Tag Archives: Jewish

Jan26

We Ship It by Lauren Kay

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Kay, Lauren. We Ship It. HarperTeen, 2023. 320 pp. ISBN 9780063230996 $19.99

***

Rising high school senior Olivia is frustrated when her parents derail her carefully color-coordinated summer plans to pursue an academic project with a family cruise–how is she supposed to take time out to have fun when she wants to get a perfect SAT score, get into the perfect college, and become the perfect doctor so she can advocate for and maybe even solve the heart attack that arrested her older brother’s life unexpectedly at age seventeen? Olivia’s younger siblings have no awareness there even WAS another brother, and this fact makes a light-hearted cruise vacation teen romance anything but, as it delves into family dynamics and frankly, untreated trauma, in between details of exotic ports of call and peer pressure to flirt and drink.

The writing is sensitive and nuanced and the situation believable. The grief is balanced with the glamorous setting and the forced proximity is what ultimately allows the family to have the conversations they need to move on. Olivia’s resistance and then succumbing to hanging out with the other youth on board the ship, and developing a relationship with fun, sweet Sebastian takes up equal plot time. The “shipping it” theme is enhanced with celebrity romance speculation as well as the drama with the circle of new friends, fandom and 21st century digital culture and media. Like a cruise, the story is quick-paced and comes to it’s inevitable end.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #WeShipIt via #NetGalley courtesy of #HarperCollins.

Sep28

Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques by Fancy Feast

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Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques by Fancy Feast

Feast, Fancy. Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques. Algonquin Books, 2023. 256 pp. ISBN 9781643752372 $18.99

****1/2

Marketed as the Kitchen Confidential of the burlesque world, Naked does not disappoint. Performer, and social worker Fancy Feast–who has worked as a retail sex shop employee, sex educator, phone sex operator, and burlesque dancer–is a sex-positive, consent-driven, fat advocate who dishes the dirt on her worst gigs ever while rallying for the rights of the downtrodden, marginalized, and impoverished, especially queer, trans, minorities and women who make up the majority of the sex industry, exposing themselves to undervalued salaries, physical danger, disrespect, and misunderstanding. Fancy covers topics ranging from the minutiae of pasties from state to state, questions frequently asked of burlesque dancers, like, does your partner get jealous?, to sharing a day in the life of a performer, including what’s in the kit bag, and providing tips for well-mannered burlesque audience members, such as “handing people strings-free cash is the best etiquette in the world, and is considered particularly polite in nightlife culture.”

The writing is witty and intelligent, sharply observant, vulnerable and empowering, funny and fierce and and abundant with pop culture references and insights. Fancy’s politics are about as far from Ayn Rand as one could get as she rails against pull yourself up by your bootstraps culture. She is candid about her struggle to love herself and her body, and her intergenerational trauma. Fancy imparts valuable tips on how to shut down inappropriate conversations that could serve retail workers and librarians alike, and imparts valuable affirmations for readers: “I’m good at sex because I know how to communicate, and I’m not afraid of talking to my partners about what I need and what my boundaries are.” She asserts that the absence of no is not a yes, and highlights the value of a Yes/No/Maybe list for people to sort sexual activities, roles, words, and/or scenarios into–preferably in pencil, as tastes and needs evolve.

Part memoir as well as exposé, Fancy recounts her film school experience and the rape culture she experienced there; falling for a phone sex client; what it was like to provide a booth and pajama party at a cancer survivor’s conference; and the wild scenario of walking around a party mostly naked where the glutinous chocolate cake she offered to guests was more offensive than her rope harness.

What I found most compelling was how the narrative is infused with Fancy’s Ashkenazi Jewish identity, which seems to influence her ability to move forward in an imperfect world as an imperfect person, trying to repair the brokenness world of the world in whatever ways she can: with a listening, accepting ear, evolving the human race with her informative and empowering educational gems, and though her social work and sex work, sometimes all in the same day. Don’t be afraid of the titillating cover: this a book that deserves a place on library shelves.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #Naked from #NetGalley.

