4 Incredibly Insightful Stars
* * * * Spoiler Free
No author wants a low scoring review. After all, writing books and then hitting that publish button is like giving birth. Once their creation is out in the world, all control is lost and how it is received is up to the reader. I mention this because I learned of this book through a review which crossed my feed. It had not been well received and I was curious as to why. I discovered it was on NetGalley and was lucky enough to get it.

Now this book may not be for everyone, but for me, I was drawn in from the start. This had moments of clarity and insight. There were moments of pain. But above all else, if you stripped away all of the "extra verbiage and unique cultural nuances", it was a story about who we as people can either be generous and loving or hypocritical and cruel or actually a combination of all of the above.

Which is universal.

It was not perfect for me but it had a definite perspective and was willing to go all-in with it. If you were open-minded, there was much to learn...Again, there was a type of agenda presented...but as an openly religious book, that was to be expected.

For me, it made me think, analyze, be retrospective and appreciative. Any book that encourages all of those actions, is a positive one for me.


A gifted copy was provided by St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for an honest review.

Received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley - enjoyable read with a satisfying, if not predictable, ending.

This novel opens the world of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave of Boro Park Brooklyn. A lapsed Jew has returned and become more religious. She lost her fiance in a freak accident. She meets a widower who lost her wife and left him with five children, three of whom are still living at home. The two star-crossed non-lovers -- for after all, the religious don't date the same way the rest of us do -- eventually become more involved, trying to stay in their observant lanes and still work around the limits of their community and faith. There is a lot of Yiddish expressions in their dialogue that is realistic but still some rough going for those of us that haven't brushed up on the language. Having known a few religious members of other communities, it is a very realistic portrait of the foibles, fears, and motivations behind this culture. The issue of accepting converts -- even from someone who was born Jewish, just not Jewish enough -- are also discussed and the characters have some difficult choices to make along the way too. Well worth reading.

This book was very good! It was very interested in the lives of the characters and thought they had well built out lives, including everyone who wasn't exactly on the side of the main characters. There were a few unexpected twists and they were well written. Highly recommend.

Unfortunately, I stopped reading this book early on. My interest was lacking but it had nothing to do with the Jewish culture or subject. It seemed too detailed for me.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Although I am an agnostic, I absolutely love seeing anything about the Hasidic community in New York City. I find the culture absolutely fascinating, the sense of community is something I really envy. This is a great book, it gave me a whole different insight into the culture of this community . It was a great love story, all the great characters. I look forward to reading more from this author, Who has great insight into who these people are, their family values, and all the little things that go on when you are part of such a great community. The characters of Leah , her mother, Her husband to be an all his children play simply fabulous. Thank you so much for my advanced copy. I will look forward to reading more from this author..

I like reading Ragen’s book for the unflinching look at the world of orthodox Jews. Ragen offers honest insight about both sincere faith and judgmental hypocrisy. Her characters and storytelling, while not the most sophisticated, are generally engaging. In this latest book, Ragen examines the journey of a Baal Teshuva, a Jew who chooses orthodox lifestyle without having been raised in that environment.
I was intrigued by the contradictions she illustrated in which the community both encourages all Jews to be observant of Torah law, but treats those newly observant with suspicion and disdain. Several other aspects rang false however. The descriptions of a the secular world (bar hopping, casual hook ups, loneliness) lacks so much realism and nuance as to be laughable. Non-Orthodox Jews and non Jews alike live rich, fulfilling, and meaningful lives full of faith, religion, kindness, charity, and modesty. There is not a dividing line and Ragen does touch on that somewhat at times, but at others (particularly with the main character Leah), describes secular life as hedonistic and empty.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and would continiue to read Ragen’s work. I must take issue, however, with her callous and one note descriptions of the characters who are described as obese and autistic (the bottom of the barrel potential matches for Leah ). Ragen does a disservice to us all by making them cartoonish and unappealing, rather than nuanced human beings. The author is similarly out of touch with her description of an African orthodox man (Leah’s jaw drops simply at the sight of him) and Leah’s lament that what was next, a “midget?”This kind of careless cruelty in unacceptable to me a reader. If the author is unaware of it, her editors should certainly have brought it to her attention.

From the first page to the last, I was totally entranced by this book. I am a reform Jew and have many family members who are orthodox.
I was familiar with the customs and the emotional issues these families face.
My family members are wonderful people, but are not interested in the reform members of the family. They do keep themselves apart from us.
But we do know they love us and would do anything we needed.
I have read many of Naomi Reagan’s books. This one was one of the best!

