I really enjoyed Match Me If You Can! It’s a sweet, fun, and light read—perfect for summer if you’re craving a little sugar with your chai. The vibrant characters and settings Swati Hegde creates are so vivid, you can almost smell the food cooking. This book will definitely have you craving some delicious Indian cuisine! I also loved learning about matchmaking in traditional Indian culture and seeing how it’s evolved into modern online dating. This book was a delightful surprise!

I adored the cover and overall concept for "Match Me if You Can" however; the changing points of view throughout each chapter confused me and eventually led to a "do not finish" at the 50 percent mark. I adored the cultural background information shared and now want to go eat some Indian food.. and perhaps, try again with Hegde's next book!

The FMC is what made me DNF this, I found her annoying and insufferable. Not my cup of tea. Overall, while some elements in this were great, I just had a hard time getting into it, it wasn’t for me. I found the romance to be messy as well.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Dell for this e-ARC.

I must admit that I've never read a Jane Austen novel, but I am familiar with the Emma story because Clueless is one of my all-time favorite movies. I thought this rendition was quite beautiful and new, and I really liked how it was set in Mumbai! I always love pining, and Jaiman did a great job of it in this instance. The friends-to-lovers trope was done pretty well.

Jia spends her days writing cliche articles for Mumbai’s top women’s magazine. But at night, she writes the messy truth about love on her anonymous blog. She wants to start a matchmaking column for the magazine, but in order to prove herself she has to successfully set up her coworker. This project quickly becomes more complicated than she ever expected, especially when she realizes the local pub owner and her longtime family friend has had a secret crush on her for years.

This is a messy slow burn as Jaiman and Jia navigate the transition from being kind of “frenemies” to lovers, which is even more complex with their family history. I loved Jaiman and thought he was just the sweetest and so patient as Jia found herself. I loved the Desi culture throughout the story. I also loved the matchmaking aspects!

Thank you to Random House Dell and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Dual POV, Closed Door, FMC Doubtful of Love, Slow Burn, Desi Romance, Friends to Lovers, Matchmaking

I tried to be understanding of Jia but I found her to be an FMC who was hard to root for and generally unlikeable. Some of her decisions were so questionable and I couldn't fathom why she was spending some much time trying to set her best friend up with a man who was a walking red flag.
Jaiman deserved better in my opinion.

Got to about the 35% mark and just couldn’t do it anymore. The main female character was so insufferable. I didn’t want her with the main male character.. I wanted him with anyone BUT her.
I just didn’t care for her and that made it hard for me to finish because I did not root for her.

I unfortunately had to put this book down part way through. Why? Jia was just a very frustrating character for me. She seemed very unlikeable. Interesting, but just incredibly difficult to like. I felt like how she handled this whole romance thing was pretty inappropriate and rude. I couldn't tell what the main love interest liked in here.

What I did like though, was the unique setting for a romance. It was FRESH it was FUN. But the characters in that unique setting just were not tolerable for me.

Rounding up from 3.5⭐

What I really liked. The gorgeous cover. The Mumbai setting and culture. The idea of young woman interested in becoming a matchmaker while working at a sleazy click bait website.

What bothered me. I hate the miscommunication trope, with a few exceptions. The entire relationship between the MMC and the FMC based is a gigantic miscommunication. And frankly, people keep telling you that Jia, the FMC, is supposed to be a kind caring person, but I didn't see any evidence of that until the end. She is more concerned with making her match work and is quite self centered.

An overall positive reading experience with some caveats. Definitely will try more from this author.

If you only read one book this year, THIS IS IT. There's drama, there's intrigue, there's love, and there's war. Also amazing descriptions of cocktails and food, not to mention amazing outfits! I LOVED being taken along for Jia and Jaiman's journey, it was truly a tale of love. Don't waste a second and read this now!!

I have a really hard time getting intoa. book when we can see inside the minds of both protagonists, and they are both into the other person - but they refuse to act on it in any way, even if the other person makes it clear they are interested. Is there a misunderstanding? Does someone have unnecessarily low self-esteem such that "they couldn't possibly actually like me" ? or would it truly ruin the friendship to take a chance? The premise of this book is a solid one -- journalist wants to start a matchmaking business and talks her boss into letting her start it via writing a column, so she can get her start and profile the matches she makes. But I just couldn't get into the writing style (which lacked subtlety in telling the story and setting the scene) and trope. Its a DNF for me.

