Tara: A few weeks ago, Sarah slacked me with the following: Tara Season of Love is so good It’s so freaking good. So, I did what any other smart person would do and started reading it. And guess what? She was completely and totally right. Sarah: I do like it when I’m right. Tara: Miriam Blum lives in Charleston with her fiancee, who she loves but is not in love with, and she’s weeks away … Continue reading Season of Love by Helena Greer
What I Like About You is a terrific example of how a book’s flaws can overwhelm the good parts. It has engaging writing, stellar #ownvoices rep of Jewish teens, and nuanced exploration of grief. It also enraged me enough to slam my tablet down and seethe for a good hour after I finished. My initial grade was an F but I upgraded my rating after a few days of introspection (see the above good parts). … Continue reading What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter
This book knocked me sideways with its charm, but nuts and bolts were falling apart for me from the second half. By the end I was infuriated with how some things were mishandled and other fucked up things were shoehorned in. A lot of what’s good about this book was really good, but the things that didn’t work for me downgraded my experience a lot. Matzah Ball Surprise is about Gaby and Levi who both … Continue reading Matzah Ball Surprise by Laura Brown
This is an incredibly sweet, warm, fuzzy hug of a book about people embracing who they are and deciding how to authentically live their lives both public and private. There were times when I questioned the plot, or wondered if it would take a turn for the dramatic (it did not). Since I finished it, I realized that there are several questions the story leaves unanswered or unaddressed, ones that are large enough that I … Continue reading Play It Again by Aidan Wayne
Knit One, Girl Two is a knitting lesbian romance novella with Jewish characters. I bet a bunch of you just one-clicked before reading any more of this review, right? It’s not a perfect book – in fact it suffers from a lack of almost any kind of conflict – but it was exactly what I needed. I’m traveling for work. According to the odometer I’ve driven just under six hundred miles in two days. I’m … Continue reading Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman
Look to the Stars was exactly the book I needed to read at exactly the right moment I needed to read it. Lately my brain has been in over-drive, catastrophizing and just generally keeping me from sleeping soundly. Look to the Stars was the perfect Regency novella to reset my mind – it’s light on conflict, although the conflict is still there, and I loved the main characters. It’s more a short chronicling of a … Continue reading Look to the Stars by Olivia Kelly
At least six different people in three different forms of media have contacted me to ask, “HAVE YOU READ THIS?!” But in a good kind of way, not in a “No, really, I need to tell you about the chocolate pie,” kind of way. This novella is a compelling, immersive reading experience, and I mean that in all the best definitions of both words. I loved the immersion into modern orthodoxy, and the ways in … Continue reading Craving Flight by Tamsen Parker
In my local public library in the children’s section, there are computer terminals in the shelves where you can look up books in the catalog. Above the one I used most frequently this past year was this book, My Basmati Bat Mitzvah. It sticks out on the shelf because the spine is bright yellow and the writing is curly and blue, not to mention that words like “bat mitzvah” jump out at me already. I kept picking … Continue reading My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman
