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.

3.25 stars rounded down

✨ Adult Contemporary Romance
✨ First Person, Dual POV
✨ 2.5/5 Spice Level
✨ Standalone
✨ Rep: bisexual, polyam

I recommend if you enjoy…
- modern retellings
- mafia romance
- dark romance vibes (not super dark though)
- chaos???

Initial Thoughts
I saw “Helen of Troy” and said ‘yes’. Then I realized it’s also a sapphic mafia romance set in a modern, Greek-inspired world… which got me curious. I haven’t read anything by this author before.

Plot
The plot lowkey felt all over the place. Everyone was one upping each other. There was de*th left and right. Enough b*mbings I felt like I was in an action movie… and I could not stop turning the pages. Like I felt like I was in chaos and yet I needed to know what was going to happen next. There are themes of mystery and revenge that kept me interested.

Characters
I don’t even know what to say. There are a bunch of intriguing characters though in some ways they don’t feel “real”. They feel like characters out of a play or perhaps ancient myth. A bit larger than life. It’s hard to explain. A lot of them are obsessed with b*mbs and weap*ns. And I’m not sure if there is any sort of legal system that does anything.

Romance
The chemistry between Paris and Helen is undeniable. I’ve seen others refer to this book as a “lesbian” mafia romance; however, I would be hesitant to call it that as one of the main characters has s*xual relations in a group setting involving a man (not a spoiler since it literally happens on *checks notes* the first page). However, these scenes aren’t overly detailed, and I don’t recall any reference to male anatomy. A heads up, either way, for potential readers. Overall, the spice in this book is on the milder side for a dark romance-esque book. There is a ton of tension though, which I really enjoyed.

World-building
Oh, but this isn’t a fantasy/sci-fi novel, right? It’s not. But the world is somewhere between being modern and being Ancient Greece… I’m not sure it worked for me, yet I was happy to go along for the ride, I suppose?

Final Thoughts
While this may not be the best book I’ve read recently, it sure says something about it that I stayed interested the whole time and kept wanting to know what happened next. I think if the premise sounds interesting to you it is definitely worth the look (and it’s a bit on the shorter side).

We Are the Match by Mary E. Roach is a great debut adult romance.
This story was a lot of fun. I had the best time reading it.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.

It was all supposed to be about revenge. Get in, get the girl, end her in front of everyone. Then they locked eyes and something stirred in both of them. Now they are on a dangerous path of vengeance, how can love survive the bloodshed?

Mary E. Roach takes us on a breath-stealing ride in We Are the Match. My emotions were on a roller coaster and I loved it. I had no clue how the story was going to end. Was I going to be hysterical? Was I going to be happy? Does love survive the unthinkable? I’m not giving away any spoilers, so you have to read this story.😆

Vengeance isn’t just a one-side story and Roach does a great job of showcasing this here. There is usually a story behind the tale and there is always more than one side. Then there is what we think is the truth and what is actually the truth. This sad to say is the reality for Paris and Helen. Nothing is as it seems and it’s awesome for us readers.

There is graphic violence so be prepared. There were times I had to remind myself that this story takes place in modern times because the heavy influence of Greek mythology can make you think you are reading a historical novel. The gore helps too (chuckle). It reminds me of a Shakespearean tale where one minute someone is getting sliced and diced and the next love is in the air.

I really like both main characters. They come from completely different backgrounds and are stronger for each of their difficulties. The humor between them is cute. I love the flavor of BDSM threaded throughout the story. It gives it spice, mind you this is a sloth burn. Lots of teasing ahead readers so be prepared. There is also non-romantic intimacy between characters that is mentioned but not written in detail. I know that this is an issue for some romance readers, so here is your heads up. (I usually find this to be a problem too, but it actually fits right in with the character participating so it makes sense.)

The author takes us on twist after twist until you are feverishly reading to see who makes it out in the end. This is the ultimate in family dysfunction. I read this in one sitting with my heart racing. We Are the Match will take you on a wild ride until the very last paragraph.

We are the match is a contemporary retelling of the Helen of Troy Greek myth. This retelling is set in a Greek mafia underworld setting, Helen the coveted princess of the mafia family and we have Paris now a woman who is a wild card burnt by the ‘war’ on Troy. She wants to burn everything and end the mafia family but Helen is now her one weakness.

This story is messy and at times just too far fetched. The writing is good but the world building is poor, the items we are meant to believe around Helen and her family falls short even if it is a mafia setting. There is romance but it’s more a story of angry passions between them both.

There are better retelling of this tale for a modern audience, sapphic nature of the book worked well but for me just feel short and I got a tad bored of the same smoke and gunpowder tricks throughout. I was given the opportunity to read this via NetGalley and the publishers.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

We Are the Match by Mary E. Roach is a first person dual-POV Sapphic mafia romance reimagining of the story of Paris and Helen of Troy. Paris has sworn vengeance on Zarek for destroying Troy and killing many of the women Paris grew up with. But when Paris sets her sights on Helen as a way to get to Zarek, she finds herself drawn to Helen's chaotic energy and desire for control.

