Starts with a Match – 12.15.2023
War changed in 2028. A new disease spread through the population faster than anyone could figure out a cure, and what used to be ‘us versus them’ transformed into ‘humankind versus the unknown’.
Four years later, Kevin Kooper and his unit are in charge of cleaning up PCs—plagued civilians—that are still spreading out of control overseas. On a whim, he signs up for the Letters from Home program, made for soldiers who have little to no one left in the world. It’s through this that he’s matched with Toby Fritz from Washington.
When Kevin goes back to the States, he lands face to face with his pen pal. Just as Kevin and Toby start to figure out what life together would look like, war begins to change, again. Humans, versus the virus, versus a third party that would like nothing more than to see the world burn itself to the ground.
My O negative blood type is the closest smelling thing to the real deal, so it’s what we use for the bombs. The PCs go crazy for it.
Plagued civilians.
Most people in the units, especially here on the front lines where they’re sick and bored of all this shit—they call them gluts.
Gluttons. Ravenous, insatiable. Zombies.
Can’t be a zombie if they’re still alive. Which they are. They’re just starving out of their fucking minds.
We can thank Arizona for that discovery.
Reviews for Starts with a Match
Despite Coleman‘s mastery of her writerly craft, this is the main reason I love her novels. It Her stories — including SWAM — are living, breathing things. Yes, there are tropes (in SWAM, marriage of convenience is an important one), but it’s very, very clear that these are books whose cast and conflicts feel realistic and organic rather than contrived and engineered for maximum marketing potential. The love and care that went into creating Toby, Kevin, and the others truly shines through every single page.
***
Kevin and Toby. Their relationship feels like watching fireworks on New Year’s Eve while also sobbing into your overpriced champagne. It’s raw, vulnerable, and deeply human—made even more complex by the end-of-the-world backdrop. And just when you think they might catch a break? Nope. Time to toss in a mysterious third party that’s basically the final boss of “I hate happiness.”
***
I love the LGBTQ+ representation and how it was written. The love story and how the characters relationship blossoms. I warmed my heart.
Cannot recommend this book highly enough.
***
I really enjoyed this story. Kevin and Toby’s relationship felt so real, like two people who didn’t expect to matter to each other but ended up meaning everything. I would recommend this book to anybody who would ask.
Quinn Coleman 