Welcome to Litsy!

I liked it a lot. It was a nice change from Christmas novels and, while it had elements of the “holiday romance” it didn‘t totally read like one.
Rachel and Jacob were summer camp sweethearts when they were 12 but when a misunderstanding ends their friendship, it takes them 15 years to find their way back to each other, with plenty of speed bumps and one horrifying matzah ball mascot costume along the way.
Finished 11/29/2022

Finished this one right on time. Great romance! Extra light on the steam. I think there was one huge kiss and that‘s it. Light longing and pining. It was a friends to lovers and enemies to lovers since the hero and heroine were childhood friends who fell out of favor. So cute and loved the Jewish rep. This is my first Jewish story that wasn‘t WWII related. Tips for more welcome! ⬇️⬇️

#12BooksOf2022 Day 12- December
Rachel is Jewish, but is secretly obsessed with all things Christmas and writes Christmas romance novels for a living. Her childhood summer camp crush comes to town to throw the event of the year, The Matzah Ball Max, just as her publisher decides that Rachel needs to write a Hannukah romance.
@Andrew65

My final #WinterReadathon post. My favorite holiday/winter book of the 5 I read is tagged. I only did one word bingo card for all of my reading. And my favorite December book was Murder in Chelsea.

Only two hours in to the audiobook. It‘s really cute and I love the chronic illness rep.

Fun, heartwarming, and just lovely. The characters were all fantastic and the growth of the protagonists was exceptional.

This is such a great book 📖 I‘m so glad I‘ve found my bashert ❤️ this describes our relationship very well ⚔️ Seeing myself in a romcom shows me just how lucky I am 💕

This is a romance but it‘s also about living your truth, dealing with chronic illness and abandonment issues, the many kinds of unconditional love, and the beauty of faith, among other things.

Love this! Thank you so much @Scochrane26 the chocolate was delicious 🤤 as for the book, it‘s just what I needed!

@MaleficentBookDragon thank you for organizing! This is my favorite swap— simple & sweet #jolabokaflodswap

Between the storm blowing through and the terrible cold my partner and I caught Christmas is officially canceled in our house. My folks were supposed to stay with us for a few days before heading south for the winter, but instead they stopped by to exchange gifts from across the room and then headed south. I'm glad they made it out before the storm hit last night, but I'm really bummed all our holiday plans for the weekend are out. 💔

There was so much hype around this book last year that I was nervous it wouldn‘t be as good as everyone said it was. I actually really enjoyed it! A good holiday romance that gave me more information about a holiday other than Christmas. #winterreadathon

Rachel is Jewish, but is secretly obsessed with all things Christmas and writes Christmas romance novels for a living. Her childhood summer camp crush comes to town to throw the event of the year, The Matzah Ball Max, just as her publisher decides that Rachel needs to write a Hannukah romance. Can she get a ticket to the ball from him in order to find inspiration for a Hanukkah-themed book, while also navigating life with Chronic Fatique Syndrome?

This was such a good book! I learned a few things and was completely entertained! Happy Hanukkah! 🕎

Finished this week. I read the author‘s Mr. Perfect On Paper back in August & saved this one for the holidays. Sweet, fun & wholesome romance that explored the MC‘s chronic disease in a way that seemed very real. I had to Google some of the Jewish words & customs for better understanding, but I always take that as a good sign as it means I am interested. Great non-Christmas holiday romance—I enjoyed the couple & loved the supporting characters.

Saturday morning #coffeeandabook

#WinterReadathonDailyChallenge Day 15 #Cupcake

Today is tax education day…8 hours worth…but it‘s at home and the first half was completed in my pjs so not all bad. But let‘s face it a book, a treat and some tea would be better..

About 1/3 of the way through this holiday read & it‘s cute so far. I was only able to sneak a chapter in with my desk breakfast of fried rice with an over easy egg & coffee before the rest of work showed up.

It‘s another crazy work week. Any #PemberLittens & #HeiressPride 🏳️‍🌈 participants, I am still working on tallying comment scores & hope to have a winner announced by this weekend. Thanks for your patience! 🤗

Now this is a holiday romance book! The best one I‘ve read this month (and I‘ve read quite a few 😁).

For those looking for holiday romance diversity, look no further. Not only is this about Hanukkah, the MC has a chronic illness, CFS. And it‘s beautifully written.

Book 18 for #winterreadathon
Character obsessed with Christmas for #holidayromancebingo (this also could have fit 3 other prompts too!)

“. . . the world is filled with angry and miserable people. Those people are never going to be happy for you. So you go out there and live your truth.

You be the person the universe asked you to be.

And anyone who doesn‘t celebrate you for it, anyone who doesn‘t love you through it, screw ‘em.”

For anyone who needs to hear this today. 🤍

#adventrecommends

@emilyrose_x

Really enjoyed this Hanukkah second chance romance. The characters were well-developed and the romance was sweet. It would make a lovely holiday film!

#WinterReadAThon #Romantsy #Hanukkah

I loved this so much! A great story about a MC living with a chronic illness and trying to live up to her parents expectations instead of her own. The Jewish perspective was fresh and interesting, it is unfortunate that we don‘t see more of this in romance. The characters were genuine, funny, and fully realized, loving and frustrating at times. #WinterReadathon #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks @andrewwehmann @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

I loved this so much! A great story about a MC living with a chronic illness and trying to live up to her parents expectations rather than her own desires. The Jewish perspective was fresh and interesting, it is unfortunate that we don‘t see more of this in romance. All of the characters were genuine and fully realized, loving and frustrating at times. #WinterReadathon #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

Just got this from #cloudLibrary. #romantsy

@Cinfhen, you were right, I enjoyed this very much.

