The Lippman and Cohen families have been rivals for two generations after a mysterious falling out. Avital Cohen, the general manager of Best Babka in Brooklyn, is helping to keep the business she now co-owns with her very distractable brother Josh afloat–in spite of her chronic illness–he has a head for baking but not for business. Their company is hugely successful but growth is limited by their small shop. It’s secretly infiltrated by Ethan (Lippman) Rosenberg, who at his grandfather’s behest, plans to steal the pumpkin babka recipe that made Best Babka famous. His dreams are dashed when instead of starting out in the kitchens, he’s stuck folding boxes and going on a supplies runs. His meet cute with Avi is seeing her naked tuchus after they collide (due to her chronic cystitis, she’s sans underpants), and his attraction is immediate. Avi keeps Ethan at arms length first because of her challenging pelvic issues and then because she learns his true identity–and keeps his secret.

Their burgeoning relationship grows slowly as Ethan, who is truly a mensch, becomes a friend, then supporter, then lover of Avi, always empathetic to her illness without ever making her feel less than. The plot is complicated by Ethan’s family issues (the grandfather who took him in alongside his pothead younger brother and disabled younger sister after their parent’s death is abusive and controlling). Avi’s depiction of living with a chronic illness is real, matter-of-fact, informative, and well-characterized; suffering readers will feel seen. Finally, a fantastic subplot about a halachic rabbi in the medical marijuana trade brings it all together in a satisfactory way.

Jean Meltzer keeps getting better with every book. Hebrew/Yiddish/Jewish terms and festivals are succinctly explained, but I think she could take the lead from writers like Sonia Dev or Elena Armas who let terms in their original language sit as they are used, providing context but leaving it to the curious reader to do the grunt work to define a term, look up a translation, or do their own research. In fact, Meltzer could do less telling and more showing. I did have a sense that things were cut or simplified to keep the page count a little lower while maintaining wonderful details like the characterizations of other workers at Best Babka (a shout-out to the phenomenal ex-con who loves to knit and make bourekas; his presence serves to show tikkun olam in action). The over-explaining is the only reason this is a 4 1/2 star book instead of a 5 star book for me, and I’m blaming it on editing, not content, writing, setting, or characterization, which are all A+.

Additionally, I take with the reviewer who claimed in their NetGalley review, “This book had serious representation issues, that made me wonder (and look up) whether the author was Jewish.” Not only is Meltzer Jewish, she went to rabbinical school and cites rabbinic supervision in the acknowledgements! If there is one thing my conversion to Judaism taught me, it’s that there is more than one way to be Jewish; it’s a culture, a religion and an ethnicity with tons of diversity and degrees of practice. Just because she went with an interpretation that breaking a glass in a wedding represents the fragility of human life (which is just one of several meanings of the symbolic ritual) or that her main character schedules an interview for Friday afternoon (it’s not sundown YET) does not mean she doesn’t know what she is talking about. Avital and Ethan are not modern orthodox, but prayer and tradition is important to them and maybe supercedes travelling on Shabbat, and that’s okay.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #KissingKosher from #NetGalley.

https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/2023/07/05/kissing-kosher-by-jean-meltzer/ ( )

The feud between the Lippmanns and the Cohens because of their bakery, Best Babka Bakery in Brooklyn, still continued after all of these years.

It continued with another idea by Moishe Lippmann that forced his grandson Ethan to get a job at the bakery and to not reveal who he was or what he was after.

What he was after was the recipe for the pumpkin-spiced babka recipe that Chayim Lippman claims Moishe stole from him.

Having that recipe would be the ultimate win because that recipe is literally kept under lock and key by the family and loved by every patron and lover of sweets in Brooklyn.

Ethan presented himself for the job as a seasoned chef who had worked in Paris when he had never baked or worked a day in his life.

Can he pull it off since he has no baking experience?

Well…it seems so since he was not allowed in the kitchen. He was relegated to taking out the trash and assembling the trademarked pink boxes.

While he has no access to the kitchen, he does have another perk - Avital Cohen the owner.

She makes his heart flutter, but it would be a sin to fall in love since their families are such mortal enemies.

Will Ethan and Avital be able to keep apart?

Will Ethan be looking more for love than worrying about stealing the recipe his extremely stern and critical grandfather demands?

KISSING KOSHER was a delightful, entertaining read with some nice surprises. You will love all the characters.

It was also educational for me as I learned about the Jewish culture and customs. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own. ( )

Another delightful read from Jean Meltzer. While her books have a not-quite-perfect Jewish female protagonist dealing with some form of chronic illness, they are still funny and heartwarming. It was also a quick read as I became immersed in the story and could not put it down.

“Kissing Kosher” opens with a line sure to get your attention. “Avital Cohen wasn’t wearing underwear.” Probably not what you think. It has to do with her illness.

Anyway, Avital is co-owner, with her twin brother Josh, of a kosher bakery in Manhattan. It is very popular, and she needs help. Her chronic pelvic pain wears on her, making it difficult to keep up with all the things she must do in managing the bakery. Ethan Rosenberg applies for the position and is hired. What Avital doesn’t know is that Ethen Rosenberg is actually a Lippmann – as in the grandson of Moishe Lippmann who was the original co-owner of the bakery with Avital’s grandfather Chayim. Moishe and Chayim were childhood friends but had a falling out over the bakery and have not spoken since. Now Moishe wants Ethan to steal a recipe that Moishe claims Chayim stole from him.

As they work together in the bakery, Ethan and Avital fall in love. But he knows he must reveal his true name at some point…and risks losing Avital when he does.

I loved the characters – Avital, Ethan, Ethan’s brother Randy, ex-con baker Tootles, Josh, and hippie Rabbi Jason. They seemed so real with their emotions and their flaws, people you would want in your life. The family dramas are real. I am sure they will remind us of all of a family we know.

I have now read all three of her books, and my book club loves them as well. This one lends itself well for book club discussion – family squabbles that carry across generations, living with chronic pain, the use of medical marijuana (I learned a lot there), building your own family, sex versus intimacy. (My book club will be reading it in October.) And let me warn you – the delicious-sounding baked goods are sure to make you crave them.

Thank you to Harlequin MIRA for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own. ( )