Kissing Kosher is Jean Meltzer third romance novel that features a protagonist learning to live with a chronic illness, as she does, while falling in love. She also highlights her Jewish faith and how it enriches the lives of her characters.

I've read all three of Meltzer's books and have enjoyed them all; this one was no exception. Here she features a bit of a Romeo and Juliet family feud style history between our romantic couple's families, and it definitely adds to the tension throughout the story. This story felt even more personal than her previous two novels in the challenges that Avital has to face on a daily basis with her chronic illness, and some readers may be uncomfortable with those difficult facts. But I loved how she and Ethan find some nontraditional solutions to her discomfort and the ways they as a couple have to navigate their relationship. The research Meltzer did to write her book could definitely help others who suffer similarly.

I have loved very book I've read by Meltzer and this one was no exception! I loved Avi and Ethan, our main characters, and couldn't wait to learn more about them -- both separately and together. I loved that it was set in a bakery and spent most of the book desperate for a pumpkin babka -- I wish a recipe for one had been included! -- and I definitely need to make one now. As with Meltzer's other books, I loved the Jewish and chronic illness rep. Avi struggles with a nearly invisible chronic condition that affects so much of her life and is hard to talk about as it affects her bladder, uterus, ability to have sex, etc. I love how Ethan loved her and my absolute favorite part was this discussion about intimacy being about boundaries and the Rabbi's perspective on Jewish love, romance, boundaries, traditions, etc. This part really made me think a lot about relationships (of all kinds), love, boundaries, and how we structure our lives. I loved how these characters developed and the ending. I would recommend it if you like Meltzer's other books, romance, or books about characters following their own hearts and paths.

I’ll happily read Jean Meltzer’s romances anytime. Avital (Avi) Cohen co-owns with her twin brother a kosher bakery called Best Babka in Brooklyn. It isn’t her dream but a necessity as it gives her a job she can do while trying to manage her chronic pelvic pain. She hires Ethan who she thinks is a baker. In reality Ethan is the grandson of her family’s rival. Their grandfather’s were partners once before they split each accusing the other of misdeeds. Ethan’s grandfather wants him to steal the signature recipe so they can mass produce it for their company.

Ethan is adorable character and he finds he really likes Avi. They spend time talking while working and he takes a load off her shoulders. Her chronic pain is a huge part of the story and it leads to one of the best showings of the use of medicinal marijuana I’ve seen in a fictional book. I like that Ethan’s secret is shared with Avi before they become intimate (off the page) so I don’t feel she is being deceived. As always Meltzer shows realistic Judaism and makes it very much a part of the story. She explains some Jewish elements and uses words that can be recognized in context of the story. I loved the ending.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for the ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving an honest review.

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.

4.25 stars
Age Rating: 17+
Spice Level: 1/5

The Matzah Ball remains my favorite Jean Meltzer book…
But this one is my new second favorite!
The disability representation was absolutely incredible. There were so many important discussions around living with chronic pain, medical mistreatment and trauma, pain management, sexual dysfunction religion and identity when you’re living with chronic pain and disability… and of course so much more, Judaism and family.
This book has it all—
Romeo and Juliet-esque feuding families
A feuding food establishmant fight over a secret recipe a la Mr Krabs and Plankton from Spongebob
Marijuana*
And of course, swoony romance

*The book actually has some phenomenal discussions about marijuana, and medical marijuana that I really enjoyed. I loved seeing that stigma tackled and broken down in a book, and I think Jean Meltzer did it wonderfully.

This book was both incredibly fun and incredibly heartfelt. I love Avital and Ethan and the whole Best Babka crew. Sometimes—especially when it came to the rivalry—things got a bit too overdramatic for my taste, but all in all, it really is an amazing, important book that I cannot recommend more. Do be warned—it will leave you desperately craving pumpkin babka!

Rep: Jewish MCs, interstitial cystitis, chronic pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction, vulvodynia, fibroids, menstraul problems, medical trauma
CW: chronic pain, suicidal ideation, sex-related pain & sexual dysfunction, ableism, medical trauma/gaslighting doctors/doctors that can’t or won’t help you, abusive parental figure, emotional abuse, parent loss (off page, in the past), cannabis use (medical and non-medical), sexual content

Absolutely love this book I’m a big fan of Jewish romance novels and absolutely love to couldn’t recommend more!

Avital Cohen manages her family's kosher bakery with her twin brother, Josh. She would love to become a professional photographer, but she has chronic pelvic pain. She decides she needs help at the bakery, so she hires Ethan Lippmann. He is actually going there undercover, as his grandfather works at a rival bakery with the intention of stealing a recipe. Ethan soon finds that he is more interested in Avital than stealing family secrets. It was a cute rom-com, and I always love it when there are Jewish characters.