Sep10

Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

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Marry Me By Midnight by Felicia Grossman

Grossman, Felicia. Marry Me By Midnight. Grand Central Publishing, 2023. 400 pp ISBN 9781538722541 $8.99

*****

In this reverse Cinderella tale, it is the princess (in this case, wealthy heiress) who must marry to save the family’s kingdom (business) and falls for a handsome, kind and impoverished housekeeper (synagogue custodian) who loves to tell stories and makes friends with the mice. Isabelle has yet to celebrate the first yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of her beloved father, a shrewd businessman who co-owned a sureties company with the prominent Bebar family. Because there are two Bebars, and just one Lira; as a women and Jewess, with her father gone, the balance will shift decidedly against her father, and the Bebars are pressuring her to pick a brother to marry. Savvy Isabelle knows marriage to a Bebar will spell the demise of a career she likes and is good at, so even though the calendar is during the counting of the Omer, Isabella is planning a series of three balls to entertain eligible bachelors interested in winning her hand. She employs Aaron as her henchman to get the dirt on her potential suitors, falling for his sweet character, sexy good looks, and their explosive chemistry. The tension stems from the fact that their life circumstances are very different, and also, she’s technically acting as his boss.

Grossman excels at writing detail, describing setting, couture, and cuisine alongside eighteenth-century mores. The plot moves at a great pace, and this was unputdownable. Best of all, Isabelle knows what she wants and speaks her mind, including in the love scenes, a bold, twenty-three-year-old virgin with healthy drives, healthy curiosity, an awareness that Jewish husbands are obligated to provide pleasure to their partners. The actual act is left off the page, but the foreplay is stunningly hot.

Through it all, Grossman weaves in history and culture, particularly around the way Jews are portrayed and regarded. The author’s note at the back is a well-researched and engaging essay that sets in context the fairy tales she draws on. Her clear and direct explanation of the nuances of anti-Semitism in late eighteenth century Europe that should be required reading for every high school student on the planet. I learned so much, and it dovetailed beautifully with the story Grossman she told.

I received a free advance reader’s edition of #MarryMeByMidnight from #NetGalley — I also WON a copy through a Jewish Romance Giveaway.

Jul6

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Solomon, Rachel Lynn. Business or Pleasure. Berkley, 2023. 384 pp. ISBN 9780593548530 $17.00

*****

I am loving ghost-writer books right now (it’s sort of my dream job) and Business or Pleasure was no exception. Having just finished ghost-writing a book for an Instagram sensation famous for making bank by reminding people to drink water, Chandler Cohen is drowning her misery over the “author” not recognizing her or her name at the book signing (after month of correspondence, no less) when she has a meet cute with a sweet, quick-witted guy at the bar; dinner leads to an impromptu tour of Seattle, and the evening ends with the worst sex of her life, in spite of their amazing chemistry.

The next day she’s focusing her attention on her next ghostwriting gig… and it turns out to be for the bad-in-bed dude who gave her a fake name but is in fact, Finn Walsh C-list television actor whose series she’s never even watched. Their connection supersedes their embarrassment, and Chandler agrees to take the job, which involves trailing Finn for a few months while he attends cons and does a press circuit for an upcoming reunion of The Nocturnals, on which he played the nerdy hot scientist boyfriend of a werewolf. Eventually, Chandler admits their one-time thing was less than stellar, and Finn asks for her help: In return for her cleaning up his words, Chandler agrees to help Finn with his bedside manner, but after you contract to train someone to be your perfect lover, how do you wrench yourself away when the terms or timeline ends?

The travel scenes highlight US destinations and becomes a metaphor for their burgeoning relationship: as much as Chandler is getting to know Finn through seeing him interact with fans and co-stars, his childhood best friend and his rabbi mother, their intimacy grows as she shares things with him about past relationships, her love of cozy mysteries and own author aspirations, and her aging parents. Finn suffers from OCD, and Chandler from GAD, and normalizing of mental health is a strong theme throughout the book–trigger warning, Finn experiences some bullying over this and his peers don’t stand up for him.

I love a slow burn as much as the next person but sex upfront and at the beginning is trend I’m starting to appreciate. The chemistry between Finn and Chandler is wonderful, and the scenes detailed. I love that Solomon writes awkward, realistic sex, sex-positivity, and exquisitely rendered detail with heartfelt emotion. Judaism is both a routine and special part of all of her novels, and I love stories where being Jewish is neither history nor misery, but a natural part of her character’s backgrounds, alongside plenty of nerdy pop-culture references, a fair amount of trauma, and relatable relationship struggles. For all of these reasons, and because Rachel Lynn Solomon writes with attention to detail and palpable emotions and has the elusive amazing plot/setting/character trifecta, her new releases are a must-own for me.

