along the way, but I'm glad she's able to get back on course after everything. I didn't like the whole meddling with her co-worker and friend, Charu, but I get it. That was part of her job and bravo to Charu for allowing Jia do it, lol. She was seriously the MVP in this book. LOVE her!

So can we talk about Jaiman for a second here? This book definitely is a "he falls first" vibe which I truly love. He knew what he wanted and never gave up. My heart hurts when Jia doesn't reciprocate until like close to the end, lol. Like girl, wake up! He's right in front of you!! That's what I screamed at the book haha I mean the guy cooks for his family, is loyal, trustworthy, AND customizes cocktails?? Where can I find a Jaiman?? (don't tell my husband that). I love Jia, but Jaiman is what kept me wanting to read this book. He's truly the MVP in this book, along with Charu lol

Not sure if I'm the only one here but I think the two MC names get me confused. Jia and Jaiman lol Sometimes when I'm reading, I start to forget who is talking about who. I love that there's so much culture in this book and I get to learn what everything means from clothing wear to food to holidays. I think it would be helpful to have a little footnote on the bottom to describe what some of the cultural terms mean. I had to Google a few to get a picture of what is being described.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to those who love a friends-to-lovers story and concentrate more on building that love relationship. There's no spice really in my opinion like the smutty spice, but there are like heart, love feel romance in this story. This is definitely a great summer read for me, but any season will do for Jia and Jaiman!!

+ MF Romance
+ Friends to Lovers
+ Slow Burn
+ He Falls First
+ AAPI, BIPOC
+ Closed Door
+ Found Family

I'd like to thank NetGalley, Swati Hegde, and Dell for Match Me If You Can. This is the first book that I read by Swati. It took me a little longer to finish, but it is a cute read! Jia Deshpande spends her days writing for Mimosa, Mumbai’s top women’s magazine. She also posts about the messy truth of love on her anonymous blog, and attends her family’s weekly game nights. Can you say she is a busy woman?! If that wasn’t enough for her, she needs to successfully set up a coworker with her perfect match to get the okay for her new matchmaking column. Jia thinks this will not be hard for her to do! The local pub owner Jaiman Patil can’t help but fall for Jia. He’s always been an honorary part of her family, but even more so since he has moved to America. He tries to manage things with work as his pub begins to struggle. Jaiman's feelings for Jia grow. Jia ignores her true feelings for him for a while, but she also sends mix signals. I would recommend if you like contemporary romances and friends-to-lovers! ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you Netgalley and Dell Romance for the arc. I really enjoyed Swati’s debut romance set in Mumbai. As a writer, I saw myself in Jia — a girl who wants to pursue writing things that are meaningful to her but is stuck in a job that doesn’t allow her to do that. Besides that, Jia and Jaiman’s relationship is super cute. I like the mutual pining and the friends to lovers trope. There were also a few Bollywood references which I appreciated❤️ However, I felt there could have been less miscommunication between the two main love interest and the book could have been perhaps shorter. I loved the side characters and wish we could see more of them! Perhaps in the author’s next few books! 🥰

This was not the romance novel for me. I was really hopeful at first, but I couldn't get myself to like the fmc or the plot. The plot moved slowly and the romance did not seem strong to me. I wanted to like it, but I had a difficult time reading through the book.

Thank you net galley and random house for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This one missed the mark for me. The MFC was insufferable and I could not take her selfish tendencies. The miscommunication was extremely frustrating and her meddling was annoying. Sadly it wasn’t for me. I did enjoy reading all the tidbits of Indian culture.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Random House/Dell for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was a fun read and I liked that the characters lived in Mumbai, creating a more Indian feel to the storytelling. It seems like an modern Indian take on Jane Austen's Emma with the rom-com spin. Jia is a magazine writer with dreams of starting her own matchmaking business But she can get the ball rolling at the magazine with a matchmaking column if she can set up her coworker with their perfect match.. She has a close knit family that can be a bit crazy but loving. Years ago they took in Jaiman, now a local pub owner, that Jia has always been attracted to but has pushed her feelings down in fear of destroying their friendship and his relationship with her family. Too much is on the line. Jaiman is enamored with Jia but has similar fears. There bad decisions, confused communications, speed dating and, when Jia thinks she has things figured out, surprises along the way. Yet, it all works out at the end which you could have guessed!

I had high hopes for this book, especially since I was drawn in by its catchy title. However, the story ultimately fell flat for me. I couldn't fully immerse myself in the narrative and I was finding it a struggle to push through to the end. I didn't connect with Jia, as there was little that made me want to root for her. Jaiman also lacked the depth to be truly interesting. The ending also felt rushed, which left the overall experience somewhat unsatisfying. The book seemed to be missing something that would really make it engaging. If you like slowburn… this one is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

Jia and Jaiman are childhood friends who secretly like each other but haven’t confessed their feelings to each other yet.
Jia who comes from a rich family works as a magazine writer and Jaiman is a pub owner, struggling to keep his business running.

