Creative premise and Orthodox Judaism is interesting. It feels like a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. But….out of touch and pop culture references: “new season” of Schitt’s Creek (ended in 2020, but this book takes place in 2022); 1961 movie The Hustler, Breakfast Club, Stranger Things, Clueless, a “your mother” joke (I don’t think anyone has made a your mother joke since 2008), Big Lebowski, “sus” is used incorrectly, and Bridgerton. I hate the fashion quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Especially because they aren’t always related to the chapter. Audrey Hepburn, really? And throughout the book Penina has complaints about how her clothes and shoes fit.

Penina’s sister is called Leah once about halfway through. I assumed that meant Libby (what she’s called throughout the book) was short for Leah. But I think that’s an error because there is a Leah later on.

There are moments that are very well told. Like the timing of the Cartier love bracelets story. There are parts that genuinely made me laugh like the books Penina owns.

I don’t love the the orthodox mentality that demeans other sects of Judaism like “it only matters if your mother is Jewish. Don’t let anyone tell you different.” I know this book wasn’t written for me (a conservative Jewish woman) and I appreciate another perspective. I think representation is important but I don’t want to read something that asserts I’m not Jewish because my mom wasn’t.

“It’s nice when things work out for people.” Yeah, a little too nice. The biggest criticism of Penina is she’s always trying to fix her family member’s problems, then the resolution of the book is someone fixing her family member’s problems. Ridiculous.

I don’t know why but I was prepared to not like this book but omg I devoured it. This was such a beautiful fun look at how relationships can develop. I loved this glimpse into the Orthodox lifestyle.

Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok
FIVE HUGE STARS

I knew I was going to love this book and I was not wrong!

Penina and Sam are EVERYTHING. The amount of respect and friendship they had from the very start...perfect.

Penina is an Orthodox Jewish woman who unfortunately cannot have babies of her own. If you don't know about the Religion I'll tell you this causes a huge problem in respects to finding a husband. Penina is 29 though and at this point she's pretty much reluctantly accepted the fact that she won't be marrying. Enter her new boss, Sam, who is running the jewelry store she works at while his father recovers from cancer treatments. Sam isn't Orthodox though and he is taken. Then Penina finds out that her sister's family is going to lost their house due to financial problems. Penina just knows she has to help her sister so when the matchmaker sets her up with Zevi, a gay Orthodox Jewish man looking to marry to make his mother happy before she passes, she agrees for the payday of $5 million.

This is a clean romance, slow burn with a HEA. I highly recommend giving this book a read. Heidi Shertok did a beautiful job of making me feel all the things.

I so enjoyed this story. Growing up, a lot of my school friends were Jewish so I was invited into their homes. I got to experience so many fun and interesting customs and holidays. This brought back so many treasured memories of my youth. I love to explore other cultures and I can't wait to share this with my rural Catholic community.

I loved Penina right away. Something about her just rang through me. Sam killed me and I loved the way Penina dealt with him! Such a fun read! I would love to read more from Shertok!

3.5 Stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Alcove Press and Heidi Shertok for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is different from my typical read and if that is what is stopping you from picking this up, I suggest you go for it and give this story a chance. It is a fun read with a lot of heart.

Penina is a 29 year old Orthodox Jewish woman looking for love. It's been a bit of a struggle because she is infertile and having children is very important in her religion. From the beginning this story did a great job of capturing my attention. I really loved Penina, she was funny and caring and felt like a very real character. Her feelings toward infertility and being single within her faith/culture were absolutely valid, but she never let that define her. She was grateful for her support system and truly enjoyed her job. She said the dating world was brutal which most single people can attest to.

I think my issues with the book are when her and Sam start bantering and spending time together at first he felt very aloof and instead of grump, I got more gruff. By the end when he talked about his feelings more my opinion improved, but I we had a pov from him or saw some more hints of his feelings for Penina. It would have sold the relationship to me a bit more.

