Matchmakers don’t fall in love with their clients… unless they do. She doesn’t believe in love… clients and establishing a sterling reputation is the career stepping stone she needs to finally earn the kind of money she’s always dreamed of.
… but love can be found in unlikely places.
When her best friend Tonya becomes her client and gets set up with the handsome and charming-when-he-wants-to-be Mark Dunham, Victoria is inexplicably drawn to him. As she suddenly questions her beliefs about love, she has to make a decision. Is it okay to fall in love with your best friend’s perfect match?
A modern-day contemporary romance
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I’m not going to lie, I came this close to not requesting this book on NetGalley. The book had been published in June and I already had a ridiculous amount of books to read, but the reviews for this one on Goodreads sold me! I am SO happy they did because this book was exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump I’ve been fighting through.
It takes a special kind of author to be able to start a book and have me hooked from the beginning. Anita Lemke’s style of writing was so smooth and easy to read. There was the perfect blend of description and internal dialogue without the story ever feeling cluttered. The story was fast paced without feeling rushed (more on that later) and I actually really liked the two main characters together!
Victoria, Vicky to her friends, does NOT believe in love. So she chose the most logical career, she started her own matchmaking business. The only difference is she her clients are not marrying for love, they’re marrying for companionship and longevity. When Vicky lands a high end client she knows her until her career is at the make it or break it point. At the same time her best friend is desperate for a husband and asks Vicky for help. Between a difficult client and pleasing her friend, Vicky realizes she’s falling for the man she’s setting one of them up with. And he may be falling for her, too.
Did anyone else watch Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo back in the day? That’s exactly how I pictured this dynamic. There will be those who read this and don’t agree with some of the things Victoria does in her business, but I promise this story is worth sticking it out! I also was NOT a fan of how she handled her own personal feelings and drug others down with her. That was sloppy to the max but I have a feeling we’ll see that situation better resolved in book 2!
If you’re looking for a classic contemporary romance that will feed your need for drama and a feel good love story look no further!
I am a big fan of the matchmaker trope, and Anita Lemke’s interpretation with The Perfect Match is quite engaging. I was so absorbed in the plot that I read it from cover to cover very quickly. This is the first book from The Perfect series and it can be read as a standalone.
Victoria Medrano is the matchmaker to the elite, with falling in love being a completely unnecessary, but nice byproduct of the process. She dreams of one day leading a luxurious life, much like the clients that hire her. Victoria’s deviousness to get what she wants is inexcusable, which makes her character very unlikable towards the end of the story.
Mark Dunham is a really good guy, even though his reputation is less than stellar. He has accrued a ton of debt, due to his beloved mother’s many medical bills. Luckily, his impending trust fund will do more than take care of his financial difficulties. However, he needs to get married in order to receive any of it. He ends up falling in love with Victoria, even though she has fixed him up with her best friend Tonya.
I really liked this book, however, Victoria’s ruthless behavior was a bit hard to digest. I liked the secondary characters and their respective personalities were interesting. The next book in the series is about Tonya, and I am truly looking forward to reading it.
Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Victoria runs a matchmaking agency for the rich & doesn’t believe in love. She takes on many clients that definitely give her a run for her money. However when her friend needs a marriage of convenience to fund her goals she agrees to help her. However she didn’t realise she’d complicate her friendship, business & own life.
Mark has an interesting past however he is an allround good guy & he hits it off immediately with Victoria. She keeps resisting until the end where he gives up the fight. Will she win him back?
This is quite angsty & heartwarming at times. I did wish I could’ve give her a good shake a time or 2.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Cupid, she ain’t.
Victoria is a matchmaker but she isn’t a heart eyes, Cupid’s arrow, star-crossed lovers variety. She is a straight up arranged marriage for money to money relationships. Rich parents come to her to marry off their daughter to someone that would be financially beneficial to their family. She doesn’t believe in love, she believes that the only thing you need going into a marriage is common interests. Love can possibly come later as a bonus. Victoria has an extensive, very well researched list of eligible men. Research that proves beneficial if, after a few arranged meet-cutes with the Juliet and the targeted Romeo, things aren’t moving fast enough, Victoria uses as shady leverage over the man to get the proposal going. I think it’s cold, callous, shallow, and kind of evil. Victoria sees nothing wrong with it and she has a perfect success rate. Finally she begin to see the light and realizes these matchings aren’t right. But is it too late?
I really didn’t like Victoria so that makes it hard to stay in the story. But I also felt like her character and her situations weren’t written very consistently.
Many parts of the story were predictable, including the ending. There were many scenes that could be cut for content because they felt like unimportant filler yet there were other scenes that I felt needed to be expanded to get the point acrossed more clearly rather than just having to infer.
Eh, it was just sorta okay.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley.)