Bookishly Jewish

Forgive me for showing up to the party a little late on this one. I first read Rosie Danan’s The Intimacy Experiment a year ago, with full intentions to review it immediately after, but this story so completely shattered my expectations that I was afraid I wouldn’t do it justice. Today, I put on my big girl panties and reviewed it anyway. Because that’s what I think Naomi, the ex-porn star turned sex educator featured in the book, would tell me to do.

Naomi has turned her background in sex work into a full fledged career, running a website that focuses on making intimacy satisfying for all involved – especially women – through open communication and sex tutorials. The business has taken off, but Naomi still yearns for a more personal venue in which to teach about modern intimacy in a live setting. She attends a conference for educators, but the only one willing to take her seriously is Ethan, the Rabbi of a dying reform Synagogue. He is hoping that Naomi’s classes will bring new members to the congregation.

The unlikely duo prove to be an entertaining teaching team and the class does indeed bring new blood into the Synagogue. Somewhere along the way Naomi and Ethan put their lessons to good use by dating each other and Naomi discovers a renewed interest in her Jewish background. The hitch? As with all things Jewish, it is Synagogue politics. There are those on the board that don’t deem it appropriate for their Rabbi to be dating a former sex-worker, no matter how many new members she brings to the Synagogue and how popular she and the Rabbi are.

A small side note for those who think a Rabbi love interest makes for boring stuff – Ethan will lay it out fully in the book way better than I can, but reform Rabbi’s do not all abstain from sex prior to marriage. This is a high heat book. There is explicit sex on the page. You probably don’t want to be reading it on the train or in your office.

Many wonderful Jewish writers have been putting out stunning romances for years. I have reviewed some of them here! But to see any observant Jewish character, much less a Rabbi, as a main character in a romance book from a big five (or four, I keep losing count) publisher was groundbreaking for me. So was the book itself, in the ways it tackles prejudices against sex workers, Rabbi’s, and women who enjoy sex in general. I hope I have done it justice, and more importantly that it paves the way for many more books to come and for Jewish writers to get more recognition for the work they have been doing all along.

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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.

Ever wonder what life would be like if destiny was mapped for you? If the possibilities of your life were in fact presented to you as a fait accompli rather than the results of your personal choices? Would this be liberating or terrifying? That is the central question faced by Edie, the main character of Hannah Orenstein’s Meant to Be Mine.

Edie, a stylist living in Manhattan, has kept herself out of romantic relationships, not because she was focusing on her career, but because her grandmother Gloria has successfully predicted the matches of everyone in her family. With Grandma Gloria’s prophecy informing her of the date that she will meet her one true romance, there is no need to shop around. In fact, it almost seems cruel to the suitors that are obviously not “the one”. However, as the fateful day and its aftermath unfold, Edie grows nervous that maybe Gloria’s rumored abilities have lead her astray – causing her to say goodbye to worthy mates in the past and pointing her in the wrong direction in the present.

Can she save her future?

At this point in the review I usually dive into a nice description of the love interest, but I would like to divert from that to focus on the MC, because the book diverts from what I think of as a typical romance structure. While it does follow a couple, there are many other love interests, both past and present, that appear and we are not always rooting for the one most frequently seen on the page. Similarly, while I can promise you there is a happy ending in store for Edie, it may not take the form you are expecting.

Which is a lesson the reader learns right along with the characters.

The book has several references to cultural and reform Judaism, but this is not the crux of the story and Edie is open to dating both Jews and non-Jews. The romance is closed door – meaning there is no graphic sex depicted on the page and it is safe for reading on the commute or in public spaces.

I enjoyed spending some time reflecting with Edie and pondering the what -ifs. Because sometimes the mystery is worth more than the sure thing.

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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.

I am a city girl. I love city life. The convenient public transportation, the ease of obtaining kosher food, the wide array of entertainment and museums that I rarely partake in but find joy in knowing they are there. So when Adina, protagonist of Meredith Schorr’s contemporary romance As Seen On TV, bemoans that dating in a big city is nothing like the quaint small town life she views on the Hallmark channel, I rolled my eyes. Delightfully, so did Adina’s mother.

However, Adina’s Mom is a paragon of virtue and still supports her daughter as Adina journeys to the small town of Pleasant Hollow to chase a story she hopes will help her break out as a journalist. Adina, a lifelong Hallmark romance fan, has pitched an article about the small town being usurped by a big bad developer. Except, upon arrival, she discovers that small town living isn’t always that great and the Pleasant Hollow residents are either apathetic or welcoming to the development that might bring more opportunity and variety to the town.

I actually did feel sorry for Adina as her dreams of pie eating contests and snowball fights were crushed, especially since this spelled disaster for her journalism career, but I couldn’t help my glee when it turned out the only date-able guy in Pleasant Hollow was Finn, project manager for the development that turns out to be not so big and bad after all. As Adina and Finn reminisced about their favorite city establishments, I found myself rooting for the couple.

A pivotal scene in the romance occurs over Rosh Hashana dinner and fans of casual Judaism will be pleased to note that Adina’s religion is sprinkled throughout the book in a way that is organic and real. I was thrilled to see Adina find her way both as a reporter and as a couple with Finn, although the writer in me cringed at both her epic self-sharing in her articles and her subsequent decision to read the comments. Luckily she had a nice group of family, both found and biologic, to lean on. Friends she made despite living in the big city instead of a quaint small town.

Note: I received an arc through NetGalley in exchange for 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.

Ashkenazi Jewish tradition has been more commonly featured in mainstream media involving Jewish representation than Sephardic customs. However Sephardic traditions are rich, and deep, and laden with meaning. Much like The Flying Camel, a collection of essays by Jewish women with North African and Middle Eastern heritage edited by Loolwa Khazzoom.

I went in with the mindset of a guest, eager to see what my hosts chose to share with me. In these pages I found essays by women of many different cultures and opinions, all eloquent and powerful. There were stories of intersectionality, of being marginalized, of wondering where one truly belongs. The writers ran the full gamut of religious observance. Some included anecdotes and experiences from ancestral home countries while others wrote entirely from a diaspora perspective.

Getting all these women into a room at the same time would be a delight. After reading their reflections I suspect many would disagree with each other on one topic or another, yet all would staunchly support the right of the other to be heard. They would be as varied and unique as the stars in the sky, a constellation of perspectives from which to learn.

The Sephardiot and Mizrahiot (these are the preferred terms from the introduction to the book) featured in these pages are courageous and brave as they speak about an identity that confuses so many because it does not fit into the nice box that mainstream media has constructed surrounding Jewish, Arab or feminine narratives. In fact, it is an identity that is often willfully ignored or suppressed. Readers should approach this book seeking to hear a new voice. To learn about systemic repression and misrepresentation among Jews, and about how to listen. I can think of no better teachers than the women who wrote these essays.

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.

The Unfinished Corner is a remarkably Jewish children’s fantasy adventure, standing out in its genre for its depth and thoughtfulness. Just before her Bat Mitzvah, Miriam travels to Yenne Velt, the Yiddish “elsewhere,” which is also the realm of Lilith and her demon offspring. With her are three friends and a rabbi, who reveals himself as a helpful angel. He tells the children that during creation, a tiny corner was left unfinished, so the world is falling into imbalance. This of course is a famous kabalistic concept. 

In Yenne Velt, they travel the Desert of Zin, where they find the stranded generation who died out before reaching the Promised Land. Miriam, sister of Moses, greets them there and they ride the giant lion of Judah Ma’alachiel. Continuing their adventures through midrashim and folklore, they find Ishtar, who used the name of God to escape a relationship with one of the Nephilim and became the evening star. She gives Miriam’s Yeshiva friend Avi the tsohar, legendary light of creation, and tells him, “If you’re going to finish the universe, you should have something that was there at the start.” These obscure characters and tales are unusual for modern adaptations, a delightful journey into the rich depths of Jewish legend. The art is also colorful and evocative. 