Fans of Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert series will appreciate the deep fandom around Finn’s television show, the con experience, and the narrative interspersed with articles about The Nocturnals and excerpts from various scripts from Finn’s past projects; fans of Talia Hibbert’s The Brown Sisters series will catch all the feels for a sexy, sweet leading man who is vulnerable, accountable, eager to please, and living his best life with therapy, medication, and a wellness practice; and fans of Rosie Danan will appreciate finding another author who makes sex ed hot, lubed up, and positive.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #BusinessOrPleasure from #NetGalley

Jul5

Mr. Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer

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Mr. Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer

Jean Meltzer. Mr. Perfect On Paper. MIRA, 2022. ISBN 978-0778386162 $15.50

****1/2

Predictable but OH so delightful, Mr. Perfect on Paper is about a third-generation matchmaker living with generalized anxiety disorder. Dara Rabinowitz has become a Jewish dating app tycoon and is looking to take J-Mate to the next level. During a media push with her matchmaker grandmother, Dara is horrified when Bubbe takes over the interview and plays the shidduch, challenging Dara to look for her perfect match; the dreamy single-dad goyish host Chris Steadfast offers to capture the whole thing as a recurring segment as double duty to help out their family business (over 10,000 matches made!) and save his failing good news show.

Dara’s perfect husband list limits occupation to doctor or lawyer; no baggage of past marriages or children, and MUST be Jewish. She meets a few men who seem perfect on paper, but all of the dates that trails on end laughably horribly–until she meets an actual doctor who a family member has been trying to set her up with. Maybe it’s beshert! Meanwhile, Chris is (steadfastly) in the background on each date, providing comfort and support, and while the reader can see they are meant to be, it’s clear Dara can’t break tradition to marry a non-Jew, no matter how much she likes him… or can she?

Meltzer beautifully incorporates modern-day Judaism into a rompy dating app rom-com where everyone just has best interests at heart. She doesn’t shy away from the realities of chronic illness, and these details make the story more real, more compelling, and more authentic.

I read #MrPerfectOnPaper via OverDrive from my local public library; after finishing Kissing Kosher, I needed to get my hands on everything else Jean Meltzer ever wrote, and while I didn’t love The Matzah Ball as much, partly because the formatting of the galley edition made it difficult to read, I think this an author who gets better with every book.

Jul5

Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

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Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

Meltzer, Jean. Kissing Kosher. Harlequin, 2023. 400 pp. ISBN 9780778334408 $18.99

****1/2

The Lippman and Cohen families have been rivals for two generations after a mysterious falling out. Avital Cohen, the general manager of Best Babka in Brooklyn, is helping to keep the business she now co-owns with her very distractable brother Josh afloat–in spite of her chronic illness–he has a head for baking but not for business. Their company is hugely successful but growth is limited by their small shop. It’s secretly infiltrated by Ethan (Lippman) Rosenberg, who at his grandfather’s behest, plans to steal the pumpkin babka recipe that made Best Babka famous. His dreams are dashed when instead of starting out in the kitchens, he’s stuck folding boxes and going on a supplies runs. His meet cute with Avi is seeing her naked tuchus after they collide (due to her chronic cystitis, she’s sans underpants), and his attraction is immediate. Avi keeps Ethan at arms length first because of her challenging pelvic issues and then because she learns his true identity–and keeps his secret.

Their burgeoning relationship grows slowly as Ethan, who is truly a mensch, becomes a friend, then supporter, then lover of Avi, always empathetic to her illness without ever making her feel less than. The plot is complicated by Ethan’s family issues (the grandfather who took him in alongside his pothead younger brother and disabled younger sister after their parent’s death is abusive and controlling). Avi’s depiction of living with a chronic illness is real, matter-of-fact, informative, and well-characterized; suffering readers will feel seen. Finally, a fantastic subplot about a halachic rabbi in the medical marijuana trade brings it all together in a satisfactory way.

Jean Meltzer keeps getting better with every book. Hebrew/Yiddish/Jewish terms and festivals are succinctly explained, but I think she could take the lead from writers like Sonia Dev or Elena Armas who let terms in their original language sit as they are used, providing context but leaving it to the curious reader to do the grunt work to define a term, look up a translation, or do their own research. In fact, Meltzer could do less telling and more showing. I did have a sense that things were cut or simplified to keep the page count a little lower while maintaining wonderful details like the characterizations of other workers at Best Babka (a shout-out to the phenomenal ex-con who loves to knit and make bourekas; his presence serves to show tikkun olam in action). The over-explaining is the only reason this is a 4 1/2 star book instead of a 5 star book for me, and I’m blaming it on editing, not content, writing, setting, or characterization, which are all A+.

