Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a fun and quick read although it is cheesy, predictable, instalove. The steamy romance was just so so. This book didn't give me butterflies and left me wating more.

Love Match by Laire McKinney is a romance novel set in some secluded Island where we see a Prince, whose King/Father has just died and hence is here back to the Island to rule from his long life lived in Europe.

Serena, a journalist enters this world in order to read a story which might get her promoted. She has preconceived notions about the Kingdom and its Coitier system, which according to Serena is similar to older generations Traditional Harem's.

Shai, the Prince and the rightful to be King of the Island, is looking the rightful wife and has some females come by his palace, who learns about politics, royal delegations, etc. from Madame Moire. The story definitely needs working.

Coming to the important parts in the plot, although the plot has a powerful start the book directly jumps from one point to another, without any hint or relativeness. From Serena being dressed by the Madame over there at the palace, for attending the ball with Shai and Atta, to suddenly she and Shai being in each others arms?

Serena, as a character is very problematic for me. She is a journalist who went into this kingdom and world by already having some prejudices into this world. But that's not how it is supposed to be right? Her characters starts off as a smart, independent women who is here to do her investigation. But all she is about is a stupid and irritating girl.

I am sorry, but I guess author had something completely different in her mind while reading this book, but it just does not reflect. I feel this book is only about forcing a cultural attribution of some nations and their traditions in a wrong light.
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Thank NetGalley & Publisher for the eARC.

An instalove, formulaic contemporary romance. Overall the premise was very interesting and the story had a lot of potential, it was engaging and enjoyable- but not necessarily memorable. A easy, steamy, comfort read.

I had high hopes for this one! It was okay. I really loved the cover and the synopsis but it wasn't what I thought it would be. It didn't explain many actions and was anticlimatic.

What a unique story! The romance was sweet and the characters were interesting and kept me engaged. I really liked that the plot was unique. That is a refreshing change of pace for contemporary romance.

Love Match

Rating: 2/5🌟

Serena McAllister, reporter extraordinaire, is in a bit of a pickle. Newly single (she might have broken her ex-fiancé’s nose) and fighting for her job, she is desperate to do anything for a bit of stability.

After a finding an article on modern day coteries (harems) in a magazine - Serena jets off to the other side of the world to launch a career saving expose on this dastardly prince.

But is Prince Shai all that he seems? Or will Serena be the one who finds her true place?

To be honest, I almost didn’t finish this one. I got suckered in by the cover and then character and plot were written very macabre and didn’t have much depth. At some points the main character actually annoyed me. This could have been a short story in my opinion. It was a major miss for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and BHC for the ARC!

Read if you like:
+ The King and I
+ Royal drama
+ Rom-com w/ a twist

I was drawn to this book because of the cover, by the synopsis is this a book I would usually read - No.
Having said that I actually liked it.
Does it read like the script of a typical Rom-com movie, yes
Does it have insta love, yes
Is the plot cliché, yes
If you put all of that aside and read it for what it is, it is a well written love story with some funny banter and well placed steamy scenes.

Hmmm so what did I think. The cover and title were inviting. Serena was a good lead character. The book was very well written. A lovely supporting cast of characters. It is easy to see that a lot of thought and attention to detail went into this book.

I didn’t believe enough of the story. Shai being a prince just did not work for me. As a character he was good. Loved the sense of humour he had. Serena falling for a Prince was meant to be a modern fairytale but unfortunately I didn’t feel it worked.

I think this writer does have bags of potential as the writing was strong. Unfortunately I don’t think this book was really for me.

Review also on my goodreads account

I really enjoyed this book. It was light and fun to read. The main character was unexpected and very funny.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with this ARC on NetGalley.

I must admit that I, like many others, was drawn to this mostly for the cover. And, because I could tell from the title that it was a romance, I didn't really read the summary and instead formed my own expectations.

