Take a photo of a barcode or cover
225 reviews for:
Unorthodox Love: A BRAND NEW laugh-out-loud, enemies to lovers, love triangle romantic comedy!
Heidi Shertok
3.53 AVERAGE
225 reviews for:
Unorthodox Love: A BRAND NEW laugh-out-loud, enemies to lovers, love triangle romantic comedy!
Heidi Shertok
3.53 AVERAGE
Fun read but ***spoiler alert*** took a star because of the teen mom adoption at the end. I get the character wanting to adopt but could have done without the teen mom and the MC taking the baby in the end. Most people think this kind of adoption sounds great (like pro birthers) but it’s often extremely traumatic for the bio mom and the child. It’s not always rainbows and sunshine for the adopted parents either, especially if the child does have trauma. There’s this misconception too that if they don’t tell the baby that there won’t be trauma and that’s not true either. Otherwise another fun trashy romance novel.
***P.S. I don’t care if you disagree with my opinion about the adoption in the book. My opinion comes from knowing someone who had that experience and how much it hurt her and her son. Everyone is different and ADOPTING IS GREAT but I don’t like seeing it romanticized and how it was presented so care free and trauma free in this book.****
***P.S. I don’t care if you disagree with my opinion about the adoption in the book. My opinion comes from knowing someone who had that experience and how much it hurt her and her son. Everyone is different and ADOPTING IS GREAT but I don’t like seeing it romanticized and how it was presented so care free and trauma free in this book.****
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm being generous with a 2**
+++++++
Penina is a single woman in the Orthodox Jewish Community of Minneapolis. She longs for love and marriage and family. But she cannot have children and that makes the prospects of a good match difficult. The Match Maker keeps matching her with older creeps or "way too emotionally attached" Momma's Boys.
When Penina's sister admits that she and her family are on the risk of losing their home to foreclosure, Penina feels she has to make a sacrifice. When she's matched with a Gay man who wants to get married to a woman to make his dying mother happy and agrees to help pay off the outstanding debt on her sister's house, she thinks she's found the best option - once her mother in law dies she can get divorced and move on with her life.
Then one day her boss gets ill and his incredibly handsome, single and rich son takes over. But he's not Orthodox so that means he's out of bounds.
Now she's torn - faith, family or feelings?
++++++++
I received this audiobook free from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.
I found no chemistry between Penina and Sam (the boss' son). She constantly obsesses about how handsome and attractive he is, but I felt nothing. And it seemed like she was constantly commenting on her infertility. We get it - you can't have babies, there was no need to bring it up in almost EVERY chapter.
But then we get to the reader of the book. Throughout the book she pronounced Hebrew words wrong (I asked many of my Jewish friends to be sure) and everytime she said them, she said them differently. She even pronounced non-Hebrew words oddly and I found myself being constantly distracted by it.
So I do wonder if I would have liked the book more had I physically read it, but frankly, I do not wonder enough to find a print copy and rereading a book I did not like.
+++++++
Penina is a single woman in the Orthodox Jewish Community of Minneapolis. She longs for love and marriage and family. But she cannot have children and that makes the prospects of a good match difficult. The Match Maker keeps matching her with older creeps or "way too emotionally attached" Momma's Boys.
When Penina's sister admits that she and her family are on the risk of losing their home to foreclosure, Penina feels she has to make a sacrifice. When she's matched with a Gay man who wants to get married to a woman to make his dying mother happy and agrees to help pay off the outstanding debt on her sister's house, she thinks she's found the best option - once her mother in law dies she can get divorced and move on with her life.
Then one day her boss gets ill and his incredibly handsome, single and rich son takes over. But he's not Orthodox so that means he's out of bounds.
Now she's torn - faith, family or feelings?
++++++++
I received this audiobook free from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.
I found no chemistry between Penina and Sam (the boss' son). She constantly obsesses about how handsome and attractive he is, but I felt nothing. And it seemed like she was constantly commenting on her infertility. We get it - you can't have babies, there was no need to bring it up in almost EVERY chapter.
But then we get to the reader of the book. Throughout the book she pronounced Hebrew words wrong (I asked many of my Jewish friends to be sure) and everytime she said them, she said them differently. She even pronounced non-Hebrew words oddly and I found myself being constantly distracted by it.
So I do wonder if I would have liked the book more had I physically read it, but frankly, I do not wonder enough to find a print copy and rereading a book I did not like.
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
This was an enjoyable story, but I did have some gripes with it.
It was marketed to me as a fake engagement, but that element took ages to come into the story, and even when it was there, it was barely used. Zevi (I think that's how you spell it) was an interesting character (and probably my favourite) even though he was barely on the page.
But Penina and Sam were just frustrating most of the time.
I appreciated the Jewish representation (though I personally can't speak to how accurate it was) and I loved how the Jewish rules for relationships prevented Penina and Sam from touching, and when they did, it was significant.
A lot of the conflict felt quite childish, and at times I simply could not believe that the main characters were around the age of 30.
I did like that the book brought out Penina's desire to "save" her sisters, sacrificing herself and her own happiness for her sisters. I like that the book showed that this desire can be an unhealthy trait (and, in the extreme situations portrayed in the book, definitely is).
Trigger / Content Warnings:
Spoilery update because I just remembered the thing that seriously annoyed me about this book:
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the audiobook. I enjoyed reading it, even though I didn't end up loving it.
This was an enjoyable story, but I did have some gripes with it.
It was marketed to me as a fake engagement, but that element took ages to come into the story, and even when it was there, it was barely used. Zevi (I think that's how you spell it) was an interesting character (and probably my favourite) even though he was barely on the page.
But Penina and Sam were just frustrating most of the time.
I appreciated the Jewish representation (though I personally can't speak to how accurate it was) and I loved how the Jewish rules for relationships prevented Penina and Sam from touching, and when they did, it was significant.
A lot of the conflict felt quite childish, and at times I simply could not believe that the main characters were around the age of 30.
I did like that the book brought out Penina's desire to "save" her sisters, sacrificing herself and her own happiness for her sisters. I like that the book showed that this desire can be an unhealthy trait (and, in the extreme situations portrayed in the book, definitely is).
Trigger / Content Warnings:
Spoiler
infertilitySpoilery update because I just remembered the thing that seriously annoyed me about this book:
Spoiler
who the heck PROPOSES IN THE JEWELLERY STORE immediately after buying the ring?! Like, that's not romantic in the slightest, and if anyone had done that for me, no matter how much I loved them, it'd be a no. You can do way better than that. UGH the more I think about it, the more I hate itThanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of the audiobook. I enjoyed reading it, even though I didn't end up loving it.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
She is having highly inappropriate conversations in various professional settings and is shocked that she is being told to stop behaving that way in professional settings.
The writing style isn't my favorite, and I don't care for the constant descriptions of her knockoff designer clothes.
The writing style isn't my favorite, and I don't care for the constant descriptions of her knockoff designer clothes.
lighthearted
fast-paced
This was by far one of the toughest books to get through and totally out of my comfort zone. I was intrigued by the concept of an Orthodox Jewish woman who knows she is infertile searching for and falling in love. But actually reading this and gaining more details about Orthodox Judaism was confusing and tough to read. Overall well-written but definitely not your typical rom-com read.
Really cute book with an interesting take. I liked how the story wasn't really enemies to lovers but was about two people discovering more about themselves and each other. Some of the storytelling felt very quick and was more tell than show but I enjoyed it nonetheless.