The absolutely adorable cover caught my eye, and when I found out it was a fake relationship romance with an alien set during a just-one-bed family visit for Hanukkah? Heck yeah! There seems to be an endless amount of alien Santa books, but not much for other cultures. Leah, an anesthesiologist, and Knar, a physical therapist, work at the same hospital, but mostly only interact during their breaks, bonding over their love of kosher shawarma. Still, they’ve become good friends, so when Leah’s mom ambushes her by inviting her ex, David, for Hanukkah, Leah impulsively says she’s bring her newRead the Post
Review: We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This – Rachel Lynn Solomon
Content warnings: This cover, y’all, I cannot deal with the cuteness. And it’s a perfect representation of the book inside, filled with honest conversations about mental health, hilarious characters, and a delightful friends-to-lovers, opposites-attract romance. Quinn and Tarek were friends as children because of their parents’ businesses – Quinn’s family runs a wedding planning business while Tarek’s does catering. While they spent a lot of time together, they never hung out outside of those events, but Quinn still managed to develop a crush on Tarek, which culminates the summer before he goes off to college. After watching his “grand gestures”Read the Post
Review: About That Night – Laura Brown
Content warnings: Surprise baby books are not my thing. To be honest, I don’t find much about babies romantic at all and I’m not one of those people who think HEAs have to come with a wedding and 2.5 kids. But I loved Matzah Ball Surprise so I decided to take a chance on this book, and I’m glad I did! Besides the surprise baby, it’s also got the workplace romance and forced proximity tropes. Nine-month-old Archie might be the result of a drunk hook-up with a guy whose name she didn’t know, but he’s the center of Izzy’s life. SoRead the Post
Review: Matzah Ball Surprise – Laura Brown
Content warnings: Hello, fake relationship, my favorite trope! Yes, I read a ton of these, so I’m always looking for something with a new spin on it – in this case, the fake date is for Passover, and the hero is Deaf. The author herself is Jewish and Hard of Hearing, so while I can’t speak for the rep, it’s adorably sweet, fluffy and funny. “Levi probably had come to his senses in the few hours since they’d met. Which would be fine; she’d just go back home, alone, and feel as though she were the one, instead of her ancestors, aboutRead the Post
Review: Play It Again – Aidan Wayne
Content warnings: What an utterly adorable book! It’s mushy and sweet, both low heat and low angst, and it’s nice and short. Dovid is a minor Youtube celebrity. As a blind man, he documents the lives of himself and, to a lesser degree, his twin sister Rachel, as well as restaurant reviews (which includes accessibility as well as the usual decor and food points). When his gamer sister introduces him to an Irishman’s video game play through channel, he’s absolutely entranced by Sam’s voice and quirkiness. When he recommends Sam’s channel to his legion of followers, he doesn’t initially realizeRead the Post
Mini-Review: Hearts Alight – Elliot Cooper
While I liked a lot about this charming Hanukkah novella, for some reason it just didn’t grab me. Dave is an introverted nerd who works at his dad’s pottery studio, while Amit is the reserved bartender at his brother-in-law’s family bar – and also a golem. There’s some pretty cute things – from Dave’s crush being able to “power” Amit to Dave introducing Amit to D&D to Amit hating dreidel song (think about it). But while I thought they were adorable, I didn’t really feel the connection between them. The pacing between them felt odd, with their relationship going inRead the Post