Here's the spoiler-free premise: Serena is an American journalist vying for a promotion at work, one that if she doesn't win, will likely leave her without a job. She's also recently discovered that her fiancé has cheated on her -- again. So when a last-minute opportunity to join a coterie on the other side of the world arises, Serena leaves immediately, no questions asked, hoping to glean an article from her experience in what she's expecting to be a "modern-day harem." Upon her arrival, she's immediately thrust into life as Prince Shailemon's guest at various events before she's even had a proper orientation. Though Serena is very clearly unrefined and out of place, "Shai" finds himself inexplicably attracted to her. And Serena can't deny her attraction to him either, despite her certainty that he's using her -- and women in general -- for his own pleasure. The result? A quickly ignited romance at risk of crumbling under Serena's motives and Shai's obligations.

I'll start with what I liked, which was the overall story. This book is billed as Coming to America meets Pretty Woman but, having seen (and loved) both of those movies, I disagree a little bit. It's true that like Prince Akeem in Coming to America, Prince Shailemon must marry soon, but that's pretty much as far as the similarities go. The comparison to Pretty Woman, though, is definitely apparent. Serena is not only uncouth by royal standards, she's pretty wild in general. In fact, at one point, the reader learns that her now ex-fiancé insinuated that she wasn't good enough for certain circles. That's kind of understandable though -- Serena's kind of a potty mouth and doesn't exercise any sort of tact or restraint. Ever. (Seriously, read the room girl!) But I liked that about her to be honest, and so did Shai. She's seen as "refreshing" because she makes Shai laugh, which he doesn't do often, especially in his current circumstances. I like that they can't deny their attraction, that Serena calms Shai and that Shai makes Serena believe in love again.

However, I think this book lacked substance considering the amount of potential the premise has. Not to spoil it, but we don't really get to see much of coterie life at all: Serena doesn't get an orientation, we only meet two other coterie women (one of whom is the main antagonist and the other only has about two lines), and Serena is the only guest of choice at the few events where Shai needs a companion. Also (again, mini spoiler) Serena doesn't write her article along the way; she really only jots a few notes and then her computer is stolen. While Serena and Shai do get to have a few serious conversations, they're brief, and always sandwiched between lighter topics or sex. Or both. And all of this takes place over the span of a week, including Serena's return to New York, so lots of assumptions and very little character growth.

The language in this book felt often misplaced. It was too formal when it didn't need to be and too casual at times where formality seemed inherent. Eventually, the writing just felt immature. It read like McKinney swapped simple words for words that "sound smart" but didn't necessarily fit. Additionally the sex scenes were cringe-worthy, not because of the sex -- I'm an adult -- but because of the wording. It just didn't flow. It was like reading someone's first attempt at sexting. Lastly, I can tell that the banter between Serena and Shai was meant to be witty in addition to funny (because they laughed a lot) but the humor definitely fell flat.

Overall, I neither loved nor hated this book. I can appreciate that this is a pretty short story, and fairly light in subject matter. But, it was just too convenient. There's not much depth (the amount depth at all is debatable) and the conflict is overemphasized because it's introduced so late in the story and then easily resolved without much explanation. I don't think I'd recommend this to serious readers, but if you like quick, steamy romances and can ignore a few plot holes and lack of detailed logistics for the sake of a happily-ever-after, then this is for you.

I received this Advance Review Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much Netgalley, BHC Press for giving me this opportunity to read and review this book in advance. A very big Thank You!!

REVIEW

Love Match is a story of a Journalist, Serena McAllister who is utterly desperate for a happening story to publish in her newspaper, in order to retain her bread winning job. So, she decides to go to a Princely Island and become a part of a modern day Harem undercover and plans on exposing these kind of institutions which objectify women. But unfortunately, Serena finds herself insanely attracted to the handsome Prince and King-to-be, Shailemon Sharma of the Birin Island. And that of course, makes her task of exposing the Prince and his Harem a lot more difficult than she had anticipated.

Will she keep aside her jittery romantic feelings aside and focus on her job or become victim to her heart’s feelings ? That’s the story of this book.

