Playing with Matches by Suri Rosen

This review is spoiler free!!

My rating: 3/5 stars

This book was cute. It was very rooted in Jewish culture which was interesting. Even though there's lots of matchmaking, the main character doesn't have to bother with her own love interest. It's kind of refreshing to read a ya book that's not all about the MC hooking up with a guy (not that I don't like that too! But this is a nice change!).

There's some strange word play at times, which I actually kind of enjoyed. But I doubt everyone will. Example:

Thanks to the internet, we swam the waters of bridal magazines, wedding gowns, and floral arrangements like pros - we were like the sockeye salmon of wedding planning. 

Huh? Weird, but I like it.

My only real problems with this book are that most of the characters are unlikable and that everyone is so desperate and obsessed with getting married! I know, what else did I expect from a book about matchmaking? I just have a hard time understanding why being single at 28 is that big of a deal. I know it is for some people though. And apparently it is in the Jewish community.

I honestly didn't really like Raina. She's obsessed with the Red Sox. I guess it's supposed to give her personality or something, but she will just not shut up about the damn Red Sox. I know some pretty hardcore Cardinals fans, but none of them talk about it as much as she talks about the Red Sox. Too much!! She also constantly criticizes the appearance of all other women. Everyone. The popular girl at school, the random woman on the bus, the nerdy girl at school, the teachers, the principal. And she's generally not nice to people, unless she's making a match.

The rest of her family is pretty awful too. Her sister blames her for breaking up her engagement to a total douche. He broke off the engagement because Raina got kicked out of school and he decided he didn't want to be a part of her family because of it. Seriously? If I was engaged to a dude who said that about my little sister, I would have been glad to see him go! What a douche!

Overall it's cute, but I spent a lot of my time angry at most of the characters.


link to Goodreads