I really liked the diversity of this book. I felt that I was learning a lot but also really enjoyed getting to know the characters. 3 stars!

Dara Rabinowitz is a matchmaker from a family of matchmakers. She manages her anxiety with lists, keeping her life in control, and staying well within her comfort zone. She’s also the CEO of the popular Jewish dating app J-Mate. And everything is just fine.

At least until her bubbe shares Dara’s checklist for the Perfect Jewish Husband on live TV and the anchor, Chris Steadfast, swings it into must-see television that may save his show.

Chris Steadfast is nothing that Dara wants. He’s not a doctor or lawyer, he’s been married and has a child, and he’s not Jewish. But while they’re filming Dara’s search for the perfect Jewish husband, the two of them grow undeniably close.

Overall, this book was adorable and I absolutely loved it! The author does an incredible job with the anxiety representation and I love how she infuses all of her books with Judaism. And the message of how the right person is about connection and not about checking boxes. That’s definitely a lesson that I’ve learned the hard way recently.

Such a cute book and a very fun read. There’s a lot of funny moments that actually made me laugh out loud. Since finishing it, I’ve harassed basically all of my friends to read it so it feels natural that I’d be harassing everyone on here to read it too.

Disclaimer: thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an advance reader copy of this book! And sorry for being so behind on these reviews

Dara Rabinowitz is a third generation matchmaker, and she still has her grandmother Miriam to help her if necessary.

She also is the creator and owner of a dating app - J-Mate.

Dara and her grandmother are guests on a live TV show, and her grandmother definitely wasn't any help according to Dara, but she actually stole the show with her comments about matchmaking and her granddaughter who makes matches and isn't married.

Dara wanted to crawl under her chair especially since she did have a crush on Chris, the host of the show. He couldn't be for her, though, because he wasn't Jewish.

Dara made matches for everyone but herself.

Will she ever find love and Mr. Perfect for herself?

You will find out when you read this cute, funny, light read...I laughed out loud and also shed some tears at times.

I loved Grandmother Miriam…Dara, Lacey, and Chris were pretty lovable too.

This book was given to me by the publisher for an honest review.

Mr. Perfect on Paper - how many of us have had an idea of what we considered Mr. Perfect? And how many of us found out that perfect comes in many forms? This romantic comedy is a great reminder that some of the best gifts in life are the ones we don't even know we needed. Chris and Dara seem like an unlikely couple on the surface, but it's pretty much impossible not to root for their HEA. The premise is current, the story is a good mix of funny and emotional, and the characters are absolutely lovable. It's a little longer than I expected, but it can easily be read in a weekend, which is exactly how I spent mine.

A cute and engaging romance. This book is fun with a likable main character. Dara Rabinowitz, is a successful matchmaker and entrepreneur, the creator and CEO of a successful Jewish dating app, but also a bit of a mess with extreme anxiety issues. Her sister and her best friend, her beloved bubble, (grandmother) think she needs to find a husband. Dara's bubbie shares the list of "The Perfect Jewish Husband" she put together with her sister after a night of drinking on a television talk show which causes a bit of a sensation. The show's host, Chris Steadfast, thinks that profiling Dara and leading the search to find her a perfect Jewish husband is what will save his morning show from cancelation and she reluctantly agrees, hoping it will boost the sales of her app. Sparks begin to fly between Chris, a non-Jewish widower with a young daughter and Dara but he definitely isn't perfect on paper.

It's a romance so I am pretty sure we all know where this book was heading but the journey to get there is. entertaining and I also felt like I learned a lot about Jewish history and culture from it. Dara was a great relatable main character who I was rooting for. It's a little predictable but gave me many of the feels. I thought I had listened to the author's first book The Matzah Ball, last December but I mistook it for another Jewish rom-com, so I will be looking for it and adding it to my TBR.

This is a cute rom-com around Dara a 3rd generation Jewish jmatchmaker who took her family tradition to the 21st century with J-Mate and her search to find her perfect husband. When her adorable bubbe shares her list on live TV she decides to team up with the TV anchor to turn her search into some segments for his show...

