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I had the pleasure of interviewing the talented Swati Hegde, author of Match Me If You Can.
Swati Hegde is a freelance editor, mindset coach, and self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast who lives in Bangalore, India, and can often be found at the nearest café with a hot mug of tea. She looks forward to a long career bringing Indian stories and voices to light.
Let's dive into her world, explore her latest book, and gain insights into her thoughts on writing and life.
About the Book
Confident fashionista Jia Deshpande spends her days writing cliché-ridden listicles for Mimosa, Mumbai’s top women’s magazine. When she can, Jia dishes about the messy truth of real love on her anonymous blog, attends her family’s weekly game nights, and ignores her true feelings for her childhood friend. If that wasn’t enough, Jia needs to successfully set up a coworker with her perfect match to get the green light for her new matchmaking column. Thankfully, organizing meet-cutes has never been difficult for her.
Local pub owner and cocktail genius Jaiman Patil can’t help but be enamored with Jia and her meddling spirit. He’s always been an honorary part of her family, but even more so since his own moved to America. Life with the Deshpandes is chaotic and loud, but it’s also more loving than anything he experienced growing up, and he wouldn’t risk losing that for the world. It feels manageable—until his pub begins to struggle and his long-hidden feelings for Jia grow deeper.
When Jia’s attempts at office matchmaking go haywire, risking new friendships and her relationship with Jaiman, she must reevaluate her own thoughts on love. For the first time, Jia Deshpande realizes that love may be a lot more complicated than she thought. Luckily, happily-ever-afters are never in short supply in Mumbai.
The Interview
Introduction to Your Writing Journey
Q: Can you share a bit about your background and how you became an author?
- Absolutely! Thanks for having me on your blog, Shreya. So I’ve been writing since I was 7 years old, but didn’t start my journey to publishing until I was 21 (in 2017). Finally, in 2022, I signed with my literary agent after 5 years of querying 6 books and amassing over 400 rejections. It was exhausting, to say the least, but I’m glad I never gave up. My 6th completed manuscript is now the first to be published: Match Me If You Can, which came out this June with Penguin Random House. If I’d quit after the first 5 books, I wouldn’t be here, so I’m very grateful to Past Me for being stubborn and persistent. True Aries energy, haha!
About "Match Me If You Can"
Q: What inspired the storyline for Match Me If You Can?
- I love Jane Austen’s books and always wanted to write a retelling of one of her books. Emma is a personal favourite of mine, and with how incredibly desi it seems (with the vibes of meddling, matchmaking, and family—so Indian!), it seemed like the right one to retell. Although Match Me If You Can is heavily inspired by Emma and the first draft was a very true retelling, I’ve made the story my own in this final, published draft, 3 years after I first wrote it.
Q: Can you talk about the importance of family dynamics in the story, especially the contrast between Jaiman's and Jia's families?
- Family plays such a major role in the lives of Indians, and oftentimes we’re made to think that family is just the people who birthed you and raised you—which might be true to a certain extent for Jia, who has grown up in a loving home. But it’s certainly not true for Jaiman, with his strict and absent parents, who claims Jia’s loved ones as his found family, especially since he’s known them since childhood. One of my favourite parts of this book was writing Jaiman’s interactions with Jia’s family (and her resulting annoyance at how he’s always around!). I truly believe that family is chosen, not just created.
Q: The setting of Mumbai plays a significant role in your novel. How does the city influence the narrative and the characters?
- Mumbai is India’s equivalent of the city that never sleeps. Given both Jia and Jaiman’s career trajectories, as well as the heavy focus on food and drink, Mumbai seemed like the perfect setting for Match Me If You Can. Also, I don’t want to spoil anything, but a pivotal scene happens at Marine Drive in South Bombay. That scene just needed a romantic seaside backdrop, and Marine Drive delivers perfectly! I think setting the book in a different city would have changed the entire vibe of the story. Mumbai was exactly what it needed.
Q: How did you come up with the names of your characters?
