Kyra Parsi

I read this for a prompt - book you think you will hate. I might normally DNF this considering the dynamics...not only was Ria and her sister wrong for their security breaches--but the boss dynamic was disgusting and abusive. Extremely coercive in what I think was supposed to be a harmless fluff way.

But I did keep reading because I was interested in how Ria - who apparently took the LSAT as a JR in high school or so (I am begging you, authors) got derailed from college. Or was it from law school? The timeline was very confusing what with that career trajectory so decided by senior year-which seriously was apparently high school and those who believe they are destined for post-grad professional school after college that don't go--the percent is very high, which is why it felt less tragic than it was portrayed to me. (Ria could have gone to college and ended up pursuing art or secondary education!) In the end, I ended up really enjoying -some- of the character dynamics and wanted to vomit at the patriarchal billionaire others. (SO MANAGING). I loved Adrien's family dynamic and it kind of rounded him out as a character. Ria's grounding moments came, albeit a beat too late to an emotional 3rd act break up (WE LOVES IT, IT IS MY PRECIOUS...take it from me to your demise) and more biliionaire-level managing which made me want to puke a little, and all in all I am left with I will check this author out again, but with caution. After all, the thing that "undid" all the conflict in Ria's life in the end is pretty much the same thing that started it in the first place. Money and privilege and the power it gives.

In the end, my prompt was pretty accurate. HATE might be strong.… (more)

After the police procedural version of a “grimdark” novel, I needed “light” - and quickly! “Failure to Match” by Kyra Parsi got the job done.

Of course, everything was highly predictable and, yet, I enjoyed reading how Jamie fell in love with Jackson. In the beginning, I was highly sceptical considering character descriptions like these:

»Minerva Sinclair was a tall, willowy woman with stark white hair and cutting features, and her signature “look” consisted of cherry-red pantsuits, vintage cat-eye sunglasses, and knife-sharp stilettos. Per our client paperwork, she had her personal tarot reader (Imogen) on speed dial and kept her wrinkly sphynx cat (Harry) cradled against her bony chest everywhere she went, as per the guidance of her spiritual advisor (Velma).«

Or eye-roll inducing humour like this:

»Also, she’d literally named her hairless cat Harry, and I didn’t think she’d intended the pun.«

(Since it’s so bad: It's not a pun because "Harry" and "hairless" lack intentional wordplay or a double meaning, and it also makes no sense phonologically.)

All the characters were pretty much the literary equivalent of cardboard cutouts (Bensen, the stoic factotum; Mable and Molly, scheming twin sister housekeepers; the deceased evil, child-torturing father; Beatrice, man-eating, cheating wife who eventually left them all to go and live in Paris) and the story - matchmaker fails her customer but falls in love with him due to forced proximity and, ahem, his tongue - is almost as ridiculous as the title of the series “Bad Billionaire Bosses”.

And, yet, there were some ideas expressed, some pictures painted, some writing skills acquired in the process that—despite all the stupidity—made me enjoy this novel and recover from the kitten and child torture of my previous read.

»You know how sometimes you manage to convince yourself that you’re fine and that everything’s under perfect control when, in reality, you’re barely hanging on by a frayed thread? And then something really small happens, or someone says something seemingly insignificant, and it makes you break in half?
Well, I broke in half.«

There’s a fine line between intentional cheesiness and downright cringe-worthy missteps, and the author walks that line with a precarious yet daring confidence. At times, the rope stiffens beneath her feet, granting balance; at others, it sags, pulling her dangerously close to a full tumble into cringeworthy territory (which she skirts more often than not). Yet, despite the wobbles and near-falls, she completes the tightrope act with a redeeming bit of flair.

Three stars out of five.

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam… (more)