A Perfect Match (2026)
Another sports romance where my affection is unrelated to the content.
Last year, we read How You Get the Girl for book club, and my reading was greatly enhanced by my partner annotating her copy before I read it. This year, I returned the favour with an annotated copy of A Perfect Match, chosen based on the title and the amount of Ted Lasso we’ve watched over the summer.
Our couple are two women and former best friends who’ve recently fallen out of the world of professional football. Maya went professional from a young age, and has retired to the surprise of her peers; Dina was injured at the match where a talent scout was coming to see her play, and is now helping her mother and brother run their late father’s restaurant. They both end up coaching different football teams as a summer job, and the teams’ rivalry brings them both together.
For me, the highlight was Dina’s relationship with her mother and her brother Deen, and dealing with their late father’s restaurant. It gave me echoes of my own grandfather.
I wasn’t blown away by this book, and my affection for it was definitely buoyed by preparing it for my partner. (My copy of How You Get the Girl is currently in a packing box, but I suspect that will end up being a book we both enjoyed more.) I don’t feel compelled to seek out the author’s other works, but this project has already made us both happy, so I’m glad I did.
(Hello darling, I know you read my book reviews. I deliberately held off posting this so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise. Happy anniversary, again.)