I learned so much about the Jewish Community and traditions. I loved Dara's bubbe and friends. Dara has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and while I appreciate seeing characters with mental health problems but the beginning of the book that's all I felt I knew about Dara. She felt flat as a character to me because of that. I liked Dara realizing that love is messy and that what we think we want isn't always what we end up falling in love with.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bettysbooklist/video/7131143143352831278?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en

This was such a wonderful read, I really enjoy Jean Meltzer’s writing, the plot line, the main characters. I really enjoyed the push and pull and will continue to read more by this author!

This was a cute if predictable romance novel. A very Jewish matchmaker with a very specific list of requirements for a husband falls for a Southern TV anchor. It w as a fun read- the Bubbe, her friends, the disastrous dates... It was of course predictable and we all knew that our heroes are destined to be together. A lighthearted read with some laughs and admittedly a very improbable finale. I could poke holes in the religious aspects of the book but it is after all a product of author's imagination, not a real life situation.
All in all - i enjoyed the book.

An adorable rom-com from the author of The Matzah Ball, Mr. Perfect on Paper is all about Dara Rabinowitz, a third-generation Jewish matchmaker and tech genius. She's bringing Jewish matchmaking into the digital age with J-Mate, "the world's largest platform for online Jewish dating", but she's yet to find that Mr. Perfect on Paper for herself. When her beloved bubbe reads Dara's "Perfect Jewish Husband: wish list on live television, Dara is thrust into a world of reality TV dating. Handsome single dad Chris Steadfast is the host of a struggling morning news show, and Dara's dating journey could be what the show needs to be renewed. Dara nurses a major crush on Chris, and Chris finds himself falling for Dara. Can these two opposites make it work? Filled with hilarious and sweet moments, Mr. Perfect on Paper looks at religion, social anxiety, and moving past grief and loss. Characters are likable, especially Dara's bubbe and her friends, a rowdy group of senior citizens known as the Challah-Back Girls. A fun choice for contemporary rom-com collections.

Dara is a tech whiz and owns J-Mate, which is the site for finding your Jewish mate for life, only Dara has never found love for herself. Her family has been the foremost matchmakers for decades, and Dara has been the most successful, thanks to her algorithm. The perfect guy would be on her list of wants--and her grandmother outs her on national TV.
Chris is the most underrated but good looking TV host, and a single dad, plus he has just been handed the best story for elevating his career by Dara's grandmother, Miriam. Find Dara her soulmate, based on her list of requirements, carefully vetted, would be ratings gold! 
As they get closer to finding the perfect guy, the feelings between Dara and Chris can't be denied. He's not Jewish, so he can't be on the list, right? Dara adores Chris's daughter, too. It's so complicated, and there's a proposal on the line.
Sometimes the perfect person isn't the one we expect. This is a page-turning delight to read!  
**received an ARC from the publisher**

I love the peek into the Jewish faith I get from Jean Meltzer's writing. The holidays, the way things are done, how important faith is to her main characters. These aspects are some of my favorite parts of her novels.

In this novel, Dara Rabinowitz is trying to find her Mr. Perfect on Paper. She is also preparing to lose her grandmother in the near future. All of this while running her online dating app J-Mate.

In the process of meeting several eligible men, Dara finds she is interested in one person in particular. The problem? He doesn't check the boxes on her checklist. As Dara begins to really evaluate what she can live with, and what she is willing to accept on her path to happiness.

There were times I wanted to smack Dara because the answer seemed to obvious to me. Then again, that is part of what makes a novel good, the ability to evoke feelings in the reader. Ms. Meltzer is a master at getting me very wrapped up in her stories and feeling all of the feelings along with the main character.

Mr. Perfect on Paper was such an enjoyable read and taught me so much along with telling me a wonderful story.

I voluntarily accepted a copy of this book from Harlequin Mira. All views are simply my honest opinion.

Jean Meltzer offers up another funny, sweet, poignant story with wonderful protagonists in her new novel Mr. Perfect on Paper.