Naomi Ragen’s “ Unorthodox Match” is a fascinating insight into the world of life in Borough Park, Brooklyn. It is a beautiful and touching story of Leah and her long journey to find herself and ultimate happiness. The author does a spectacular job of research and pulling the reader into this wonderful story. The depth of knowledge she shares is amazing. Filled with such warmth and understanding of a culture most are never privy to. I could not put this book down. It is just a fantastic read. I can’t wait to pick up another book by Ms. Ragen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was a lovely story about Lola (Leah) a young Jewish woman who decides she wants to deepen her faith by becoming an Orthodox Jew. She joins the community and in doing so meets young widower, Yaakov Lehman, with five children who is struggling to cope with raising his three young children while working and studying. This is a delightful insight into the orthodox Jewish community - it’s about God fearing, humorous, gossipy, kindly people. But it’s mostly about love and faith and acceptance. There’s a glossary at the back - which I didn’t realize until I finished the book. By then I had stopped and looked up numerous words on Google. Recommended- interesting read with a little romance.
Thanks to NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review

A beautifully written book that will have you cheering, smiling and loving how Leah managed to get on with her life.

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

I don't generally read books on religion and spirituality so volunteering to read through Netgalley was completely by chance. What really caught my eye and gave me reason to give An Unorthodox Match a shot was the idea of religious cultism, what we may view as one from the outside, and what value others see as they join and live on the inside. I've read a total of maybe two-ish other similarly-based books and just could not get anywhere with them.

It's a good thing I took a stab at An Unorthodox Match - I was enraptured by it within the first chapter. You immediately get this sense of something really messed Lola up. There's a certain element of mystery behind what really happened to her to put her in the position of trying to seek out a bigger, deeper sense of religious belief and the author does an excellent job of giving you small pieces of what made Lola who she is throughout the book. Without giving too much away, there are things that happen in everyone's lives with unexpected job issues, relationships, etc. and we all respond to them differently.

I also really loved how deep the characters in this book were, even beyond the main player Lola. The deep turmoil of one of the children she cares for is completely relatable and understandable. The internal argument among some of the friends she meets of community views versus their own personal beliefs - we all have them regardless of whether it's a religious community or not. At the end of the day, my heart felt so much for everyone and I found myself rooting for them. And maybe, just maybe, I hoped to celebrate at the end.

If you are looking for a book with deep characters who will tug on your heart strings as they explore their own beliefs and how they fit in or conflict with religious belief, give An Unorthodox Match a read!

When I got the invite to review An Unorthodox Match, I almost didn’t accept it. I do not read books that are straight, religious books, even those that are masked as women’s fiction. But the blurb caught my attention, and I decided to read An Unorthodox Match.

Having grown up in a community that was Jewish, I assumed that I knew a lot about the religion. I always knew that there was an Ultraorthodox part of the religion but knew nothing about it. Then I read An Unorthodox Match, and my mind was blown. There was so much that I didn’t know and so much that took me by surprise. It was learning about the Ultraorthodox religion that made this book for me.

I liked Lola/Leah. But I do wish that her backstory had been told better. I got a little irritated because her backstory was broken up. The author did say at the beginning of the book that Lola/Leah had been through a lot as a child and an adult. But after that, it was fragmented and drove me nuts. It wasn’t until that important scene with Yaakov at the end of the book that everything was put together in chronological order. I also thought that Lola/Leah was too lenient with Shaindele after what that twit put her through. But I will get to that in a little bit.

I liked Yaakov and felt awful for him. I guessed what had happened to his first wife early in the book. His grief and guilt came off the page. I wanted to hug him and tell him it wasn’t his fault. I liked that the author made him human. He had three children at home who he needed to take care or and provide for. He did what he had to, which included giving up his studies, to care for them. That included going to someone to help find a wife (which is done in this religion).

I do have to mention Shaindele, Yaakov’s oldest daughter because she played a massive part in Lola/Leah and Yaakov’s relationship. I didn’t like her. I found her behavior disrespectful throughout the book. I did feel bad for her. Losing her mother the way that she did and not being told the truth about how/why she died was traumatic. But it did not excuse how she treated the younger children or Lola/Leah. Which is why I was surprised that Lola/Leah talked Yaakov out of doing what he wanted to do.

I did find how hard it was for Lola/Leah to be accepted into the enclave fascinating. I had no idea that it was so hard for converts to be accepted into the Ultraorthodox enclaves. I had no clue that even if they did marry, that their children would never be accepted. The prejudices were outlined perfectly in this book. There was a point where I thought Lola/Leah was fighting a losing battle.

The romance angle of the book wasn’t up and in your face. Lola/Leah and Yaakov had to overcome a lot even to meet. But once they met, I could see the attraction. What I liked also is that there was zero sex. No kissing. Per the religion, Yaakov couldn’t even touch Lola/Leah. So kissing her was out of the question. I loved watching their romance develop without that. It was refreshing.

The end of An Unorthodox Match pulled at my heartstrings. It was a typical HEA that made me tear up. What I appreciated was that the author included a glossary with all the Jewish and Yiddish terms that were used in the book. I was getting a bit frustrated and ended up googling 90% of those terms. I wish I had known about it earlier. It would have saved me a whole lot of frustration.

