Arc Review: The Unmatchmakers by Jackie Lau

Title: The Unmatchmakers
Author: Jackie Lau
Genre: Adult Contemporary / Romance
Publication Date: June 28th, 2022
Publisher: Kobo Originals
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a complimentary earc to review! All opinions are my own.

“You’d think my mother would be trying to set me up with architect Neil Choy, the unmarried son of her best friend. But you’d be wrong.

My single mother has always been fiercely independent. Since I was a small child, she’s always told me not to believe in fairy tales and that I don’t need a man. So she’s failed to mention that Neil is a total hottie in glasses. When I see him for the first time in a decade, on a multi-family cottage vacation, I’m in for quite a shock. (In fact, I nearly fall in the lake, but let’s keep that a secret.)

He sure can grill a mean steak and mix a killer cocktail, plus he’s pretty impressive in a kayak. Yes, he’s a little stern and grumpy, but that just makes him more fun to tease—and makes it more satisfying when he quirks his lips in my direction.

Even though my mind is spinning romantic fantasies, I’m not entirely sure how he feels. And I’m afraid that if anything happens between us, it’ll screw up the friendship between our staunchly anti-relationship mothers. Especially since they’ve been acting increasingly weird since we arrived—I will never forgive them for the S’mores Incident. In fact, I think they’re trying to sabotage my love life, and I’m starting to worry that I won’t make it through this bizarre summer vacation…” (Goodreads)

Usually I am not one for a shorter story but this one was cute and I really enjoyed it. Obviously, one of the reasons for requesting this one was because of the cover. Haha, I’m predictable at this point when it comes to that!

The book follows one point-of-view and it comes from Leora. She is meeting her mom and childhood friends for a week long trip on a lake. There isn’t much character development and what we do get is about growth. There are quite a few characters that have growth and it was nice to see how each one dealt with the situations that were handed to them for the growth to happen. I feel like her mom and auntie had the most since they really don’t believe in love.

The families reminded me a lot of Dial A for Aunties. Leora’s mom and aunties were hilarious. I never thought I would read a book where the moms will do anything to break up their children. It was insane the lengths they would try to go. It definitely made the book very comedic.

If you are a steamy romance reader, there are two scenes that take place between the couple and a lot of lead-up to it all.

Overall, this was cute and would be a nice book to take on a summer vacation, especially because it is on the shorter side. I’m not one for friend-to-lovers but this one sure makes me want to change my mind.