Playing With Matches by Suri Rosen // Cliché and Only Filled With Drama for Entertainment

Playing With Matches, by Suri Rosen
Publication: September 9, 2014, by ECW Press
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 248
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 

When 16-year-old Raina Resnick is expelled from her Manhattan private school, she’s sent to live with her strict aunt-but Raina feels like she’s persona non grata no matter where she goes. Her sister, Leah, blames her for her broken engagement, and she’s a social pariah at her new school. In the tight-knit Jewish community, Raina finds she is good at one thing: matchmaking! As the anonymous “MatchMaven,” Raina sets up hopeless singles desperate to find the One.
Can she find the perfect match for her sister and get back on her good side, or will her secret life catch up with her? 
In this debut novel, Suri Rosen creates a comic and heartwarming story of one girl trying to find happiness for others, and redemption for herself.

My Thoughts:

Playing With Matches is one of those books that I knew I wouldn't enjoy from when I read the first page. It's a limited short read that was quick and satisfying for one of those readers who enjoy chick-lit and nonsense reads. And by "nonsense," I literally mean one of those that come with no-plot, no message, just plain drama and complaining from the protagonist, Rain. I'm pretty disappointed, but what could I expect when I'm always the black sheep and that this has a positive Goodreads overall rating?

I didn't look at this book for its writing, for its in-depth details that pertain to the characters' lives. Instead, I guess I just had to evaluate this and give my opinion from a simple view. At the time when I read this, I wasn't in for a trashy read so that may have affected my rating quite a bit. But seriously? I wouldn't even classify this as YA fiction. It completely gave the look as a middle-grade tween book about a dumb girl who tries to save her sister, Leah, from getting lovesick in Toronto.

This has a pretty cliché cover too, after all. What else could I have expected when I see a girl making the Justin Bieber hand-finger-heart? A little teenager can't start making a business out of match-making, that's for sure. People, young or old start sending her emails about themselves and feel that this person they don't even know will help them set them up on dates. *rolls eyes*

If someone told me that there's another novel out there similar to this one by one of my most favourite authors, I still don't think I'd go for it. It's boring, cheesy and uninteresting. I guess that one of the only intriguing parts were the side characters, like Professor K, Leah, Jake, all of that drama that came out of the dates and such. Rain's complaining, "boring" life? Yeah I wasn't too interested in what she had to say. When she had a ton of new friends, a nice lifestyle, all she could do was complain about everything: about a sticky pole in a bus, about her sister not understanding her when Rain's the total annoying kid, there's a ton of things. 

The fact that this was quick kept me going, but then again: Why did I waste my time? Playing With Matches was something that I picked out without even knowing what it was about, but if I did, then I might've not given it a chance anyway. If you're fine with reading something that's more meant for twelve year olds instead of YA, then this might be okay. But then again, it's trashy and weird. Meh.

Do you ever pick up books without knowing what they're about and not really caring about the cover either? I guess I was kind of desperate when I picked this one up, hah.