Furthermore, Penina was so selfless and willing to do so much for her family that I wish we would have gotten a little more juxtaposition with her and Sam and the family. They appear in the beginning of the book and then not much again till the middle. If she is willing to make so many sacrifices to help them, I wanted to see her interact with them more and see them being supportive of her. I will say I did love her relationships with both sisters.

Lastly, I wish the pacing would have been a bit tighter. I think the book lagged a bit in the middle and was wrapped up kind of quickly. I would have been ok with cutting out some of the middle stuff and stretching the ending events a bit.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I would check out more more Heidi Shertok in the future.

This book was just okay, the misunderstanding between the characters was so frustrating to me I had a hard time giving anyone a second chance or the benefit of the doubt. I thought Penina was a great character but everyone else fell flat to me.

I loved the banter and Penina's loving commitment to her faith, but I found it difficult to understand her attraction to Sam, a grumpy, surly, unlikeable, non-practicing Jew. The issue of fertility was also wrapped up too neatly with the quick and easy family adoption. While I think this is, overall, a good addition to the genre, it was a bit too neat, even for a romance.

What a fun romance read!

Charming, messy, funny and full of heart.
Penina is an Orthodox Jew wanting to be married but is unable to have kids, which is very important to a lot of the men that would be potential suitors. Penina is one of the kindest, most helpful characters I’ve read about in a while. She also is hilariously awkward and loud. Which once you meet her family is very understandable. I love the family dinner scenes. A riot. Lol.

Sam is recently divorced and doesn’t believe in love anymore. Until he meets Penina 👀

A lot of silliness happens plot wise but was fun. I really enjoyed learning more about Orthodox Jewish families and the dating scene.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for an eARC.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book. I’m not a religious person but really enjoy reading and seeing different perspectives and religions.

This was a great read! I enjoyed the glimpse into the Orthodox lifestyle which is something I do not see in many books. Serves as a great window into another world or a mirror for those who identify with the characters. Penina’s character was sweet and relatable, many of us struggle with helping family members without enabling them. There were enough plot twists to keep you interested. I couldn’t put the book down!

<i>Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

This is the second book I’ve read (the first being [author:Jean Meltzer]’s [book:Mr. Perfect on Paper]), in which the MC is an orthodox Jewish woman who ends up partnering with a less- or non-Jewish man. A significant part of the plot in both that book at [author:Heidi Shertok]’s [book:Unorthodox Love] is these women grappling with whether the version of their faith that they know and love can mesh with the love of a man who does not share that faith.

It’s important to say, I think, that Penina truly does love her Judaism, exactly the way she practices. She is not struggling against the rules of the orthodoxy she follows, nor does she ever consider a way out. Her doubts are only whether Sam, a secular Jew, is willing to fit into her life.

My own personal feelings about religious orthodoxy of any kind (full disclosure: I grew up in a Reform synagogue and consider myself a secular or cultural Jew), I appreciate that Shertok avoided making Penina defensive about her faith, even though her community has in many ways shunned her because she is unable to have biological children. I actually struggled far more that Penina’s desire to be a mother is one of her defining traits, inextricably interwoven with her Judaism, even if it is a reasonable one.

But most of all, the biggest struggle with [book:Unorthodox Love] is that Sam, for a lot of the book, just kinda sucks. He’s mean (and not in a flirtatious teasing way, as I think the author intended) and temperamental. I want better for Penina, even if she doesn’t think better is possible.

[book:Unorthodox Love] by [author:Heidi Shertok]
✡️ ✡️ ✡️
💍 💍 💍 creative use of fake engagement
👨‍👨‍👧 disrupted throuple vibes

Yay for a leading character in a romance book who isn't 20 or 21. Thank you for writing a later 20s character who wasn't a complete bore. These characters were so much fun to read about. Their story was relatable and funny at times. I love workplace romance and this one was done well.

A sweet workplace/enemies-to-lovers romance featuring an Orthodox Jewish main character. I loved the representation of an Orthodox Jewish individual and the banter between the main character and love interest. I did find the romance to be a bit unbelievable and lacking, but overall, will be recommending this book to my followers.