When their journey takes them to the historic synagogues of Prague, reproduced beautifully in the comic, Avi voices one of the great questions of folklore and asks the golem why it didn’t stop the Nazis. The Golem of Prague is a better-known legend from a more modern time but fits well into the lore. In another example of well-known legend, the children meet Lilith, who rehabilitates her sexist legend by revealing how she’s truly been cursed.  

All their adventures show Miriam’s friends displaying different talents. With her understanding of the hypocrisy of how men judge women’s beauty, Judith outwits Azazel while celebrating Miriam’s “big nose and curly hair and freckles” in a teaching moment for young readers. David, who’s Black and speaks Farsi, uses his music skills to charm other demons and blow the shofar. Judith comes from the Latin world and Avi appears to be on the spectrum. Each child enriches their journey by knowing different Jewish legends. After these adventures, Miriam understands she should confess her fears: “The grownup thing…the Jewish thing…is to trust your friends.” As she returns for her Bat Mitzvah, she insists she’ll keep striving to repair the world. 

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I’m a little late on my review of The Lost Ryu by Emi Watanabe Cohen, because when the package arrived it was promptly stolen by a friend. Apparently she’s got a thing for dragons. And frankly who doesn’t? The majestic fire breathers are delightful in any shape or form, which is why readers will immediately understand why main character Kohei is so sad that large dragons, or Ryu, disappeared right around the time of World War II.

Kohei’s interest in dragons is not purely nostalgic. While small Ryu, like Kohei’s own personal dragon, still exist, the larger ones are nowhere to be found. Yet somehow Kohei still remembers them, and this memory is the last time in which he saw his grandfather smile. When grandfather’s health takes a turn for the worse, Kohei is convinced that solving the mystery of lost Ryu will help heal him.

Joining Kohei on this mission is his new neighbor, Isolde recently arrived from America. The pair team up and devise a plan to hatch a new dragon, jointly parented by Kohei’s Ryu and Isolde’s Ryu – a yiddish speaking dragon. For Isolde, the existence of an East-West dragon (these are the words used by the dragons in the book to describe the new hatchling) represents confirmation that she herself is not alone in being part Jewish and part Japanese.

As expected, things do not go according to plan. Kohei uncovers some heavy hitting truth about his father, his family, the War, and his own tricky memories. As this unfolds I was reminded of how malleable my own childhood memories are. How I cherry pick the ones I care to hold onto. How this is sometimes a gift.

As the story wraps up the reader is left with a greater understanding of World War II (albeit with dragons) in a way that is still appropriate for younger readers. Grump certainly enjoyed it. As for me? I was sold the moment the Yiddish speaking dragon appeared.

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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.

A common writing exercise is to rewrite the same exact scene several times, each from a different viewpoint. By flipping the POV character, the writer is forced to look at the world through a different lens. To pick out the details that would otherwise go unnoticed. In Rachel Lynn Solomon’s latest YA romance, See You Yesterday, we have a variation on this theme. The viewpoint character, Barrett Bloom, does not change. Instead, she relives her first day of college over and over in a time loop, taking the reader deeper and deeper into the story.

Now, as far as first days go, Barrett’s is a total disaster. I literally sobbed in relief when I realized this quirky, sarcastic, lovable freshman was about to get a second chance. Especially when it is revealed that the only other person stuck in time is Miles – a physics student who instantly won me over with his science puns. (The same can’t be said for him and Barrett. This is definitely not a story of love at first sight).

As Miles and Barrett try to find a solution to their time loop dilemma by researching in the library (Miles’s idea) and living life to its fullest (Barrett’s idea) we learn more about Barrett’s past and why college is so crucial to her. I won’t spoil it, but if you are like me and have a difficult time processing sex being used as a weapon to shame women – there may be a few pages you want to skip. Solomon handles this plot point deftly and the story feels both real and raw.

Miles, on the other hand, turns out to be much more than just a physics nerd (although let’s face it, that is my favorite about him). He is the son of a physics professor and a Jewish studies professor and is fiercely proud of both parts of his heritage. In fact, he finds a way for Barrett to celebrate Shabbat despite the fact that they are perpetually stuck repeating a weekday. Perhaps in the most Jewish thing ever, the Shabbat scene is a pivotal moment in Miles and Barrett’s relationship.

