Two Nights To Forever

Passover prep is exhausting. Cleaning, cooking, finally fishing the potato chip wrappers out of the backseat of the car. All these tasks pile up on my to do list and some days, the only thing pulling me through is the knowledge that I can finally rest on seder night and enjoy a beautiful holiday. It’s a labor of love, but this year I’d like to make a suggestion for anyone looking to unwind at the end of the day: get yourself some Passover romance. 

Two Nights To Forever by Rebecca Crowley is a book that does the unthinkable. It makes an investment banker likable. Eve Klein is not your typical buy and burn banker. She has chosen to move back to her hometown in Orchard Hill and work for a female dominated firm rather than signing up for a fast track career at a NY company. Like many of her finance counterparts, Eve loves the thrill of a tough bargain, of sealing an acquisition, and working a board room. What sets her apart are her methods of operation once the contract is signed. Rather than selling off assets and cannibalizing the companies they purchase, Eve’s firm specializes in rehabilitating acquisitions. They attempt to retain the character of the business while helping it find a way back to profitability. 

That is why she’s so excited about buying out Keller and Sons, a local family run business that manufactures luxury watches. Eve has always admired their craftsmanship, but she never though this company, that has been passed down from father to son for several generations, would be on the market for a private equity buy out. She’s sure her approach to keeping companies largely intact will mean she is the selected buyer. The only obstacle in her path is Saul Keller.

Saul chose to leave the family business and enter the world finance because he wanted more freedom. When his brother runs the company into the ground, Saul is forced to return and mitigate the damage. He doesn’t want the company employees to lose their jobs or for the legacy built by his Holocaust survivor grandfather to be sold off for spare parts. Eve and her offer represent an alternative to those disasters, but there’s one catch – Saul would have to accept the removal of his brother as CEO, a move which could tear the family apart. For Evie this non negotiable. Even Saul acknowledges that the only way to save the business is to have someone making intelligent decisions at the helm. That doesn’t make it any less of a stalemate.

As negotiations proceed, Eve and Saul find themselves spending more and more time together and the mutual attraction is hard to deny. But Eve’s got a lot on her plate. She is adopted and recently met up with her birth mother who has invited her over for the Seder. She happily agreed at the time, but panic settles in as she worries she won’t be what her birth mother expects. Her family has raised her Jewish, but their practice is vastly different than those of her birth mother. When Saul finds out, he offers to run through a mock Seder with Eve and attend the Seder with her. Plus her invites her to attend a Seder at his friends house. 

Now for those who don’t know – there’s a fair bit of wine consumed at the Seder. Spending that much time together has loosened the inhibitions of this pair. Toss in Saul’s friends teasing, and the rest is practically a foregone conclusion. Eve and Saul finally give in and explore the romance angle of their relationship, promising to keep the business aspects separate. 

Obviously that’s impossible. And the conflict that arises because of this arrangement is compulsively readable because the seeds for it were planted right on the very first page. Eve and Saul have to sort out not only their feelings for each but also their complicated family dynamics – Eve’s adoption and Saul’s responsibilities towards his brother and the business that has always felt like a snare holding him back. 

No matter what type of Seder your family participates in, or if you don’t formally celebrate at all, this is a great book to help get you in the mindset of Passover. For those who prefer to know their romance steam levels before committing – there is sex on the page, but it isn’t the focus of the book. This is a book about family and finding ones place in it. A perfect match for Passover. 

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The reviewer received a free e copy of this book from the author who kindly offered one in the hopes of an honest review.

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E Broderick is a writer and speculative fiction enthusiast. When not writing she enjoys epic games of trivial pursuit and baking. She currently lives in the U.S. but is eagerly awaiting the day a sentient spaceship offers to take her traveling around the galaxy.