Dara Robinowitz comes from a long line of shadchaniyot (Jewish matchmakers) and has built an extremely successful company by combining her love of coding with the family business. J-Mate is the most popular Jewish dating app on the market – but the market is constantly changing. Dara knows that to keep her business relevant, she needs to provide her customers with exactly what their fickle little hearts desire. Which is why she has created J-eography, a new feature which will allow Jewish singles to locate other Jewish singles who interest them in their own neighborhood. Gone are the lengthy forms asking about your career, your interests and hobbies, your preferences. This new, more casual approach helps you meet a total stranger and decide for yourself if they are right for you. It goes against the grain for Dara. It triggers all her anxieties – of which she has A LOT – but she is devoted to her firm and determined to see it stay competitive. She even does what she would normally find unthinkable to help it launch – she agrees to an interview on a morning talk show alongside her grandmother in exchange for free publicity. But as the old saying goes, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Dara has no idea just how much this quickie appearance is going to cost her.

After his wife died, Chris (Christopher) Steadfast packed up his daughter Lacey and all their belongings and moved to the Big Apple. He also gave up being a serious, investigative journalist to anchor Good News New York, a feel-good mid-morning program whose breakout star has been a vegan golden retriever named Bucky. His new work hours allow him to take his daughter to school and go home early enough to spend evenings with her. The atmosphere is a lot less stressful than that of your typical newsroom – or at least it was until a rival show started stealing all their good stories and Chris is advised that cancellation is imminent unless the ratings can be turned around. And then a miracle happens in the form of a clever Jewish bubbe and her sexy granddaughter.

Dara expected that the interview might have glitches given her grandmother’s Alzheimers, which is why she had given the producers a script to work off of and had advised them to direct their questions to her. But she had underestimated her bubbe, Miriam. Before they are ten minutes into their segment, Bubbe shares Dara’s checklist for “The Perfect Jewish Husband” (created during a drunken evening out) with the viewing audience. Miriam’s charm and Dara’s desperate but sweet attempts to get the interview back on track are television gold and within a day they are a viral sensation.

When Chris sees the viewing numbers of that clip and recognizes just how popular Dara and her bubbe have made the show he comes up with a desperate plan to save his job. He proposes they take Dara’s list seriously and set out to find her the perfect Jewish husband. She wants nothing to do with it – until she learns the show will be canceled unless they can gain a whole lot of new viewers. Chris is Dara’s secret celebrity crush; one she never planned to act on but enjoyed indulging in. (Bucky clips are what keep Dara smiling when her days turn sour.) There is no way she’s giving that up without a fight, so she agrees to Chris’s seemingly crazy idea. But she never expected that Chris, a non-Jewish single dad who isn’t any of Dara’s ‘musts’ for a husband might just be the Mr. Perfect she has been looking for all along.

Ms. Meltzer does an absolutely spectacular job with the cultural aspect of her story. Dara’s Judaism is such a vibrant, integral part of her life and is so beautifully and carefully explained that I felt completely immersed in this aspect of the narrative. I also appreciated very much that Judaism is explained as not just a faith or lifestyle but as a fundamental aspect of Dara’s heritage. Who she is as a person is derived from who her ancestors were and who she wants her children to be.

The author once more does a great job of showcasing living with a chronic illness. Dara has a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and the way she manages and treats it is woven beautifully into the fabric of the tale. Ms. Meltzer captures with complete credibility the impatience and intolerance of others who don’t understand what being chronically ill means and the frustration and hurt caused when people accuse the sufferer of faking or exaggerating their illness to get out of things they don’t want to do.

Dara is a delightful heroine. She’s smart, talented, driven, strong, quirky, decent, and kind despite all she has going on. She’s a wonderful granddaughter, sister, and friend.

Chris is pretty amazing, too. He is a great dad and friend as well as being a genuinely nice guy, and he becomes a wonderful support for Dara as they work together. When others get frustrated by an anxiety attack she has or when they just don’t know what to say to help her through it, Chris is there. He always knows what to say and how to help her handle her problems while getting the most out of her opportunities.