- I love this question, because I’ve never been asked this but I’ve always wanted to answer. I actually went on a date in 2019 with someone who was named Jaiman. We had a nice time but never met again, and I remember thinking, “That’s a nice name for a handsome guy.” Nearly two years later, when I started writing Match Me If You Can, I was brainstorming names and thought hey, why not “Jaiman”? As for Jia’s name, there’s a joke in the book about how Mr. Deshpande loves Jaiman so much that when the time came to name his daughter, one year after Jaiman was born, he simply scrambled up the letters to create “Jia.”
Character Development
Q: Jaiman Patil is a local pub owner and cocktail genius. How did you come up with his character and his unique profession?
- The one thing missing from the original classic, Emma, is the lack of Mr. Knightley’s point of view. Don’t we all love to see the hero in all his pining, lovesick glory? So obviously, I had to change that in my book. Jaiman is a green flag in every sense of the word, except perhaps for the fact that he’s only had casual relationships because of his secret feelings for Jia. I wanted him to have a real personality outside of loving the female main character, as well as his own dreams and ambitions, so I made him a mixology expert and pub owner who’s quite cynical about life. Plus, who doesn’t love a foodie romance?
Q: Jia Deshpande is a journalist and matchmaker. What were the challenges and joys in crafting her character, especially her journey with love and matchmaking?
- I’ll admit I struggled a lot with writing Jia, especially because just like many readers of Match Me If You Can, I don’t quite like her as a person. However, there is something I love about her that I haven’t seen in a lot of Emma-inspired works. Jia has always been a romantic, but not in the ‘hopelessly daydreaming about a knight on a white horse’ kind of way. For instance, she doesn’t believe in “The One,” but knows that a person becomes the right match for you when you choose to build a life with them and work through the ups and downs together. Inspired by her parents meeting each other through matchmaker, she takes it upon herself to set her friends and family up with their significant others. She’s never been in love herself (or so she thinks, lol), so her setups often involve more meddling than matchmaking. Over the course of the story, she realizes there’s a lot more to love than she thought—especially in her own life.
Themes and Messages
Q: Match Me If You Can delves into themes of love, family, and self-discovery. What message do you hope readers take away from the book?
- One thing I want readers to take away from the book is a feeling of hope and joy. Everyone deserves love, and everyone who wants it will find it, as long as you keep yourself open to it. Just have the faith and keep being you!
Q: How do you approach writing about complex emotions and relationships in a way that resonates with your readers?
- I’m definitely a very emotional person myself—like, I cry when I’m sad. I cry when I’m angry. I cry even when I’m happy! And I’ve lived enough of life to have navigated all kinds of relationships, both romantic and platonic. So although I never base my plots or characters on my own life, the emotional depth definitely comes from moments in my own life when I felt incredible joy, or complete hopelessness, or anything in between.
Writing Process
Q: What does your writing process look like? Do you have any rituals or routines that help you stay productive?
- I usually have a rough schedule for most of my projects, depending on deadlines from my agent or publisher, but I don’t have a consistent writing routine. I prefer writing before sunset—somehow, I get so lazy after the sun goes down—and although I track my daily word count, I don’t set strict goals for how much I have to write every day. It’s sort of a ‘writing from the gut’ vibe, if that makes sense? One thing that helps me be productive during deadlines is these Study With Me videos on YouTube. The person will aesthetically film themselves working at their desk for 3-4 hours with Lofi music and timers that go off every 30 mins reminding you to take a break. But if I’m not on a strict deadline, I just listen to music while I write.
Q: How do you balance your roles as a freelance editor, mindset coach, and author?
- It really helps that I’m self-employed and can take on as much—or as little—work as I’d like. Usually, if I know I have a lot of writing deadlines coming up, I keep my calendar closed for new clients. And if I’m in a lull period between books, I’m open to working with more editorial/coaching clients. I feel so grateful that I can rearrange my schedule as needed!
Personal Insights
Q: As a self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast, do you find that cafes and tea shops inspire your writing? Do you have a favourite spot where you like to write?
