NB: This guest review is from Reader Tara Scott. If you want to read her previous guest reviews (and we highly recommend that you do), you can see them all here.

Tara reads a lot of lesbian romances. You can catch her regularly reviewing at The Lesbian Review, Lambda Literary, and Curve Magazine and hear her talk about lesbian fiction (including romance) on her podcast Les Do Books. You can also hit her up for recommendations on Twitter (@taramdscott).

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Stories about cops and docs might be among the most popular lesbian romances, but I get excited when I see professions that don’t show up as often. Case in point, almost two years ago, Fiona Riley started a series that centers around a matchmaker and it immediately had me hooked.

The first book, Miss Match, features the matchmaker herself, Samantha Monteiro, falling in love with Lucinda, a beautiful woman she meets at a wedding. The second book, Unlikely Match, has a shy geek girl getting together with a marketing exec, thanks to Samantha’s gentle nudging. Both books are super cute, with great chemistry between the leads, fun dialogue, and whoa are they spicy as hell. So when I heard Riley was releasing a third installment in the series and that one of the leads is a firefighter? I was in.

Sasha McCray is too busy to look for love on her own. Between working full time as a firefighter, picking up waitressing shifts with a catering business, and helping care for her father as his health declines, there aren’t enough hours in the day for her to find dates. Plus, despite meeting several promising women after working with Samantha for a year, Sasha is still single. Things seem to be looking up for Sasha when she shares a dance and a kiss with the beautiful (and somewhat familiar) Abby at Lucinda and Samantha’s wedding, and Sasha’s only regret is that she doesn’t get Abby’s number before she leaves.

Abby Rossmore is ready to throw in the towel on finding love through the famous Miss Match. She hasn’t felt a spark with anyone, which Samantha points out is likely because Abby won’t tell any of her matches that she’s from the wealthy Davenport family. Guarding her real identity has helped ensure they aren’t only after her for her millions, but it’s also prevented Abby from making authentic connections because she never reveals her true self to anyone.

Abby was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed her time with Sasha at the wedding, after not clicking with her at a few of Samantha’s previous matchmaking mixers. Despite her concerns that Sasha might be a player, when she sees Sasha on the block at a charity auction in some seriously sexy firefighting gear, she can’t help but place the highest bid for a date night.

Abby and Sasha enjoy spending time together, and their dates quickly become the highlight of each of their weeks (one of the dates involves glassblowing and just… whoo… is it ever hot in more ways than one). But one major issue looms over their budding relationship: Sasha thinks Abby is a lowly accountant at a charity, not knowing that she’s actually the Davenport Foundation’s not-at-all-lowly accountant and a member of its board. Can they find their happily ever after when Abby won’t share who she truly is? Or will things fizzle out before the flames really get started? (I couldn’t help it! I promise I’ll keep the fire puns to a minimum from now on.)

So, as much as I love a good enemies to lovers or friends to lovers story where the leads already know each other, there’s something to be said for romances like Strike a Match. You know, where two people meet and fall for each other pretty easily because they’re both cute and flirty and have fabulous chemistry. Does that mean everything goes easily for them? No! Thank goodness, because that would have been boring. But I loved watching them fall for each other. Like, check out this adorable flirting immediately after Abby wins her bid at the auction:

“Can I buy you a drink?” Sasha’s lips parted and the contrast of her white teeth on that deep red lip color was mesmerizing.

“I think it’s the least you could do,” Abby teased. “But first, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything.” Sasha gave her a serious, focused look.

“Can you put on a shirt? I’m having a really hard time not having a conversation with your breasts.” Abby figured at this point just owning up to the distraction that was Sasha’s perfectly toned and cut body was the best thing to do here.

“Oh, sure.” Sasha looked momentarily modest before that façade quickly faded. “But you know, Abby. I have a feeling we have great potential to be breast friends.”

I first encountered Sasha in Unlikely Match and I ended up liking her so much that I couldn’t wait to read her story (and, oh wow, did Fiona Riley deliver). Sasha works so hard all the time to help her parents out, and despite being busy and keeping an exhausting schedule, she’s friendly and funny and exactly the kind of person I’d want as a close friend.

I was happily surprised to find myself liking Abby just as much as Sasha. She might be rich, but she doesn’t fall under any of the stereotypes of a spoiled socialite. Abby is always trying to do the right thing, whether that means quietly replacing the terrible coffee machines at the hospital her family supports or helping her hilarious, lovely mom find love.

That said, as much as I loved both of the characters (because seriously, they’re so damn cute), I also found myself wanting to shake both of them at times in the second half of the book. Abby takes far too long to tell Sasha who she really is so that it’s a Very Big Deal when the cat is finally out of the bag. And for her part, Sasha is very quick to blow up, not listening to what Abby has to say in a couple of key moments. As much as I was team Sasha when Abby wasn’t owning up to being a Davenport, I immediately switched sides when Sasha was a real dick to Abby—especially the second time because Abby is a genuinely good and loving person. Some A++ grovelling happens, however, which made up for a lot with me, and I was very happy with their happy ending, especially in the epilogue.

Fans of audiobooks will be glad to know that Strike a Match is available in audio in addition to print and ebook. Melissa Sternenberg narrates the whole series and does a fabulous job with all three of them. Her voice is the perfect choice for these lighthearted, sexy books and I thoroughly enjoyed how she brought Sasha, Abby, and their friends and family to life.

While I recommend all of the books in the Perfect Match series, I especially recommend Strike a Match, and definitely in audio if you’re at all inclined towards listening to books. Fans of the other two installments will be happy to see their leads again, but you don’t have to have read them to pick this one up. It’s sweet, hot and funny, making it a great way to spend a day when you just want to hide away from the world and immerse yourself in a lovely story.