sorry i loved this book SOOOOOOO MUCH!!! its a 5 for meeeee

it was just so sweet and really fun and such a fun palette cleanser! i think i’m probably also a little bias because i live in minnesota too. there were so many minnesota references i understood compared to other books based in minnesota that were either more woodsy or vague. i just really adored it.

i loved the main heroine, penina, and her romantic lead, sam. they were a fun pair to follow with all their differences and chemistry. penina’s well meaning and sweet outlook on life was such a breath of fresh air while sam was grounded and teasing.

the aspect of penina being orthodox was interesting as i didn’t know a lot about the religion. it was really cool to read about and i really enjoyed her family and all the things that came with her lifestyle.

the book was also really touching for me and had me shedding just a few tears just because it was relatable to me. i really just sympathized with penina! the situation she was put in was simultaneously funny and difficult (for what she was ultimately trying to find). it was just an overall fun romcom and i definitely see myself rereading it in the future.

the audiobook was delightful despite some of the weird ways the narrator pronounced some words.. they otherwise were great and brought a warmth to penina and her point of view.

thank you netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A 29 year old Orthodox Jewish woman struggles to find a match in the world, and ends up in a tricky situation for her moral standards...

This one grabbed my eye because, although I'm firmly planted in my atheism/nihilism, I love a book with representation, and sometimes the niche books like this one are an absolute delight.

Overall, this book had some really great bits. The idea was fun, and it did a good job of sharing tidbits about a culture that doesn't get a lot of light shined its way. However, there were key parts of the book that were unbearable and didn't seem super realistic to me.

FMC is super sweet, concerned with helping everyone she can, and all around nice, yet she finds herself 100% willing to compromise her morals over and over again for others. MMC knows about her standards, and continuously breaches them (constantly touching her, closing her in a room with him, etc). The trope of a dude being a total jerk because he has a crush on someone is always a disappointment. That's not a life partner, that's a child.

I went with the audiobook version, and constant of mispronunciations in the audiobook drove me nuts. "Cha-La"?! (Challah is pronounced "haa-lah" - for a book centered around Jewish culture, this was a pretty big flub) "Your-inE" (urine) "Pay-tent" (patent) "Renee-saunce"? (Renaissance) - I'm not sure if this will be corrected in the final version, but there were probably 100+ mispronunciations in the audiobook, and it started to get really frustrating.

Finally, I HATED it took a man to make FMC declare she was a “complete” person. It's disappointing to see someone marginalized in a book where they're supposed to be the star.

All in, this one was problematic for me. There were good points and bad ones, and I'd love to see this updated a bit to be less problematic. I hesitate to give this one less than 3 stars, only because I hope that publishers give more books like this a chance, perhaps in a way that's a little less... like this.

Fully enjoyed exploring this book and learning so much about being arthodox Jews. I really did enjoy this book

First I would like to thank Dreamscape Media for providing me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Penina, a 29 year old Orthodox Jewish jewelry salesperson, who is husbandless and would do anything for her family. When some of her family hit harder times Penina has to decide if she is willing to sacrifice her idea of marriage in exchange for what she needs to fix the family problems. While dealing with the family issues, she also has to come to terms with her growing attraction for her new boss Sam who is everything she has been taught is not husband material.

What I liked:
- Narration, the voice actor used for this audiobook did a great job. With the amount of different characters it was easy to distinguish who was who while she read all the parts. I also like to hear accents and she pronounced words a bit different than I would and that was fun as well.
- Understanding, with limited exposure to the Orthodox Jewish community I really enjoyed learning about their holidays and traditions
- Sam, he sounds like an extremely handsome man and I wouldn't mind meeting him even though it took him a bit to warm up to Penina

Overall this book really wasn't for me, this is because I am in my 30s and have zero desire to have kids. With this in mind I really didn't relate to Penina as most of her personality and life choices were centered around the fact that she couldn't have children. It was also hard to read about a community that she loved so much that viewed her as broken/lesser due to something completely out of her control. The romance in the story was good and it was a great slow burn, and I also liked the aspect of the marriage of convenience which again showed the goodness of Penina and the flaws of the community. I don't think I have a lot of people I would recommend this book to but I will be on the lookout for more books narrated by Caitlin Thorburn since she did an amazing job with this book.

