You Have Match starts off with the following highly intriguing sentence: “It starts with a bet.” Now, I have to admit that before I started reading this book, I thought it would be some plain romance story where 2 lovers find each other by chance, maybe through some online platform. And in some ways it is a story about love, I suppose, but it’s a lot more than that. The main character, Abby, who’s a high school junior, sends her DNA to a DNA-testing facility for fun that tells you about your heritage and potential relations of yours. She finds to her astonishment that apparently, she has a sister named Savvy she’s never heard of before, and the two decide to meet up at a park. The two don’t immediately hit it off but for the time being, make arrangements to figure out why they haven’t known about each other at a summer camp for SAT and AP class preparation (except it’s also an actual camp in a forest). By chance, Abby finds that one of her best friends who she did the DNA-sending activity with, Leo, is working at the camp over the summer like Savvy –except that things are awkward between him and her because of something she calls the BEI (Big Embarrassing Incident). Savvy’s tendencies to be a strong rule abider and enforcer manifest at the park as the camp’s de facto head counselor, which creates humorous conflicts and sisterly “battles” between herself and Abby throughout the book. Overall, You Have a Match is a quite wholesome read that describes the tale of two sisters who hadn’t known each other bonding, a developing relationship between Abby and Leo, and the great turbulence and chaos that Abby and Savvy increasingly encounter as they uncover more about their pasts.
Firstly, there’s a large sense of “completeness” to this book. There aren’t really any major standing unanswered questions by its end, and I think many readers would feel strangely satisfied by the time they turn or swipe over the last page. The uniqueness and light, humorous feel to the book, though, was what was truly appealing to me about You Have a Match. I, and I’m sure many others, have not read many stories such as this before in which a character suddenly discovers a close blood relation of theirs, and a relationship between the two grows. Abby grows resentful of Savvy in many early parts of the book for Savvy’s somewhat authoritative behavior at the camp and plays some pretty amusing pranks on her –one of them in fact leads to Savvy “stealing” one of the camp’s vans and driving into the main town. The characters are all highly likable as well: Finn is a goofy friend of Savvy but also a fellow prankster of Abby’s at the camp; Leo possesses great culinary talent but also great kindness; Abby doesn’t like to confront her problems but is brave; Mickey is energetic and caring; and Savvy has a light side and is also caring.
There’s a very human quality to this book, if that makes sense. Almost everything in the book is tied to human emotion, and the characters end up feeling highly genuine. Nothing about their reactions necessarily feels exaggerated either, and I feel like readers are able to get a true sense of the types of people that the central characters are. I don’t believe this book was written to accurately document what it’s like to suddenly find and connect with a secret sibling; I think readers should just take it for the light, relaxing read that it is.
(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD*) A major element of the book is definitely the story behind the separation of Savvy and Abby. It turns out that their biological father, Tom, had a case of severe pneumonia when he and their biological mother, Maggie, were in love. It wasn’t looking too great for Tom, but Maggie then ended up becoming pregnant with Savvy. Maggie didn’t think she could handle taking Savvy on her own so gave her up for adoption. However, Tom nearly fully recuperated with a new treatment, and so they then had Abby, followed by the 3 of her little brothers. Tom and Maggie, at the same time, had two close friends named Dan and Pietra, another couple. Dan and Pietra were the ones who agreed to adopt Savvy when Maggie and Tom’s situation wasn’t looking great. The relationship between them soured, though, when Maggie and Tom tried to take Savvy back. Speed to the present day when the relationship between the two couples is still fragile but Savvy and Abby try to rekindle the couples’ friendship. As you can see, the story is a bit complicated, but if you try to absorb it bit by bit, it’ll likely eventually make sense.
The second major aspect or area of the book is probably the relationship between Leo and Abby, although a relationship kindles between Savvy and Mickey as well. Leo and Abby have been best friends for a long time, but the BEI occurred between them, which caused their relationship to become awkward. During the BEI, at least from Abby’s perspective, she had tried to kiss Leo, but both their phones pinged, interrupting the kiss. As a result, their relationship ended up being awkward, when Abby still harbored some major feelings for Leo. It was pretty clear, to me at least, that Abby’s feelings for Leo were definitely reciprocated on Leo’s end. Leo remembered the BEI as him trying to kiss Abby rather than the other way around and became elated at the notion that Abby was going to the camp for his company on the boat ride to the campgrounds. The author tries to throw you off later by suggesting Leo doesn’t have feelings for Abby after all, but I only bought it for a second. It was frankly kind of painful to watch Leo and Abby act awkward about their feelings around each other, but it wasn’t to the point of being cringey. It was definitely bearable, so it doesn’t affect the book in a negative way. However, the author does make it a central focus of You Have a Match.
In conclusion, You Have a Match is a wholesome, light read that’s perfect for a vacation or when you’re on break. It’s definitely not one of those reads to be scrupulously judged or critiqued; rather, it’s a book great for a couple of chuckles and nicely crafted characters. Hope you enjoy!
Review by ~ Andrew
SHARE THIS:
