Perfect Match is an unusual romantic comedy by Hailey North, in which two men and two women seek love in New Orleans. The unusual thing is that for the first third of the book the reader is kept in suspense about how they’ll pair off. I enjoyed that first third.

The two men are brothers, Oliver and Alistair Gotho. Oliver is a staid banker who wants to loosen up, and Alistair is the aura-reading owner of a witchcraft shop who wants to settle down. Barbara Warren is a shy banker who wants to loosen up, and Lauren Stevens is a free-spirited artist who’s always in trouble. The way these people are destined to pair off may seem simple, but it’s not: is your perfect match the one who shares your interests, or do opposites attract?

Oliver plunges into deep infatuation with Lauren at first sight. Alistair is also attracted to Lauren, but he’s trying to avoid relationships with troublesome women and wants to get involved with the more serious Barbara. Barbara wants to get serious with Alistair. Lauren battles her attraction to Alistair and tries to regard him as a platonic friend. Meanwhile, Oliver doesn’t know that Alistair knows Lauren, and Lauren doesn’t know that Alistair is Oliver’s brother.

This book is a playful romp, but one with a somewhat deeper theme. Should you do what your intellect tells you is the wisest thing, or should you follow the illogical urges of your heart? And what if the choice pulls you in opposite directions?

The characters are mostly very likable, especially Alistair, a handsome, longhaired engineer-in-hippie’s-clothing who does witchcraft, wears headbands and Birkenstocks, and longs for love. He is charming and sweet with both women, easing Lauren’s mistrust with gentlemanly respect and drawing Barbara out of her shyness. Barbara and Oliver are both likable and intelligent. Alas, Lauren is abrasive. She resents men who see only her beauty. But that clashes with her lifelong habit of relying on men – from her father to the various poor schmucks who adore her loveliness – to get her out of trouble.

Halfway through, Perfect Match took a steep dive. It had become perfectly clear which man belonged with which woman, and there didn’t seem to be any good reason why they hadn’t figured it out yet. Then Alistair, who until this point has been a nice guy, goes out on a date with one woman after making a date to have sex with the other afterwards. That’s cruel to both women, inexplicably out of character for Alistair, and is far from the kind of behavior I want to see in a hero. By the last third of the book, the characters are openly manipulating one another and trying to make each other jealous, and I’d had enough.

Another big fly in the ointment is a singularly annoying secondary character, Mrs. Merlin, who also graced the pages of North’s earlier book Bedroom Eyes. She doesn’t play a big part in this novel, but every moment is torture.

Perfect Match starts out as a fun comedy, with an enjoyable premise, original characters, and lots of electricity. But North creates artificial conflict between the characters by having them behave with the immature meanness of spoiled teenagers at a middle-school dance. It’s inconsistent for the characters and it’s deadly for the romance. Hailey North had the makings of a terrific book here, but it slipped through her fingers. Maybe her next effort will live up to its promise.