But while I absolutely adored them as individuals, I didn’t love them as a couple. Dara spends most of the text (hilariously) dating other men, which really put a damper on my enjoyment of the romance. Chris is such a good friend during this period that I found myself more or less accepting that was his permanent position. While there is some longing on both their parts, they both have really good reasons for not acting on those feelings. Reasons that are so well explained in fact, that when they get together at the end of the book, I struggled to accept it and wanted them to be BFFs who found love elsewhere. That, by the way, didn’t really impact my enjoyment of the story. This is a women’s fiction/romance hybrid where the characters don’t acknowledge their love until the end, so their charming friendship, uproarious adventures, and personal journeys take up most of the page space and those are an absolute a joy to read.

Another tiny fly in the ointment is how quickly and easily Lacey accepts Dara into her life. A girl just entering her tweens whose mom has only been dead a couple of years, Lacey can be emotional and angsty (par for the course at that age) and I didn’t buy that she welcomed her dad’s new love so easily and quickly.

The well-communicated love for faith and heritage, excellent descriptions of life with GAD, and the sweet, silly, sometimes slap-sticky humor, make Mr. Perfect on Paper a pleasure to read. I found the story delightful and amusing and think others probably will too – if they keep their romance expectations low.

This book was really hilarious. It definitely made me laugh. It veered off into slightly silly territory at times but Jean Meltzer always pulls it off. Loved the mental health rep. Very true to life!

Dara Rabinowitz, age 34, is a third-generation matchmaker who brought the family tradition into the 21st century when she created J-Mate, an online dating platform that uses an algorithm based on her Bubbe Miriam’s methods for successful marriages. She’s struggled with Generalized Anxiety Disorder since her teens, and, following the death of her mother 10 years prior, has become a near hermit other than her professional obligations and frequent visits with her grandmother. Ironically, as the CEO of the multimillion-dollar business, she’s rarely dated.

This all changes when she and her Bubbe Miriam appear on the Good News show with host Christopher Steadfast (who Dara has secretly crushed on for 2 years) and her grandmother goes off-script, sharing Dara’s list of qualities of the perfect Jewish husband. Despite her extreme embarrassment, the episode goes viral and presents an opportunity for J-Mate to get more business and Good News to survive cancellation due to flagging viewership. Dara just has to agree to date men Chris finds who are candidates for Mr. Perfect on Paper. What can possibly go wrong? When Dara finally meets Mr. Perfect, will she ignore her growing feelings for Chris and settle for a man who checks all the boxes? After all, in Dara’s words, love “doesn’t conquer all.” Will Chris be able to move beyond his grief over the death of his wife, especially if he refuses to process it?

This is a verrrry slow burn romance, but the sexual tension is there in the subtle touches, longing glances and near-kisses. There’s also the fact that Chris’s mere presence calms Dara’s anxiety and their growing, unspoken feelings for each other force them out of hiding. For Gentiles, it’s a lesson in the laws and customs of Judaism with a very liberal sprinkling of Yiddish words and phrases and a peek into the conflict between religious adherence to the prohibition against interfaith marriage and forbidden love. Meltzer deftly manages to strike a balance between the ravages of grief and the humor in everyday situations (and disastrous dates), keeping the story from getting bogged down with emotional baggage. The antics of Bubbe Miriam and her geriatric girl squad, The ChallahBack Girls, are both hilarious and endearing, and Chris’s preteen daughter Lacey brings surprisingly wisdom and insight that aid in the plot development. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from MIRA through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This was an absolute delight! I loved immersing myself in the Jewish culture and learning all about the customs and faith. The characters were charming and I adored them! The mental illness representation was fantastic. My only complaint is the use of so many Jewish phrases without definition. I didn’t know what so many of them meant, and my Kindle didn’t recognize them when I tried to use the dictionary. I know it’s not the authors job to educate us, however I would have loved to know what the character is saying. I loved learning about a faith outside of my own and would have loved the opportunity to gain insight into the phrases and terms. However, this was an absolutely charming book and I loved it! I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Dara is a Matchmaker, a prestigious position in Jewish culture she is proud to carry on. As the creator of J-Mate, a Jewish dating site, she continues her family legacy using her tech background. But times have changed since she founded it at 20, and in her mid-thirties, she needs to bring people to the app and find her own J-Mate. She teams up with a local television reporter, Chris, to highlight her app and find her perfect Jewish husband.