Did the book rope me in? No. Am I happy I continued listening to it? Sure! Penina's inside dialog is hilarious. I learned a lot about Orthodox Jewish traditions and practices.

Penina is a infertile, unmarried, orthodox Jewish woman who is a kind, caring, fashionista looking for a man to marry, and hopefully someone she ends up loving. She has take on the responsibility of all of her families problems. She is not having any luck in the dating market. Enter Mr. GRUMPY HOTTIE, Sam, Penina's boss. Through a series of misunderstandings and conflict, they eventually fall in love.

What I liked about the book:
Penina's self talk is hilarious. I loved learning about Orthodox Jewish Traditions and beliefs. I felt for her character at times.

What I wasn't crazy about
I found Penina a little clueless and just quick to jump to conclusions. I can't say I loved her character.

I did enjoy reading this book. I think it could've been a bit shorter as it got a little hard to stay engaged throughout but still, def worth the read. I did really love the honest takes on hot topics and delivering the characters truths. There are a lot of trigger warnings but they were done in a supportive way. Overall, I would recommend giving this book a shot. #UnorthodoxLove #NetGalley

This was a warm, fuzzy, middle of the road read for me. I was definitely intrigued by the overall concept and it held some interesting scenarios I hadn't seen before... However, the overall plot was fairly predictable.

A decent palate cleanser for sure.

I had the pleasure of listening to this audiobook ARC from NetGalley.

The first thing I want to say about this book is thank you Heidi Shertok for the representation. I rarely find a Jewish couple being represented in romance. It was beautiful to see the relationship between Sam and Penina and the banter was hilarious.

If you’re looking for a feel good romance with a similar writing style to Ali Hazelwood I whole heartily suggest this one. I’m

This was a fun twist to the traditional rom com. The religion aspect made dating very difficult for her and the ups and downs of her life were funny and original. I really enjoyed it! The ending was a little too neat/predictable but overall a great read. Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC!

Cute book but honestly I really disliked the female main character. Hated the narrator.

I really really tried with this one but it drove me crazy.

Unorthodox Love was a cute story. I didn't know what to expect going into the story but I can say I was pleasantly surprise. I loved the characters and their relationship and how it developed overtime

I ended up liking this book better than I thought after the first couple of chapters.

The main character, Penina, is an orthodox Jewish woman who found out she was infertile at 17.

Her sister and her husband may lose their house because of financial problems so Penina decides to marry a gay, Jewish man, in exchange for $5 million dollars.

Penina thinks this will solve her problems because, not only will she have money to help her sister, but she’s a 29 year old unmarried, infertile orthodox Jewish woman so at least she’d be married.

The only problem with this plan is that Penina is in love with Sam. Sam is Jewish, but not orthodox. And he’s her boss. She also thinks Sam is dating this really attractive surgeon so whenever he flirts, she wavers between liking it and thinking he’s being shitty to his girlfriend.

There’s a couple of spots where Sam says she has an “over developed sense of duty” and that’s pretty spot on, honestly.

Instead of trying to live a life that would make her happy, she at first decides to do what would be “best for the family”.

Of course, she realizes the error of her ways, she does not marry the gay man, realizes Sam is single and the hot surgeon was his cousin, and a young teenager who got pregnant chooses her (and ultimately Sam as well) to adopt their baby.

There’s a HEA, but as a godless heathen, I found the “rules” for orthodox couples unnecessary and heavy handed. But it’s not my religion so whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Remember when romance was about love, connection, and mutual respect not about sex? Unorthodox Love puts us on the roller coaster of love and I never want to get off!
When you are 30 your life’s desires become out of reach A woman trying to make it in her world runs into a breathtaking benefactor. They can’t touch! They can’t kiss! It’s forbidden. This creates an intense attraction between the wrong people.
I enjoyed the audiobook version of this book. I was impressed by some of the verbiage they had to pronounce. Narrator did an excellent job.

