Love You a Latke

May 1, 2024

Elliot (Best Served Hot), who also writes books for teens and children under the name Amanda Panitch, sets this Hanukkah romance in Vermont and Manhattan, where Abby and Seth agree to fake-date so his parents will stop bugging him and she can get help planning her town's Hanukkah festival. Over bakery treats and snowfalls, they find more than they expect. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2024

A fake relationship can't stay that way in the glow of the Hanukkah candles in Elliot's (Best Served Hot) charming latest. Grumpy caf� owner Abby Cohen agrees to a fake relationship with the only other Jewish person in their small Vermont town, optimist Seth, in order to get the town's inaugural Hanukkah festival off the ground. Abby's hard exterior starts to soften, though, as she spends eight days with Seth, his parents, and his pals. Abby's budding friendship with Seth's ex-girlfriend Freya is particularly rewarding. The book leans into not only into the trappings of Hanukkah--menorahs, dreidels, and fried food for days--but also Abby's feelings about her Jewishness, particularly in light of her difficult relationship with her own parents. It also highlights--sometimes comically, sometimes poignantly--the way Christmas overshadows Hanukkah, and pretty much everything else, during December. This novel will melt everybody's hearts, but Jewish romance readers in particular will be thrilled to see Hanukkah reflected so authentically and lovingly. VERDICT This holiday treat is as wonderfully sweet and gooey as the traditional Hanukkah doughnut.--Jenny Kobiela-Mondor

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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.

Starred review from September 15, 2024
Abby Cohen's coffee shop is struggling, but she still loves everything about the small Vermont town she moved to four years ago--except Seth, the most annoyingly cheerful customer she's ever met. When the head of the small business council decides the best way to drum up business in their small Vermont town is a unique holiday event, Abby is instructed to run a Hanukkah market. After talking with some of Lorna's contacts, Abby quickly realizes that she's going to need some help to keep this from being a Christmas festival with some Jewish stars slapped on it. She signs up for a Jewish dating app to meet others in the Jewish community and is matched with Seth, the only other Jew in town. He agrees to help her if she'll come with him to New York City and play the part of his fake girlfriend to make his parents happy. Once there, she quickly finds herself falling hard for Seth. However, Abby just can't open up about how horrible her verbally abusive parents were and it creates a rift in their blossoming relationship. Latkes and jelly donuts (sufganiyot) are a must for this read!

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October 1, 2024
A struggling coffee-shop owner and her most cheerful customer fake a relationship for Hanukkah in this cozy contemporary romance. Former New Yorker Abby Cohen moved to Vermont for a relationship that didn't work out, but she stuck around anyway and opened a coffee shop. There's only one thing--or rather, person--who disturbs her beloved peace and quiet, and that's the sunny Seth Abrams, a regular at her shop. When it's revealed that Abby is the only Jewish person on her town's tourism board, she becomes the de facto head of planning for this year's Hanukkah festival. Unfortunately, Abby is quickly disappointed by the lack of creativity and enthusiasm from other local vendors. In desperation, she takes to the internet to ask for help and is surprised to learn that Seth is also Jewish. ("Apparently, my own Jewdar was broken," she thinks.) He's happy to connect Abby with other vendors who could make the Hanukkah festival a hit, but there's a catch. Abby must play the role of "Nice Jewish Girlfriend" on a trip back to New York to spend Hanukkah with Seth's family. Seth is endearing and supportive, the sunshine to Abby's grumpy. They make a very cute couple with their black cat meets golden retriever energies; their interactions are the highlight of the book. Wintertime in New York City is picturesque and romantic, but there's a reason Abby has stayed away from her old stomping grounds for so long--her verbally abusive parents. The novel's two settings are in a tug-of-war, and there's enough detail and motivation to have focused on just one. The small-town power struggle between Abby and Lorna, the president of the yearly festival, makes for a more traditional and fun holiday romance plot. The fake-dating portion in which Abby arrives back home and confronts the terrible behavior of her parents makes this feel like two separate books. A warm and welcoming, though disjointed, holiday romance.

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