Not my favorite romance. It felt like she was too hung up on not letting Sam be the guy she wanted and needed him to be. In the end, that’s what he was anyways. I did like the twist of having her religion be impactful to her relationship and not wanting to give up those principals for any sort of relationship. A strong female character, that’s for sure.

🌀Synopsis
Penina is infertile but keeps trying to find love anyways. It’s been a challenge. As a Jew, she needs someone who understands and abides by her religion too. Making her quest seem much more difficult. The dating pool is small.
She’s suddenly presented with a unique opportunity to fake marry another Jew who is actually gay. He’s just trying to please his mother by marrying before she dies. They payout is the benefit and it comes at a time when she needs it to be able to help her sister. Reluctantly, she agrees.
Of course this is also the same time that she gets a new boss at work. Sam is grumpy and unapproachable but gorgeous. Through their adventures together, she finds herself having feelings for Sam even though he’s not Jewish.
Penina now has to choose between Sam and the religion she’s held so closely her whole life.

I found Unorthodox Love to be funny, cringey, sad, happy and a bit relatable! Our fmc, Penina, is an orthodox Jewish woman who is on the hunt for a husband but not having much luck because she is unable to have children. The dates she goes on in the beginning of the book made me cringe! The men were the worst and I hated how Penina didn’t see her worth.
As the story progresses and our mmc and fmc meet, things get so good and the banter between the two is so funny! It’s a great read. I listened to the audiobook and I found the narrator enjoyable, she does different voices. Some of her pronunciations were interesting,
Overall great read/listen!

Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok was so fun! I listened to the audiobook and loved hearing the enemies to lovers unfold.

What a delightful rom-com; thank you NetGalley for the ARC! This light-hearted novel had so many things going for it: interesting insight into Orthodox Judaism, a genuinely kind heroine, the perfect ending, and so much fun and humor packed in every chapter. I normally don't go for the "I liked him right away because he was so hot" type romance books, but this one supplemented the attraction with substance, chemistry, and history.

Some aspects felt superfluous or not completely sussed out (like Penina randomly having a fashion instagram following, which I didn't feel seem quite in character), but overall a charming read.

Well done Heidi Shertok; I'll be interested to see what she writes next!

Unlike many of the reviews, I am very knowledgeable about the Orthodox Jewish community and it's traditions. I was excited to read a book with Jewish characters that isn't Holocaust related. While the book was a fun, light-hearted romance, it was a bit slow in the beginning and then a bit contrived toward the end.

I was VERY disappointed with the audiobook narration. When hiring narrators, it's best practice to find someone familiar with the pronouncation of the non-English words used in the book. And, if that's not possible, then the audiobook director should have the words phonetically spelled in the script. I was cringing throughout the book listening to the Yiddish and Hebrew words pronounced incorrectly. Even the simple words!! At this point, I don't know anyone who doesn't know how to pronounce challah (bread). Typically the "ch" is pronounced with a slight gutteral sound or with an "h." The narrator pronounced challah with a hard "ch" sound as in "chair." And, "challah" is a fairly mainstreamed word. Imagine how the less familiar words were pronounced. I can't imagine the author is happy with her voice being mangled like that. The publishing company should have done better.

I would definitely recommend this book for those who want to learn more about a different culture and its practices towards marriage. But, read the book instead of listening to the audiobook.

This was an EXTREMELY slow book it did not get interesting until 60%. The only reason I kept going was because it was an audio book I was listening to while gardening.
It was interesting the last part I just wish the beginning was better.
I recieved a free copy so that I might tell you what I honestly think. Hope you enjoyed my review. Now go enjoy the book.

0/5 stars DNF

I only got about 30 minutes into the audiobook before quitting. The narrator CLEARLY isn't Jewish as she mispronounced several basic words incorrectly. I looked her up and she's not Jewish - what a shocker. The voice she chose for Sam is antisemitic. There's no other way around it. It's the same nasally Jewish New Yorker voice every goyim narrator uses. I was really looking forward to this book, but the choice of this narrator, and the lack of basic care towards Jewish culture and religion by the narrator and publisher, has made this a hell fucking no for me. I don't recommend this at all and don't support purchasing the audiobook. The book could be fine, but I'm personally not going to be buying it. These issues could have EASILY been fixed by having an own voices narrator. Shame on whoever greenlit this.