This is a really fun and enjoyable read. Feels like reading a Hallmark movie that has better writing and a less traditional plot. I enjoyed every character and the silly plot. I was frustrated with the character at times, but ultimately understood the struggles and felt the needed conflict that occured.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the audio narration was excellent.
Initially I swooned over Sam when she ran into him in the hospital, but then he was a total jerk for like 30% of the book - like unreasonably rude… AND as her boss I felt like his nasty comments and judgyness were especially inappropriate. I really loved Penina, though. Her inner monologue cracked me up. And I liked her family and her social media fashion breakdowns and learning all the orthodox Jewish traditions.
This is a very PG romcom full of enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating(engagement), and miscommunication tropes, so if you're looking for something spicy, this isn't it. I'm also not Jewish (thought my best friend is), but I still really enjoyed this. It's a good combination of interesting and sweet.
There were maybe a few too many characters for me - all the nurses in the NICU, the jewelry store coworkers, the gay fake fiancé and his family... kind of feels like a debut (even though Shertok does have one other book in Goodreads with only one rating).
A solid 4 stars.

What a cute rom com! I really liked that the religious part permeates the whole book. It’s only a few books that I’ve read that you get to take part of traditions and habits in certain religions and I find that very interesting. The mc also stayed strong and confident to her beliefs in the whole book which I really liked! I also liked that Sam tried to learn and be supportive about her traditions to get a better understanding of her life.
The banter was perfect in this book. The first chapter was really funny and it was like a starter conversation about how funny the book was really going to be.
It did have a little third aft conflict because of miscommunication that I felt was somewhat unnecessary but I think the author tied it up pretty great in the end. What a cute rom com! I really liked that the religious part permeates the whole book. It’s only a few books that I’ve read that you get to take part of traditions and habits in certain religions and I find that very interesting. The mc also stayed strong and confident to her beliefs in the whole book which I really liked! I also liked that Sam tried to learn and be supportive about her traditions to get a better understanding of her life.
The banter was perfect in this book. The first chapter was really funny and it was like a starter conversation about how funny the book was really going to be.
It did have a little third aft conflict because of miscommunication that I felt was somewhat unnecessary but I think the author tied it up pretty great in the end.

A whirlwind of a slow burn romance that hits all the sweet spots! Penina is determined to help every single person she meets, whether they’re total strangers or her family, and it’s a problem. This girl needs an intervention, stat! It’s impossible not to empathise with Penina’s character who isn’t deemed a catch amongst the men of the Orthodox community despite everything she has going for her - she’s charming, kind, generous and beautiful. Without giving spoilers, my heart went out to her and she deserved so much better. Though, that’s eventually what she got - to have someone fall in love with her so completely. Whew! I was definitely rooting for her and I’m thrilled she got her happiness and did I also love the intensity of the sexual tension between this pair that barely touched? You bet I did. At some points, I thought I was going to combust. Get yourselves a cool glass of water and settle in for this delightful dive into a complicated and somewhat forbidden love story - the best kind, if you ask me.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

The beginning had so much promise. I loved Penina's awkward first date- it was so funny. Then we met Sam, great. Then Sam entered the jewelry shop and it all fell apart. Standoff-ish to protect their feelings can be done, but Sam was just awful. It is hard to read a book where the potential love interest behaves like a complete jerk 100% of the time- and not in a hot, broody way, either.

Then, we have the audio. Caitlin Thorburn narrates. While her tone and pace is great, the overall narration is not. She mispronounced dozens of words. And I mean common words. I could get if Jewish terms were wrong. The book also takes place in Minnesota, which can have its own vernacular, but, again, this was not the case. I am talking about words like urinal, tattoo, Adirondack. The worst- Renaissance. Not because it is a common word, but because it was in a scene about a Israeli born character pronouncing it wrong. And Penina is all like "Oh, you mean Renaissance" BUT IT IS BUTCHERED.

Definitely skip the audio on this one.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very middle-of-the-road romance that was, at times, laugh-out-loud funny. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Orthodox Judaism through the book’s narrator, Penina. The most prevailing issue I had with this novel, however, was the romance—specifically, the love interest.

<i>Unorthodox Love</i> follows Penina, a young woman who has been through one too many bad dates set up by her matchmaker. Then one day, she quite literally runs into a handsome man at the hospital where she volunteers…and then runs into him again the next day. At her job in a jewelry store. He is her new boss.

