Playing with Matches: A Novel

Description

Named a Best Book of Summer by Refinery29, Bustle, and PopSugar "The best rom-com of the season...overflowing with charm and heart." -Bustle "The perfect Summer read-smart, funny, escapist, and bursting with charm." -PopSugar In the tradition of Good in Bed and The Assistants comes a funny and smart comedy about a young matchmaker balancing her messy personal life and the demands of her eccentric clients. Sasha Goldberg has a lot going for her: a recent journalism degree from NYU, an apartment with her best friend Caroline, and a relationship that would be amazing if her finance-bro boyfriend Jonathan would ever look up from his BlackBerry. But when her dream career falls through, she uses her family's darkest secret to land a job as a matchmaker for New York City's elite at the dating service Bliss. Despite her inexperience, Sasha throws herself into her new career, trolling for catches on Tinder, coaching her clients through rejection, and dishing out dating advice to people twice her age. She sets up a TV exec who wanted kids five years ago, a forty-year-old baseball-loving virgin, and a consultant with a rigorous five-page checklist for her ideal match. Sasha hopes to find her clients The One, like she did. But when Jonathan betrays her, she spirals out of control-and right into the arms of a writer with a charming Southern drawl, who she had previously set up with one of her clients. He's strictly off-limits, but with her relationship on the rocks, all bets are off. Fresh, sweet, and laugh-out-loud funny, Playing with Matches is the addictive story about dating in today's swipe-heavy society, and a young woman trying to find her own place in the world.

Hannah Orenstein is the author of Playing with Matches, Love at First Like, and Head Over Heels, and is the deputy editor of dating at Elite Daily. Previously, she was a writer and editor at Seventeen.com. She lives in Brooklyn.

"Struggling post college, Sasha takes a job as a matchmaker. So what if she lacks expertise? But when she falls for a client, she's thrown into it's complicated limbo. Hannah Orenstein's debut is a hilarious look at dating - and swiping." -Us Weekly "Funny, sexy, and absurdly entertaining." -MarieClaire.com "Millennials looking for their perfect beach read this summer need look no further than this delicious romp through the madness of dating in your twenties." -Jo Piazza, co-author of The Knockoff "A smart, feel-good rom com . . . . Reading Playing With Matches will give you butterflies of your own." -Buzzfeed "The perfect Summer read - smart, funny, escapist, and bursting with charm." -PopSugar "The best rom-com of the season . . . . overflowing with charm and heart." -Bustle "Playing With Matches is a fun, drama-filled, behind-the-scenes look at the life and love of an elite New York matchmaker-from a former insider who's lived to tell the burning tale." -Camille Perri, author of The Assistants and When Katie Met Cassidy "It only makes sense for apps like Tinder to be part of romantic comedies . . . . "Playing with Matches" can appeal to people who have yet to swipe right, too." -The Boston Globe "This rom-com is sure to brighten your summer." -Bustle "Playing with Matches is the fun, fast-paced summer read you'll devour regardless of your relationship status." -Hello Giggles "Delightful. A fun and relatable rom-com for the Tinder age. Get ready to swipe right!" -Georgia Clark, author of The Regulars "Hannah Orenstein is one of this generation's most essential voices on love. Everything her characters go through will stay with you for your twenties and beyond." -Dana Schwartz, author of Choose Your Own Disaster "If you grew up with Gossip Girl and you obsessed over Devil Wears Prada, this is the book for your life now! It's smart, fun, sexy, and deeply relateable for every Badass Babe!" -Ann Shoket, author of The Big Life and former editor-in-chief of Seventeen "Sasha, a likable heroine with a quick wit and a self-destructive streak, will appeal to fans of Marian Keyes, Helen Fielding, and Sloane Crosley . . . . a realistic yet romantic portrait of modern dating." -Booklist "Love in the age of Tinder is confusing, weird, and often hilarious-at least it is when told by. . . Hannah Orenstein. . . . [A]n addicting story of love lost and found on the dating scene's latest frontier: the Internet." -Boston Magazine "A laugh-out-loud work that singles, marrieds, suburbanites, and urbanites all will clamor for . . . . With an ending twist that will hit readers like a splash of vodka and tonic in the face of their blind date, this novel is one to pack in your beach bag." -Library Journal "Charming, funny, and probably all too relatable if you're facing the modern dating scene. Don't swipe left on this story." -Elite Daily "A breezy story that will go perfectly with a margarita on the beach . . . . satisfyingly realistic." -Jewish Exponent "An engaging tale . . . . you won't be ready to say goodbye." -DC Refined "Addictive and zinging, this novel will have your Tinder matches languishing as you rush to the end." -Read It Forward "Engaging . . . . A fun, fast read about dating in the city." -Kirkus Reviews "Playing with Matches is pretty much a novel about what you think your life is like . . . . Hate to break it to you, but ghostwriting your best friend's text to her boyfriend does not qualify you as a relationship expert, and this novel will help you understand why." -Betches