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.

Such a cute and well written book! I did not want to put this one down and would pickup another by the author in a heartbeat for sure!!!

2.5 stars. I grabbed this ARC because I remember seeing some potential is the author’s earlier book, and I was interested to see how her writing had developed. Y’all, I got some thoughts.

First, the positives: I rounded up to 3 stars because there are a lot of factors and stresses from the characters’ lives that are incorporated into the story. Both MCs respect each other and a lot of the drama to their relationship comes from their families and life situations, less from trope-y not communicating and making big assumptions. The set-up is very Romeo-and-Juliet. The Jewish identity and heritage of both MCs and most of the side characters is important to the story, and Jewish holidays and customs feature prominently. The FMC has a chronic illness/chronic pain, and that’s also a huge part of the relationship. All these are so great to see!

Now. I have concerns. To start: the FMC decides to try cannabis for her chronic pain, and also hopefully that will allow her to have sex (normally blocked by her pain level). It read as suuuuper sketchy to me that the first time she tried marijuana was also the first time the couple had sex. It’s alluded to that the couple have some physical explorations in the previous weeks but don’t go “all the way.” It’s also problematic because the high the FMC experiences was not at all what she was expecting. I do think there is space in relationships for one or both partners to drink or take substances without it revoking consent. But for her to actually not know what she’s getting into with this form of pot and then to have sex for the first time (with the MMC)? Not right.

And. I am into the discussion of romance as a fantasy genre, what readers connect to, we know it’s different from reality, all that. The relationship, though, was not the most fantasy-universe thing about this book.
1. Prior to the start of the story, the FMC has a sudden-onset pain condition. She gets diagnosed essentially immediately, which is unheard of. Some of my symptoms also started in college, and I didn’t get a diagnosis until 25 (for PCOS), 35 (for MCAS), and, at 40, still waiting to confirm or rule out an additional autoimmune diagnosis. The idea of receiving a diagnosis within a year is unheard of, based on the lived experiences of everyone that I personally know who has an AI disease.
1b. The FMC is frustrated that her doctor— the 4th or 5th “specialist” that she’s seen in the past 2 years— can’t help her. Honestly, almost everything about the day-to-day living for the FMC as a chronic illness sufferer seemed super accurate to me, except for these major things. The notion that you could get in to see that many specialists! I had to wait so long for my intake appointment with my immunologist that my referral *expired*. It was over 14 months. My referral for a rheumatologist was sent 2.5 YEARS ago. This is loo loo.
2. The MMC, who has never washed a dish or cooked a meal, takes to baking like a duck to water. I would probably have glossed over that if he had any artistic talents— but it’s specified in the text that he was never given space or freedom to take up any arts or hobbies— OR if he had a science/chemistry background— but again, his business-accounting-marketing-management education is brought up several times. The part that’s a complete fantasy, though, is that after a couple of weeks’ experience with regular baking, he’s going off-book, able to create GF products and other baked goods with huge substitutions. I’m no slouch in the kitchen, and I’ve been making most things from scratch for over 15 years (wow, that’s depressing, I don’t usually think about how long my journey has been, QUICKLY MOVING ON), and I still struggle with baking. I’m on vacation, so I’ve been in the kitchen every day, trying to perfect some recipes so they don’t need any additional experimentation and can become regular weeknight/weekend things. This week alone, a) from a recipe in a printed cookbook, the wet-dry proportions were so wrong I had the throw the whole thing out, a complete loss (and have you priced coconut flour recently? That’s not a cheap thing to just throw away); b) a second recipe from a real and printed cookbook had texture issues and to be fair, my teen ate all of them because the flavor wasn’t bad but I didn’t even eat a whole one; c) nowhere in town sells barley flour, so I had to make it in my kitchen, using my spice grinder, 1/4c at a time (although the muffins did turn out pretty well, if you can ignore the occasional 1/2 piece of barley that got through); and d) a 4th recipe from a real and published source again had proportion problems— and I was following the directions as written without making additional substitutions, for all of these, btw— that we didn’t eat these cookies as intended so much as literally eat them with a spoon out of a bowl because they did not hold a shape.
ALL THAT TO SAY, if I can’t do it after 15 years, how can I believe this pretty boy with no kitchen experience can knock it out of the park?

Maybe these issues won’t be noticeable to readers not living with the chronic illness. My experiences seem to match up with those of my friends who also have chronic disease, but maybe we’re a weird little pocket and the majority of people with AI diagnoses don’t have the same history.