Sam as a character presented a number of issues in the way he was written. In the meet cute scene, he mostly just gawks at her. Then again, when they meet officially at work, he’s staring at her as she rambles on about her name and he says in a murmur, “It’s perfect.” This all paints a picture that he’s very into her, even though they’ve barely had a conversation. It’s giving insta-love.

Now, I don’t mind it when characters are drawn to or attracted to each other at first glance, but there needs to be less of the gawking and cheesy comments, and more of what you’d expect when a person is attracted to another—an honest attempt to pursue them. If Sam had tried to flirt with her or put on a suave air in order to impress her, <i>then</i> finds out Penina is his employee and backpedals for the sake of propriety, I would have liked the writing of his character a lot more and would have deemed it believable.

Another problem with his character is that he was frequently inconsistent. When Penina and Sam masquerade as a fake engaged couple to scope out the competition at other jewelry stores, the quick succession in which this man oscillates between anger and teasing gave me whiplash. Penina delays them a bit before their appointment by wanting to assist an old woman who is confused and trying to find her car in a busy parking garage. During this scene, Sam gets inexplicably pissed off with Penina for trying to help the old woman and even treats the old lady rudely when he steps in to help resolve the issue more quickly. For whatever reason, he is extremely against Penina’s altruism and, when asked why, gives the flimsiest response that doesn’t even begin to warrant his outlandish reactions to it.

His character improves a little by the time he warms up and he stops emotionally jerking Penina (and us!) around. However, his character never fully comes to life on the page like Penina and her family do. Sam lacks motivations outside of helping Penina, wanting Penina, and trying to figure out Penina. See the issue here? His whole being revolves around Penina. This just isn’t conducive to making a character come to life. Instead, he is the quintessential cheesy romcom love interest whose sole purpose to fulfill in the story is to sweep the main character off her feet. I’ve grown out of romances like this and crave something more grounded in reality, which is why Sam’s character didn’t work for me.

On a more complimentary note, the writing had some hilarious moments. When Penina is driving, trying to reach Sam before he jet sets off to a faraway land, she tries to use Siri to dial the airport. This whole sequence had me cackling out loud. I could tell Shertok was enjoying herself when she wrote that scene; the joy and hilarity just flowed off the pages. I wanted more of this and wished she’d leaned into that brand of comedy throughout the rest of the book.

Regarding the audiobook, the Caitlin Thorburn’s performance was only okay. She distractingly pronounced words incorrectly; urinal was pronounced “yer-rye-null”, for instance, and—don’t quote me on this—but I saw another review that stated she pronounced Yiddish words incorrectly as well. Thorburn also struggled to produce a believable male voice which took me out of the story more often than not. Her accents were fantastic though, and I loved her comedic timing in the airport/Siri scene. Overall, I would still probably recommend reading a physical copy of this over listening on audio because of the narrator.

Spice Rating: 🌶️ 1/5 - Doesn’t Exceed Kissing

Overall Rating: 2 stars

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

This book started well, an easy breezy romance, but developed some serious problems fairly quickly.
The narrator did not bother to find out how to pronounce the (frequent) Hebrew and Yiddish words. Challah is pronounced with either an "h" sound or like the "ch" in "loch". Not a hard ch sound. Was it too hard to get a narrator who has had some exposure to Jewish culture and people? Although the narrator mispronounced a number of other words - the "p" in psalm is usually silent. Also, the accent she does for Natan who is meant to be Israeli, borders on offensive.
So, don 't listen to the audio. Should you eye-read it?

This book has major consent issues. Penina, the main character, is allegedly an observant orthodox Jew. She states that she can't be alone with or touch a man, but she is constantly alone with and touching men. And Sam touches her again and again, even after being told. More concerning is the pregnant 14 year old. No-one seems too concerned about how she got pregnant. There is a real problem with sexual abuse in religious communities, because the children are not educated about sex, and so it makes them easier to exploit. Also, a 14 year old cannot give consent. So the whole (barely developed) pregnancy plot-line is just a way of providing an available baby, which is icky. It's frustrating, because I was looking forward to some Jewish rep, but maybe the romance space is not the best place for this. Or maybe I'm just not in a place to suspend my serious, critical faculties enough to enjoy romance, and I should stick to depressing books. Anyway, the ending was sweet even if I never felt much chemistry between the main characters, but that might be because I was so busy flinching at the mispronouncations.