A review by brooke_review
Match Me If You Can by Tiana Smith

4.0

Mia only has eyes for Vince. Not only is he popular and the school’s star soccer player, he’s also really hot. He just has to be Mia’s date for homecoming, but why would he ask out a girl like her? Mia decides to take things into her own hands by manipulating her best friend Robyn’s matchmaking service to ensure that Vince asks her out for the dance.

Mia ultimately gets what she wants, but is it REALLY what she wants? See, there’s this other guy, Logan, who Mia would never look at twice in a million years because he is sooo not her type. But there’s something about Logan’s in your face charm and free-spirited, creative ways that has Mia intrigued. If Vince is really the guy of her dreams, why is she feeling butterflies in her stomach every time she is around Logan?

Match Me If You Can by Tiana Smith is a cute and breezy Swoon Read (Swoon Reads are stories written by people like you and me, which are then voted on by readers - the most loved manuscripts get turned into published novels!) Featuring the classic YA trope - the love triangle - Match Me If You Can delves into a problem that many high school girls face - which guy to choose?

Smith does a great job of diving right into the story, and using the plot to move things along. While her lead character Mia is not the most likable of girls, she is nonetheless written like a real teenager. Too many times, YA authors write characters to behave and think like adults, but Smith’s Mia doesn’t exactly have everything all figured out. She wavers back and forth between two guys, spends an excessive amount of time wondering if they like her, frets over her appearance, gets in guy-related fights with her best friends, and spends an unhealthy amount of time staring at the phone. All typical teenage behaviors. It was refreshing to read a YA novel that doesn’t show a teenage character making better life decisions than I as an adult make!

While this novel isn’t going to have you pondering life’s greater mysteries or exploring the deep and dark corners of humanity, it is still a fun book to while away the hours. Match Me If You Can’s intended audience, teenagers, will love this story of matchmaking, love triangles, and catty best friends, and may just see a glimpse of themselves in these pages.

Thank you to NetGalley & Swoon Reads for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.