Best friend or boyfriend, who would you believe?
Zara has always felt a little ordinary next to her spirited best friend Ivy. Even her dreams seem mundane: a boyfriend, marriage, children… Besides, who would pick her when they could choose Ivy?
So when Zara meets Henry and there’s an instant spark, she can’t believe her luck. A wealthy CEO who wants to settle down? He’s perfect… until Ivy insists he’s too good to be true.
As Henry and Ivy repeatedly clash, doubts creep into Zara’s mind. Could it be that Ivy just doesn’t want to share her best friend with anyone else? Or does Henry have a hidden agenda? Zara is caught in the middle, constantly trying to prove who she loves more.
Then someone winds up dead, and Zara realises there’s more to this than jealousy…
Book Information: Print length: 308 pages. Publisher: Embla Books. Publication Date: 19 Jan 2023
Dandy Smith lives in the Somerset market town of Frome with her fiancé and cocker spaniel. She has an undergraduate and master’s degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and enjoys all things aerial fitness, true-crime and chocolate orange.
One Small Mistake was Dandy’s debut novel and her second book The Perfect Match was published by Embla in Jan 2023
My Review:
I absolutely LOVED Dandy’s debut novel One Small Mistake (read my review here) so I was super excited to see her new book The Perfect Match was published in January. I read her first book as part of a buddy read – which failed spectacularly as none of us could stop reading to discuss it, so I decided to read this book all on my own at my own pace.
Once again Dandy has created a wonderful story of toxic friendships, unreliable narrators, flawed but believable characters with The Perfect Match. Set in Bath, Zara is our narrator. She’s a Wedding Planner and absolutely loves her job. She lives with her BFF Ivy who she has been friends with forever and despite being the complete opposite of each other, their friendship appears solid on the outside.
It’s at a mutual friend’s wedding that Zara has planned that she meets Henry – charming, sophisticated, rich, successful, handsome and absolutely everything that Zara wants in a relationship, except for some unexplicable reason Ivy is determined to break them up. This prompts lots of awkward conversations, shocking scenarios, secrets being revealed, friendships being tested and plenty of twists.
Zara’s loyalty to her best friend and boyfriend is tested over the duration of the book and she is caught up in the middle of something she doesn’t quite understand, until someone turns up dead.
I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty tale of toxic relationships with a dash of jealously and a pinch of murder, The Perfect Match is a gripping thriller.
