Match Me If You Can: A Friends-to-Lovers Desi Romance

A quick guide to the tropes in my debut novel, *Match Me If You Can*. It's a friends-to-lovers, foodie romance with meddling matchmaking, found family, and a hero who's been in love with the heroine the whole time.

A quote from *Match Me If You Can* that captures the essence of the friends-to-lovers slow burn. "You didn't do forehead kisses with someone you wanted to land, you did them with someone you wanted to keep."

Are you kidding me? In this book, the characters don't kiss until page 273. If you're a fan of extreme slow-burn romance, *Match Me If You Can* is the book for you.

What would the main character of *Match Me If You Can*, Jia Deshpande, search on Google? Probably things like "how to get your boss to approve your matchmaking column" and "how to stop being attracted to your childhood friend."

Meet the main characters of *Match Me If You Can*. Jaiman is struggling with his feelings for his childhood best friend, Jia, who is blissfully unaware she's matchmaking the wrong couple. It's chaotic friends-to-lovers energy.

A snippet from *Match Me If You Can*, where the annoyingly handsome pub owner wants to kiss the clueless matchmaker, but can't because they're supposed to be just friends. The pining is real.

Happy first birthday to my debut novel, *Match Me If You Can*. It's been one year since it was published in the US, and I'm so grateful for every reader who has picked it up.

Reading a copy of *Match Me If You Can* in a cafe. This book is set in Mumbai and is filled with delicious food descriptions and a whole lot of heart.

A scene from a Bollywood movie that captures the "he walks in while she's trying on her mother's old wedding dress" moment. This is the kind of romantic energy you'll find in *Match Me If You Can*.