Love Match is a romance novel which majorly focuses on the life of Serena McAllister and her romantic heart. This novel hardly spans between a week or so. It was utterly fast pacing and so was the relationship between Serena and her Prince which was kind of odd and highly accelerated. It would have been really great, if the author had taken their relationship a bit slowly and steadily. Since their relationship was very much accelerated, their relationship felt nothing more than pheromones doing its trick.

Since, the plot spans over a short period of time, even a day in the book moved forward at such a slower pace. For example, for a day to come to end, it almost took 50 plus pages and that definitely was tiring. The book was narrated from the perspective of both Serena and Shailemon, and that gave away the feelings and emotions of both of them in a silver platter to the readers which obviously did not leave any space of curiosity or anticipation from the reader’s side. Both the voices of Serena and Shailemon was very similar and that made it look like kind of repetitive and confusing at times.

The aura of the Birin Island has been beautifully developed and portrayed. The way in which the author has described the beauty of Birin Island was tremendous and immediately take the readers away to this beautiful piece of land in heaven on earth. Definitely, this effective description of the Island by the author will actually make the readers fallen in love with Birin. The mental image, the author’s writing induced the readers to see was simply spectacular. One can easily smell, feel and experience everything about this Island quite very much vividly.

The character development could have been a bit more interesting and strong. The short and constant anecdotes by Serena was really funny and engaging. Though, it was irrelevant at most of the times, it brought about a smile in Shailemon as well as the reader’s face. It was really satisfying. Serena was quite interesting and funny.

Though the book promises to unravel the truth about modern day Harems, it has failed to bring about the authentic life and cultural essence of Royal family and it’s affair. The author could have focused a bit more on this part. Because even after spending some considerable time at Birin Island’s palace and with the Prince himself and at the same investigating about the lifestyle, it felt like Serena hasn’t shed her stereotypical American outlook about Royal lifestyle or understood it properly. That was the big hole in the plot.

On the other hand, Shailemon’s side of the story brought about some light about his lifestyle in the palace as a Prince. His backstory felt quite authentic and it was well developed and materialized. His position and dilemma throughout the book was completely understandable and acceptable. This part has been wonderfully established and executed. The book told elaborately about the institution of Coterie and that was quite different and new. This ideology of Coterie opened a new door to the readers because Coterie was something definitely unknown to most parts of the world, that too during this modern time. It’s a good thing, that the author had decided to talk about something very new, unique and unknown of.

The writing style of the author was good, a bit of clarity would have been even more great and enchanting to read. There were a few hand full of side characters which were very interesting to read about. A little bit peak into these characters would have been nice. Other than that the plot was fine and moved ahead properly.

MY VIEWS

To be very frank, I was quite disappointed with how the book turned out to be because I was completely misguided with the cover of this book. All I found on the cover was Taj Mahal and the book was called Love Match and my mind immediately screamed that the book was based on India. And that was one of the main reasons why decided to go ahead with this book but to my disappointment, it has nothing to do with India or Taj Mahal and that kind of put me off.

The cover was extremely beautifuly and alluring. If you could ask me to dwell in the beauty of the cover, I can spend all my day gazing at it. A special appreciation should be give for the cover designer, I’m a sucker for beautiful covers. Here, the point is, the book wasn’t as good as the cover. I’m definitely not saying it was a bad read. The book was fine and will keep you occupied for some time. A bit more of detail, character development and baby step relationship could have been much more better.

The steamy romance part in this book was very enticing and fantastic to read but just romance and lust without any strong base of a relationship was kind of confusing and cliche. Because the author had equated sexual attraction to love and that wasn’t totally intolerable. I’m trying not be a prude here but if it has been established somewhere that both the character were in for casual sexual encounters or relationship, and then it has flourished into love, then it would have been completely fine by me to accept it. But this book emphasized on something like Love at first sight on which I seriously do not believe in. Though attraction at first sight is totally acceptable but dude love takes time!!! Serena and Shailemon’s relationship almost felt like a rebound because their relationship was not even deep or something. That was my only issue with this book. But that is completely my mindset right now and it my differ from person to person and maybe time to time, who knows ?

My rating for this book would be 2 out of 5 stars

I would like to recommend this book to people who are into easy, simply and breezy reads. This book will definitely keep you engaged.

