This book was an interesting short read since it was a novella. I do feel more could be put into the storyline to make it a full novel but it was good for a short story as it is. I do feel the one character could have been expressed a little better I felt she was more monotone in the audiobook. but I guess that's how she came off. definitely different take on arrange marriage being it is a sapphic love story and same sex marriage but a great idea. How one family excepted it vs how the other is split.

Impossible Match is a shorter novel (the audiobook was under 3 hours) that I went through in basically one sitting. I made dinner and did some chores and flew through the story. It’s about Cecilia and Ingrid who are set up in an arranged marriage. I loved how it was set in Toronto and is truthfully one of the reasons I applied for the ARC.
The reason this fell flat for me a bit was because I felt like not much happened? Considering we are dealing with arranged marriage, billionaires living in the bridle path, influencers and celebrity… I was kind of bored? I guess I just kept waiting for more excitement. I enjoyed the story, but just wanted something more.

Thanks to NetGalley, Aurora Inkwell Media, and the author for the ARC!

August Roy brings the two main characters to life very well, and very much in line with what I had imagined when reading the book. She also had good range, bringing all of the other varied characters out with their unique voices, and setting the scenes well later in the novella.

Impossible Match definitely took my expectations and subverted them in some very enjoyable ways. Cecilia Friedman is work obsessed, and hasn't had time to find Ms. Right. Ingrid Gordon is an influencer and a bit of a player who hasn't really had long-term relationships. This combines the two tropes of fake marriage and billionaire partnership.

When Cecilia's grandparents and Ingrid's parents get together to arrange a marriage for the two women, Cecilia agrees out of love for her grandparents, and Ingrid out of obligation and to maintain connection to her billions, so she can continue her philanthropic work.

Unlike most billionaires, Ingrid has so much compassion and emotional depth, moreso than she even gives herself credit for. Cecilia is so awestruck by the absolute grandiosity of her new home and the awkwardness of her new surroundings that she has no idea how to act around her new spouse.

The ways that the two women "useless lesbian" stumble around each other early on is so endearing, seeing them try to figure each other out. They both reach out trying to reveal parts of each other as they realize they are each becoming attracted to their wife. It is so fun to see how this all plays out, while they have to navigate in-laws, a nosy assistant, and tabloids.

A nice sapphic arranged marriage tale. For a short novella, this reads like a modern fairy tale of two ridiculously rich women agreeing to be married for no real reason, getting to know each other, enjoying their riches, and falling in love for real. There's no drama in this, just understandable awkwardness of two strangers getting married. I enjoyed this despite the simplicity. The spicy scene was good, it was fun to see the ladies put on fancy dresses and go to galas, be served by a chef, and was all around a nice escape read.

This was my first book by this author and this narrator. Even though this is just 115 pages/2.5 hour long book I didnt finish it. I thought the writing was superficial, shallow and very surface-level. Usually when I am not really into an ebook, the audio version can win me over and I will enjoy the story, but this narrator did not do the trick for me. The audio quality was wonderful, very clean, the pacing was ok, but what really turned me off the character differentiation.

Thank you to NetGalley, Aurora Inkwell Media, and Rochelle Wolf for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a quick pace short story. Sapphic, arranged marriage between two wildly successful people. We don't exactly start as enemies- just strangers more than anything else. They kind of have a black cat/cinnamon roll dynamic too. It's fun to enjoy their quick departure from strangers to spouses to.. HEA.

Narration was well done!

This audiobook was sweet, spicy, and short. A great novella.

I adored the storyline of the arranged marriage aspect, and them falling for each other in their own respects.

The spice was also more than I expected but I could've had more. I guess the length of novellas, that's the point?

The narrators were good. At some points, they sounded like AI. Not a fan of AI.

3.5 stars rounded up
I absolutely adored Cecilia—she was so sweet 🥹—and the story had me giggling quite a bit. The main characters were adorable, and I wish it was longer. I was surprised by how quickly they said they loved each other, but maybe I just didn’t realize how much time had passed. Still, I’d have liked to see them go on a few real dates first. The side characters, like Becky, Bubbie (which made me so happy as someone who grew up with one), and Henry, were fantastic and added warmth to the story.
It’s a sweet, angst-free read with charming characters, but I felt like the story relied more on telling than showing their intimacy and chemistry. Since it involved an arranged marriage, I expected more meaningful conversations and ground rules, but they married quickly without much communication. Overall, a cute, quick read with a lovely premise, but I wish I’d felt more connected to their relationship.

