A review by nina_chan01
Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde

3.0

Jia Deshpande works at a fashionable women's magazine writing articles that she never agrees with but can stand thanks to the blog she anonymously writes in response to them. It's her dream to become a matchmaker and she hopes to get the magazine to run a column where she helps readers find their match, yet her boss won't even consider it unless she can prove she's a capable matchmaker. Meanwhile, Jia's longtime friend, Jaiman Patil, is struggling to keep his pub running despite the empty seats and red in the ledgers. He's also madly in love with Jia even though she ran away from him the one time he mustered up the courage to kiss her and then demanded that they never talk about it.

It's not bad but it's also something that I've read a ton of times before. I think a big part of what saved it from being completely forgettable is the unique setting of Mumbai instead of the typical New York or American city. I also appreciated all the little cultural details that Hegde includes because it really helps you dive into the story.
Jia is a strong and confident woman, but that strength comes out feeling a bit like bullying when she bulldozes people into doing what she wants because she's convinced she knows better. It makes her a bit unlikeable so it took me a while to really warm up to her as the lead, but Jaiman is such a sweetheart that he's the reason I kept waiting for Jia to show her more positive side.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Dell for the interesting read!