The writing was very info-dump-y as characters explain things to each other. I don’t hate that, but it may be jarring for some. The narration also tended to be repetitive, and more stuff happened off-screen/in passing than I like.

The story is sweet and the representation is appreciated. For healthy people looking for a beach read, this is fine, but the writer still has a little ways to go before I can actually recommend her.

A new take on Romeo and Juliet featuring two warring kosher baked goods places? Here we go! Avital Cohen has had a hard life, she's in constant pain due to her chronic pelvic pain and is forced to deal with it every waking second of her life, her photography dreams are not really going anywhere and she's doing everything she an to manage her family's kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn... all without collapsing. With how busy everything is and her chronic pain flaring, she needs help and when an all too handsome guy with an overqualified resume comes in she knows he's too good to be true but hires him because what choice does she have. Ethan Lippman is everything but perfect.... he is actually working undercover for his abusive grandfather who has asked him to steal the Cohen's secret recipe for their best selling babka. Ethan's life has changed ever since his parents died in a tragic accident and his grandmother's death has also added onto his grandfather's short temper. Ethan's youngest brother Randy is only obsessed with cannabis and his younger sister is in the hospital since the accident, leaving Ethan to deal with his grandfather. Ethan's grandfather is obsessed with destroying the Cohen's after the family dispute between them and his entire life his grandfather has been nothing but abusive but Ethan keeps forgiving him and making excuses for his behavior... yet the more time he spends with Avital and her family the more he is beginning to realize that maybe he doesn't know the whole story and maybe he should not have to deal with his grandfather's abuse. This one was an okay read for me but I just didn't really care for the romance between them all that much and the fact that there was a forced family reconciliation after everything that happened just didn't work for me as someone who doesn't really believe in allowing toxic family members back into their lives. I do appreciate the representation of chronic pain in this one but that's about it for me unfortunately. If you are looking for a romeo and juliet inspired retelling with a bakery then give this one a go maybe it'll work out better for you than it did for me.

*Thanks Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I requested this book because I saw the author on a panel during ALA. I'd never heard of her before, but when I heard her speak and heard her story, I knew I wanted to read her stuff.

Avi works at her family bakery, and seldom wears underwear. It's not for a sexy reason, it's because she deals with consistent, if not constant, pelvic pain. She's resigned herself to a certain way of life, and while she doesn't love it, she copes. Then she has Ethan, this man who starts working at the bakery, come and change everything she things she knew, but he has a secret. He's the grandson of the owner of a rival kosher bakery, there to steal a secret recipe for his vindictive grandfather.

I liked it a lot. It was cute while also being informative. I don't ever love forced reconciliation with family members, though, so that part rubbed me the wrong way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy of Meltzer’s newest and most adorable to-date book. I loved Meltzer’s careful consideration of a female main character with a disability and the precious relationships behind just the protagonists. And once again, I cannot overstate just how much I adore a book with food at its core, especially Jewish food. There is so much to enjoy with this book. I have to admit the first one hundred pages were a challenge for me to dive into because Meltzer has so much background to cover with the rivalry at stake, and I put off continuing longer than I should have, but I’m so glad I kept going because it is such a sweet read.

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.

This book had serious representation issues, that made me wonder (and look up) whether the author was Jewish. There were so many little things that felt misrepresented - the manager of a kosher bakery would never schedule a job interview for Friday afternoon as that is the busiest time of their week, a woman who went to Hebrew Day School would know that "Zeyde" means grandfather in Yiddish not Hebrew, etc. It felt inauthentic and at times extremely offensive. As with Meltzer's other works, I couldn't help but feeling that she wasn't writing for a Jewish audience or through a Jewish lens. Rather, she was writing for and as a non-Jewish person and thus leaning on offensive Jewish and Orthodox stereotypes.

This book will have you hooked from the very first page. It’s such a heartfelt, bittersweet rom-com that I think everyone should read. This isn’t just a romance story. It’s about family, forgiveness and learning how to accept yourself and make the most of your life.

I loved everything about this book. The characters, the setting, the romance and all the yummy food! There are a lot of heavier topics throughout the story so I wouldn’t say it’s a lighthearted read by no means. The rep for chronic pain was done wonderfully. My heart broke for Avital. Watching her go through everything that she did and still power through, she’s superwoman. And let’s just take a moment to appreciate how much of a cinnamon roll Ethan is! I love him so damn much.

If you love a good enemies to lovers romance with lots of tasty treats and a teddy bear of a man then I highly recommend picking this one up on August 29th!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Mira for the e-arc!

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

Book: Kissing Kosher
Author: Jean Meltzer
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for sending me an ARC.

