The Unmatchmakers

The Unmatchmakers (2022) Jackie Lau

Leora may find her mother frustrating, but she’s looking forward to a week at the vacation house her mother bought with her two best friends–even if she hasn’t seen the kids she nearly grew up with in years.

It’s a bit weird, us all hanging out as adults. Different than it was when we were little, and yet also a touch familiar, in a way

Henrietta Leung is complicated. A single mother, her expectations for Leora are different from those of other immigrant parents.

My mother, on the other hand, let me go out with friends and didn’t demand perfect grades; she just told me that good grades might give me more opportunities, but there were other pathways to success outside of university.

It was emphasized that a knight in shining armor, a prince, or an ogre was never coming to save me. Love was a lie, and I could only count on myself.

Which is the basis for the story. Leora and Neil have chemistry and get along, but Henry Leung and Tanya Choy are adamantly opposed to romance and love and do everything possible to keep the two apart.

…with Tanya and Dee, she found the support she needed. Three mothers raising their kids alone. Three women who’d sworn off men.

I liked a lot about this story, from Neil likely being Ace and ASD:

I do really like you, Leora, and that doesn’t happen often for me.

a lot of things were overwhelming for me. Once, I went to a school dance and left after five minutes. Too many people—but more than anything, it was the loud music that was torture.

To Henry and Tanya actively trying to keep the two apart.

But where the story fell short for me (as many of Jackie Lau’s stories do) was the focus on the sexual chemistry. Again, this is a me thing, and I am not here to yuck anyone’s yum, but there were so many interesting elements to the story that I got annoyed every time I’d have to skim Leora’s fantasizing about Neil, or the boinking bits when they actually get together.

This was frustrating because I liked so much else about the story, and even the third act “breakup” (not actually a break-up)–which I typically despise as a trope, and which irked me initially, upon reflection worked, since I realized that I have often failed to call/email/text in a timely manner, because I keep putting it off until I can “figure out what to say”.

And let me say that was a very uncomfortable recognition.

So as usual with a Jackie Lau story, I loved everything except all the boinking, which was a big part of the story, but for me distracted from the “interesting bits.” I’ll keep reading Jackie Lau stories, because I really do enjoy her writing and story telling, but I’ll likely only pick them up on sale, because of all the boinking bits distracting me from the parts I love.

Characters: Leora Leung, Jaime, Neil Choy, Henrietta Leung, Dee, Zoey, Auntie Tanya Choy, Dee, Robbie Choy, Erin, Sandy

Publisher: Kobo Originals

Rating: 7/10

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