This book was an absolute delight! I enjoyed following the relationship between Shani and May, going from reluctantly being near each other to friends to more. And I love how the two complement each other throughout the story with their own issues/strengths/relationships. The college-age backdrop was refreshing and something we need more of. These characters sucked me in and continue to stay with me weeks later. And, of course, we stan any book with a fabulous dog!

8/10
thanks to netgalley and harper collins for the arc!

how to excavate a heart is a hallmark-esq. sapphic romcom about two Jewish college students falling in love over their winter break. it's a YA book, but i would classify it as new adult/NA. i enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. i liked the characters and how they could admit they were wrong, were allowed to be awkward and make mistakes, and the romance between them. i also loved the DC setting! even though both of the mc's go to school in new york, this story is set in DC and as a DC college student i think the descriptions of the area were great! as someone who had a queer first date in the national portrait gallery i thought that was so accurate and i loved it.

there are a few things i didn't like, but all of them are minor details. first, i didn't like that the mom's bad driving was a funny character trait. she literally could have killed the love interest and was honked at many other times. i am terrified of driving because of drivers like that and didn't like that it was seem as a funny or charming character trait. second, there was a joke pretty early on in the book about how the mc has zero dicks she'd like to fuck because she's a lesbian. this is exclusionary to trans women and harmful thinking. lastly, i didn't like the weird c/d plot where the mc would get free coffee because the underage barista was into her and she continued to go back to him because of the free drinks.

other than that, i really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely recommend it to anyone who seems interested at the bookstore that i work at!

This book is an absolute gift and I love it so much. It’s like Arlow went into my mind, picked out my favorite things (corgis, prehistoric fish, the holiday season, sassy old ladies, and coffee) and molded them into the perfect sapphic romcom. I absolutely devoured this book and just could not put it down. I found myself rooting for Shani and May the whole book and just wanted the best for both of them.

I think everything about this book is so well done, especially Shani’s character development. I loved watching her come to terms with a past break up, her ever changing relationship with her mom, and loved her dedication to her internship (even if it was a little messy sometimes). Shani feels like every girl navigating a new relationship and I love that May always validates her feelings.

I also love the way Arlow describes DC in the wintertime. I’m not a big city person but she has me wanting to go to the botanical gardens around Christmas time.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my review.

ARC received from netgalley in exchanged for an honest review. Mild spoilers

This book is adorable 🥺 It so perfectly captures young wlw love, with all the awkwardness and uncertainty and rollercoaster of emotions. I loved the slight enemies to lovers beginning, and how May's character evolved away from being quite so prickly and defensive. The stumbling (mis)communications; the nervousness about coming out, both in the big to your parents ways and the smaller day to day ways; the anxiety about sex when you grow up with so little information and so much shame; the tiny ways internalised homophobia pops up; and the value of queer mentors were all SO spot on.

I especially loved seeing the characters have relationships and interests and other stories of personal development that weren't just about their romance. And that whilst there were some angst and challenges, it wasn't a big homophobia-related crisis, but just the fear of taking the plunge into your first relationship with all the nuances of a lesbian one.

Love seeing us get cute little hallmark romances. This is worth a read.

A car bumping into a girl in the middle of a snow storm isn't a classic meet cute but it works in HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART. Shani and May spar deliciously as they get to know each other. Watching their banter go form combative to adorable is at the heart of what makes this book so wonderful. Their voices are pitch-perfect as is the trajectory of their messy, imperfect, utterly bewitching romance. A truly wonderful book.

On her way to her Washington DC internship, our main character Shani and her mom bump a girl with their car. And in true Hallmark movie style, Shani and that girl (May) end up together in this story which is set around Christmas with two Jewish main characters. A lot of this story moved too slowly for me.

A good YA novel that I would enthusiastically recommend to teens and that I've requested my school's library buy. It’s not one of those transcend-the-genre YA novels, but it has engaging characters and important things to say about boundaries and consent in romantic relationships.

“It's fun to date someone who's a huge nerd if you’re also a huge nerd.” Truth!