In this one, we follow Avital, who has taken over her family’s bakery. She has not done this by choice though. She lives in chronic pain, forcing her to rethink her life. She has moved back home with her parents to help pay for her medical care. The thing is nothing is working and her pain is only getting worse. It cutting her quality of life. On top of this, she must hire help and the interview happens to be on a pain where she in the middle of a painful pelvic flare. The candidate, Ethan, seems a bit too qualified for the position. Ethan is not there for only a job though. He is the grandson of her family’s biggest rival and is there to steal a secret recipe. You see, once upon a time, Avital and Ethan’s grandfathers were best friends, went into business together, and had a massive falling out. Avital’s bakery is known for their famous babka and Ethan’s grandfather is dying to get his hands on the recipe. The only thing is Ethan ends up losing his focus and starts to fall for Avital.

If you can’t tell from the title, this is a Jewish romance and it is full of Jewish culture. I liked this. I have read some other books with Jewish characters and it felt like they were Jewish only in name. That is not the case here. I am not sadly very familiar with Jewish culture. While our main characters are not overly religious, they do keep to Jewish traditions and customs. They keep kosher, eat Jewish food, and celebrate Jewish holidays. I also liked that the author took the time to explain the how and the why behind most of the things the characters did. I think it adds so much to the book and it makes the book.

I love that while this is a romance book, so much more is packed into it. We have already looked at the Jewish cultural elements, but there is more. Avital lives with chronic pelvic pain and nothing is working. It affects her love life, her personal life, what foods she can eat, and what kind of clothes she can wear. There is one scene where she wants to take a bath, but the fear of a flare-up stops her. She has tried everything and nothing is working. She can’t find any relief. She fears that she will never live a normal life. This may seem like she complains a lot, but stop and think about it. She lives in constant pain and it has taken everything away from her. She didn’t want to run her family’s business, she wanted to be a photographer. She was rejected from everything and has stopped taking pictures completely. Now, it may seem like on the surface level that her rejection is why she stopped. It’s not. Her camera broke and all of her money has to toward her medical care. I normally do not think a woman needs a man to help her, but in this case, Ethan does help her. The pair of them work together to find ways to help her find some sort of relief. It brings into question some practices and brings up a discussion on the use of medical marijuana.

I liked Avital and Ethan’s relationship. It’s kind of a slow burn. Once again, Avital lives in fear that she will not be able to have any kind of romantic relationship because of her pain. (And who can blame her?) Ethan, not only because of that, but because of who his family is, has to work to gain her trust. He waits until she is ready. In the meantime, he takes care of her every need and their relationship blooms into something deep. Now, this is what makes this one stand out a little bit more to me than other romances. While there are sexy scenes, it is Avital who makes the first move. It is all about when she is ready. There is no pressure. This means that whenever we get a sexy scene, it makes sense. Why? Because you can tell that their relationship and feelings for one another are real. Sometimes, in books, I feel like relationships just come from nowhere. I mean, this is a standalone so the author does have to get them together. However, not having them jump into bed right away, allows us to see the relationship develop into something that looks and feels very real.

Why four stars if I enjoyed it this much? If I am going, to be honest, it wasn’t hooked right away. It took fifty or so pages before I was fully invested in the story.

This book comes out on August 29, 2023.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/_KpUwjj20Fs

For fans of the Matzah Ball and Mr. Perfect on paper, comes Jean Meltzer next romantic saga of two people who should never have ever met.
Avital Cohen, the heir apparent to the Best Babka Bakery is dealing with a lot of personal issues, which are causing the bakery to hire a new employee. Ethan Lippman is just the person to do the job- clean the floors, do the laundry, make the boxes and overall help with the day to day operations of the bakery. But Ethan has a secret. He is the grandson of Avital’s family’s chief rival, the Lippman family. The Lippmans and the Cohens had worked side by side to create the bakery until one day the two grandfathers had a falling out, and Moshe Lippman left to create a rival company, Lippman’s, which produces mass market products.
Forced by his grandfather to infiltrate the Best Babka Bakery to steal the famous pumpkin babka recipe, Ethan instead befriends Avital instead and ingratiates himself with the company. What follows is a series of events that eventually bring the two families together and give the families peace of mind. Another good book club pick, Kissing Kosher coming this August from Mira Publishing is a tasty treat, read with a cup of coffee and a good pastry.

I absolutely ADORE Jean Meltzer's books. So when I was approved to read this book before it was published, I was so excited. And I was not disappointed. The Jewish representation is excellent and I might make my husband read this book because it was AMAZING. I will definitely be recommending this for purchase when it is published for my library.