This was a pretty cute romance. I loved Rachel and Mickey’s friendship and Rachel’s secret identity as a Christmas romance novelist. Although, I do think that the enemies-to-lovers plot was a bit of a stretch and I think Rachel could have been a little easier on Jacob.

Rating: 3*

There are innumerable Christmas romance stories published every year. Readers look forward to these as pleasant holiday distractions. I found it delightful to have a Jewish themed story be out there for holiday readers.

The protagonist of this novel is a Jewish writer who adores writing Christmas romances. What will happen when she is tasked with writing a Hanukkah themed story? And, what will happen when her own love life is thrown into the mix? And what is a Matzah ball when it’s not in soup? Read this title to find out!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this read. All opinions are my own.

There were so many things to love about this book. One, as a non-jewish individual it gave further insight into customs.and beliefs that were richly beautiful as described in this book. I found myself smiling throughout. The characters had imperfections which made them feel real. I suffer from two chronic illnesses/autoimmune disorders so I appreciated the honesty in how living with invisible illness can be. The romance was sweet and quirky and the humour was just right. I really enjoyed this novel and look forward to the next release.

I'll admit that I know very little about Hanukkah, and I really only have a rudimentary understanding of the Jewish faith. With that in mind, I honestly can't critique the accuracy of those details in the story. I will say that I didn't have to completely understand the culture and faith of these people to find a couple of lines to be over the top and unnecessary. As for the romance, The Matzah Ball falls under holiday romances, and as far as that goes, Rachel and Jacob are in for an enemies-to-lovers romance with a side of second chance romance thrown in, and I'm a sucker for both tropes.
I liked both characters, and many parts of the story were amusing and entertaining. Jacob and Rachel can certainly hold a grudge because they've been holding onto hard feelings for years - like 18 of them. I was surprised by how young they were when those hard feelings started. I mean, most of us have gotten past "romances" that happened when we were 12. Anyway, it was a little out there but still a cute backstory.
I really liked the way Rachel's chronic illness was handled. I don't share the same illness, but I do have a chronic nerve disorder, one of those many things people can't see and don't understand, so I could relate to Rachel on that level.
All things considered, this one may be a stretch of my suspension of disbelief, but it is fiction, so some leeway can be given for that. It turned out to be an amusing romance with some witty banter and engaging characters.

The Matzah Ball is the debut novel of Jean Meltzer and is a 'sweet without the saucy' slow burn love story with a contemporary holiday vibe that vividly features the Jewish faith. The story is set around Rachel, a devout Jewish author and daughter of a world-renowned Rabbi who has a secret - she is the author of a series of Christmas themed books, and she adores Christmas! When her former Jewish summer camp archenemy, Jacob provides the only opportunity for Rachel to prove to her publisher that she has a new Hanukkah-inspired book series idea, things get complicated.

This was a quick read with a sweet premise, but I found that I liked some parts and struggled with others. The strength of this romance is in its representation of chronic illness and the descriptions of the Jewish faith, culture, and community. I applaud the author, a chronic illness sufferer herself, for how she emotionally illustrates the misunderstandings, stigmatization and the spectrum of experiences faced by people who suffer from invisible chronic illness.

But the story fell short for me in a couple of areas. I couldn't believe that the love/grudge that was created back when Jacob and Rachel were tweens at a Jewish summer camp was enough emotional fodder for the insta-love/animosity between them 18 years later. I also wanted more from both Rachel and Jacob. Rachel has two sets of rules - the ones she lives by and the ones she expects from others and that got old. Jacob, despite his millions of dollars and success as a CEO, plays the victim at every opportunity and resorts to immature pranks which didn't fit with his character. And despite his good intentions, I cringed at Jacob's grand gesture which felt more like aggressive helping and I strongly disliked how Jacob's behaviour was explained as 'perhaps Jacob treated Rachel badly because he LIKED HER'. Not a good message to promote ever.

Overall, this is a sweet, holiday read. The story relies on the enemies to lovers trope with healthy doses of misunderstanding and miscommunication. The Matzah Ball is an easy-going, fun but far-fetched holiday story with a sweet Hallmark feel that includes some hijinks mixed with a slow burn romance, solid representation of the Jewish faith and the realities of what life is like for people living with chronic illness.

Disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title, given in exchange for my honest review.