The banter between Miles and Barrett is glorious, but my favorite part about their relationship is the fact that Solomon has allowed her characters to have realistic bodies. Barrett navigates some insecurity surrounding her weight and Miles has ears that take some time to love. But it doesn’t matter. Because time is literally unlimited for these two.

As usual, the book is a masterclass in craft. It not only shows the development of romance over time, it also spirals down into every single nook, cranny, character and plot point that occurred in this one single day and milks them for they are worth. There is no stone left un-turned, no relationship unexamined, and in a delightful moment – no puppy left un-adopted. My heart was bursting and my smile wide when I clicked through to the last page (at one am, because I couldn’t go to sleep until I finished).

Note: I received an e-arc from the author because she was kindly allowing Jewish reviewers to request them through her social media

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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.

When I was single, and in my twenties, I used to keep a mental *shopping list* of the attributes I hoped to find in my ideal partner. My friends and I used to discuss our individual shopping lists; the longer we stayed single, I decided that realistically some of the items on my list could be re-ordered or even eliminated. But some of the people I know were sticklers and did not want to change the order of the attributes they were seeking; they actually stayed single for several more years!

In Jean Meltzer’s latest novel, Mr. Perfect on Paper, releasing in August, heroine Dara Rabinowitz also has a shopping list — in her case, a checklist — for what she is seeking in “The Perfect Jewish Husband.” As creator and CEO of the very popular Jewish dating app J-Mate, Dara is a third-generation matchmaker who has had great success in creating matches for countless young people worldwide. She has helped others but hasn’t found anyone to call her own. In truth, she hasn’t made a great enough effort to even look.

But that might soon change. Dara and her beloved bubbe, also a successful matchmaker, go on the TV show “Good News New York” to talk about matchmaking and J-Mate, and while talking, her grandmother happily reveals Dara’s criteria for the ideal Jewish mate. Outed on national TV, Dara simply wants to hide away forever.

But that episode proves to be very popular with host and news anchor Chris Steadfast and his audience. He and his production team get permission — albeit reluctant — from Dara to try to help her find her love match, then follow and film her as she goes on dates. TV ratings are everything, after all.

As Chris and Dara become friends while on a mission to find Dara her bashert, the non-Jewish single father and widower can’t help but recognize his attraction to her. And vice versa. But he doesn’t meet her criteria, and both he and she know it.

This book also features GAD, an acronym that was new to me. It stands for General Anxiety Disorder. Successful, wealthy, organized,  heroine Dara suffers from GAD, and the reader learns about its symptoms and Dara’s ways of handling this disorder.

Join Chris, Dara, her bubbe Miriam, along with Bubbe’s buddies aka the ChallahBack Girls, and others in “Mr. Perfect on Paper” as they look for love, fun, a sense of belonging, calm, understanding and acceptance. You will laugh, you will cry, you will smile, you will cheer from the sidelines.

Note: The reviewer received an arc from the author’s agent

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Before I was an adult, I had a very specific type when it came to books. There had to be romance, there should be at least a little danger and mystery, and major bonus points if the fae were involved. Luckily, I grew up during the book world shaped in part by Tamora Pierce. So, finding all of those things at once in a YA book wasn’t hard.

As an adult, I’ve found myself falling to book slump after book slump. I get stuck in ruts where I can only listen to audiobooks of contemporary romance and everything else feels too hard. (After all, what if there’s not an HEA at the end? The world is too hard as it is!) Inevitably, I rely on a good ole fantasy book to retrieve me from the depths of the book groove I’ve worn myself into.

My ARC of Inked by Rachel Rener came at a perfect time. This book is doing a LOT all at once and I think it does it all pretty well. It’s part romance (with steamy, explicit scenes), part PNR cozy mystery, and part contemporary portal fantasy.

Talia is an art school drop out with a needle phobia—which is sort of a plot point and a shtick because she’s also now a tattoo artist. Which is where we find her when the story opens: tattooing a large snake on the back of a biker. It’s all going swell until she runs out of ink and dips into her missing boss’s forbidden stash. Surprise: the stash turns out to be magic and the snake comes to life, nearly ending her and her client’s lives.