- I can never work in complete silence or isolation (another reason I love those Study With Me videos), and I’m a very restless person. I constantly need sensory stimulation around me and the buzz of people in the background. Somehow it makes me feel like I’m one in a crowd of people getting work done, and I love that. I have three to four cafes in Bangalore that I love to frequent, and yes, I have a favourite spot at each one!
Q: How does your work as a mindset coach influence your writing and storytelling?
- The tools and techniques from my coaching certification have really helped me deal with my biggest challenge as an author: my own brain. I’m a very impatient and anxious person, two things that are inevitable in publishing. Being able to coach myself in those rough moments has been a real blessing. Besides that, I also go to therapy and have a small circle of trusted author friends, but I’m glad I can depend on myself, too.
Q: Who are your biggest literary influences?
- Kristan Higgins, the author of My One and Only, aka the first romance novel I ever read, and Emily Henry, whose books are my lifeline.
Future Projects
Q: Can you share any details about your upcoming novel, Can't Help Faking In Love? What can readers expect from it?
- I can! Can’t Help Faking In Love, my second novel, is a desi romance set in Bangalore about a young woman with Bollywood roots who hires a barista to act as her boyfriend for her cousin’s wedding—only to learn you can’t fake chemistry like theirs. Other tropes besides fake dating include only one bed, forced proximity, and a big fat Indian wedding. It releases Feb 11, 2025 from Dell Romance/Penguin Random House US, and I’m hoping to have more news about the release in India closer to 2025!
Q: Are there any other projects or books you’re currently working on or planning?
- I also have two young adult romances releasing with Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House US in 2026 and 2027. The first one is called As Long As You Loathe Me, and it’s a queer YA romance pitched as Mean Girls meets Never Have I Ever!
Advice for Aspiring Writers
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are just starting their writing journey?
- Keep trying, keep writing, keep holding onto hope. Not all of us get unicorn success stories—some, like me, take years of shelving multiple projects until we write that game-changer novel. Prioritize your mental health, take breaks if needed, but don’t let go of your dream. You’ve got this!
Q: How do you stay motivated and inspired, especially during challenging times?
- It helps when you’re as stubborn as me and determined to prove the haters wrong, haha. But one thing that I think every aspiring writer should have is a close circle of trusted author friends who are in the same stage of publishing as you. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my friends in the industry!
Fun Questions
Q: If you could have dinner with any author, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
- Emily Henry, of course. I look up to her so much and I absolutely love her work.
Q: What book are you currently reading, or what’s on your to-read list?
- I just finished reading Aamna Qureshi’s If I Loved You Less, another Emma retelling, and it was so good! Other books I read and loved recently were The Summers Between Us by Noreen Nanja, Cheese Donuts Are Most Definitely Not Subpar by Melly Sutjitro, and Summer Kind of Love by Charlene Boutin.
Q: If your book were to be adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast as the main characters?
- Sayani Gupta (from Four More Shots Please) as Jia, and a younger Imran Khan (from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) as Jaiman. Manifesting it!
Engaging with Readers
Q: How can readers connect with you and stay updated on your latest work?
- I’m very active on my Instagram, and I post some really funny reels, if I may say so myself. I also update readers on any upcoming events, book signings, or virtual meet-ups, so be sure to follow me there: @swatihegdeauthor
Closing Thoughts
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Mes Curls Reads?
- Just that I’m so grateful to everyone who’s bought their copy of Match Me If You Can, read the book and left a review, or even just added it to their TBR on Goodreads. Every little action on the reader’s part helps debut authors. I’m forever indebted to my readers—they’re the ones who keep me going and whose support will help me turn all my ideas into books. Thank you, readers, and thank you for having me on your blog, Shreya!
Thank you so much for this interview, Swati! Match Me If You Can is a delightful read, and we're excited to see what you have in store for us next.
Readers, don't forget to grab your copy and get swept away by the magic of Mumbai and the sweet romance of Jia and Jaiman.