I did something unusual with this ARC and turned it into an immersive read. I don’t visualize well so I found it really helped me with setting the scene. Kind of important for a scenario that’s pretty foreign to a regular middle-class girl lol. // I found myself rooting for Cecilia and Ingrid pretty early in the story. Especially Ingrid as I am also pretty outwardly reserved. Arranged marriages are fascinating to me, and even more so when they turn into deep love. The sapphic nature of it made it even more interesting. Unrelated: I love how the norm for this universe is people with they/them pronouns and anything else was out of the ordinary. Perfection as well as realistic given the sheer number of creative side characters. // I received a copy of this audiobook from NetGalley and this is my honest review. 4.25 stars; the angst was almost non-existent and I needed that.

While the story and the writing was nice and easy to follow, I felt that the audiobook narration was stilted and made the book less enjoyable. A fake dating (or fake marriage) trope is always fun but the audiobook narration made the characters seem more robotic.

Cecilia Friedman's grandparents set her up for an arranged marriage. Cecilia is a software developer and tech boss, who was cut off by her parents when she came out, but supported by her grandparents. Ingrid Gordon, a bisexual, knew that an arranged marriage was likely in her future, as it was expected her family. When her mother informed her of the arrangement, she was pleasantly surprised that her spouse would be a woman. What follows is a quick wedding, slow burn romance between the spouses, a little spice, some charity work, and a lot of money.

I have to note that this is a novella. Less than 3 hours at regular speed. The brevity of the book makes character development and investment into the MCs harder to establish. I think the unfamiliarity of Cecilia and Ingrid was well established, but their lack of direct interactions, especially since they had just met, made it difficult to imagine that they had created enough of a bond before the romance entered the picture.

The narrator threw me off a little bit. When the book first started the voice sounded almost computer generated with a heavy emphasis on articulating every word. Then when the character was changed I left like she fell into a more natural flow, although I did also increase the listening speed and that helped greatly. I am familiar with the narrator's natural speaking voice and it's wonderful, so I don't know what exactly happened to create the disconnect here.

I did like that their wasn't a heavy amount conflict, the characters seemed as humans as billionaires can be, and the supporting characters provided for engaging interactions outside of Cecilia and Ingrid. I think if it was just a little longer and there was more development into why arranged marriage, the background and experiences of the individual MCs, and more depth to their interactions it would served the book well. Overall, it's not a bad listen, but I was left wanting to know more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aurora Inkwell Media for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This sapphic novella is for those who enjoy a millionaire romance. I felt the plot was a bit predictable and the characters were mediocre, but I still had a good time listening.

A special thank you to Aurora Inkwell Media for allowing me an advanced listen.

This novella was such a perfectly paced sapphic romance, blending billionaire romance, marriage of convenience, queer love, and visibility into one heartfelt package. The writing hooked me from the start—smart, engaging, and full of charm.

While I adored Cecilia’s character in the audio version, I struggled more with Ingrid’s narration. The monotone delivery was clearly intentional to reflect her personality, but during intimate moments, it created a slightly awkward listening experience.

That said, the concept of this story was fantastic, and I’d love to see these characters continue into their next chapter. A lovely, compact romance with themes that deserve more space to shine.

Thank you so much to Aurora Inkwell Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

I listened to this on audio and had a pretty good time with it! I really enjoyed August Roy's voice, she spoke clearly and enunciated each word so the story was incredibly easy to understand. In the beginning I did find her narration a bit flat and monotone, but as the story built she began to inject more passion and emotion into it, which I felt was a really good parallel for the growing feelings between our two main characters. August Roy also did a fantastic job making unique voices for Ingrid, Cecilia, and Becky, and she's one of the few audiobook narrators who I feel does a convincing male voice.

Cecilia and Ingrid were such fun, dynamic characters, and I particularly loved Ingrid for her "ice queen" persona that she tried to portray for the first half of the story. Watching her melt was super enjoyable as she fell head over heels for Cecilia. Cecilia, likewise, was so sweet and incredibly grounded considering she was meant to be a rich socialite. I will say I found myself wishing we saw more of how their feelings developed, but that could be because this is a relatively short novel and obviously Rochelle Wolf, the author, didn't feel the need to pack in a lot of character building. The character building that was there WAS incredibly effective, I just wanted more! I really enjoyed spending time with these two characters and would've loved to see more of them falling for each other.

