Okay, I read this for fun. And got pretty invested in finding out if the clients whose stories she gives us would find a match.

The author is a screenwriter and a professional matchmaker in Hollywood. In this book she highlights three clients - who are composite characters with their names changed for privacy. So how much of their stories are "true"? I'm guessing she gets plenty of similar cases, so these people might as well exist.

Although the book did make me consider doing some dating again, by the time I'd closed the book, I'd remembered that you really do need to give it a lot of time and attention - and my heart isn't there right now. My oldest was recently staying with me, and that reminded me it's nice to come home to someone you love. But after they left, I noticed how my writing projects were lagging and I felt behind on things. I do know people are worth it, and I don't regret that time with my kid for a minute - but at this point in my life, I'm too happy with my current situation to invest a lot of time and energy in changing it.

But the book was still a lot of fun! She explains getting her agency going and tells about meeting her own husband - and takes us through the process with three clients. One of them is feeling a time limit - she wants to get married and get pregnant in a year - or she's going to look into artificial insemination. But despite that urgency, as it starts off, she seems to be dragging her feet. She needs to learn which "requirements" are really requirements and which are excuses not to get involved.

The next client is a man who's a bit self-absorbed and wants to meet much younger women - and then is very hard to please. He had some of the same lessons to learn. I also like her explanation of some of the ways people cope with being nervous on a first date - for example, some babble, some clam up, and some go stiff - and how you can be aware of your own tendencies, but also don't make snap judgments based on a first impression.

The third client got into a relationship quickly - and then there were lots of red flags. So there was discussion about the difference between red flags and harmless quirks. But also, this client had to learn to love and value herself, which then helped her find someone who would treat her as valuable.

It was probably a good thing for me to at least think about dating again - and this was a nice entertaining way to do so, with reflections on what's healthy and what to look for while we're at it.

Further thoughts on May 16, 2026, before posting this review: I had fun reading this book, but as reflected above, it didn't make me want to start dating again, since it reminded me of how much work and time that involves. On further reflection, that's partly from a matchmaking situation: Clients pay the matchmaker for their services for a certain amount of time, and in order to get their money's worth, they need to do plenty of dates.

I recently started reading a book that may actually get me to try dating again. (And I think I picked it up because of reading this book.) It's called Burn the Haystack. Written by Jennie Young, who has a PhD in rhetoric, the key thing is when you rule someone out, you block them to keep the algorithm from recycling and showing them to you again. And with her knowledge of rhetoric, she helps you see patterns that you should block without guilt.

Anyway, I haven't finished that book yet, but stay tuned for a review. And let me repeat that I did enjoy this book - but more in a way that it's fun to watch these people dating, but it didn't make me want to do it myself.