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A review by brimelick
Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer
5.0
Okay, Jewish romance books are an instant buy for me, and now Jean Meltzer has been added to the list of instant buy authors for me. I went into this a bit hesitant because while I liked the plots of her other books. I really did not like the male main love interest in The Matzo Ball. New book, fresh start.
Y’all, I LOVED this book.
A Jewish bakery in NYC is ran by Avital and her team of bakers, who we find out are all the people who come for varying backgrounds that not many places would hire (ex-prison, strict community runaway, and immigrants). They creat a small family at Best Babka. The new hire Ethan is undercover in the bakery trying to steal the all important recipe as his family are direct baking enemies with Avitals. Romeo and Juliet without the death but make it Jewish.
Of course we find Ethan and Avital falling in love and let me tell you this is the purest love, like the best kind of man you could want. Poor Ethan (who has never done laundry in his life) accidentally causes a fire in the building and offers his help to Avital to clean up the mess. Cue late nights of air fried Salmon for months alone in the bakery. Key to the entire story is Avital who struggles with chronic pain, so much so that is is debilitating at times, she likes Ethan but is worried about approaching that since her chronic pain may limit her ability to be intimate. She just wants one day of her life where she is not in pain, and when Ethan discovers this, the man is up all night figuring out foods within her diet and how to help manage her pain, using his brother, a weed expert to find someone who could help with medical weed.
Throw into this entire story a layer of emotional abuse from Ethans grandfather who is forcing him to steal this recipe, while calling him a disappointment and holding his sister’s hospital care over his head. This is an emotional roller roaster in all the right ways. A books about what it means to be Jewish in the many forms that can take, as well as the importance of family while protecting your own peace with boundaries.
Y’all, I LOVED this book.
A Jewish bakery in NYC is ran by Avital and her team of bakers, who we find out are all the people who come for varying backgrounds that not many places would hire (ex-prison, strict community runaway, and immigrants). They creat a small family at Best Babka. The new hire Ethan is undercover in the bakery trying to steal the all important recipe as his family are direct baking enemies with Avitals. Romeo and Juliet without the death but make it Jewish.
Of course we find Ethan and Avital falling in love and let me tell you this is the purest love, like the best kind of man you could want. Poor Ethan (who has never done laundry in his life) accidentally causes a fire in the building and offers his help to Avital to clean up the mess. Cue late nights of air fried Salmon for months alone in the bakery. Key to the entire story is Avital who struggles with chronic pain, so much so that is is debilitating at times, she likes Ethan but is worried about approaching that since her chronic pain may limit her ability to be intimate. She just wants one day of her life where she is not in pain, and when Ethan discovers this, the man is up all night figuring out foods within her diet and how to help manage her pain, using his brother, a weed expert to find someone who could help with medical weed.
Throw into this entire story a layer of emotional abuse from Ethans grandfather who is forcing him to steal this recipe, while calling him a disappointment and holding his sister’s hospital care over his head. This is an emotional roller roaster in all the right ways. A books about what it means to be Jewish in the many forms that can take, as well as the importance of family while protecting your own peace with boundaries.