Thank you for the ARC! I found the premise very engaging, particularly the Greek undertones. However, I occasionally struggled to follow the plot, which slightly impacts my overall review. Despite this, I absolutely loved the characters in this story; I just felt a bit lost with the plot at times.

Thank you for this arc! i enjoyed the premise of this book a lot and really enjoyed the greek undertone and i did however struggle to follow at times which puts my review down a little bit, i absolutely loved the characters in this story i was just abit lost on the plot.

'We Are the Match' is essentially a Helen of Troy/Paris reimagining in the mafia/underworld of contemporary Greece. Although I enjoyed the premise, and the story in theory, the lack of world building really killed it for me. I wanted to understand Troy and the Families, as well as what aspects of the world were fully contemporary and which were not. I think the author needed about 50 more pages to really give the reader the full picture of the context for the story. I also felt the mafia/underworld details were lacking - I didn't really understand the dynamics between the major players. I will admit that I don't read a lot of mafia romance, so it could be that the author assumed a level of knowledge about the mafia context that I lacked.

In addition to lacking in the world building and the mafia complex, I also found the book repetitive. There were a few passages that felt copied and pasted in multiple places.

Despite these issues, I did really like Paris and Helen as characters and I think the author did a good job of depicting the two of them getting to know each other and discovering new things about each other. I just needed a little bit more.

We Are The Match by Mary E. Roach
4⭐️
3🌶

Sapphic mafia was an angle im really yet to explore but now I want more because I really enjoyed it. I do think there was a bit less of a romance focus on this story, don't get me wrong, it was still heavily there but I feel like there was a bit more actual mafia and plot in between all the romance than other books of a similar style.

I was really worried this was going to be a cliffhanger but I'm so glad the story was wrapped up in the end. Some of the things that happened had my jaw on the floor and my thoughts like 'no way that didn't actually just happen'

Very strong on the sexual tension, referencing and innuendo, but minimal on the on-page events which was fine but I felt like maybe there wasn't enough outlet for all the tension through the story.

Thank you so much Montlake for the arc!

In this glittering, sapphic reimagining of Helen of Troy set in modern day mobster Greece, Helen is the daughter of a powerful crime lord on Paris is the woman hellbent on destroying her—if they don’t fall for each other first.

They’re thrown together in an opulent world of privilege, power, and cover-ups—and the closer they grow, the more the fragile balance of power in the world of crime lords begins to fray.

Because if Helen doesn’t choose to abandon her newfound connection with Paris and marry into the alliance her father arranged, they could all go to war.

And Helen and Paris might just be ready to let them.

Such a fantastical read. Will recommend to others.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing the earc in exchange of an honest review.

When i heard about a sapphic Helen of Troy, mafia world inspired by ancient Greece i knew i needed to read it.
I enjoyed this, it was fast paced, dark & very very fun. Some parts of the plot made no sense but the vibes were really enjoyable.
I think this might have been better if it was a 100 pages longer, some of the character's motivations & decisions needed would have benefited from more exploring on page.
I really liked the tension between Paris & Helen, they have an instant connection that didn't feel very insta lovey to me, but could be described as instant attraction.
This book feels like a dark mafia enemies to lovers romance but sapphic, there's a lot of interesting themes discussed in it, but some of them & the plot feel a bit underdeveloped.

We Are the Match is a dark and delicious sapphic mafia romance with a modern, glamorous spin on the Helen of Troy myth. Sapphic + mafia + Greek mythology is a combo I never knew I needed. It is sexy, dramatic, and just the right amount of myth-inspired without getting too heavy handed.

Paris is a mob fixer out for revenge against the man who ruined her family. Her plan? Get close to his daughter Helen and bring the whole empire down from the inside. Only Helen is nothing like Paris expected, and somewhere between dangerous deals and literal explosions, revenge starts to feel a lot like obsession.

The chemistry between Paris and Helen is electric. Every scene has that will-they-kiss or will-they-kill each other energy, and it is addictive. The romance is messy, passionate, and full of high stakes, with action scenes that keep you turning the pages. I loved that both women are unapologetically morally gray. No one here is playing the sweet innocent heroine.

Tropes
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 Sapphic

🔥 Mafia romance

💘 Enemies-to-lovers

🏝 Greek mythology inspired

💔 Revenge turns into love

I had such high hopes for this book, and I’m truly disappointed that they weren’t met. I thought a sapphic Helen of Troy would be so amazing! When it started post-threesome (FFM) I was soooo sure it was going to be great. Of course it’s enemies to lovers and while I found both Paris and Helen to be very feisty, I just never felt the real angst and then connection between them. The whole book was a weird mix of feeling like nothing was happening while also a lot was happening.

