Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Matched by My Rival
SERIES: Thrust Into Love Book 2
AUTHOR: DJ Jamison
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 330 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 8, 2021
BLURB:
Simon Prentiss: ex-football star, bitter rival, and…falling for the enemy?
I hate my teammate, Parker Reed.
I hate that he makes me work so hard for my position on the field.
Hate how he always smiles. How easily he shows me up when I’m injured.
Most of all, I hate that he made me lose my temper.
Next thing I know, football is gone.
My scholarship is gone.
I’m nearly gone, too.
With help, I manage to stay in school for my final semester.
At least without football, I can explore a new side to myself.
See where my attraction to guys takes me without fear of it affecting my future.
I didn’t see it coming. The cosmic joke.
The sweet, patient guy on the hookup app?
The one who makes me burn with the desire to have him?
Yeah, it’s Parker.
Our chemistry is off the charts, no matter how much I resent him.
Holding a grudge against him is impossible.
But when he wants to walk away from everything I lost, can I accept it?
If I don’t, I’ll lose him too–and that can’t happen.
Because I don’t hate Parker Reed.
I think I love him.
Matched By My Rival is an enemies-to-lovers, jock rivals romance. It’s Book 2 of the Thrust Into Love series but can be read as a standalone.
REVIEW:
Matched by My Rival follows Swiped by My Dad’s Best Friend in DJ Jamison’s Thrust into Love series, picking up on the story of Simon, a fraternity brother of Swiped’s Cooper. If you’ve read Swiped (although you don’t need to in order to enjoy Matched), you’ll recall that Simon lost his football scholarship after getting into a fight with another student, who we now learn is Parker, Simon’s ex-teammate. Simon’s plight spurred Cooper to expand his charity, House Pledge, in order to create a scholarship to help Simon stay in school. Simon avidly supports the charity and helps Cooper with whatever he needs.
House Pledge, which does house repairs and home restoration for those in need, serves as an important part of Matched’s storyline. It serves as the vehicle to bring these two rivals/enemies into each other’s orbit. Parker volunteers there in order to get closer to Simon. Simon wants nothing to do with Parker, but he can’t turn him away from helping with the charity work. Meanwhile, on a parallel track, Simon and Parker are bonding over the Thrust hookup app, of course not knowing the other’s true identity.
Simon’s hatred of Parker has been stewing for a while when Matched begins. Simon and Parker are both wide receivers. Simon excels on the field due to talent plus hard work and determination. However, he’s hobbled by successive injuries. He’s understandably anxious about his status on the team, especially since his scholarship rides on it. Meanwhile, Parker is nipping at his heels, rivaling Simon for his spot as the team’s top receiver. Parker’s success derives from pure talent but not hard work. He also remains injury-free, giving him opportunities on the field while Simon sits idly on the sidelines nursing his injuries. A toxic combination of anger, frustration, stress, jealousy, and poor judgment causes Simon to snap, momentarily losing his cool and punching Parker. That one-minute loss of control costs Simon everything, and Parker is the scapegoat.
Simon and Parker’s enemies-to-lovers storyline struggles in the early parts of the book because of this setup. Simon clearly hates Parker. Yet Parker, inexplicably, is drawn to Simon notwithstanding Simon’s hostile attitude and treatment. Ms. Jamison does a nice job of giving Simon and Parker dimension and complex emotions. But she was less successful in reconciling the two personalities and attitudes. Additionally, I personally didn’t much like Simon, at least not until later in the book when he begins to see past the red haze of his own anger. Parker endeared himself to me but his pursuit of Simon equated with self-flagellation so it didn’t make sense. As the story progressed, Simon and Parker’s relationship developed into something more understandable. But the early lack of engagement diminished their chemistry, at least in my opinion.
The most enjoyable part of this romance is Ms. Jamison’s exploration of the complex dynamic between two people with similar opportunities but different goals. Football is everything to Simon but it’s the one thing he can’t have. Parker has the opportunity to make a career out of football because he’s good enough to go pro, especially if he invests work into it to augment his natural talent. But Parker doesn’t love football. He wants to teach elementary school kids. Ms. Jamison excels in probing the conflict between one person’s need to live vicariously and the subject’s dream of doing something different. If given an opportunity few have, can you make peace with turning your back on it? To borrow Parker’s analogy, if given a winning lottery ticket, can you live with yourself if you throw it away? And even if you make peace with it, can your loved one, who’s living vicariously through you, accept your decision? Such is the complex relationship dynamic between Simon and Parker.
Matched by My Rival showcases Ms. Jamison’s solid writing, excellent character development, and a thought-provoking quandary. It just took a bit for the relationship aspect to gel. Overall, though, Matched provides a low-angst, ultimately sweet romance and an enjoyable way to spend a few hours reading.
RATING: 
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