2.5 stars (rounded up)

"Orthodox Love" by Heidi Shertok is a romantic comedy that is very, very, very slow to unfold. I am 35% into the book and basically, only one major thing has happened?! 50% in and I am feeling much the same. I think I know where this story is going, and I don't love it. I did manage to laugh a few times while reading this book. I also enjoyed learning about the intricacies of the Orthodox Jewish religion, which I knew little about. I had no idea that the Orthodox Jewish religion was so strict with its rules on adoption (well, pretty much everything, as it turns out). Seems pretty antithetical to the ideas of religion to me to leave children desperate for a home behind, but I digress. I felt that the main character, Penina, instructed and corrected and admonished others who were not of her faith far too much for my liking. Most of the time, these slights are passed off as jokes, but they felt very judgmental to me. I did like how Penina is able to coexist in the secular world while still adhering to her Orthodox Jewish faith as she reconciles the more progressive, modern future with the archaic, aged past. Apart from this, I did feel deeply bad for Penina, who has always wanted to have a child but, because of a medical condition that rendered her infertile, cannot have children. That experience shaped who she has become as an adult. She has always tried to do what she can to be near children and give back to her community, volunteering in the NICU at a local hospital to fulfill some part of her dream of having kids. As someone who is childless by choice, just because I don't want kids doesn't mean I can't empathize and sympathize with Penina's yearning to have a baby. Marriage and babies are apparently a huge part of the Orthodox Jewish faith. However, Penina is SO desperate to find a man, and she is SO down on herself for being infertile that it really started to grate on my nerves! Her choices wind up being someone who is gay who is offering her money and someone who doesn't exactly share the same religious views as her. This doesn't sit right with me at all and feels shamey to people in the LGBTQIA2S+ community, like it would be better for Zevi to fake being someone he's not just to please his dying mother rather than be out and proud. Yikes. To me, Penina's relationship with Sam felt forced, not angsty. He could have literally been anyone else who gave her even a modicum of attention and she would have been head-over-heels. I'm usually all for the grumpy-sunshine trope, but Sam's grumpiness felt more mean and angry than sexy and brooding. There need to be more books representing the various forms of Jewish faith in romantic fiction. Some readers will find more to love here than I did. Unfortunately, I didn't think there was enough differentiation between the voices of the characters in the audiobook narration to call it successful. Because of this, some of the characters were muddled together and it became confusing. I had to stop listening and pick the book back up later because the voices became a bit too cluttered.

Thank you to NetGalley, Heidi Shertok, and Alcove Press for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

I was intrigued by the idea of this book, and reading something with a culture i don’t know too much about. And i thought that part of the book was very interesting. But unfortunately i just did not like this female main character, i found her very immature, and i just had a hard time relating to her in any way. and i just found this romance pretty boring. since i really didn’t care about our heroine, and our hero was a bit forgettable, i lost interest pretty quickly, and skimmed to the end

The title is fabulous, the concept adorable and I really thought this would be a a fun listen. I am clearly in the minority as I really didn’t enjoy this book. There wasn’t a likable person in the story, with the exception of 2 very minor characters. Penina was well intentioned, but so very misguided. She seemingly grew a spine with Zevi and the deal she made, but then she lost me with Sam. The rest of her family, ugh. And Sam, he was awful. Just because he did a nice thing didn’t change my mind. There is never an excuse for ghosting anyone and no means no. I just wanted her to finally grow a spine and stand up on her own and yes I know this is a romance, but she deserved better. Additionally, the narration did not help. I found some of the accents quite inaccurate and irksome.

I liked this book. However, it definitely highlights why I prefer two perspective romance stories. I liked the characters and enjoyed learning about the FMC's religion. I also liked that she didn't give up on her beilefs to be with a guy. I just feel the story would feel more well rounded if we could also hear the MC's perspective.

I loved this book, even more than I expected to. I was engaged the entire time and kept wanting to read on. One thing that bothered me is the narrator pronounced several words incorrectly, especially the Hebrew or Jewish words. However, that did not affect how much I enjoyed this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance listener copy.

To be completely clear I have not been enjoying romcoms lately.

I enjoyed her convictions as an Orthodox Jew. She lives in fear that no one will love her because she’s infertile and her future husband will not want her.

Then she has two sisters who are in trouble for different things. One is pregnant and the other one is going to lose her house. These story lines were fine but nothing special.

This book was entirely too long. Our main character was so repetitive in her thoughts by like the 3rd chapter she had said she couldn’t have children what felt like 100 times.

“Unorthodox Love” by: Heidi Shertok

“Elegance is elimination” Cristóbal Balenciaga

Almost everyone of us has had that horrible first date where nothing goes right. Penina has been on loads of first dates in the ten years she has been dating. She is an Orthodox Jew and because Penina is infertile the matchmaker does not get the best of potential husbands for her. Then her sister lets her in on a secret, she is about to lose her house. When she goes on a date with an orthodox man who is also much older than the average person in their community to seek a spouse, she is given the opportunity of a lifetime to be married, save her sister’s house, and live happily ever after… if it were not for one little thing…
Enter her boss, Sam Kleinfeld, a hot, if a tad grumpy, man who starts to steal Penina’s heart. Who to choose? The grumpy man who is not orthodox but who is slowly growing on her, or the orthodox man who is gorgeous and rich, but not what she is looking for in a husband because of that one little thing.