We Are the Match is an engrossing, suspenseful, and fiercely original sapphic retelling of the Helen of Troy myth — and it stole my weekend. I read it in three sittings, and even when I put it down to do other things, I couldn’t stop thinking about Helen and Paris. You know a book is good when you’re not only worried about the lead characters’ fate, but every time a secondary character enters a tense scene, you find yourself holding your breath for them too.

You may think you know the story of Helen of Troy — the wooden horse, the men in greaves, the gods pulling strings. But Mary E. Roach keeps the myth’s rich, beating heart and transforms it into something wholly new. As versed as I am in this story, I was still holding my breath, uncertain of how this Helen and Paris would play out.

Set in the Greek islands, this is a contemporary tale of black market arms deals, political manipulation, and mafia-like family dynamics. It’s a masterful retelling, with familiar figures recast and restructured so that you feel adrift — as if encountering this myth for the first time. The romance between Helen and Paris isn’t a pastiche of its origin; it’s a magnetic force that stole my heart. These two aren’t powerless pawns in the hands of gods or fate — they’re co-conspirators. Flip sides of the same coin. Subtle manifestations of the same will.

This is a 21st-century story. One of found families, fated lovers, sisterhood, and single-minded vengeance — stopped dead in its tracks by the appearance of Helen: wounded, lost, and seeking payment for the life of her mother, killed ten years ago.

There are ghosts here — Paris’s murdered sisters from the group home in Troy. There’s Tommy, Helen’s bodyguard and surrogate father, whose quiet understanding and acceptance of Paris marks him as one of the best secondary characters I’ve read in ages. I’d read a whole novel from his POV just to spend more time with him. And then there’s Thea and Perce, whose love offers a thread of hope — that maybe, just maybe, we can survive being the playthings of gods, whether divine or merely powerful.

And then there were those last 70 pages.

I was up until 3am, riding this wild, out-of-control roller coaster of suspense and romance. I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t stop. And when I hit that final page?

Say WHAT NOW!!!????

This book destroyed me in the best way. I’m still shell-shocked. Still haunted. Still hoping for more.

Although it took me a while to get into the story, I enjoyed reading it. What I liked most about it were the well-written FMCs, whom you could get to know well because the book is written from the perspectives of Paris and Helen. The plot itself was well-written, but it didn't captivate me.
Danke an Mary E. Roach und NetGalley für diesen ARC.

Paris is a daughter of Troy, one of its last, and is struggling to survive as a Fixer in the dark criminal underworld of Greece, where its mafia families rule like gods from on high. But Paris wants to do more than survive; she wants revenge for her sisters, who were killed by a bomb when Zarek leveled the island of Troy with bombs that set the foundling house alight and burned her sisters alive. Her plan is simple: somehow catch Helen, Zarek’s daughter, and make him watch while she kills her. Well, there’s a saying for that: no plan survives first contact with the enemy and Helen … is not what Paris expected. The princess in the tower, elegant and imperious, is being given in marriage to some nobody; the man is new money, easily manipulated, and easily controlled by Zarek, who will never let Helen go. Helen is a princess with an empty smile who has already accepted her fate, and her beauty takes Paris’ breath away.

And then the bomb goes off. Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, Paris offers to find who tried to kill Zarek and his daughter. It gets her closer to Zarek and, more importantly, it gets her closer to Helen, Helen whose desperation makes her vulnerable, whose loneliness makes her an easy target, and whose passion makes Paris want to pin her down on silken sheets and fuck her until she screams out Paris’ name.

Helen, though, has her own plans.

This is a mafia AU retelling of the story of Helen of Troy and Paris, with lesbian, queer, and pansexual women who wield knives and guns and do just as much damage — if not more — with their words. These are women who kneel to no king, are ruthless in their quests for power, and who all have their own reason for wanting to take Zarek down. It’s also bloody and violent, with maiming, burning, murder, and so many bombs.

In this world, alongside Zarek, who rules with an iron fist, are the four queens: Fronna, who deals in sex and secrets; Hannah, who deals in bodies delivered piecemeal to their families; Altea, whose trade is guns; and Lena, the lost queen, whose delight was explosives. Lena was Helen’s mother, Zarek’s wife, and the queen of Troy … the same Troy that was destroyed by Zarek’s bombs; the same Troy that was Paris’ home until the fire burned to ash everyone she loved.