I would give An Unorthodox Match an Adult rating. There is sex. There is mild language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread An Unorthodox Match. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**

Let me start by saying that I have never read anything by Naomi Ragen. I'm glad that this was my first book by her...

This is a story of loss in many forms, death, infidelity etc...and how we get through these losses to find some peace. Because Ms Ragen is writing about a subject (Orthodox Judaism) that I know nothing about, I appreciated the glossary of terms in the book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy. This book is scheduled to release in September 2019.

Bump rating to 3.75. I am not Jewish... I requested this because I felt it fell into my interest in other cultures, and on that front it was a very satisfactory read. Author Naomi Ragen provided detailed descriptions of food, living conditions, customs, and more in a surprisingly relatable setting. For me, the reading went slowly only because of the extensive use of the Orthodox jargon in the story; although a glossary was provided in the back of the book, I found those difficult to access in a digital edition. After a great deal of build up and scene setting, it seemed to wind down quickly at the end.

Good for people like me who want enjoyable insight into other cultures, recognizing that I'm ignorant about this particular culture, and trust Ragen's descriptions (her acknowledgements indicate she has the background).

I was unprepared for this book. It's very gentle and slow moving (lots of narration and description), yet unexpectedly powerful. The characters are well-developed, and they are incredibly sympathetic, even when not likeable. As a gentile, I had never really thought much about Orthodox Judaism or the process of becoming a devout Jew and this novel beautifully revealed the push and pull, the light and dark of that experience. In fact, the love story between main characters Leah and Yaakov is secondary to the story of Leah's journey into and struggle with her new faith community.

The book is in English but includes a LOT of Yiddish vocabulary- some of which the reader could ascertain from context clues, though many words would be more difficult. There is a glossary at the end... which I didn't realize until I REACHED the end. That would have been good to know from the beginning (or even better- the terms could have been explained in footnotes, instead).

I was drawn to An Unorthodox Match by its cover (though, in retrospect, the cover isn't accurate to the story!). If not for the cover, I might not have read the book, and that would have been my loss. This was a lovely book, and I'm glad that I read it.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion, which I am always happy to give. :)
#NetGalley #AnUnorthodoxMatch

I was very frustrated reading this book with all the Jewish terminology. It was interesting to learn about their faith and ways. Leah searching for answers, wanting a perfect life seemed unrealistic for her age. I felt for the widower with the five children but wanted to light a fire under him. This book was just not for me.

An Unorthodox Match js totally different contemporary romance novel. The story details a woman who has gone through life not totally certain of her identity, but seeking God in many different places. She ultimately "finds herself" back in a similar community as to what her grandparents lived. As she discovers her relationship with God, she also develops a relationship with a widower's young children. This is a very interesting story about a strong community of Jews in New York City. Interesting novel with a depth not often found in contemporary romance.

I received an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This ibook is no way scandalous despite the cover. It is orthodox jewish women’s fiction. No hoe shit. Tease

Leah Howard, known as Lola to her mother and anyone else who knew her before she decided to adopt an orthodox Jewish lifestyle, just wants to fit in. And for Leah, fitting in means finding an orthodox husband. Rabbi Weintraub breaks the news to her gently, his women’s studies program caters to a younger set. At 34, Leah, with her secular background (even though her mother was born into a Jewish household), has little hope of marrying into the orthodox set.

Nevertheless, the rabbi has compassion on Leah, and finds her a family to live with in the Boro Park neighborhood of Brooklyn and a part-time job helping the school with social media and marketing. At last, Leah has found a community where she can turn her life around, pay back for the harm she did at her last job, and hopefully find a faithful man to marry.

Yaakov Lehman has five children and he fears his pious life killed his first wife. His life feels like a disaster—laundry everywhere, loan obligations and no income to repay them, and dishes piled higher than the Statue of Liberty. Maybe he should follow his mother-in-law’s advice and visit a matchmaker. Although he just turned 40, the cares of the world make him feel ten years older.

What hope does he have of finding a righteous wife who doesn’t carry the burden of a bitter divorce? And a mate who will support him in his religious studies while caring for and loving his five children? It seems impossible.

Why You’ll Love This Book

An Unorthodox Match hooks the reader and reels them in with a plot replete with flashbacks, twists, turns, and false hopes. Ragen weaves Yiddish skillfully into the narrative so that the reader never feels completely lost during conversations between the colorful characters.

I grew up loving books by Chaim Potok and yearned for the simple life of an orthodox Jew in a tight-knit community. Ragen gives the outsider-moving-in version of Judiasm from a woman’s perspective. In doing so, she helps the reader understand that that all religious communities have their woes, their hypocrites, and their true believers.