I was gripped by this rom com from the very first date gone wrong. Penina is a relatable character. She’s made to feel broken because of something she cannot control. She feels like she has to settle to help her sister. My sole issue was the narration. (I listened to the audiobook.) The narrator mispronounced several words including a major one, challah. She pronounced it as Chall-uh, with a ch and not a slightly guttural H sound. Nitpicky, I know, but there you are. It’s a very good book and I do intend to own it. If you like romcoms I highly recommend this book. Five stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t anything amazing but it wasn’t terrible. I loved the orthodox Jewish rep. That is something not seen very often in books and I loved that Penina never faltered in her beliefs, even in the face of a man who doesn’t follow her same traditions.

My main issues were some of the throwaway comments that were a little uncomfortable. I don’t remember any of them specifically but a few times I was like “this should not have made it into the book”.

Finally, I did listen to the audiobook and the narrator mispronounced most Jewish words (and even a few English words). I did bring this up to the publisher who said they will look into correcting this so hopefully before release, they can fix the audiobook.

I have mixed feelings on this forbidden, slow burn, friends to lovers, interfaith romance. On the one hand I really enjoyed learning more about the Orthodox Jewish lifestyle and the strict restrictions adherents follow but on the other hand I felt the book was longer than it needed to be and dragged a bit in the middle.

There was great disability rep (the heroine, Penina has a misshaped uterus that makes her infertile and unable to bear children) - a condition I hadn't heard of before and causes her a great deal of distress as a woman raised and wanting children of her own. Recommended for fans of Jean Meltzer and good on audio narrated by Caitlin Thorburn.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early digital and audio copies in exchange for my honest review. I hope we get more stories featuring Penina's sisters!

I read the audiobook. I’m giving five stars for the underlying book, because it’s a delightful romcom and Pnina is funny, relatable, and the kind of girl you root for from page one, but oy vey, the audiobook. The audiobook.

Look, I’m a reform Jew from the American South, so my tolerance for goyische nonsense is high, but I question whether the narrator has ever MET a Jew. “Yar-muckle”? “Challah” with the opening phoneme of “chipmunk”? “G-d” narrated as “gee-oh-dee”? Do better publishing. I’m sure the author was consulted on neither the narrator or script. But she should have been.

This was a GREAT story to listen to! AWESOME narration! Great main characters. The plot was easy to find. The story was engaging and easy to follow. Will be purchasing this book. Shout out to Netgalley and publishing for allowing me to listen and review this story.

4 STARS!

I loved this story. I have read quite a few Jewish romances, but very few starring an Orthodox and I found it fascinating. I did not really think about how so many things are different when it comes to dating. (I don’t really think about how other people date. Dating for me is hard enough on its own. (chuckle)).

If you are looking for a clean, sweet, and funny romance then Heidi Shertok has provided one for you in Unorthodox Love. Penina has the worst luck when it comes to timing which supplies us with lots of chuckles. Then there is Sam’s behavior which doesn’t really come across as rude as the synopsis says, but definitely interested, then jealous, then abrupt when shut-off. Let’s just say there are plenty of fun moments in this story.

I would give this story a five-star rating if I had read the book. I listened to the audio version of it narrated by Caitlin Thorburn and this knocks a star off the rating. Thorburn mispronounces some American English words and it is not because of the character’s voice. As Penina says, she was born here, her parents and her grandparents were born in the United States. So there wouldn’t be any mispronunciation within her family nor in the business world. Thorburn does engage the reader. If it wasn’t for the errors, I would be giving Unorthodox Love five-stars because I love this story.

*Thank you Netgalley for the provided audiobook copy of this novel*

As you can witness from my star system, I was not a huge fan of this novel. Though there was so much potential with the Jewish representation as well as a FMC that did not date until later in life, it was just not executed well. Plan and simple, this is supposed to he a light and fun romance, this did not feel like either. Though I no longer identify as religious at this time, I can respect those that have found solace within those communities., however our author doesn't seem to. Our FMC does not hold to her strongly held religious and social beliefs yet she throws all this away for a man. Likewise there is a lot of projection completed by the MMC as he is unkind due to his own developing feelings. A healthy relationship is built upon similar social, religious, and political values while our set up for this eventual Jewish versus non-Jewish pairing seems to be issues down the road. I won't even get started on the teen pregnancy plot, you will have to find this out for yourself.

As stated previously, I do think there are some things that this novel does well including the representation of religion and the impact it can have for ones identity development. I was able to learn about some traditions and cultural rules within Judaism which I am happy to have. Though I did not care for either of the main characters, there were a few side characters I felt brought rays of sunshine.

The audiobook that I was able to listen to seemed to have a number of issues of both typical English words as well as Jewish phrases or terms. Their MMC character seemed to struggle at time as it was not different enough while it was obvious they were trying to make a distinct persona. I feel this narrator could use some more direction on some of the words she may not be as familiar with.