Kiss Her Once for Me

"Since I work at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, I would be a fool if I didn’t mention Kiss Her Once for Me which takes place during the Christmas holidays, and all starts with a meet-cute in the famous bookstore. There’s so lovely about seeing a place where you work become a main character in a romantic comedy . Sure, there’s the fake dating trope again—it’s one of my favorite tropes, and I will not apologize for loving it so much—but there’s also so much heart in this book. I loved the cast of characters and watching them each get their own happily ever after made me want to run outside and play in the snow. There’s nothing better than a Christmas romance. I’m going to be reading a few holiday romances where the leads are actually Jewish. As someone who prides herself on reading mostly in the romance genre, I want to be able to make sure that I can recommend at least one book to anyone who walks through the doors at Powell’s. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter I’ll be enjoying The Matzah Bal l by Jean Meltzer, which stars a Jewish woman who secretly writes Christmas romances as she falls in love with her childhood nemesis and realizes that maybe Hanukkah can be pretty magical too. I’ll also be looking at Season of Love by Helena Greer, which takes place at a Jewish-run Christmas tree farm, and features a cast of LGBTQ+ characters; and lastly, How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow, a young adult novel that offers a sapphic Jewish twist to the whole ‘enemies to lovers’ trope during the Christmas season. But when it comes time to decorate the tree and kiss my boyfriend under the mistletoe, I’ll be making sure that In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae, and Whiteout , a young adult linked short story collection written by the same cast of all-star writers of Blackout , will be tucked away in my Christmas stocking."