Imperfect Match is a scifi MM romance set in the future where there’s a cultural divide between the haves and the have-nots. This takes place after a plague of some sort has reduced the population, and the rich with all the social benefits (called “boomers”, and it’s not kind slang) are expected to participate in compulsory heterosexuality. They learn sex education in school in a very clinical way so they can produce two children, ideally a boy and a girl. Our hero, Lee, is a boomer. The other group of people, the highly-taxed “tax rats” live near boomers and instead of ash, they barter goods. Like any good opposites attract romance, Lee’s love interest, Roman, is from this other group of people.
When Lee and Roman first meet, Roman is pushy, and I didn’t see how this could develop into a romance. I just didn’t get a good feeling for him as a character. The focus is on Lee and the journey he goes through. He doesn’t want to marry a woman, but he doesn’t want to burden his family or the potential match that is picked for him by the algorithm. He is doing whatever he can to stay in school and not be married. Meeting Roman starts the change that he was meant to take in his life.
At the beginning of the story, Lee is somewhat shy and timid. He is afraid to take what he wants. By the end, though, he has made significant change in his life, and though his path is not the one his family would have expected, the do support him the best way they can. And Lee gets to have the love he wants with Roman.
One of the attractions of this story for me was narrator Joel Leslie. If he’s your narrator, you’re going to get something good. He made an artistic choice in this story that I didn’t realize at first was part of the artistry. People like Lee have a specific accent that has sharp, explicit diction. Every time Joel was speaking as a boomer, he would do things like loudly pronouncing the H in “what”. So much respect for him as a performer to put that level of artistry into it.
This story is for MM fans and those wanting to read/listen to a story where someone comes to accept himself. It has a happy ending, as all good romances do, and the world concept is interesting enough to hold attention for the length of a novella anyway.
Disclaimer: I was given this free review copy audiobook and have voluntarily left this review.