The matzah ball was such a holiday treat! The story was a very interesting and unique reading experience, mixing Christmas with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The main character Rachel, is torn between secretly loving the Christmas spirit (especially all things hallmark and romantic about Christmas) and lying about it to her very traditional parents. Hiding her career as a Christmas romance novelist, she is asked to do something so outside her comfort zone but yet right at home with her family traditions. She is asked to write a Hanukkah romance. This challenge has Rachel at her family home, experiencing her family traditions through a new lens. Suddenly Rachel feels like she needs to make her Jewish traditions romantic and sexy to sell her new novel, all while keeping it a secret from her family, and what would make for a good romance holiday read? An unexpected appearance from her arch nemesis and first love! Jacob shows up at her house for Hanukkah and he has just what Rachel needs, a ticket to her next best selling novel, and a ticket to the Matzah Ball! By scoring a ticket to the infamous Matzah Ball, Rachel is hoping to find her inspiration for her book. This story is filled with lots of holiday traditions, chemistry, banter, love and on a deeper level explores life with a chronic illness. This book has so much holiday sparkle and love, and I personally loved every minute of it !

Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays everyone!

At this time of year I enjoy reading Christmas books, and the opportunity to read a Hanukkah story intrigued me, especially Jean Meltzer's The Matzah Ball with its unique leading lady. Rachel is the daughter of an esteemed rabbi father and doctor mother. She's also secretly Margot Cross, the bestselling author of twenty Christmas romances.

Rachel's lifelong best friend Mickey is one of few people who know she is Margot, and the only one who has seen her Christmas room- filled to the brim with all kinds of Christmas decorations, including her beloved and numerous Santa collection. It's every Hallmark movie come to life in one room.

The other secret Rachel has is that she has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Most people don't understand the disease, believing that people who suffer from CFS are just low-energy or lazy. Rachel can be bedridden for days, unable to even raise her arms without pain. (Jean Meltzer also has CFS, something that gives the reader a better understanding of the disease.)

When Rachel's publisher tells her that this year they want her to write a Hanukkah romance, Rachel is stunned. How can she write a Hanukkah romance? Christmas is so festive, with so many different traditions, like the Rockefeller Christmas tree, and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show. Hanukkah doesn't have all that.

Rachel decides that she must do some serious research for her Hanukkah book to get it right. She hears about the Matzah Ball, a big weeklong party for wealthy Jewish people to be held at a ritzy New York hotel. That's perfect! There will be lots of single people there, she can soak up the atmosphere and get some good details for her book.

There are some problems though. The host of the event is Jacob Greenberg, CEO of Greenberg Entertainment, one of the premier event organizers in the world. Jacob is also the guy who humilated and broke Rachel's heart at summer camp when she was twelve.

The event is sold out, but Jacob is willing to let Rachel come if she volunteers the week of the event. Jacob has a different view of what happened when they were twelve; he believes that Rachel broke his heart.

What happens when Rachel and Jacob spend the week working together? There are misunderstandings, mishaps, and yes, sexual tension. The Matzah Ball is a funny, sweet enemies-to-friends story. The characters are delightful, and as someone who has planned events in the past, I reveled in the descriptions of the event coming together. I liked learning about Hanukkah, the traditions and the food, and you will pick up a fair amount of Yiddish phrases.

The Matzah Ball is a welcome addition to the canon of holiday romances, and I hope that Jean Meltzer continues Rachel and Jacob's story in future books.

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on their Holiday Romance Tour.

The Matzah Ball, by Jean Meltzer, is a fun, romantic holiday book, different than the usual holiday book we’re all used to. The heroine, Rachel, has a chronic disease which she refuses to let define her. Rachel, the daughter of a famous Rabbi father, and a top fertility specialist, is a good Jewish girl, who hides her love of Christmas and especially since her job as a Christmas Romance writer. Only her best friend Mickey knows about her love of everything Christmas and that her pen name is Margot Cross, a famous Christmas Romance author. When her publisher asks her to write a Jewish holiday story, Rachel is anxious, as she loves Christmas and hasn’t found the magic in the Jewish holidays that she finds in Christmas. Seeing an ad for a huge Matzah Ball celebration, Rachel wonders if she can find holiday magic at the ball. The only problem is the event coordinator for the Matzah Ball is her old summer camp nemesis, Jacob Greenberg; who she hasn’t seen in over twenty years. Jacob was perfect foil for Rachel. He was able to deal with her illness, yet force her to see herself as a fearless woman who should demand more of herself. The Matzah Ball is a nice holiday story that explores the different holiday traditions.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

In The Matzah Ball, the protagonist, Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is hiding a huge secret: she loves Christmas. This was my favorite part of the book - more than anything, I loved the conversation surrounding how it feels to be a Jew during the holidays. Missing out on the "magic" and how it feels when someone assumes we all celebrate the same holiday. While this book WAS filled with cliché's - stereotypical comments about Jewish people as a whole, and classic tropes I've seen many, many times before — I honestly wasn't bothered by them all. It was refreshing to read a romance where Judaism played such a part in the story-telling. Not to mention: I loved the rep of chronic illness. We so rarely see this portrayed and it added so much depth to Rachel as a character.

