Scan barcode
littleredwinter's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book was a hot mess of tangentially related tropes with a half baked execution. It feels like the author wanted to write something that would appeal to Booktok but didn’t try that hard to make it good. The author also shoots for representation but lands on stereotypes. The gay best friend feels like he has no life or personality outside of the fmc. The fmc’s father is a “world famous” rabbi. Her mother is a reproductive endocrinologist focused on Jewish babies but whose career is only ever mentioned in contrast to her duties as a housewife which are detailed throughout the story. The fmc’s chronic illness (chronic fatigue syndrome) is more of a plot device than a disability. And while the author doesn’t seek to cure it by the end of the plot, she does make the mmc save the fmc with accommodations the fmc didn’t ask for and had no input in that aren’t really thought through all the way. The mmc’s role as the fmc’s savior extends to taking care of her so they can marry and have kids. Then at the end the fmc loses all interest in Christmas, her main personality trait, because a man showed her the meaning of Hanukkah. The side characters exist to further the main characters’ development by explaining the point to them and none of the characters except the fmc feel fully realized. The pacing is inconsistent and tends to drag due to the author’s tendency to pause and explain every piece of Jewish culture and customs she mentions. The author overexplains the characters’ Jewishness like she’s holding the reader’s hand and assumes she’s writing for the lowest common denominator rather than the average person. I also find it worth noting that this book includes many mentions of Israel and the author is a Zionist. This book is the Jewish version of the kind of Christian story where a woman is living a “sinful” life away from Christianity and a man saves her by teaching her the true meaning of Christmas (Jesus).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Ableism
Minor: Antisemitism
More...