Match Me If You Can

DEBUT Jia Deshpande, bored with providing generic content for the women’s magazine Mimosa, is eager to pitch a matchmaker column for the publication. There’s just one problem—she needs to prove to her less-than-enthusiastic boss that she is up to the challenge. Jia’s love life isn’t exactly enviable, despite her popular anonymous personal blog where she doles out love advice on the side. Jaiman, her friend from childhood, has more dating experience than Jia. Jia has done her best to ignore her attraction to him, while Jaiman, who is fulfilling his dream of running his own pub in Mumbai, has been quietly in love with Jia for decades and is waiting for her to realize that they should be more than just friends. Jia decides to recruit Charu, her new astrology-driven coworker, to test her matchmaking skills. When not one, but three hearts end up broken, Jia recognizes that her love instincts may not be as sharp as she believed. Unfortunately, the novel’s repetitive misunderstandings don’t increase the slow-burn tension, and too many subplots detract from the main story.