Chris is a Christian, single dad, reporter, and widow. He checks none of Dara's boxes for Mr Perfect, but neither can keep their eyes off each other. As they get closer when filming, Chris sees and accepts all of Dara. Dara just needs to accept Chris for who he is...

I've had a lot of friends have to learn how to reconcile their beliefs and expectations for their lives with unexpected experiences, particularly falling in love. Seeing Dara experience this felt very accurate to many people today.

We live in a multicultural world where we become more enmeshed with other religions and races. It's brought more tolerance, but Dara's fear of losing her religious identity and betraying her community/culture/history is valid and rings true for many. Dara's story portrays the feelings many of us have had when trying to navigate multicultural or interracial relationships.

The anxiety, Jewish cultural, and grief representation was informational and respectful in my opinion. My best friend is a Jewish woman from Jersey and I have anxiety so this hit close for me :)

Not to mention the pining, happy ending for side characters (loved that), and grandma we'd all want, this book was a relatable, fun, romcom!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 stars
1 spice

As a huge fan of her first book ‘The Matzah Ball,’ I was so excited to pick up ‘Mr. Perfect on Paper’ by Jean Meltzer. And it didn’t disappoint! I absolutely loved it. Highly recommend!

While I enjoyed Jean Meltzer's debut novel "The Matzah Ball," I think she really hit her stride with her sophomore release "Mr. Perfect on Paper."

As with her first novel, Meltzer explains many things about the Jewish faith in an easy-to-understand way (not pedantic or preachy at all), which gives all of us insight into our protagonist's world. I love this so much.

The love story in this novel is natural, good, believable, and yes, sometimes heart-crushing. The worlds of dating apps, television, New York, families, and fire engines all converge for the love story of Dara and Chris. It doesn't go like you think it will, and thank goodness we have our fairy ChallahBack Girls to provide the wisdom of the heart for Dara.

Do yourself a favor. If you like rom-coms, pick this one up. You'll be so glad you did.

Summary: When ultra successful tech genius Dara Rabinowitz goes on TV to promote her Jewish dating app J-Date’s newest feature, her grandmother shocks her by sharing Dara’s list of characteristics she is looking for in her “Mr. Perfect”. Number one on the list, he must also be Jewish.

When the host, tv anchor Chris Steadfast, hears her list, it strikes an idea - he will help her find her Mr. Perfect by setting her up on a series of televised dates, designed to not only help her, but to help improve his show’s ratings as well. But sparks fly as Dara spends more time with the widowed and single dad Chris, and soon Dara realizes what she wants and what she needs might not be one in the same.

Thoughts: This book was utterly charming in so many ways. As soon as I felt myself smiling only a few pages in, I knew I was going to like this one. I loved the representation of the Jewish culture and faith and the representation of anxiety, specifically Generalized Anxiety which I too suffer from. Jean Meltzer did an excellent job at showing the reader exactly what Dara goes through as she navigates life surrounded by her faith but with the added mental health struggles that grip so many of us.

I also really loved the way she developed the relationship between Chris and his daughter Lacey, and gave us a glimpse into how hard it is to be a single parent, particularly a single dad raising a pre-teen girl. I laughed at how often he attempted, but ultimately ended up burning breakfast.

As someone who was born into an interfaith family, to an Episcopalian mom and a Jewish dad (although an atheist now), it was really fun to see how the relationship between the two main characters developed in spite of their adherence to different faiths and the turmoil that it added.

While there were a few small issues I had such as contradictory details (how can someone have both olive and porcelain complexions at the same time), overall, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading Meltzer’s previous book, The Matzah Ball, especially as we head into the holidays.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mira, and TLC Book Tours for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.