Book Review: Match Me if You Can

By Melissa Amster

For five years Ashira Wernick has thrown herself into the company her mother built, continuing her work as a matchmaker in the Orthodox Jewish community. But when a small (read: huge) faux pas lands her in hot water with one of the most powerful families in Brooklyn, Ashira's future starts to look a little shaky.

Now, her only hope of saving her mother's legacy is to make the match of the century and she has just the person in mind: New York City's most eligible (and eternally single) bachelor, Caleb Kahn. Her older brother's best friend, and the man she is determined to keep her distance from.

As each match goes from bad to worse, with Caleb seemingly intent on sabotaging every date she sets up, Ashira will need to take a more hands-on approach if she is going to repair her damaged reputation. She just never figured that her heart would be on the line too... (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

After enjoying Unorthodox Love a couple years ago (reviewed here), I was excited to read Match Me if You Can. Heidi Shertok is now two for two with charming Jewish rom-coms and I already can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Match Me had a nice mix of humor with heartbreak and the chemistry was off the charts! Ashira was put through the wringer between her past pain and grief and having someone deliberately trying to ruin her business, yet she tried to maintain a positive and hopeful outlook. 

Caleb was definitely swoonworthy. Their banter was great and had me grinning often and laughing out loud. I also loved her elderly neighbor Bernice. She was really funny! Ashira and Caleb also had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. There was a lot of Jewish joy throughout the novel, which I appreciated. I always enjoy seeing a Shabbat meal or a holiday ritual in a novel.

What I really liked was that Heidi featured some LGBTQ+ characters, such as Ashira's brother (whom I just realized was also in Unorthodox Love) and one of her close friends. The inclusion was really nice to see in a Modern Orthodox story. 

I had one concern that I addressed with Heidi early on, which is the breaking of shomer negiah (when men and women aren't supposed to touch until they get married). What I learned from her was that plenty of Orthodox Jews have broken shomer negiah before getting married. Obviously it's not something that is publicized. I grew up Reform and lived with my husband for two years prior to getting married, so it clearly doesn't bother me now that I'm more observant. However, I did want to give other observant readers a heads up. I appreciate that Heidi tried to show Orthodox Judaism in a different light because there are people who judge unfairly, even in other sects of Judaism. (Like with the "hole through the sheet" assumption.)

Overall, another really enjoyable story to add to your TBR when it releases later this month. You don't have to be Orthodox to read it and you may even learn something new.

(Trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.)

Movie casting suggestions:
Ashira: Yael Grobglas
Caleb: Daveed Diggs
Bernice: Rhea Perlman

Zevi: Max Rhyser (returning from the previous book)

Thanks to Embla for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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TW: Death of mother, parental abandonment, loss of finances