I will say some of the sex scenes felt a little awkward to me - like Wolf is still developing their voice when it comes to writing intimacy. They weren't bad at all, just sometimes a phrase wouldn't land right, or a character would try to be sexy and it would fall a little flat. What I will praise is the evident care and tenderness between Ingrid and Cecilia. Even when their relationship was just developing, they very clearly wanted what was best for each other, despite the arranged marriage. Also, weirdly enough, the arranged marriage/marriage of convenience plot worked really, really well for this story! It's not a trope I usually enjoy so I was pleasantly surprised that Impossible Match did it so effectively.

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to seeing what Rochelle Wolf writes in future!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a short and sweet read with some heat! What I really appreciated about it, was that despite it being a novella, the pacing didn’t feel rushed.

This was my first millionaire romance and arranged marriage romance. These are tropes I don’t usually gravitate towards, but in this book I really liked them! I was especially weary about the arranged marriage trope, but I like the justification for it, which made the story more believable.

If you’re looking for a low stakes, medium heat, short novella, I recommend! I also lived in Toronto for 10 years so I loved that this was set in that city instead of the usual NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, Seattle etc that a lot of romances seem to take place in.

Thank you NetGalley and Aurora Inkwell Media for the ALC!

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. The narrator was just ok and there was a weird thumping sound when she pronounced some words that were likely a microphone issue.

The story itself, though short, is just a little boring. :( I'm really bummed because I was all in on a sapphic arranged marriage!

You know when you just want a book to be over with—not because it’s bad, but because it’s just so boring? Well that was my experience with this audiobook (you’d think an audiobook would be easier to digest) but I dozed off at one point, and honestly, I had more fun making fun of the narrator than I did actually listening to the story.

This is a sapphic romance between Ingrid and Cecilia, both business owners in Toronto who get forced into an arranged marriage.

❤️‍🔥This is a slowwwww burn.❤️‍🔥
Which a lot of people will love, but for me, there wasn’t enough chemistry leading up to the “I love you’s” to hold my interest. They barely had any open discussions, and while there’s a lot of setup—one MC gets disowned, the other has toxic parents—none of it gets resolved or meaningfully explored.

👰🏻‍♀️The arranged marriage plot? Weak.👰🏻‍♀️
They're both in their late 20's? Early 30's? So they could've easily said no to the arranged marriage orchestrated by their parents. It's not like they needed the money - they're both rich.

🎧The narration🎧
Ingrid's voice is supposed to be a "sexy rasp," but it sounded like a chainsmoker gargling gravel. Which isn't something I want to hear when they're getting down to business. Speaking of which, this was marketed as spicy but had like 1.5 spice scenes. Maybe I’ve just built up a spice tolerance, but it barely registered.

The narrator’s delivery was very technical. She pronounced every syllable so precisely that the words never flowed—it sounded like someone ran a regular ebook through text-to-speech and called it a day.

Her voice was also weirdly… slow? Like slower than a Siri voice (and that’s saying something).

There were a lot of run-on sentences, which made the narrator run out of breath 😂 It was funny to listen to, but I felt bad for her.

This wasn’t BAD in any sense, but it didn’t hold my interest. I heaved a great big sigh of relief when it was over, actually... And that’s how I know a book isn’t for me. 🤣

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC. All thoughts are my own.

Impossible Match had a great premise - sapphic arranged marriage meets billionaire romance - and it was a sweet, mostly angst-free read. I liked both Cecilia and Ingrid, and there were definitely cute moments between them. But for me, there just wasn’t enough depth or chemistry to really buy into the love story.
It’s a slow burn, but instead of building tension, it often felt like more “tell” than “show.” The two barely have open conversations, and while there’s setup for some interesting backstories (Cecilia being disowned, Ingrid’s toxic family), none of it is really explored or resolved. The arranged marriage element also felt weak — they’re both wealthy adults who could have just said no, so the stakes never landed.

I listened to the audiobook, and while the narration was clear, the pacing felt slow and overly precise, which didn’t help the story feel more engaging.

Overall, it’s a quick, easy read with fun tropes and plenty of queer rep, but I wish it had been longer and given more time for character development, emotional connection, and payoff.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Aurora Inkwell Media for a copy of this audiobook. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 30%. I can't even tell you if the plot's premise at this point, because the narrator was that awful. She had zero inflection in her voice, and it made me ABHOR listening to her. It sounded like the book was input into a Word document and then had Word read the book out loud. What a bummer, maybe down the road I'll try the book in another medium, but I do not recommend the audiobook.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free arc of the audiobook!
I loved both the characters and was rooting for them the whole time. I loved how there wasn't much miscommunication and they were forthcoming about their feelings. I just wish I could know about the characters more or for the book to be just a little bit longer, I would've loved a full novel about these two characters but overall a short and fun read that I finished in one day. Hope to read more from this author soon!