Review
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Title: Meet Your Match
Author: Stephanie Fowers
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Genre: Humor/Romance/Chick-Lit
Year Published: 2007
Number of Pages: 303
Binding: Softcover
ISBN: 9789781598113947
Price: $15.95

Reviewed by Katie Parker

You know there’s got to be something good about a book that has you in stitches before chapter 1. And _Meet Your Match_ by Stephanie Fowers is just such a book. Proceeding past the title page, we have the acknowledgements and the dedication; both of these are amusing. But then we have a “Singles Ward Dictionary” of key terms used in the book. Here’s just a sampling:

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*Squirrelly Girl* (pronunciation looks suspiciously like “heartbreaker”): *female* 1. able to make a man’s heart putty in her hands 2: runs from commitment by stringing boys along 3: puts guys on the back burner while waiting for the perfect one (The Challenge) to come along 4: gives girls a bad name (xiii)
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Other terms defined include “Backburner Boy” (“placed coyly on the back burner (on low heat) as a type of insurance policy in case nothing better comes along”) “Barnacle” (“has amazing ability to glom onto females”), “Bitter Boy” (“has broken heart caused by his antisocial behavior or being left out on the burner too long”), and “Safe Guy” (“you can depend on his noncommittal attitudes to keep you safe”). While we may not have used the same terminology in our own single years, the situations involved are dead-on with a bit of cynicism (which is, in fact, also dead-on for slightly older singles who’ve been playing this game for a while).

Which brings us to the story, which is no less amusing. Jacqueline “Jack” Childs is 26 years old and still not married. She’s graduated from BYU, she’s served a mission, and she is now living aimlessly among her also-unmarried friends. She did have what she thought was a serious relationship at one time (with a man she refers to as “The Monsieur”), but that didn’t work out. She is now fed up with the dating scene – the barnacles, the blind dates, and all the Bitter Boys who are also fed up with dating. But, she emphasizes to her readers, she is not a “squirrelly girl.” It’s just that things haven’t worked out for her.

During a disagreement with Britton Sergeant, one of her “safe guy” friends and president of the Bitter Boys Club, Jacqueline ends up making a wager. She maintains that girls are most attracted to Mr. Nice Guy, while Britton argues that nice guys always finish last and girls will go for Mr. Jerk instead. They decide to pit a Mr. Nice Guy and a Mr. Jerk against each other; whoever wins the heart of the squirrelliest girl in the ward first will win. Or rather, Britton wins the wager if Mr. Jerk gets the girl, and Jacqueline wins the wager if Mr. Nice Guy wins.

Things get complicated, though, when … oh, I’ll just quote the back cover: “when Jacqueline’s plan starts to work too well, she’s afraid the worst will happen: she’ll win the wager, but lose her chance for her own Mr. Nice Guy.”

That’s the plot. Now, I have to say that there are so many characters, nicknames, terms, and details used that it can get hard to keep track of what’s going on or where the plot is really going, particularly near the beginning of the book. But once you get all that sorted out, and realize that all the chaos actually adds to the depiction of the chaotic life of a single who has no idea what to do next, the book is a delightful and hilarious read for readers of all ages. It’s not so much of a plot-driven book (although the plot does come through, especially closer to the end) as it is a character story, or even a story of a singles’ ward in general.

And on another note: This book isn’t really a romance. Yes, it’s about dating and there are some romantic elements. But it is not a traditional romance and love does not conquer all. So those of you who continually bypass all the traditional LDS romances out there but enjoy humorous commentaries on LDS culture…this one’s for you. Enjoy!