A minor point: The mom's bad driving was presented as a charming quirk, while I found it grossly irresponsible.

This is a really lovely, hilarious YA book that centers Jewish lesbians during the winter holiday season. It's an example of really excellent contemporary YA romance. Shani's narration made me laugh constantly, and my younger self would have really connected with her struggle to balance her passions and responsibilities with her romantic life. I like YA books that feature college-aged characters having experiences that younger teens can both relate and aspire to; this book is totally manageable content-wise for a younger audience, but it's not patronizing or uninteresting to older readers, too. Jake Maia Arlow really strikes that challenging balance, and it's impressive to see. I think she's really going to take the middle grade and YA world by storm in the next couple years. However, I'm taking a star off for the barista plotline--it's super weird, goes nowhere, and has no bearing on the story as a whole. The book would be stronger without it.

This is the Queer teen Hallmark holiday romance I didn't know I needed and a Stonewall Honor Author as well? Sign me up. As a librarian, I'm a sucker for any novel where the main character works in higher academia - libraries, museums, research labs, universities, etc, which made May's character very relatable to me. Her struggles with dating and sexuality are something a lot of us can relate to, and I could definitely see this being appropriate for a high school library.

Note: I received an Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is so refreshing as a queer Jewish woman who’s under the age of 30– actual gen z language being used as opposed to 20-year-old and outdated slang makes everything feel more real and present. The two female leads are both, in their own words, “lesbian stereotypes” while also being their own unique persons. You can tell while reading it that the author used their own queer experiences to guide their writing, which makes it all the more loveable.
I personally rate this book 4.5/5– the reason I can’t give it a 5 is that there is an important realization that the main character has about a past relationship that is a very serious issue. It is mentioned a few times but rather glossed over, and I would have loved to see the main character work through this traumatic event instead of just choosing to not think of it.
I would recommend this book to any queer teen or young adult who wants to look back fondly on their first real love.

Shani is a college freshman just looking to get through her paleoichthyology internship and survive winter break after having broken up with her girlfriend and started talking to her best friend again. She stumbles into a dog walking job and almost literally runs into the dog owner’s daughter, May. It’s not love at first sight, but they fall for each other quickly, assuming Shani’s ex doesn’t ruin everything for them.

Overall I’m pretty neutral about this book. It was fine? I can’t say I’d recommend it, but I wouldn’t stop anyone from reading it either. It was just…there. A book.

On the positives, in a weird way, there’s really good discussion of sexual assault, especially considering it’s between sapphic characters (not the main couple) and there’s a lack of acknowledgement that sexual assault is something that can occur in the queer community as well.

On the negatives. I will give any book with queer Jewish characters a chance (especially when they’re sapphic), as I feel it’s a highly underrepresented area. But I also cannot stand plots when Jewish characters hate or dislike Jewish holidays but like all or parts of Christmas. It drives me nuts. Why bother writing a Jewish character if you’re just going to have them talk poorly about Hanukkah or sing praises of Christmas when they’re Jewish. Enough non-Jews out there think Christmas is a universal holiday that everyone celebrates and enjoys, I think the plot point can be let go.

Thank you to Net Galley for making this book available in exchange for an honest review!

What a charmer! This book was engaging and sweet, laugh-out-loud funny and heartfelt. The delicate blooming love of baby misanthropes makes for a makes for a truly delightful story. The characters are so vibrantly themselves, but so reflective of real lives and experiences. Not to mention the excellent backdrop of the Jewish experience during the commercial holiday season. I loved everything about this book; the character's nerdy interests, their family dramas, the corgi, everything that created the mosaic of two teenage Jewish lesbians sharing a believable and truly heartwarming romance. My only regret is that I was not able to read this book as the new adult who craved this story without knowing what it was she wanted. All of the stars, for the book and for the author, and I cannot wait to recommend this book.

