Love You a Latke

This grumpy-sunshine, friends-to-lovers, fake-dating holiday romance sees Abby Cohen, a prickly café owner and one of the only Jewish people living in her small town, recruited to organize a Hanukkah festival to boost tourism. The problem is, Abby doesn’t know where to start and has felt alienated from her Jewish community ever since she cut her emotionally abusive parents out of her life. Needing to distract his mother from her matchmaking schemes, Seth, a loyal customer of Abby’s café, proposes to help Abby if she’ll agree to come home with him for Hanukkah and pretend to be his good Jewish girlfriend. What results is lots of forced proximity, found family, and heartwarming Jewish-holiday activities that have Seth slowly warming up Abby’s cold exterior and getting her to open her heart to new people. Readers looking for holiday stories with emotional depth and a mental-health focus will appreciate how Abby works her way through panic attacks and childhood trauma with the help of both Seth and a therapist. Elliot’s (Best Served Hot) novel is excellent on audio, narrated by Kelli Tager, who really delivers on Abby’s snark and sarcasm.