There are some references to Greek mythology but not every character name matches and there are a few things changed here and there. Some of the symbols used are a snake, a pomegranate, and a peacock and if you know Greek mythology, you know who a lot of the imagery lines up with. I would say that some of them are more like Easter eggs rather than defining clearly who each character is supposed to be since the pomegranate would indicate Persephone is one of the three queens of the mafia world, but a young woman who dies at the beginning of the story is named Kore, another name for Persephone.

This Helen is far from the very distant figure that she is in the story of Troy who gets very little time to be more than a prize men fight over. Here, is the daughter of a mafia boss and wants to rule in his stead. She's also an expert in making bombs and delights in causing destruction. The only one who really tempers these tendencies is Tommy, a father figure to her who also asks as her bodyguard and is the only person who treats her with any real gentleness, contrasting with Paris who isn't nearly as concerned with treating Helen with kid gloves.

The overarching emotions felt by both Paris and Helen are lust, affection and possessiveness towards each other and rage towards Helen’s family and anyone who was involved in the murder of the women of Troy. As such, the feelings on page are just as much of a powder keg as anything else and the reader is waiting for things to finally blow up in someone's face, preferably Helen’s father or fiancee.

I would recommend this to fans of Sapphic romance who want a mafia twist and readers of chaotic Sapphic who love Greek myth reimaginings

We Are the Match by Mary E. Roach delivers a bold, Sapphic reimagining of the classic Helen of Troy myth, fusing romance, danger, and mythology into a gritty modern-day mob drama. In this inventive retelling, Helen—now Troy—is a fierce member of a powerful Greek mob family, while Paris is a woman determined to bring that empire crashing down.

The chemistry between Troy and Paris is electric from the start, filled with tension, fire, and undeniable magnetism. Their connection is as passionate as it is dangerous, and Roach does a fantastic job of showing their strength—not just in their love, but in their brutal determination and unwavering loyalty to their beliefs.

Savage, sultry, and smart, this novel is more than just a romance; it’s a story of power, vengeance, and forbidden desire. Roach brings a fresh voice to Sapphic fiction with characters who are both unapologetically tough and emotionally complex. We Are the Match is a must-read for fans of Sapphic love stories who crave intensity, mythic influence, and a fierce, modern edge.

I found this sapphic retelling of Paris and Helen of Troy to be captivating. The story was told really well and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The tension was really good but it missed some romance that was beyond lust.

If insta-love and high-stakes drama are your thing then look no further because this book will for sure be your jam! We Are The Match throws you right into the action from page one and doesn’t let up. It's a fast-paced mix of mafia romance (a first for me!), Greek mythology, and political intrigue...basically a Helen of Troy retelling all wrapped in sharp, polished writing.

This was a little outside my usual comfort zone, but I’m glad I gave it a shot and finally dipped my toes into the mafia romance world. I appreciated the new mix of genres and the intense, action packed and high stakes adventure this one was. I will be honest there were a couple of times I got a wee bit confused but I think it was my attention this week as it was a crazy week. Overall the highlights for me was that Mary built a bold story that played out almost like a movie in my head. It's perfect for readers looking for something intense, romantic, and refreshingly different. I always appreciate the opportunity to read a new author and unique genre to me, so thank you again @otrpr!

I enjoyed this book! The premise is clever, the plot fast-moving, and I really liked establishing so many women as queer. Historical retellings (particularly mythical ones) are trendy, but this was unique! I also really liked the author keeping Helen, Paris, and Troy but renaming almost every other character. It really helped to ground the most important inspiration and treat the rest as side characters. And setting in present day! I had heard this described as “a lesbian retelling of Helen of Troy, where the family are mobsters.” It lived up to that description!

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for a copy of this eARC.

I enjoyed this book! I’m a big fan of darker sapphic romances, so I was really looking forward to reading this by the genre alone and also because I liked the authors previous YA novel.

I didn’t know it was a reimagining at first and I wasn’t sure what to expect since I never got into Greek mythology. But I truly don’t think my lack of prior knowledge negatively impacted my appreciation of this story one bit. I understood both characters and their motivations. I liked their respective arcs and the way they grew together. I really felt for Helen and all she’s gone through.

Overall, I think lovers of dark sapphic romances should check this one out!

I had high hopes for this book, but I was kind of bored throughout the whole thing. There was nothing that surprised me. I did like the relationship between Helen and Paris and how Paris shifted from vengeance/hate to wanting to keep Helen in her life. It wasn't a bad book by any means, I just wanted more action, more of the romance, more of the mystery, more of the world.

My many thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read this as an ARC.