Refreshing and holiday themed. Two realistic characters that were definitely relatable. I loved the whole premise and the meet-cute. I loved that both the main characters were Jewish. I also loved that this book did not involve huge miscommunications. A relationship blossomed organically during winter months. Adorable museum dates with hot chocolate amongst the backdrop of the freezing cold. I would really like to read a sequel! This book ended at the start of a relationship, as so many wlw books do. I would love to see the progression of the relationship and how the long distance and certain fears affect things.

THIS BOOK IS SAPPHIC EXCELLENCE, SPECIFICALLY LESBIAN EXCELLENCE AND I AM NOT EXAGGERATING I AM USING ALL CAPS FOR A PURPOSE PEOPLE!!! I had insanely high hopes for this book not only because of the author's TikTok and Twitter, but also Racquel Marie (author of Ophelia After All) has been reccing this book for ages and I trust her with my life I think.

This book was so fucking good, I really don't think I have the words for how amazing it is. Ugh, you know when you like something so much that you don't even know where to start? That is happening to me now. And it's even been a couple of days since I've finished it and let it sit in my brain for a bit. SO IF I"M THIS HYPE NOW JUST IMAGINE HOW HYPED I WAS WHEN I JUST FINISHED IT!!!

Anyways, read this book. Buy this book. Please it's like so good. The main character and their love interest call themselves lesbians like so many times on page and they both have weird science interests it's so good.

“How To Excavate A Heart” is a YA opposites attract romance with two MCs who manage to be both vulnerable, sweet and hilarious all at the same time.

Shani has a winter internship at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and is going to focus on all things coelacanth so that she does not have think about her ex or really anything at all related women until of course she crosses paths with an adorable corgi and a caustic seventeen year old named May.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Shani at first sounds like a complete brat with a capital B, but I think some of us can definitely relate to a time where the trigger to be contrarian and nasty to a parent hits us and then two seconds later we feel terrible for it. I thought that whole emotional rollercoaster was so perfectly captured and incredibly relatable as the story unfolded. The “accidental” meet cute was truly hilarious and the evolution of May’s character from caustic snark (which I thought was some of funniest moments in the book) to romantic sweetheart was absolutely adorable. I also liked the nerd-out sessions on museums, paleontology, coelacanths, it made the characters truly endearing.

The story also did a great job with sensitive topics like consent, coming out, responsibility and accountability through relatable experiences where the characters are growing and understanding how to be themselves. The only thing that made me cringe just a bit, was the Christmas bashing. I was never quite sure in some instances whether the character was really joking / baiting the other.

On the whole I liked this book for the humor, the snark, the romance and the positive reinforcement of what a healthy relationship should be. Definitely a must read.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A super fun holiday romance! I'm a sucker for characters with unique interests, so I loved reading about Shani and May's respective passions. And Raphael!!! Best boy!

Great story from start to finish. Very relatable main character and side characters are well liked and descriptive. Enjoyed the setting: even google image searched some of the places to see them for myself.
Nice and warm for a holiday read - but I enjoyed just as much in May!

While I truly enjoyed the lesbian representation, I could not fully enjoy the writing. There were times when I wondered if I was reading a book or just a really long twitter post. I do believe young queer readers deserve the chance to read cheesy queer romances so I would recommend this book to them, but it was personally not for me.

Loved this story! The character and relationship was charming but not too idealistic. I also enjoyed the science bits. I definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Books for allowing me to review an ARC.
This book will be published on November 1, 2022

I have been screaming about this book since I finished it!
People have been asking for a sapphic story that has heartstopper vibes: HERE IT IS!!!

A Hallmark story with two Jewish girls + a corgi. What more could you ask for?
Shani's mother runs into May... literally. With her car. And thus begins a whirlwind holiday break that neither of them will forget.

Arlow's prose is lighthearted and incredibly funny. You can't help but feel the characters laughing next to you while reading along. I felt like I was friends with every character we met because they just felt that real and three-dimensional. On top of all of that, this is a beautiful and sweet story of two women falling for each other.

This book will be published at the PERFECT time to read it. Do yourself a favor, and pick this up as soon as you can. I hope it has mountains of success as this story is not only beautiful but important.

*Minimal- no spice.* Soft and sweet romance.
CW: Mentions of sexual assault