The Perfect Match

By: Matt Burlingame

Narrated by: John Steinkamp

Leaving his life in New York City behind, 33-year-old Ira Hughes has moved back into his childhood home to help care for his ailing father. His overbearing mother quickly guilts him into looking after her interests in the family curio shop. That means dealing with her business partner, Colton McCabe, the bully who made Ira's teen years a living hell.

Ira is now forced to confront painful memories from his past. As he watches his father fight for his life, and his relationship with his mother becomes even more strained, he begins to find unexpected comfort in his time with Colton. Could it be that Colton is not the high school horror he used to be? Is the bane of his youth now becoming the love of his life?

©2017 Matt Burlingame (P)2018 Matt Burlingame

Sweet enemies to lovers story

I enjoyed this short story, it was a fun listen. I like enemies to lovers stories and The Perfect Match showed the issues and obstacles characters must overcome to get over the hurt of the past and allow new relationship to develop. Narrator did a good job with voices for both MC's and showed hurt and other emotions well. This was my first book by Matt Burlingame but will not be my last. I will look forward to reading/listening to his other books. I recommend this sweet story to readers who enjoy enemies to lovers trope with likable characters and good narration.

The perfect match for my busy day!

This was a first for me by both author and narrator, and I quite enjoyed them both. It was "the perfect match" for my busy day, with just enough twists and turns to keep me interested. I felt the two MC's connection right away, despite their past, and I enjoyed seeing them overcome the painful memories to find something beautiful. I also liked seeing Ira reconnect with his family. A great short story.

enemies to lovers

My heart ached for all Ira had been through, and especially because of his lack of a relationship with his mom in his early years. I enjoyed the enemies to lovers storyline and quickly got pulled into it. Kudos to the positive changes in Colton's character. I loved the turns the storyline took and the great ending. The narrator's storytelling enhanced the characters and storyline and made it come alive for me.

Sweet, short story of enemies to lovers/2nd chance

OK, first off - did Steve Buscemi narrate this? Because the narrator sounded a LOT like him! ;)

This was a nice, quick listen, just coming in around 3 hours. It's the story of Ira, who moves back home to help take care of his ailing father, only to find that Colton, his high school bully - and worst enemy - has wormed his way into his family's life. Colton is a business partner with Ira's mother and now runs her shop, he's celebrated holidays with Ira's family while Ira was living his life away in NYC, and Ira is most upset by the fact that the person who bullied him in high school and called him homophobic slurs, is now openly gay.

I will say, with my personal background in the wholesale gift industry, it was hard for me to buy into some of the story's details (like - I would LOVE to know what holiday vendor would let you return everything you didn't sell at the end of the season! LOL) but I get that the focus of the story was on Ira and Colton, not the gift and holiday wholesale industry. :P I digress!

I also wish we had gotten some alternating chapters from Colton's POV. Ira was just so angry, so passive aggressive towards his mother and Colton, that it would have been nice to get some perspective from Colton himself, to know more about what he was feeling towards Ira, especially when they meet early on in the story. However, for the most part, I did enjoy this story. And once they talked, and Ira was ready and open to moving on, I loved how everything came together at the end and we got a happy ending.

First time both reading this author and listening to something from the narrator, and I enjoyed both. I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sweet love story about personal growth

I liked this story, it was sweet and the characters really grew as the story progressed. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the narration as well.