Writer Jia prides herself in her matchmaking abilities. When she offers to help set up her new coworker things don’t go as planned. Frustrated Jia turns to her best friend Jaiman for comfort and advice. Jaiman has wanted to tell Jia how he really feels about her but after a kiss that did not end as expected he has kept to just being Jia’s friend. As Jiaman tries to convince Jia that the most logical match may not necessarily be the right match, Jia has to confront her feelings for Jaiman as well.

This was a charming cultural romance!

A young magazine columnist in Mumbai has a secret blog where she talks about Love and her matchmaking skills, as well as her desire to open her own matchmaking business. Throughout the book you sympathize with her struggles with work and them realizing her worth and great ideas. When she is given the chance the prove herself she gets so caught up in what she thinks should happen instead of letting love happen the way it should. She insists that she isn’t ready and doesn’t need love but as the story unfolds her walls start to come down and then she realizes that she’s never wanted anyone other guys love is because she is already loved by one you least expect.
Good Book, took me a little longer to read than normal because the story doesn’t keep you engrossed but it was something different that I hadn’t read before and would recommend if needed

Don’t get me wrong, I love a slow burn, but this slow burn didn’t quite make me believe their chemistry which just had this falling a little flat for me.

A young magazine writer in Mumbai must prove her matchmaking skills—and contend with growing feelings for her close family friend—in this debut desi romance.

“A delightful friends-to-lovers romance that will curb your sweet tooth and leave you feeling warm and happy!”—New York Times bestselling author Sarah Adams

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

I feel mixed ways about this book. Let's start with the good. I truly finished this book because of the male main character, Jaiman was charming and sweet, and just was trying so hard to hold everything together. I really also loved the cover, and this was my first book that I've read set in Mumbi. I love the idea of childhood friends to lovers trope. I also how the side characters and i loved the dual POV. I loved the restaurant scenes and J's Pub. It was a quick read, and the writing was good. There is a closed door spicy scene, which was cool. I love that Jaiman got a HEA, and I guess I was glad Jia got one too...

There was a good chunk of the book, I upset with the female main character. Like Jia had some good qualities, but like there were points of the book where she was being really selfish, and problematic towards Jaiman AND her friend. There was like NO communication on Jia's end until like 70% in the book. Like so many of the problems that Jia (somewhat created for herself) couldve been solved with simple communication and not being so self-absorbed. I feel like this book could be described as a slow burn, but there were some parts for me that seemed to drag on.

I just don't think this was the book for me, but it was okay. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. *shrugs*

loved this book so much. I am always finding new desi romance books to read and it was everything I could ever hope for. First of all the cover is so beautiful, when I saw it for the first time, I was in love haha. I knew I had to read it. Jia and jaiman both are stubborn which made the story more interesting. I was screaming for them to express their feelings for each-other halfway through the book. The slow burn was slow burning. Their banter was everything. and I loved reading all the diwali bits it had. It feels so good reading about your culture, festivals. JIA & JAIMAN are perfect together. Their chemistry was everything. I definitely recommend this book if you're looking for a slow burn friends to lovers desi romance book.
Definitely recommended!!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroup for this ARC. Swati Hegde is a wonderful author. I enjoyed the friends to lovers troupe.
I loved the Mumbai location of this story. Jia loves her childhood friend but when a misunderstanding happens she try's to forget him by staring a love blog. She also wants to be a matchmaker and run her own business. Yet, things go out of her control, as is life, and she has to figure out what is most important to her. A great read.

Fun and fresh, but a little flat.

Jia and Jaiman's childhood friends to lovers journey is sweet, definitely a decent read.

My main gripe is that the story fell a little flat on the romance side because we don't really get to see much depth in the friendship between Jia and Jaiman. We're told they're besties, we're told they harbor secret feelings for each other, we're told they have a connection but I just wish we got to see it more!

I also feel like as best friends a little more honest communication would've served them well, but it's pretty realistic that they didn't have the feelings talk earlier when so much is/was on the line for them.

Overall good, can't wait for what the author whips up next.

What a cute little debut! I thought it was a super enjoyable read. I found myself laughing out load a few times. I did have a hard time connecting with the main character but I still found it enjoyable. Super cute & original idea!