Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Kissing Kosher

Another wonderful book by one of my go-to authors. I love how this character writes characters with chronic pain and Jewish characters. I’m not Jewish but I enjoy learning more by reading her books. I do have chronic pain. And I never really saw myself reflected in characters in books before, not like this. Sometimes even if a character has chronic pain in a book it’s written more like a cute little obstacle. That’s not the case with Jean Meltzer’s books. She writes characters with chronic illness and chronic pain and she writes them in such a real way. That pain is part of them because it impacts every aspect of their life. And they are normal characters, living life, and falling in love, and they just happen to also deal with chronic pain.
There’s one line in the book that I loved so much that I took a picture of the page. “Pain is not a mitzvah”.

In this story we meet Avital and Ethan. They have something in common: babka and Jewish bakeries! They also have a family feud that connects them. But Avital doesn’t know who Ethan is when he applies for a job at her family bakery. And that’s because Ethan is there per his grandfather’s orders to steal their pumpkin spice babka recipe.

Avital and Ethan are both absolute sweethearts though, they are such wonderful characters.
Avital is the one with chronic pain. She deals with a pelvic/bladder pain issue that sounds absolutely awful. Not only does it make life very hard for her at only 24, it makes work harder, it also makes her worry that she’ll never enjoy an intimate relationship again.

Ethan’s challenges deal with his grandfather. His grandfather is verbally abusive, if you see a content warning for toxic relationships it’s because of the way Ethan’s grandfather treats him. And it’s because of that treatment that Ethan winds up at Avital’s bakery trying to steal the recipe.

But Ethan’s heart is won over by Avital so quickly, he realizes that he misunderstood some of her actions after finding out about her chronic pain.

I love the relationship these two are trying to build together. I love Ethan’s patience and care for Avital.

I thought this was a beautiful love story and I also enjoyed all the talk of pastries! Man I wish I had some good pastries in the house while I was reading this!

I got to read an early copy of this book. I wouldn’t normally quote from an arc but I think it’s ok since I found the quote on a Jewish website. If I’m wrong about that, please let me know and I will remove the quote.

I look forward to reading whatever wonderful story this author comes up with next!

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3.0

Finished reading: August 9th 2023

"We're both living in chronic pain. We're both just... trying to figure out how to live alongside the things that have hurt us."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and MIRA in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

WARNING: the unpopular opinion train has made another unscheduled stop...

There is just something about a good contemporary with a food angle that I never seem to be able to resist, so of course I was drawn to Kissing Kosher straight away. I loved the sound of the bakery, the family feud and the focus on chronic illness, and I've been looking forward to dive in. I fully expected to enjoy my time with this story, and the reviews have been raving so far... But somehow I ended up having mixed thoughts instead.

First of all, I have to stress that I still love the premise of this story. If you like a food angle in your stories, you will be in for a real treat Kissing Kosher, and you will be craving all kinds of Jewish treats long before you reach that final page. While it's true that I've never personally tasted many of those treats mentioned in this story, it's definitely made me want to look up recipes and try. The Best Babka bakery plays a central role in the plot, and I really liked what both the setting and the characters working there added to the plot.

I also have to stress that my mixed feelings might just have to do with the fact that my (apparently extremely) fickle reading mood has been acting up more than usual lately, and it might just have been the wrong time for me to read this story. That said, there was just something about the writing style, tone and word choice that really started to grate on me. Don't get me wrong, I did love the inclusion of Jewish terms and customs... The explanations helpful if you are not that familiar with certain aspects of the religion. BUT. There was also quite a lot of repetition going on and the word choice in certain descriptions just didn't feel natural to me. Especially Avital and Ethan's interactions can be considerably cringeworthy, and I just never felt their chemistry.

I mentioned repetition before, and I also have to say that certain parts of the plot were way too slow and too much like a big old info-dump. While I appreciate certain information being provided, was it really necessary to do so in such a detailed and scholarly way? Like I said, there was just something off about the tone, which was a bit all over the place. As for the main characters... I also ended up having mixed thoughts. While I can appreciate some aspects of their personalities and the challenges they face, I somehow never connected to them, and especially the romance lacked chemistry as well as credibility.

I also wasn't a fan of how chronic illness was incorporated into the story; I understand the importance of shining a light on just how much chronic illness can affect your life, but somehow the constant repetition and aggressive way of describing everything had an opposite effect on me. (I have Hashimoto's disease, so I do have some experience dealing with chronic illness even though it's not chronic pain; it's not like it should be hard to relate to Avital on paper, but somehow I struggled anyway.) I also don't find it credible that medical marijuana was never mentioned as an option for Avital, and especially in this day and age.

All in all there were things I liked in Kissing Kosher, while other aspects didn't work as well for me personally. Fickle reading mood or simply not for me... Either way, if you like the sound of this story, please keep in mind that most people do seem to love this book.

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