Please do not start the book with any expectation like it would be based in India or Taj Mahal because that will completely ruin your experience with the book. And it will lead you to disappointment. Start the book with zero expectation and you might enjoy it!!

Happy reading folks!!

~Meenu

Thanks to NetGalley and BHC Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

As beautiful as the cover and interesting as the pitch was, for me, the book did not meet its expectations. It was an average read, but the heroine (Serena) was all over the place and it seemed as though I could never really understand or connect with her character. She also felt immature and childish, and I expected more from her. The prince aka hero, Shai, was just okay. There was nothing about him which stuck out.

Overall, it was an okay read, but the reason why I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 3 is due to the fact that the cover intentionally misleads us; depicting Taj Mahal, the use of harems, and the weird racial implication of this taking place in some South Asian country (but without giving us any real representation), all this written by a white author really did not sit well with me.

It was described as "Coming To America meets Pretty Woman" which is two of my all time favourite movies, so I had high hopes for this one. But unfortunately I was disappointed. I didn't necessarily hate it, but the story fell flat a lot of times for me, I couldn't really connect to any of the characters and I just didn't really feel the chemistry between Serena and Shai. However, I did really love to see these cultural differences and how they handle the challenges that come with it. And the sexy scenes were pretty steamy!

<b> Thank you to NetGalley and the author for an eARC, in return for a honest review.</b>

Steamy romance novel that lacked depth.

I wanted to enjoy this book, I was quite intrigued by the premise, but it went straight to cheesy, over the top romance novel and lacked character depth. It was a good amount of romance novel steam, but that couldn't make up for what it lacked. The main relationship also focused on the physical a bit too much, and I'm someone who loves romance novels and enjoys steamy parts, but you need to have the couple have an emotional connection as well.

I'd suggest this when your in the mood for cheesy romance.

Thank you Netgalley for this ebook arc in exchange for an honest review.

Simplistic...

The blurb sets out all the usual tropes of a good romcom but the story launches in as though midway through the book...we missed the backstory! (the juicy parts anyway!) This felt like the script for a super cheesy rom-com on netflix on a sunday afternoon but the book just couldn't grip me... I tried a couple of times but sadly a DNF.

THIS WAS SUCH A CUTE STORY, YOU GUYS!! I really enjoyed reading this one and it's not a slow-burn!!! I am squealing the entire time because of how cute they are and let me tell you, the sexual tension is intense! "I like the idea of you ripping off my tie." AAAAAHH please they just laughed it off! LMAO, what a cutie! The story is just *chef's kiss* I really love the characters. Serena is beautiful, funny, and a fighter while Shai is hot and stunning. Skye is so funny, she has no censor with her words. I understand where Serena got her personality. Tareek is such a cute & loyal guy as well as Chiro. And Madame!! please I love her so much. I just love how it ended, they're such a cute couple even though their relationship was too fast but who cares? Those things happened in real life too. Don't even get me started with Mick the cheating bastard. I hate the guts of cheaters. He deserves that broken nose. I love the improvement of Serena though, from a cheating bastard to a Prince. YAAS!!

That cover caught my attention instantly, then the description of a harem in modern times and how the contrast of cultures could play an important role in this love story.
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I liked that it wasn't a soft and tender Cinderella love story. That the characters are not perfect or that it wasn't a hero who comes to the rescue.
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I found it to be a fluid Romcom with an ideal rhythm. The descriptions of the aromas and the landscape completed the story perfectly.
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The book is set on the fictional island of Birin and a modern version of the harem that maintains royalty in Arab countries. Prince Shailemon has just inherited his father's place and must accommodate to their expectations that everyone have of him, such as maintaining the tradition of a cotaire and find a adecuate wife. In the other hand cames Serena who goes in search of her last chance of a good story, in order to not lose her job at a new york newspaper, what she does not expect is to run into the prince face to face in his first minutes in the palace and be involved in inexpected and quirky situations.
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Instalove, funny situations and a dream landscape are all that is good in a travel romance with good characters
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Thanks to BHC Press for give me this great book in exchange for my honest review

