Playing with Matches: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Named a Best Book of Summer by Refinery29, Bustle, and PopSugar

The best rom-com of the seasonoverflowing with charm and heart. Bustle
The perfect Summer readsmart, 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 familys darkest secret to land a job as a matchmaker for New York Citys 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 controland right into the arms of a writer with a charming Southern drawl, who she had previously set up with one of her clients. Hes 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 todays swipe-heavy society, and a young woman trying to find her own place in the world.

Reviews

Struggling post college, Sasha takes a job as a matchmaker. So what if she lacks expertise But when she falls for a client, shes thrown into its complicated limbo. Hannah Orensteins debut is a hilarious look at dating and swiping.
UsWeekly
"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 . . . . ReadingPlaying With Matcheswill 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 Matchesis a fun, drama-filled, behind-the-scenes look at the life and love of an elite New York matchmakerfrom a former insider whos 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 Matchesis the fun, fast-paced summer read youll 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 isone of this generations most essential voices on love. Everything her characters go through will stay with you for your twenties and beyond.
Dana Schwartz, author ofChoose Your Own Disaster
"If you grew up withGossip Girland you obsessed overDevil Wears Prada,this is the book for your life now! Its smart, fun, sexy, and deeply relateable for every Badass Babe!"
Ann Shoket, author of The Big Lifeand 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 hilariousat least it is when told by. . . Hannah Orenstein. . . . [A]n addicting story of love lost and found on the dating scenes latestfrontier: 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
"Abreezy 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 Matchesis pretty much a novel about what youthinkyour life is like . . . .Hate to break it to you, but ghostwriting your best friends text to her boyfriend doesnot qualify you as a relationship expert, and this novel will help you understand why."
Betches

Author Bio

Hannah Orenstein is the author ofPlaying with Matches,Love at First Like, andHead Over Heels, and is the deputyeditor of datingatElite Daily. Previously, she was a writer and editor at Seventeen.com. She lives in Brooklyn.