bookishblasian 's review for:

Matching All the Way by Veronica Eden

4.0

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I was excited to return to Heston Lake after reading Iced Out exactly a month ago. This book apparently takes place before Iced Out. And so does the other novella in the Heston Lake world. It’s confusing that they’re being put out in this order, but I’ll roll with it. This book follows Eve. Her dad is the hockey coach for Heston U. Cole Kincaid gets hired on as the assistant coach. Cole is her brother’s best friend aka her crush growing up. Apparently they’ve both had a thing for each other and never said anything. Cole and Eve are both on the dating apps and end up matching a handful of times when both of them continue to delete and redownload the apps. After a New Years Eve / birthday kiss, Eve realizes Cole is interested in her and they start up a secret relationship. The beginning of this book was sloooooow for me. Not slow burn, just slow. I was interested enough, but I kept wanting something to happen. About 100 pages in SHIT GETS REAL. It goes from 0 to 100 real quick. From then on, I couldn’t put it down. The steam is verrrrrry steamy. And for a little while, it was just them texting or calling each other. Cole and Eve balance each other out very well. Their secret relationship goes on for nearly a year before anyone finds out. And while I normally want less angst and conflict, in this case, I almost wanted more angst and conflict. The big reveal of their secret is only stressful for 10 mins and then everyone is over it. Sure, that’s ideal for the people involved but it doesn’t make for a satisfying conflict resolution. I just wish the conflict was a little more dramatic/drawn out. I am glad there was no third act breakup though. I also really enjoyed seeing all the side characters from Iced Out. Overall, I really enjoyed my return to Heston Lake. Cole and Eve balance each other out very well. I always love when there’s one person who can be the calm to someone’s storm. I do wish there was more conflict (which is nuts), but I’m okay with how it turned out. The steam in this book is less cringey than the steam in Iced Out, and that may be because they’re in their late 20s and not young college kids. Either way, I’ll probably be returning for the next book in this series.