Additionally, I take with the reviewer who claimed in their NetGalley review, “This book had serious representation issues, that made me wonder (and look up) whether the author was Jewish.” Not only is Meltzer Jewish, she went to rabbinical school and cites rabbinic supervision in the acknowledgements! If there is one thing my conversion to Judaism taught me, it’s that there is more than one way to be Jewish; it’s a culture, a religion and an ethnicity with tons of diversity and degrees of practice. Just because she went with an interpretation that breaking a glass in a wedding represents the fragility of human life (which is just one of several meanings of the symbolic ritual) or that her main character schedules an interview for Friday afternoon (it’s not sundown YET) does not mean she doesn’t know what she is talking about. Avital and Ethan are not modern orthodox, but prayer and tradition is important to them and maybe supercedes travelling on Shabbat, and that’s okay.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #KissingKosher from #NetGalley.

Mar10

Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok

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Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok

Shertok, Heidi. Unorthodox Love. Alcove Press, 2023. ISBN 9781639103768. $17.99

****

Our heroine Penina comes from a community of modern Orthodox Jews, where marriage at a young age and having lots of children is highly prized. As an infertile woman, finding a marriage match has not come easily to her, and a traditional shadchan is heroically making a last ditch effort into finding a mate for Penina. Meanwhile, she spends her days volunteering in a local hospital’s NICU, working her jewelry shop job, maintaining her social media presence as a frum fashionista, and going on hotel lobby dates with unsuitable men. When her boss goes out on medical leave and his attractive (secular) son takes over the jewelry store, sparks fly, but handsome Sam annoys the heck out of her,and somehow, their bodies keep colliding in ways that are against the strict rules around unmarried, unrelated male and female proximity. Penina’s sister is in danger of losing her home due to her husband;s failed businesses, and Penina becomes determined not just to marry, but to marry wealthy; when Sam learns she’s become engaged and will settle for a marriage in name only, he has some opinions.

This is a wonderfully authentic portrayal of navigating a complex culture. So many details ring true, from festival observances to the love and obligations of family politics to the Israeli-accented English of Penina’s sister. Shertok tells Penina’s story with a lot of humor and honesty and never devolves to deprecation. The writing is descriptive (the clothing descriptions are amazing!) and evocative, and characters and situations relatable whatever your religious or cultural affiliations.

I received an advance reader’s copy of #UnorthodoxLove from #NetGalley.

Oct26

When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robbins

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When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robbins

Robbins, Eden. When Franny Stands Up. Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022. 400 pp. ISBN 978-1728256009 $16.99

****
I am a huge fan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. HUGE. By 20 pages in, this felt at first like a disappointing rip-off in a magical realism/urban fantasy setting. Like Midge, Franny is Jewish, uncensored, has a posturing lesbian mentor, and her idol, the infamous Boopsie Baxter, is a takeoff on Moms Mobley. Unlike Midge, Franny doesn’t have a husband or ex, but she does rails against some of the same 1950s era women’s rights issues in terms of labor and cultural expectations. This speculative fiction novel, grounded in a post WWII Jewish setting, quickly hits its stride.

Franny, in her late teens, escapes downtown in 1940s Manhattan to catch Boopsie’s act. Intrigued by an interview in which the comedianne talked about the IT quality that kills in the business that the paper doesn’t name, Franny sets out to discover just what a “Showstopper” is.

Fast forward a few years, and after an unsavory incident with her best friend’s brother in a back of car, Franny is so traumatized at being made to dance with him at wedding that she runs out, lands at a comedy club, and heckles until she’s tossed out (very similar to Midge’s showing up in her negligee after her husband asks for a divorce). One thing leads to another and soon Franny has been taken under the wing of a group of (possibly lesbian) stand up comics, trying to break into a career.

The food, slang, fashions and hairstyles of the WWII era add so much to the setting, and the writing is dreamy. The process of joke writing as emotional and physical catharsis for trauma is compelling and I cheered when Franny found her voice, took risks, defied convention and her parents, and spoke her truth. The novel addresses redlining, anti-Semitism, feminism, and family alongside the War.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #FrannyStandsUp from #NetGalley.

Mar31

Shmutz by Felicia Berliner

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Shmutz by Felicia Berliner

Felicia Berliner. Shmutz. Atria, 2022. ISBN 978-1982177621 272 pp. $27

****

A young ultra-Orthodox woman details her discovery of porn in this fascinating novel about religion, sexuality, and rebellion. Eighteen year old Raizl has always had a head for numbers and gets a dispensation to work as an accounting assistant in a jewelry company, and a scholarship to attend college and take accounting courses. The scholarship comes with a shiny laptop (it’s not clear how she connects to the internet) which is presumably for assignments, and access to therapy.

The Internet is full of people having sex, discovers Raizl. She learns the English words for names of body parts she only knows in Yiddish, and from watching illicit videos it’s a slippery slope to eating bacon and egg sandwiches, cheeseburgers and fries, changing into tight jeans in the restroom at school, and fooling around with boys at the beach. In the midst of this, she has increasing responsibility in the accounting job, increasing belligerence towards her therapist. She shares a Maccabeats video with her little sister, and goes on several dates arranged by the shidduch, eventually accepting a suit from an auburn-haired young man who informs her no computers will be allowed in their home.

