Book Review: Match Me If You Can
Match Me If You Can by Heidi Shertok will be released as an e-book in the United States on Oct 30, 2025.
Match Me If You Can is a friends-to-lovers romance, with an older brother’s best friend trope, set in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York. Ashira is trying to continue her mother’s matchmaking legacy when she gets blacklisted by a powerful family and loses most of her matchmaking clients and contacts. Ashira has sworn off love and marriage for herself, so she focuses on the love stories of others.
Ashira’s comeback plan involves her childhood family friend, Caleb Kahn, (and brother’s best friend) who is now all grown up and very good-looking. He is also considered one of the most eligible bachelors in the community. Ashira and Caleb make a deal—she gets healthier and trains for a race with him, and Caleb will go out on several dates set up by Ashira. When Ashira fixes Caleb up on dates, they don’t go very well, which leaves readers wondering, is he hiding his true feelings from Ashira? And will Ashira open herself up to love and trusting Caleb again?
My Thoughts
I thought Ashira’s character development was well-done, in general. I think that readers in their 20s and 30s would resonate most with this book. To me, as a 40+ reader, a lot of Ashira’s obstacles felt a bit immature or not realistic, like how she was afraid to trust Caleb after he did something perfectly reasonable in her childhood. It is hard for me to read books where the main characters put all of their abandonment issues on someone else. However, this is somewhat common as an obstacle in a lot of contemporary romance novels.
I also felt like some of the dialogue and writing was a bit uneven or trying too hard to be funny (such as some of the interactions with her elderly neighbor). On the other hand, I really enjoyed some of the side characters, including Ashira’s friend who may be neurodivergent, and the funny dining scenes with family characters. Some of the scenes were really funny, too, like when they went to a speed-dating event.
Overall, I enjoyed learning more about the Orthodox Jewish community and traditions around dating and marriage. I also liked learning more about the concept of basherts, which are like soulmates, and how a person could have more than one potential soulmate over the course of their lives.
If you enjoy matchmaking stories, friends-to-lovers romance, and TV shows like Nobody Wants This, then you will enjoy Match Me If You Can.
Thank you to NetGalley and Embla Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