My first NetGalley review, how exciting!! What a fun quick read! Lots of great laugh out loud moments and just enough spicy scenes to be tantalizing, but not over kill. Would have liked a little more character and plot development. Especially, for Ekaterina and Madame. I really like the relationship development between Shai and Serena. Although, this is a contemporary romance this meet cute is highly irregular and they fall in love super fast it's crazy. A missed opportunity was to add Serena's article that she ended up writing. There were points that were slightly predictable. Overall, I think this will be a great summer beach read. If this book shows up at Barnes and Noble I will definitely be recommending it to customers as a fun summer read.

I should say that I ended up reading this a lot while I was waiting for my Dr. appointments for my ear and I'm sure they thought I was nuts laughing in the patient rooms.
The following is a synopsis from Goodreads:
Serena McAllister is devastated to find her fiancé has cheated on her—again. When she learns her newspaper is outsourcing jobs to freelance writers, she’s desperate to land the last remaining staff position. Unfortunately, her rival Jane Childers wants the coveted spot as well, and she’s just as determined.
Vowing to do whatever it takes to get her life in order, Serena decides to join a modern-day harem and write a provocative article about the objectification of women across the world to land her dream job at the newspaper. When Serena arrives at the tiny tropical paradise known as Birin Island, she meets Prince Shailemon Sharma, who is dealing with his own issues of archaic customs in his homeland.
As sparks begin to fly, they discover that attraction can lead to so much more—and that there are no barriers of culture or country when love is on the line.

Love Match is the story of an American journalist who journeys to an island unknown to most of the world to write an expose on harems in the modern day. What she didn’t expect was to find a charming prince who destroyed all of her ideas for this article. Readers be warned, this is a cute as heck love story - however, it is an insta-love story. And if that isn’t for you, I understand. With that being said, once I got past the insta-love section in the beginning, I really did enjoy so much of this story. It has a lot to offer. Because the beginning was not for me, the book is receiving 3 stars. But again, I really did enjoy most of it. Love Match really is worth a read. Here’s why:

What I loved:
- the overall romance (post insta-love) was great in my opinion. I was rooting for these characters
- the cultural challenges. Everything about the cultural divide between America and Birin Island were so fascinating. I want to know so much more about Birin.
- YES to talking about the problems with America
- modern day harems vs harems of the old world. I love getting to look into the history and modernization of women in the court of kings

What I didn’t love so much (besides the insta-love):
- I felt really thrown into the story without enough background. Once you get past it, everything’s fine
- it is pretty predictable, as romances tend to be. But the general “plot twist” was foreshadowed and obvious very early on
- I think the journalism role was a little clumsy and I don’t love Serena as a main character

Again, definitely worth a read if you’re interested in cultural clashing, misguided intentions, and just wanting a cute romance to read quickly.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and BHC Press for sending me and advanced ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Love Match comes out on June 3, 2021!

I'm so grateful to NetGalley and BHC Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of Love Match. Unfortunately, this book and I were not a love match.

First, the basics: this book is a contemporary romance set on the fictional Birin Island, told in third person dual POV, past tense, and it is an open door romance. I really liked the concept behind the plot and was excited to dig in.

Unfortunately, this book is a bit too insta-love for me. The story takes place over a very short amount of time, and there's not a lot of emotional buildup or foundation for the couple--their main draw is sexual attraction, and even that happens startlingly fast. The heroine is a quintessential wacky American who says whatever's in her head and didn't do much research before putting herself in the situation at hand. She even has recognizable cliche clumsiness on top of it all.

Also, while this book does succeed at creating good chemistry during sexual scenes, I disliked the way those scenes sort of zoomed past necessary actions (for example, no mention of pants being removed) which was confusing, and there was no mention of a condom, which is a bit of a deal breaker for me in an open door book.

However, I think plenty of other readers will enjoy this book! It felt a bit like reading a cheesy Netflix romcom (this is NOT an insult, those movies are well-loved!) so people who enjoy that kind of content will probably have a great time with this book.