Bonus points for clever placement of hamantaschen on the cover. The writing is immediate and both authentic teenager and authentic ultra-Orthodox. Scenes detailed the porn Raizl watches and later, her fantasies, are untitalling for this reader, reduced to observation of the mechanics. The story ends were any good YA novel leaves off: at a launch point for a new beginning of sorts.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #Shmutz via #NetGalley.

Mar20

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Solomon, Rachel Lynn. See You Yesterday. Simon & Schuster, 2022. ISBN 978-1665901925 432 pp. $19.99

*****

Barrett (named for the poet) Bloom is looking at her freshman year of college as the opportunity of a do-over. High school was hell: her expose in the school paper on a corrupted grading system for star tennis players led to her being a social pariah, but also bullying, the loss of a good friend, and a deceptive, mean prom date who took her virginity just so he could brag about deflowering her as revenge for her getting his brother kicked off the tennis team. On her first day of classes, Wednesday, September 21, Barrett discovers her no-show roommate is Lucie, the former friend (whose boyfriend was the one who got kicked off the team!) and the day gets worse from there. She botches her interview with the school paper, is unprepared for physics 101, and accidentally sets fire to a frat house. She runs away, gets lost, finds her way to campus, passes out in the common room, and…. wakes up again on Wednesday, September 21.

Stuck in a Groundhog-Day like time loop, the only bright and shining part of her day is getting to know Miles Kasher-Okamoto, the son of her physics teacher, who seems to be stuck in a time loop of his own. Their bristly temperaments towards each other slowly become sparks as they try to figure out why they are stuck, and agree to approach getting unstuck together from Mile’s more scientific leanings and Barrett’s magical ones. They enjoy going on adventures with no consequences, traveling, exploring, getting tattoos, buying a lot of rescue dogs, and narrowly escape death.

Another approach to find their way back to their reality is to right past wrongs, and this becomes an opportunity for Barrett to try to repair her relationship with Lucie, for Miles to allow his addict brother Max to make amends, and for Barrett to face the shitty things that happened to her on prom date–including confronting Cole Walker– and clue both Miles and her Max in, so she can begin to heal. The pair even tries to track down a former professor from UW who taught a very popular class on Time Travel for Beginners, and while her advice is ultimately helpful, nothing helps, until a missing sock provides an epiphany.

I was thinking of this book as Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl meets Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop: while only two are about the college experience and two are about time loops, all three novels have deeply fleshed out, real new adult characters alongside interesting and non-stereotyped supporting characters, strong setting, a compelling story, a sweet first time romance, great pacing, and honestly? just perfect voice and writing.

I loved See You Yesterday for the theme of acceptance and the author’s normalizing what might still be considered marginalized people. Barrett’s mother has dated both men and women, and her current love interest is on the verge of proposing; another character isn’t so sure she likes men all that much and is looking forward to exploring; Barrett is curvy and (mostly) unashamed and gets comfortable being adored as she is; Miles is Asian American, and both are Jewish, but Miles says he is not half anything when he’s telling Barrett about some of the comments he’s heard (presumably from other Jews) about not being a matrilineal Jew. As a Jew by choice, I love seeing myself reflected back in what I’m reading, and their improvised Shabbat on a Wednesday was just so lovely. Barrett’s observation that “Much of Judaism is about making do with what you have, and I’ve always loved that there are so many ways to observe” resonated with me. It should be noted the setting of the book takes place close to the High Holidays, and while they are not mentioned, it is a time of reflection, apologies, atonement, and new beginnings.

I also really loved the pop culture woven throughout–the age of the protagonist means she has a mom that grew up in the 2000s and her introduction to the Gilmore Girls and love of all things from the turn of the 21st century is a nicely woven thread throughout the narrative.

The title is great and I don’t love the pink cover, which features a sketch of the characters at three points in time and coordinates with the author’s last YA book, Today, Tonight, Tomorrow.

I flipped to Good Reads to note I’d finished the book, and realized Rachel Lynn Solomon wrote my favorite book (thus far) of 2022: Weather Girl! As in Weather Girl, the Seattle setting features strongly into the narrative.

One of my favorite things to tell kids embarking on their higher education journey is that college is what YOU make of it. Watching Barrett come to this realization that it’s not college that will change her, but that she will change, is so satisfying.

I received an advance reader’s review copy of #SeeYouYesterday via #Netgalley