The story started strong but turned into a slow read as I felt there was no development in the story and chemistry / communication was missing for the main characters.
Since it was a slow read, it took me a while to finish it.

Match Me If You Can is… fine. Jia and Jaiman are childhood friends. Jia is toiling in the trenches as an underappreciated romantic advice writer who dreams of having her own matchmaking column. She has successfully set up two (two!) couples and considers herself an expert, writing about it on her secret website. Her efforts to prove she can set up a coworker and thus earn her own column go as well as can be expected; meanwhile she’s blind to her own perfect match right in front of her. Jaiman has angst over his father’s desire for him to join the family business and give up his dreams of running a pub. Meanwhile, there’s also a subplot with his culinary school rival who opens a bar next door to Jaiman’s failing place.

I just didn’t like these characters very much. They’re very immature; both acted entitled to success they hadn’t earned, moped around and lashed out when things don’t go their way. When the two finally got together, it felt more out of plot obligation than any real chemistry.

Not terrible, just nothing I haven’t seen done before, and done better.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Dell for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very special book. I loved the representation and the genuine friendship between the main characters.

This was a sweet romance and until very near the end felt relatively meandering and peaceful, low-stakes.

I loved the descriptions, the details of the sights and smells and outfits and places. You could practically feel yourself in the places as you read them.

I had SUCH a hard time with Jaiman and Jia though, because she treated him like such a burden and it made me so sad! They both jumped to conclusions so quickly and communicated so poorly, and then it isn’t until the ending where literally his entire life is down to the wire that Jia finally talks to him and lets him explain as well. These are adults with fully formed prefrontal cortexes (cortexi?) and they did not act like it. So I guess that is actually okay if they are destined to be together lol.

Overall a cutie. A lot of drama but it felt like a soap so that was actually fun (also who doesn’t want a little over the top drama in a romcom - adds a little pizazz)

This one was just ok. It was missing what I love about romance books…witty banner and swoon-worthy moments. The MCs were tolerable but I was never invested in the story.

Synopsis:

Confident fashionista Jia Deshpande spends her days writing cliché-ridden listicles for Mimosa, Mumbai’s top women’s magazine. When she can, Jia dishes about the messy truth of real love on her anonymous blog, attends her family’s weekly game nights, and ignores her true feelings for her childhood friend. Local pub owner and cocktail genius Jaiman Patil can’t help but be enamored with Jia and her meddling spirit. He’s always been an honorary part of her family, but even more so since his own moved to America. His feelings grow deeper as his pub starts to fail. When Jia’s attempts at office matchmaking go haywire, risking new friendships and her relationship with Jaiman, she must reevaluate her own thoughts on love. For the first time, Jia Deshpande realizes that love may be a lot more complicated than she thought. Luckily, happily-ever-afters are never in short supply in Mumbai.

Review:

I was attracted to this book because of its South Asian characters and setting in Mumbai. I felt like the book really brought the city to life and really highlighted the more current version of India - a lot of people think India is very traditional, and sure some areas are but it's nice to see a different side in a book. I found the characters, and their family dynamics very relatable and the romance between Jia & Jaimin very sweet. I loved Jia as a strong FMC who was very independent and stood up for herself and appreciated that Jaimin was trying to make it on its own despite being from a very wealthy family.

Thank you to Dell Romance for my digital ARC!

I love a slow burn, but this was almost toooooo slow for my personal taste. I also didn't love the FMC - do I see too much of myself in stubborn, hyper-independent fmc's? Yea probably. But other than that, I had a pretty good time reading this book! I love contemporary romances with lots of culture, which was why I was drawn to this cover & story to begin with. Not a lot of spice, so if that's what you're looking for, you won't find it here. But you will find a sweet ending with a HEA!
Thank you to Swati Hegde, Dell/Penguin Random House & NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my review.

This was a wonderful, sweet debut. Our slightly pessimistic FMC performing a matchmaking task even though she doesn’t believe in “the one.” Our MMC was so charming and swoony!

I loved it, the childhood friends to lovers theme I’m here for it. It was very much so reading a Bollywood movie!! I was almost getting a jannai Thu ya jannai na movie movies if you’ve seen that movie. I highly recommend this to my fellow desi !! It’s really cute !

Such a fun and engaging story like this is why I love to read. The couple at the heart of the book is fantastic but the secondary characters and even the setting becomes part of the story. I highly recommend this book.

Slow Burn Romance, Indian MC’s, Matchmaking

Jaiman is hopelessly in love with Jia, his childhood friend. Jia who secretly have a blog where she gives advice on love. Her boss gives her an opportunity to prove her matchmaking skills by helping her coworker find love.

There’re a lot of things to love about this book and the writing was wonderful for a debut author.