Alison Doherty is a writing teacher and part time assistant professor living in Brooklyn, New York. She has an MFA from The New School in writing for children and teenagers. She loves writing about books on the Internet, listening to audiobooks on the subway, and reading anything with a twisty plot or a happily ever after.
Self-declared matchmaking GENIUS Emiko Kimori has already found success by helping her aunt find true love, so when the new girl in town becomes her new BFF, it's only natural for Emiko to help set her up for success with a suitable love match.
As for her own romantic life though . . . who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. But when Emiko ends up falling for the last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches.
Does anyone else love a matchmaker romance? I have ever since I read Jane Austen’s Emma in high school (and watched the movie adaptation!). Like Emma, I love when a character is a matchmaker who lives for setting other people up but has no idea what to do when it comes to her own romantic life. I have also adored stories where the characters are set up by a matchmaker.
YA matchmaker romances are a little more rare than adult matchmaker stories. But there are some truly great YA matchmaker-themed romances out there. Some borrow the trope from Emma—a matchmaker that is oblivious about her own love life. Some involve cultures where arranged marriages and matchmaking are still the norm. Some use technology to show a new side of matchmaking. No matter the angle, matchmaking YA stories are unique, funny, and most importantly … romantic! Here are a few different takes on YA matchmaker-themed romances.
Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O’Clover
For her senior project, Ro creates an app based on the classic game MASH that will actually predict your future with 93% accuracy. It will even tell you who your soulmate is. The app was just supposed to be a school assignment, but when it goes viral and tech investors are interested, the pressure is on. The only problem is that the app tells Ro that her soulmate is her very ex-best friend, Alistair Miller. She has to make up with him, or just pretend to, in order to show how accurate her app is. But then she wonders if the app is influencing other people’s lives for better or for worse. A lot is on the line for Ro, but what will win out: her dreams for her future, or her conscience?
29 Dates by Melissa de la Cruz
Jisu is about to start her senior year in Seoul with parents who are obsessed with making sure she has the perfect future. Between the academic pressure and their insistence that she find an appropriate boyfriend using a matchmaker, Jisu doesn’t have room to figure out what she really wants. After failing a test and skipping a blind date to hang with her friends, her parents send her to private school in San Francisco. But just because she’s on a different continent, doesn’t mean the matchmaker will stop setting her up on dates. Lots of dates. Twenty-nine of them to be exact. Along the way, she’ll find new friends, a growing artistic passion, and even a love triangle!
Love Decoded by Jennifer Yen
When Gigi isn’t trying to be the perfect Taiwanese American daughter and student, she’s helping out at her aunt’s matchmaking business. Aunt Rose is reluctant to digitalize her business and add an app, no matter how much Gigi pushes. But when a teacher at school announces an app writing contest, Gigi decides to take what she’s learned from Aunt Rose and make a friend-making app. She’s convinced winning the contest will help her get into a top college and finally prove to her parents that she’s just as smart and capable as her brother. But some of her classmates use the matchmaking app for more than friendship, and soon it’s going viral and putting Gigi at the middle of a big scandal. Also, her best friends are talking to her anymore. To get through this, Gigi needs to give up her personal quest for perfection and admit some mistakes, ask for help, and think about what she really wants. But doing that is a lot harder than just saying it.
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
The summer after graduation, Dimple cares more about coding than her mom’s obsession with finding her the perfect Indian husband. After all, she’s still a teenager! Meanwhile, Rishi finds the idea of an arranged marriage completely romantic, and he’s 100% on board when his parents tell him his future wife (aka Dimple) will be attending the same web developer summer program. But no one tells Dimple, so she throws her iced coffee on him when they first meet and he introduces himself as her future husband. Despite this misunderstanding, chemistry and feelings for each other grow throughout the summer. Maybe their parents will turn out to be better matchmakers than Rishi expected?
The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim
In Bangladesh, Zahra’s family was basically royalty, but in New Jersey, that doesn’t mean a lot. After her father’s death two years ago, Zahra and her mother have been struggling financially. Zahra dreams of making it as a successful writer, and she’s working at a local restaurant to save money for college writing classes to help make that happen. But her mother dreams of Zahra marrying a wealthy, well-born boy from their community. She uses her matchmaker skills to set Zahra up with Harun, who meets every one of her requirements. The only problem? Zahra finds herself more drawn to the new dishwasher at work, Nayim, who is penniless and just came from Bangladesh.
Plus One by Kelsey Rodkey
Lahey has a reputation in high school as the class matchmaker. She’s helped many of her peers find love, but has never been super interested in dating herself. But when her cousin/enemy Summer decides Lahey won’t have a plus one to her sweet sixteen party, Lahey lies and says she will bring a date. Now she only has six days to find a plus one to get revenge on Summer. Is she overlooking the one perfect date that’s right under her nose? Does she need to pretend to be someone else in order to pull this off? The journey is full of humorous ups and downs and poignant moments of self-discovery—along with a good dose of swoony romance.
I hope you try one of these YA matchmaker-themed romances. And I hope you love it afterwards. If you would like more YA romance reading ideas, then you should try a friends-to-lovers romance, a forbidden romance story, or a fake-dating romance. As always, happy reading!
English (US) · 