Disclaimer: I was sent a free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Let me say this right from the start I get Rachel. As someone who has lived her entire adult life from age 17 with a chronic illness, I got her on so many levels. She is my hero being able to make a career for herself as a writer and okay maybe being a Christmas Romance novelist isn't the most dramatic secret but I got her fear in telling people.

That said I loved the story behind these two characters. They each had things to overcome and I loved that their relationship was based on a friendship first.

I must say too I loved Rachel's friend Mickey. I have wished more than once in my life to have someone like that to count on and tell my darkest secrets too. He was an amazing friend and a wonderful bright spot t this story.

As for the whole Matzah Ball event and the things that surrounded it I was a little out of my league as I do not know much about the Jewish religion though I have wanted to learn.

Overall I loved this story. I really loved the character and I totally want to be friends with Rachel.

Rachel is the daughter of a prominent rabbi and reproductive endocrinologist and has always tried to meet everyone's expectations. Because of that, she can't tell them about her love of Christmas and her life as a writer of Christmas romance novels. Her publisher insists that she write a Hanukah novel instead, so she must find inspiration where she can get it: the high-end Matzah Ball Max that is run by Jacob Greenberg, who she had last seen at summer camp at twelve. Even so, he still irritates her, and she's convinced he's still the awful prankster he used to be.

The title drew me in because I haven't seen too many Hanukah-themed romance novels. On top of that, Rachel has chronic fatigue syndrome, which can leave her exhausted and crashing with too much effort. It's a part of her fear of losing her writing as a source of income, as well as limiting her opportunities to go places. That doesn't limit her spirit, and I really enjoyed seeing her guilty love of Christmassy things, because it's all about the joy that it can bring to people. Her love of her family and friends, especially her best friend Mickey, was wonderful to read, and I loved her before Jacob ever came on the scene. He has his own issues, mostly the fear of abandonment and having no one else to rely on, which leads him to nearly sabotage any burgeoning relationship with Rachel. They're so hung up on what they thought of the other from eighteen years ago, it's amazing

All of the side characters have such wonderful voices, I really enjoyed seeing them on the page as much as Rachel. Her parents (well, mostly her mother) are such great characters, as well as Jacob's grandmother Toby. Every appearance was fun to read, and I loved the influences they brought to our main couple, as well as the circumstances around them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and stayed up way too late to finish it!

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer was a perfect holiday book. it is about a Jewish author who secretly writes best selling Christmas novels. This year though she is made to write a Hannakauh story by her publisher. In order to do research she must make friends with her arch-nemesis from camp to get invited to the Matzah Ball he is throwing. The characters in this story are so well done. Rachel has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and it is explained but not over talked about which is good that it is not repetitive. The author was also able to convey that there was a huge misunderstanding between the two main characters to us the readers earlier than the characters which was great. I will definitely recommend this book.

A clever read about a Jewish girl who loves Christmas and secretly writes Christmas novels. A little heavy-handed with the way it deals with chronic illness, and following the modern trends of political correctness with its cast of characters.

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt loves Christmas. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, she is Jewish and her father is a world-famous rabbi. Beyond the fact that she loves Christmas, Rachel writes best-selling Christmas romances under a pseudonym. So that is two secrets she has. Rachel has one other issue and it is a rather serious one - she has a chronic illness and this has prevented her from reaching other goals in life.

Although her books are selling well and a few were made into movies, her publisher wants more. She wants Rachel to write a Hanukkah romance. That should be easy enough, right? Rachel finds this difficult but soon comes up with a plan that just might give her enough inspiration to write the book. She plans on becoming involved with the Matzah Ball, which is a Jewish celebration that takes place the last night of Hanukkah. There is a catch in this plan, however, as Rachel discovers that she will be working with Jacob Greenberg, someone she knew from camp from her younger years, who pretty much became her enemy.