Paris is driven, brash, arrogant, prideful, and narrow-minded. She has her opinions and sees no reason to change them; she has her goal and nothing will stop her from it. She’s all emotions and jagged, broken edges, anger and pain and blind vengeance — and she suffers for it. When standing before Zarek, a man who rules as a god on his island, she smarts off and pays dearly for it. In playing her game — in playing Helen and the queens — Paris becomes cocky, arrogant, and certain she can handle things … only to end up with the deaths of innocents on her hands because she wanted to make a statement, a display of her own power, a power which doesn’t come with the ability to protect anyone else from the fallout of her pride.

Helen is an ornament in her father’s home, a trophy to be handed out to the best potential husband. She’s also not emotionally stable. Having seen her mother’s death, she lost the parent who loved her and now has only the one who owns her. In her youth, she was manic, high strung, and prone to planting bombs when displeased. Her father told her no? She blew up his boat. She didn’t get her way? She blew up something in a tantrum. But it’s been years since she let loose, and now she simply floats along like a china doll, waiting to be put back on the shelf when her father is done with her. Paris wakes Helen up and gives her something to focus on. Paris’ lack of propriety is refreshing; Paris’ disdain, her cruel flirting, and the easy confidence with which she dismisses Helen has Helen coming back again and again. Paris doesn’t see a doll, Paris sees someone who could be a queen in her own right if she wanted, someone who might be worth supporting should she wish to be queen.

The relationship between them is the main focus of the story, leaving the world building to be mostly vibes and images. It’s a world of kick ass, powerful women with plots and plans and power … but the plot is all over the place. While I appreciate that the queens each have their own story, their own reasons for doing what they do, the way it unfolds feels clumsy. Neither Paris nor Helen have shown the ability to make some of the leaps in logic that the story requires, and Paris actually has to have several different characters over the course of the book explain things to her.

There’s a scene where someone close to Helen dies. It’s reasonable for Helen to be distraught; not only is this someone who meant something to her, she’s also someone who feels emotions deeply and who isn’t entirely well-balanced in how she handles them. But why is Paris so broken up about the death of someone she met maybe a week ago? While I can understand her being caught up in the moment, being sympathetic and empathetic to Helen’s grief, that’s not how it was written. That’s not to say the scene is bad, it just didn’t work for me and I didn’t buy it.

The first third of this book had me by the throat. I was all in for the tension, the flirting, the push and pull of two characters using one another, while slowly falling for one another; Paris’ all consuming need for revenge against Helen’s own plans and hopes for freedom, the power dynamics between them as Helen and Paris tried to use one another, and the scenes with Zarek where he felt like an honest threat to both Paris and Helen in very different ways … I loved it. But the book began to coast in the middle and, by the end, it was mostly vibes and very convenient moments. I’m glad I read it, because there’s a lot here to like. It’s just the ending, for me. I wanted something other than what the book gave me.

If this book had stuck the landing, I would have given it 5 stars. As it is, I think it’s a four-star read for me. The writing is lyrical and full of emotion, and won’t be to everyone’s taste. Both Paris and Helen are very voice-y characters, full of dramatic mood swings and calculating plots. You’ll either like them or you won’t, and I strongly suggest trying a sample of this book before making a purchase.

A sapphic mafia romance inspired by Greek mythology— I don't often read mythology retellings but I found myself enjoying the almost-cinematic quality the book had as the plot unfolded (I mean, it literally starts with a bomb) and the dark romance vibes. And to be clear, this is dark! There are multiple assassinations, there's torture, and the stakes are HIGH.

Paris is a fixer with an agenda— namely taking down kingpin Zarek, and if she has to use Zarek's daughter Helen, then so be it. Helen isn't a damsel in distress in this story; she's a seasoned bomb-maker, and a crime princess with a spine of steel. I enjoyed the dynamic between Paris, who is tough and stoic but feels So Much, and Helen who basically lives a double life under her father's thumb, so she feels free to be herself with Paris— the chemistry is THERE to go with the high stakes and it's quite intense and all-encompassing real fast.

Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

An intense novel that played on my emotions like a violin. This novel has something for everybody and unashamedly packs a punch.

