Operation Love Match Review

A contemporary romance set in a teaching hospital, anyone practicing or studying medicine will enjoy this one. You will feel seen, though that’s not to say if you have no medical background this book isn’t for you. It’s just a sweet romance… with a bunch of medical terminology on the side. Our FMC and MMC definitely commit a few HR violations, but if you can get past that, I think you won’t be able to help falling for Percy and Kane, and PercyAndKane.

Two things I want to clear up right now so you don’t feel mislead: contrary to advertising, this is not a Persephone and Hades retelling. Our Hades doesn’t do any kidnapping, though he does low-key force feed our Persephone (protein and caffeine, for her own good). Likewise, it’s also not narrated by Death so much as Death provides witty commentary and sage advice at the beginning of each chapter. When I saw ”narrated by Death” I was thinking like Markus Zusak’s ”The Book Thief” and this is not that. And since this is not that, having each chapter start with Death’s perspective is different and intriguing, but doesn’t really add or subtract from the overall story. It kind of creates an odd sort of dissonance: the story is set in present day real life, yet there is a fantasy element present. Mostly I think the author just likes Greek mythology and wanted to work it into a medical romance somehow. But since it doesn’t detract from the actual story, I’m not mad about it.

Two things I found jarring: without giving spoilers, both our main characters have traumatic experiences in their pasts that fundamentally shape who they are as human beings. The EVENTS are eluded to briefly and in veiled terms before being fleshed out more, but I didn’t feel like either was fleshed out enough. They weren’t glossed over per say, but both were lacking in detail making the trauma seem like it was so far back in the characters’ backstories as to not be terribly crystalline. I think we as readers and the characters deserved more depth to give body to the life-altering experiences they lived through. Second, it takes most of the book before it’s slipped in very offhanded that the MMC and his siblings are half Korean (the half you actually have to deduce), so subtle you’d probably miss it if you aren’t Asian. And then suddenly one of them is swearing in Korean, and it’s written in Hangul! Like what!? Where is this coming from? There’s absolutely no indication for most of the book that any character is Asian, or speaks a second language for that matter. In fact, very few characters are physically described in such a way that you can discern their race as the reader. And this is actually a significant point because this new knowledge changes the lens through which you view the characters and their actions and suddenly you’re having to reanalyze most of the book because you’ve just gotten a huge piece of the puzzle revealed to you and it wasn’t the picture you thought it was. So jarring it was like hitting a brick wall.

All that being said, I really did enjoy this book. I read it in a single sitting staying up wayyy past my bedtime to finish. It’s cute, it’s real, raw, and authentic, and it masterfully toes the line between corny rom-com tropes and writing a story that honors the sacrifices all health care workers and students make. You can really tell it’s written by someone in the healthcare field, and the fact that Alice can do both medicine and write a novel is seriously impressive. She also writes herself into the story which is just adorably brilliant.

Overall, I’m’ giving this one a 3.5/5 personally, but I think folks within medicine will most likely enjoy it like a 4. I’ve already recommended it to my doctor friends, so that’s all you really need to know. Pre-order Operation Love Match today!