Rachel must not only work closely with Jacob but she intends on keeping her health issues secret. This soon becomes very difficult for her despite years of fighting the incapaciting illness. Not only does Rachel find herself immersed with the Jewish traditions she did not really take seriously before, but she finds herself falling for Jacob. How can Rachel balance her secret love of Christmas, the books she writes and her illness enough to find her own version of a happily ever after?

What a touching book. For starters, I want to mention that I have fibromyalgia, and Rachel suffered from myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome. Rachel's life was robbed of so much in coping with her illness, and her symptoms matched mine every single time they were mentioned in this book. In the Acknowledgments at the end of the book, the author lets readers know that she was writing what she knows, as this is what she suffers from.

Although this was a warm romance story, I think it is an excellent example of how someone copes with a chronic illness and how it affects not only our everyday lives, but our relationship with others. Rachel's love of a Christian holiday or tradition took second place with me in this lovely book. I kept finding myself inspired by her trials but moreso by her finding ways to reach whatever goals she set. This is a book that I definitely want to reread. In fact, I did check Audible and it is available, so I will get it in that format soon.

I truly loved how Rachel and Jacob found their way to one another despite their past and the obstacles facing them now. I also enjoyed her relationship with Mickey, her lifelong best friend. This book offered so much, the romance, tradition, family and friends. The fact that this is Jean Meltzer's debut novel is more than impressive. She is a fabulous author already and I love how she crafted this story. She has a book coming out next summer called Mr. Perfect on Paper, and I will most certainly be putting that on my TBR.

Many thanks to Mira Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This was delightful!
Rachel is a great character. Her conflict over her beliefs and the yearning of her heart felt so real!
I can’t wait for more books by Jean Meltzer. She is bringing a new fresh voice to romances.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for my honest review.

"It was like something out of one of her Christmas movies, if everybody in the cast was Jewish and the heroine had a disability."

*The Matzah Ball* by Jean Meltzer is a very cute and unique story about a Christmas romance author who has to (re-)discover the magic of her jewish background when she is asked to write a Hanukkah romance novel. The daughter of a world famous rabbi, she has never told anyone what she does for a living - and now the only person who can save her writing career is her former archnemesis, Jacob.

I really enjoyed the jewish twist to the typical christmas romance/movie. It made for a very unique story and lovable characters. I also loved the own voices disability rep in this book as the MC and the author are suffering from a chronic illness.

It is a bit over the top sometimes and with some of the conflicts, I felt like the reasons behind them were not really high stakes and they could have been resolved a lot quicker. But it was fun, I love Jacob as a character and I read the novel basically in one sitting.

This is the perfect cute holiday read for this time of year! If you are looking for something cozy to curl up by the firs with, definitely consider picking this one up. It's all about how formal and festive hijinx can be.

The description to The Matzah Ball says "Oy! to the world," and that's really all I needed to read before deciding to dive into this Hanukkah romance.

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is the daughter of a respected rabbi and a closeted Christmas fanatic. She's built a career as a famous Christmas romance novelist-- a fact which she keeps locked away with all her Christmas paraphernalia in her secret writing room. The career is a great fit for Rachel, who suffers from myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome) that leaves her absolutely spent after exerting minor effort.

When her publisher insists on a Hanukkah romance, Rachel must discover the magic of Hanukkah, and the Matzah Ball is the perfect event for inspiration. There's just one catch. It's being run by Jacob Greenberg, her summer camp enemy, and the tickets are sold out.

Her only hope for scoring a ticket to the hottest Hanukkah event in town? Volunteer.

NBD for the average Joe, but for Rachel, every menial task Jacob inflicts is akin to running a marathon.

I love, love, loved this book, and can't wait to read more from Jean Meltzer!

I was so excited to read a holiday romance with so much Jewish representation. As someone who celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, I could really appreciate the discussion of how the two holidays are celebrated differently. The disability representation was compelling and well done. I think one can appreciate the book more after reading the author's background and how personal this story is to her. I also thought some of the humor was really while done (please see other reviews from reviewers who have pointed out a potentially problematic joke). The romance in this book was extremely sweet and I did find myself rooting for the characters to get together. I would say that some aspects were maybe a little bit too cliche, but I will definitely be reading from Jean Meltzer in the future.

4 star romance. Silly and fun, and incredibly Jewish. It did use romance tropes without actually doing anything interesting with them — just stereotypical miscommunication nonsense — which got really old really fast. It was pretty funny, with Santa being cheaper than therapy but “let’s put Judaism on fleek” is maybe the worst sentence I’ve ever read.