Paris manages to investigate a bomb going off at a mob boss' party, intending to take revenge on the family that had killed hers. Helen wants to abandon the violent world she was raised in, and doesn't want to marry the man her father had picked for her. Helen and Paris latch onto each other and flee from Greece to Troy. Helen's father is willing to start a war to get Helen back, and both women are willing to let him.

Influenced by mythology, we're introduced to a world of fixers, bombers, and assassins due to rival mafia families in Greece. Paris is one of the last surviving people from Troy, which Helen's father had bombed years ago. She is a violent woman intent on more murder and mayhem when she rescued Helen at the engagement party, mostly because she wanted to kill Helen herself to hurt her father. She doesn't know about Helen's penchant for bomb making when younger, or that she had planned to fake her death and was interrupted. The two bond due to their shared irreverence toward Helen's father, and only Helen has some qualms about the bodies left in their wake.

Told in their alternating POVs, we see the violent world and casual cruelties that the mafia inflict, killing with little provocation and no remorse. The actions these women take have a literal body count even before they decide to flee. It becomes real to them when it's not anonymous maids or guards dying, but people they actually care about. The repetition in the text as we go only shows how much both women are fueled by anger and loss, though only Paris is up front about it from the start. It's a game of power within the Families, and the winner is the one willing to shed blood. It's a stark reality of their world, with continued pain and loss along the way. The story grabs you and carries a dread fascination, with an ending as devastatingly violent as promised at the start.

In this steamy retelling of Helen and Troy, we see so much personality in these characters and i think it’s such a talent of the authors.

There are so many characters, but it never got confusing because they all have distinct differences and are their own people. I really loved that.

From the first chapter, i was hooked because of the interest Paris seemed to have in Helen. After their meeting, I knew this was going to be a good read.

Their dynamic was complicated because of so much death and blood spilled between them, their parents, or more so Helen’s parents and the part they played in a traumatic event for Paris and how that has affected Paris for years.

I would be interested in so many prequel books of the Families and the gods, only because i felt like they had such depth, but in a way that you knew they were the villains but also they were all fighting against the same thing.

This was so deliciously steamy and the tension was so hot and intense!!!!!

On another note, i cried while reading this, particularly because of one death, but also because of how complicated the fighting was and how it was never gonna be easy for Helen and Paris or just be Helen and Paris.

The plot twists in this were chefs kiss. Never expected many of them and the bluntness of the kills in this gutted me.

Overall a new favorite of mine. So good and highly recommend.

We Are the Match by Mary E. Roach is a Helen of Troy retelling that’s reminiscent of The Hades Calculus, if not as spicy. It’s based on mythology, so of course a lot of it is fairly unrealistic, and if you go in expecting that, well…you’re going to be disappointed. If, however, you go into it looking for a crazy, messy, dystopian, mafia-esque sapphic romance with a side of darkness, then I think you’ll enjoy it.

It’s a quick read, and there’s a lot of chemistry between Helen and Paris once the story gets going. I did want a bit more worldbuilding, and some of the plot felt a bit messy, so there is that. I’d say it’s not quite a 4 star for me, but worth rounding up and checking out.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

Sapphic mafia romance is all I needed to know to start this book. Later on I would realize that this is a retelling of Helen of Troy. I absolutely knew nothing about the story that this novel pulled inspiration from, and maybe that's the reason I did not enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.

I enjoyed the first 20% of the book because I was interested in the storyline and the characters. I found the author's writing style to be intriguing because she was only giving us pieces to the puzzle and withholding information about the world, unfortunately this was not intentional but rather poor world-building. I could not visualize even one scene from this book because they lack so much detail. Even the characters that I enjoyed fell flat after a while. They had no depth, a small range of emotions, and it felt like most of their actions were reckless and useless. Troy wanted to destroy an entire empire, and she had the concept of a plan and vibes, yet she was acting like she was the smartest in the room. Truly ridiculous. The romance between Helen and Troy was giving insta-love. Their scenes always felt super rushed. The whole book felt rushed, honestly. I have no faith in them as a couple. They also had no chemistry whatsoever. Nobody could have actual conversations, and they all resorted to violence to solve their problems.

The writing was bad.
The storyline was messy and did not feel well planned out.
The characters were very one-dimensional and corny.

I could not have guessed any plot point in this book because none of them MAKE SENSE. This book honestly felt like a fever dream.