This sets her off on a magical quest with a talking parrot sidekick (Biscuit!) through the fae world. Let’s focus on the Jewish of it all.

Talia is a secular Jew with a stereotypical Jewish mother. This is the part of the book I disliked the most. Her mother drops constant Yiddishisms and is always panicking. Now, I know this will ring true for some folks. For me, a person who was raised quite near to where Inked takes place as a secular Jew, it was a bit heavy-handed. 

“But all you two did was yell at each other!” 

“That’s just how Jewish people say ‘I love you.’”

Though I enjoyed other moments of explicit, slightly-over-the-top Jewish imagery when it wasn’t about her mother, like:

“I settled myself onto the foot of Zayn’s bed, eyes glued to the flickering lines of symbols and runes that definitely hadn’t been there before [it] lit up like a Hanukkah bush at the Zuckerberg mansion.”

And Talia’s identity felt real to me. She uses her own Jewish culture and context to understand the new magical world around her. And Rener uses those moments to explain more about Judaism to the (potentially not-Jewish) reader.

“The placement reminded me of a Jewish mezuzah, a religious decoration nailed inside the door frame to protect one’s home.”

Finally, I have a hair trigger for antisemitism and there were several moments I found myself holding my breath in concern for how certain aspects were going to be handled. The biggest was Talia’s “gold blood.” Even the phrase “gold blood” set off alarm bells in my head. Ultimately, while the book is premised on blood magic, it’s done carefully enough that I found myself enjoying the plot and breathing easier.

All in all, Inked was a fast-paced fun read that kept many different plates spinning in the air. I’ll be pre-ordering book 2.

I received an advance copy through BookSirens and am voluntarily writing this review.

Content notes: explicit sex, blood magic, overbearing Jewish mother, needles, violence

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A pirate, A Rabbi and a Santero walk into a club. Sound like a bad joke? Possibly. But it is also the start of an excellent book. Daniel José Older’s YA fantasy, Ballad & Dagger, follows the exiled fictional community of Little Madrigal as it tries to reestablish itself in Brooklyn after the island of Madrigal sinks. As a fellow denizen of Brooklyn, I found myself wishing that Little Madrigal was real. Because an island nation founded by a Sephardic Rabbi, a Santero and a pirate who all happened to wash up on the same shores together sounds like my idea of a good time.

The reader views the community through the eyes of Matteo Matisse, an insider that feels like an outside thanks to his frequent trips abroad with his physician parents and the healthy dose of skepticism gifted to him by his parents reliance on science over the traditional community magic and lore. All of that is thrown into doubt when Matteo, currently living with his Aunt – a staunch Santero and community leader – finds out he is way more involved in community matters than he thought he was. And that this places his life in considerable danger.

As an aspiring musician, Matteo has always experienced the community through the music he shares. As the book progresses Matteo also himself opens up to the various other parts of Madrigal culture. And let me tell you, Madrigal culture is nothing to be sneezed at. Combining pirate, Santero and Sephardic Jewish traditions, this is a whirlwind tour of identity and intersectionality, both communal and personal. It was incredibly moving to watch Matteo finally take his place within this framework.

On a personal note, when Matteo receives praise for his rendition of “Aneinu” I found myself clutching the book with white knuckled hands and singing the familiar melody to myself. A family favorite, we are all singing this song for weeks after the high holidays and I would have loved to hear Matteo’s version.

The richness with which this world is described, as well as the care taken during Matteo’s journey to find his true purpose in it, is exemplary. It was so gripping that I would have been content even if the book had no plot. Although readers can rest assured, the book is chock full of plot. Including secret pirate cabals, a scheme to raise the fallen island, mistaken identity and magical creatures.

The beauty of Judaism to me has always been encapsulated in the phrase “we contain multitudes”, Parts of this book, especially when Matteo teams up with the Rabbi’s daughter Chela, felt so incredibly familiar. Others were completely new. They were all equally vivid and rewarding. This is the kind of book that entertains while it broadens horizons. I eagerly await the next installment.

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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.