I knew almost immediately I was going to like modern romance Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot. The book is a modern romance featuring Jewish characters who live in a small town in New Hampshire. Towards the beginning someone brings up the Anne Frank quote, "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." I was yelling to myself, as I always do, "That's what she said when she was safe in her attic with people bringing her food every day. What did she say when she and her sister were dying of typhus in Bergen-Belsen?"
And, guess what, heroine Abby said pretty much the same thing. Abby is my kind of people.
That said, she would have been better a better character if we had seen more of her grumpy, Luke from Gilmore Girls-like character, instead of her constantly telling us that she is a grumpy, Luke from Gilmore Girls-like character.
Elliot evokes a lot of standard Hallmark movie cliches. Small town versus big city. Pushy parents. Cafe owner trying to make a go of it. But she plays with them in a really smart way. Abby and hero Seth are both from New York City and have landed (separately) in a small town in New Hampshire -- the small town in every Hallmark movie. Struggling businesses with a lot of heart, where the owners all know each other and work together. Abby is roped into running the first-ever Hannukah festival for the town -- maybe for the entire state. She grew up culturally Jewish but has not been part of the Jewish community for a while, and doesn't know any other Jews in New Hampshire. Except, it turns out, she does -- annoyingly cheerful cafe customer Seth is also Jewish. He offers to help her put the festival together in exchange for her pretending to be his girlfriend during a Hannukah trip to his parents back in New York.
They spend the eight days of Hannukah in New York, which in this book is just a small town multiplied. Man, would I love New York if it were actually like this. Holiday fairs and friends and basically happy, economically secure people everywhere you look.
Abby's back story is that she had terrible parents and was a victim of their narcissistic abuse. This part of the story doesn't particularly work for me. The parents mistreated Abby in ways that were just kind of weird. Elliott wisely downplayed this plot point, and although there was a confrontation with the parents in the end, a lot of it consisted of Seth dealing with them off stage.
The other part of Abby's back story is that she is desperately trying to make her coffee shop a going concern. This point could have used a lot more details. We are never told why Abby wants to own a coffee shop, or how she came to love coffee.
After the New York trip and the inevitable falling in love for realz, Abby and Seth return to the small New Hampshire town. The Hannukah festival is a huge success, and so are they. HEA.
A lot of the story consists of Abby reconnecting with her Jewish life, which she had loved as a child despite her parents. I enjoyed that part of the story. Elliott kept it simple, focusing on food and holidays and not all the complications that accompany being an American Jew in 2024 when the book was published. While Elliott writes about the frustration Abby experiences when people think Hannukah is the Jewish Christmas and want to treat it as such, there is (understandably) no discussion of anti-semitism or anything going on in the Middle East. And, like the book, that's just fine.
Bonus Review of Sadie on a Plate
Love you Like a Latke was a perfectly serviceable, even good, romance novel. Elliot's earlier novel, Sadie on a Plate, was truly excellent.
Sadie on a Plate is not the first romance novel I have read recently that is set on a reality TV cooking show. It's not the first romance novel I've read recently where the contestant unwittingly meets another show participant on the plane flying out to film the show. So not many points for originality.
But: this book shines because of the specificity about heroine Sadie's cooking. Why she loves cooking. How she learned to cook. What her perspective on cooking is.
The book also features remarkably good and realistic character growth for Sadie. And the other contestants and Sadie's relationships with them are very well-drawn.
My main criticism of this book is that the romance with hero Luke seems tacked on. Call me a cynic, but there is no reason why they can't wait until the show is over before groping each other in bathrooms and freezers, instead of risking both of their careers. Sadie's character growth supposedly includes developing better judgment, but her actions with Luke go completely against this. Sure, without Luke this book would not have been a romance novel, but it would have been better. (That said, Luke is a good character who gave me all the feels when he came through in a pinch, and had a nice character arc of his own.)
Note from Jasmine Gold: As the name of this blog indicates, I write erotica. Check out my dark, dystopian novel about naked sex slaves, Mindgames. Your darkest fantasies, with a phenomenal plot and characters you will come to think of as beloved friends. Available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited and in paperback. Or read my book of short stories about hot, consensual sex, The Mature Woman's Guide to Desire, available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
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