We Are The Match by Mary E. Roach is non stop action throughout the book. No, seriously, it’s hard to take a breather during this retelling of Helen of Troy taking place on the Grecian islands. Zarek, the most powerful man on the island, is hosting a party, and Paris is set on going to seek revenge on the girls she lost from his hands. Her plan is to get to Helen, his daughter, and take her life during a party, and watch his pain as she’s taken away, but during her encounter with Helen, a bomb is thrown in the ballroom, disrupting her plans in the moment. Angry that someone else is attempting this, she ends up shielding her body over Helen, protecting her, and instantly becoming the fixer for the mafia family to find out who sent the bomb. There is instant love between the two, there is angst, regret, revenge, sorrow, distrust, and so much emotion throughout the book that it keeps you invested the whole time. You fall for people who on the outside look bad, but you realize they are just doing a job they have to do to protect someone they care about. There is the villain who just does horrible things to people that you are hating them the whole time, and there are those you cheer for to be victorious in their mission. I really enjoyed the transformation Paris had throughout the book from being vengeful to fighting for love. This is considered a dark romance, but it’s more about emotion than anything with little spice. Lots of “touch her and ☠️ “.

Happy publication day!

So, I requested this book on NetGalley entirely on the premise of sapphic Helen and Paris in an ancient Greek inspired modern setting. Sounds great, right? Okay, Mary E Roach gave us some of that... but it didn't work for me. For the majority of the book, I was definitely going to give it a lower rating than this, but there were some good moments, and I ended up caring about the characters, so it felt mean to rate it too badly.

But.

The premise that promised so much wasn't lived up to - for me. The world-building was patchy at best, and the retelling part was... vague. It's a very, very loose reimagining of the myth of Helen of Troy, and I spent quite a while trying to work out which characters equated to who from the Iliad, before deciding to not worry about it and read the book in front of me, rather than the one I had hoped for. This made for a pretty unsatisfactory read on my part - all that promise! - but if you go in with different expectations this book might work better for you. I sort of skimmed past the 'mafia' part, and that's actually the core of the book. I haven't read any mafia style books before, so I won't make any grand judgements on the genre as a whole, but this didn't work for me. There were so many moments that were just, frankly, unbelievable that took me out of the reading experience.

The characterisation was... mixed. Helen and Paris were both very intense characters (as expected), but they didn't feel realistic, even given the very strange, incongruous world the author has created). Helen's naivety is inconsistent and, at times, unbelievable; how can she be simultaneously so obtuse and so mature? There were secondary characters (make that singular: the character of Tommy, Helen's longterm bodyguard) that I did believe in, and was invested in their arc as the book progressed. But the plot, like the setting, was a bit messy - there were just too many things that took me out of the story, preventing me from liking it.

The writing is, in my opinion, very melodramatic. There were some good lines, but almost too many - if that makes sense. It read, as I saw in someone else's review, rather like something you'd come across on AO3 or Wattpad rather than a traditionally published novel; it's exhausting when each line falls so weightily... Although it's an adult novel, it felt more like an overly written YA.

Surprisingly, the insta-love didn't really bother me, possibly because I expected it. There was chemistry between Paris and Helen, but it was really hammered in. Some subtlety would have been appreciated.

Overall, a frustrating read; I wanted to like this, and I really tried to (I think I started it six times over the past month and put it down because I 'wasn't in the right mood' before deciding it was the book, not me), but I couldn't get past the plot, the messiness, the tone not feeling right, the disappointment that it wasn't a serious retelling of a portion of the Iliad.

All that being said, if you like dark, sapphic mafia stories, this might interest you. If you like world-building, consistency and are truly interested in Greek retellings, give it a miss.

2.75 stars. Thanks to NetGalley, Mary E Roach and Montlake for the ARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of We Are the Match.

While the synopsis of We Are the March touts a re-telling of the Helen of Troy myth set in the context of mafia families, it didn’t read as such. That is, both of those premises are borderline at best. And to say the setting really made little difference is an understatement. Honestly, I didn’t even realize this was set in Greece until I re-read the synopsis before writing this review.

The mafia of it all was lackluster if you’re looking for that type of novel. Other than referring to the Family or the Families throughout the book, it didn’t ring true to a mafia setting. Sure, there is a lot of killing going on here and power being wielded, but I just didn’t view that through the lens of the mafia. *shrug*

Other than having Helen of Troy as a character in this book, I also didn’t view it as a substantial re-telling of that mythology.

I was engaged with Helen and Paris as a couple though, and their warring storylines were interesting and compelling enough for me to keep reading to see how they could possibly end up together.

Roach’s writing is also lyrical in nature although a bit repetitive at times.