Our heroine Penina comes from a community of modern Orthodox Jews, where marriage at a young age and having lots of children is highly prized. As an infertile woman, finding a marriage match has not come easily to her, and a traditional shadchan is heroically making a last ditch effort into finding a mate for Penina. Meanwhile, she spends her days volunteering in a local hospital’s NICU, working her jewelry shop job, maintaining her social media presence as a frum fashionista, and going on hotel lobby dates with unsuitable men. When her boss goes out on medical leave and his attractive (secular) son takes over the jewelry store, sparks fly, but handsome Sam annoys the heck out of her,and somehow, their bodies keep colliding in ways that are against the strict rules around unmarried, unrelated male and female proximity. Penina’s sister is in danger of losing her home due to her husband;s failed businesses, and Penina becomes determined not just to marry, but to marry wealthy; when Sam learns she’s become engaged and will settle for a marriage in name only, he has some opinions.

This is a wonderfully authentic portrayal of navigating a complex culture. So many details ring true, from festival observances to the love and obligations of family politics to the Israeli-accented English of Penina’s sister. Shertok tells Penina’s story with a lot of humor and honesty and never devolves to deprecation. The writing is descriptive (the clothing descriptions are amazing!) and evocative, and characters and situations relatable whatever your religious or cultural affiliations.

I received an advance reader’s copy of #UnorthodoxLove from #NetGalley.

I have a really hard time summarizing my thoughts about this book.

On the one hand, I really liked and appreciated learning more about the intricacies of being an Orthodox Jew. I liked that we were transported into different cultural traditions, and saw how different characters navigated their faith. I also liked that Penina stood true to her faith and that Sam respected that.

On the other hand, I sometimes had a hard time with the writing and characterization. I found the writing a bit choppy and explanation heavy, and found myself skimming the parts that detailed her outfits/fashion. I also found Penina and her inner monologue frustrating sometimes. There was also one scene/inner thought that really didn't sit well with me and this brought down my star rating.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes it is nice to have a clean romance, and in this case, it worked. A good quick read, and nice, if slightly headstrong characters. I did enjoy them having to explain certain Jewish traditions, such as Friday night dinner, and weddings, and such.

Delightfully Jewish, laugh-out-loud funny, and full of snappy dialogue, Unorthodox Love was an absolute joy from beginning to end! Penina is a character to root for—endearing, kind, and worthy of the happily-ever-after she ultimately gets. Sam is as delicious as he is grumpy and the two of them together are simply magic. I devoured this book!

3.25/5 stars! I think the issue of fertility issues is such an important one and I was really happy to see that this story featured that as a central message. I liked the story overall, but when I sat back and started thinking about it, I was conflicted. The story discusses a great deal of Jewish culture, which I appreciated. But there also seemed to be a dichotomy between how Penina is represented within her religion and how she fulfills it. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about this religion to know if that was an oversite or an intentional message. But it was a cute contemporary romance with a lot of potential.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I loved this book. I don't know what it was about it that had my attention so much but I really did love it. It was refreshing for a character to love her upbringing and her faith and not see it as an oppressive thing. I also loved how it was the guy willing to be the one to compromise because almost every single book it is the girl.
The one thing I didn't like about this book was that I thought it ended to soon! I wanted the story to keep going !

I absolutely loved and adored this story! The author weaves in a lot of insightful information about Orthodox Judaism and the culture. I enjoyed getting to learn a little bit more about their customs and rituals.

Penina is one of the sweetest, most selfless, and admirable main characters that I've seen in a book in awhile. I loved getting to read about her caring ways, chaotic life, and bustling family.

I think what made this love story so special was that pretty much no physical contact (not even hand holding) occurred between the two lovers. This is a regular custom in the culture, you are not allowed to touch before you are married. It made their budding romance have a lot of tension, but also feel completely genuine and sincere.

I would definitely recommend this romance novel to all the romance book lovers out there. This is a love story you don't want to miss!