August 19, 2024
Elliot (Best Served Hot) charms in this holiday romance starring Abby Cohen, who moved from the Bronx to rural Vermont for a guy and stayed after the break up because she loved the peace and quiet. The only thing regularly disrupting the calm is Seth, an overly cheerful regular at Abby’s coffee shop. When the town’s tourism board ropes Abbey into planning its first ever Hanukkah festival, she’s disappointed by the local vendors, who think dressing their Christmas displays up with blue and white lights is enough. Though she’s not super religious, she’s determined to offer an authentic experience, so she turns to Seth, and his many connections, for help. In exchange, she agrees to celebrate Hanukkah with him and his parents on New York’s Upper West Side, posing as his “nice Jewish girl friend.” The fake relationship brings plenty of fun, and the backdrops of both a quaint small town and the big city during the holidays adds festive appeal. As Elliot delves more into her protagonist’s backstory, she thoughtfully describes the casual antisemitism Abbey has faced, adding some heft to the otherwise frothy plot. This is a keeper. Agent: Merilee Heifetz, Writers House.
December 1, 2024
This grumpy-sunshine, friends-to-lovers, fake-dating holiday romance sees Abby Cohen, a prickly caf� owner and one of the only Jewish people living in her small town, recruited to organize a Hanukkah festival to boost tourism. The problem is, Abby doesn't know where to start and has felt alienated from her Jewish community ever since she cut her emotionally abusive parents out of her life. Needing to distract his mother from her matchmaking schemes, Seth, a loyal customer of Abby's caf�, proposes to help Abby if she'll agree to come home with him for Hanukkah and pretend to be his good Jewish girlfriend. What results is lots of forced proximity, found family, and heartwarming Jewish-holiday activities that have Seth slowly warming up Abby's cold exterior and getting her to open her heart to new people. Readers looking for holiday stories with emotional depth and a mental-health focus will appreciate how Abby works her way through panic attacks and childhood trauma with the help of both Seth and a therapist. Elliot's (Best Served Hot) novel is excellent on audio, narrated by Kelli Tager, who really delivers on Abby's snark and sarcasm. VERDICT A must for fans of contemporary Jewish romance authors such as Jean Meltzer.--Shannon O'Connor
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