MC has chronic fatigue syndrome. MC's love interest's mother had MS. I have both (yeah!); you have no idea how often I thought "wow, the author is spot on with the symptoms."

Jewish enemies(?)-to-lovers romance with a large dollop of chronic illness as a reason for not getting together (I so relate). Loved how tough the MC was.

I think Rachel is a factional me. I also am obsessed with all things Christmas. The only difference is that I shamelessly flaunt my obsession. This holiday rom-com mixes Christmas with Hannukuh into a beautiful love story. This has all the enemies to lovers conflict we all know and love. This debut novel mixes in holiday cheer and wraps you up in a big blanket of Jewish culture.

Quirky

A Hanukkah Gift!

Rating: 4 Stars

Full Review & Content Breakdown: https://laurenmichelelifestyle.com/2021/12/08/the-matzah-ball-by-jean-meltzer-bo...

This was a fun, cute read. 😊

Looking for a schmaltzy Jewish romcom that‘s about Jewish summer camp arch rivals, the daughter of a rabbi who loves Christmas, and making Hanukkah magical? Then perhaps The Matzah Ball is for you. A totally predictable love story (complete with a delightful bubbie who makes to die for rugelach) it is at times, over the top and face to palm ridiculous, which is probably why it‘s been optioned to be a feature film.

Day 9: 12 audiobooks, 1 physical book, 1 ebook

Favorite=One Italian Summer❣️

#MarvellousMay #Readathon @Andrew65

Thanks for hosting🙌🏻💕🎈

I appreciated this book for its normalizing the difficulties of living with chronic illness. There aren't enough books out there that do this and this book addresses these issues perfectly. The storyline and the romance was a little too wholesome for my taste, but I am not a huge fan of the genre in general, so please don't make a decision solely based in my review.

Good schmaltz

A sweet holiday romance where Hanukkah gets to sparkle & shine.

Rachel Rubinstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with two secrets. 1. She‘s a Christmas romance writer who LOVES EVERYTHING CHRISTMAS and 2. She suffers from ME/ CFS. When her first love renters her adult life she has to decide how much she‘s willing to share with him. This is very much the meet cute trope with a hint of seriousness. #PoP22 #SetAroundAHoliday

I thought this was an excellent romance - as a person who loves Hallmark Christmas movies both ironically and completely un-ironically , I don‘t think it could have been more perfect!!

#AudioBaking All the food descriptions in this audiobook have me reaching for my mixing bowl 👩‍🍳🍪

#JewishLit #Fluff #Pop22 #SetAroundAHoliday #Hoopla

I don‘t know anything about this book, but I kind of want to read it because the title makes me giggle.

Made a currently reading box. Just returned some library books this morning & brought home 3 more 😬 Tagged book I'm reading at the moment, the other 3 I need to get to ASAP cuz I'm back at work which severely cuts into my print book reading time (but it's prime time for audio books! I also downloaded a lot while at the library) #IDontHaveABookProblem #LibraryHaul #BookHaul (it's hard to see the smaller book but it's Before the Coffee Gets Cold)

This was a very cute romantic story. It was the author‘s 1st novel. I enjoyed the story and the characters. The writing was good but there was at least 1 part that seemed somewhat far fetched to me. I appreciated that the author brought a little of herself into the main character. I enjoyed all the Jewish references.

Super cute holiday romance. Feel good contemporary love story about two people who met at Jewish summer camp as kids and became enemies. Reacquainted as adults and hilarity ensues.

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

This was a cute holiday season romance with a twist. The daughter of a famous rabbi is secretly a popular Christmas romance novel writer. In search of inspiration for a Jewish themed novel, she tries to find a way to attend the upcoming Matzah Ball which is, of course, being hosted by her childhood sweetheart/nemesis.

The romance had a nice build to it, but the ending was a little much for me. The Grand Gesture was too over the top ⬇️

I‘m loving this book so far y‘all! It‘s so entertaining and really amazing! I‘ve never really read a book about Hanukkah before, and I‘m loving it! I highly recommend!

Spending too much time in the car this week 😔

Finished this audio on Monday. Been sick since then. Not Covid or the flu, thank goodness, but an upper respiratory infection. Ugh. Anyway, this was a fun listen and I really enjoyed a book on Hanukkah and the Jewish faith in general. There were some laugh out loud moments while listening too.

This is a soft pick for me. I thought the feud between the two characters was a little farfetched and simple communication would have solved a lot of issues. Also Rachel just annoyed me in general. But I liked the representation of chronic illness and discussion of Hanukkah traditions. Some of the secondary characters were funny and likeable.
#WinterGames #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

I just finished it. This was a good story but just lacks a pick rating from me. I had fun reading it and it was nice to read something holiday related that wasn‘t just focused on Christmas

I really liked this book. It was a sweet holiday romance. I liked how the author wrote herself into the main character and I enjoyed learning more about Jewish faith and Hanukkah.
#wintergames2021 #mistletoemaniacs @Clwojick

Merry Christmas, Litsy friends!! 🎄💖🌟

Read these 3 this month, and The Twelve Dates of Christmas is my favorite of the lot. 👀

Grateful for books and family this season. 🙏🏻

This is a soft pick for me. I did like the characters and learned a lot about Judaism and ME and like the romance. I did have to suspend reality a little here and there, and I could tell by the writing it was a debut. However, I admire the author for her courage and strength and thank her for education people on invisible chronic diseases. With readathons and word finds 2,740 pts #teamgamesleighers #wintergames @StayCurious