Getting through this book felt like a chore. First off, it's far from what it promises to be. And while I think the story had potential, the execution of it failed big time.
My biggest issue was that I couldn't get behind the characters, there was so much I did not like about them. There was abuse and controlling behavior throughout the story, at times presented as normal, and that threw me off all along. It didn't feel like a love story, it felt more like a story of two people who made one bad choice, got stuck together, are absolutely not happy about it and one of them takes it out on the other one.
The relationship between Eliza and Alex definitely didn't feel like love, and it wasn't pleasant to read at all. He has no respect for her, her wishes and habits, or any understanding for her at all. He pushes her to do things she doesn't enjoy doing under the excuse of introducing her to the "real world", which wasn't pleasant to read at all.
This book wasn't for me.

I was lucky to get an advance copy of Beth Miller's latest novel from the publishers. I enjoyed it so much. I love family dramas and I'm also incurably nosy about other people, so to get to peek into the lives of the orthodox Jewish community in East London was absolutely fascinating. The story follows Eliza Bloom in 2001 when she marries out to the horror of her family, and 2016 when her daughter discovers certain secrets.

I was enticed to read an advance copy of this book by its description and the blurbs referencing other books I liked. Although I enjoyed the book, it was not at all the light story I expected and nothing like the other books. I found the description of Eliza's Orthodox Jewish life interesting, but I couldn't relate to this rebellious woman letting her new man force her to try things that are foreign to her and to completely abandon her previous life. I found Alex repulsive in many ways, so that added to my confusion about what Eliza found attractive about him. There were many thought-provoking issues raised in the book- hardly "laugh aloud funny". In fact, I can't recall anything funny in the book. Nevertheless, I found the book a very interesting read that could be helpful in being more empathetic to people going through culture shocks.

What a brilliant and educational read!!

I've never read a book like this before, nor do I know much about Judaism. So I was a little sceptical when requesting this, I was worried I wouldn't really understand it or be able to follow.

I was wrong. The book was written in a very informative way, explaining certain practises that Jewish people must follow within their religion, and it really has opened by eyes into another world.

As for the story, what a whirlwind of emotions you get taken on.
Will Eliza/Aliza stay with Nathan? Will she go back to Alex? Will she ever be accepted by her family?
These are the questions I needed answers too, and I got the answers and then some.

The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom is a nice story, from start to finish you just want her to be happy.

Sidenote: I much prefer the first cover that this book was advertised with, with the heart on the front, the umbrella for me doesn't catch my eye, nor do I feel it has anything to do with the story. But besides this, this book is perfect!

2.5 stars

The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom is about Aliza who was raised as an Orthodox Jew and decides to take a different path at a crucial moment in her life. Her teen daughter finds out about her history and is having a hard time. The book is told in alternating chapters between then and now (about 16 years or so apart.)

There are a lot of layers to this book. As a Jew who grew up around Orthodox Jews, many of the parts of the book weren't surprising to me but I know they might be to some readers and it's an important part of the story that somehow doesn't seem to be mentioned in the blurbs.

At its core, this is a book is about choice and loss and the complexity of relationships and understanding who you are, what your place is, how you've been raised and what that means about who you get to be. There were parts of the book that made me think deeply about choice and how each time we choose to "stray" no matter how far, we give up a little bit of our belonging and how hard that can be.

I think this book had the potential to be deep and complex but it seemed to want to stay lighter and maybe this is why it didn't impact me as deeply as it could have. Aliza makes deep changes in her life in this book and while some of the confusion that could cause is explored, it all stays mostly on the surface. She makes major changes and it's as if they are not that impactful. Some parts of the story have levity that just didn't resonate with me. And her relationship with Alex was just off. Maybe because we don't really get to know much of Alex except for a conversation towards the very end of the book. He stays reasonably 2-dimensional. Of course, we find out so much more about Aliza since she's narrating the book so that might also account for the lack of balance between the development of the two characters.

But there's still much to love about this book. Especially her relationship with her grandfather, her relationship with her brother and her best friend. There are some profound conversations (there were parts where the dialogue just felt stilted and off to me but then parts where it was spot on.) and the author is not afraid to tackle deep, scary topics like infertility, domestic abuse, adultery, and more.

Maybe that's why it was a hard novel to read because there were so many real bits to this book that were serious and hard and some parts where it felt like the monumental impact of all that wasn't handled as seriously as it could have been. But then again I still enjoyed reading it and I got attached to Aliza/Eliza even as I was rooting for her at times and scolding her at other times. This Jewish mom couldn't help herself :)

with gratitude to netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Beth Miller’s novel posits the question: What happens when you love someone outside of your faith? There are thousands of answers to this question, and arguably loving the ‘wrong’ person is something humans seem pretty good at since we have been doing it for centuries.

The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom is in many ways a modern day Romeo and Juliet, only Juliet is an orthodox Jew and Romeo is not. The insular and extremely closed-off lives of the orthodox Jewish families described in Miller’s novel are confronting. On the one hand, I feel that underneath all the rules and isolation that there is a fear of losing their Jewishness, and on the other hand many of the rules, especially those relating to women, need to be left in the past.

Eliza has somehow always rebelled against her family: she wore pants when she was 9 years old (which her father beats her for); and she refuses many suitors and delays getting married until she is 23 (which seems to be practically a spinster). When she finally says yes to a good Jewish suitor, Nathan, she meets a non-Jewish man called Alex and falls in love with him. She eventually leaves Nathan on their wedding day to run off with Alex. Her family disowns her, her father and oldest brother Uri are extremely harsh towards her, and by running off she has disgraced her family and turned her back on her faith.

The all or nothing dichotomy that her family puts on her is perhaps the most troubling part of the novel. Eliza finds herself in two places—trying to get back with her family and maintaining a relationship with her husband Alex. These two worlds, however, are not allowed to meet until much later in the novel. I struggle with any kind of way of life that strangles people’s options for love, success, and happiness. I believe it is this ultimatum of us or them is what confuses and causes Eliza the most pain. In an ideal world she could still have her Jewish faith and be with the man she loved. By forcing her to pick, it ultimately results in her screwing up on both sides as she can never just feel at peace.

All of these struggles result in Eliza and Alex separating for a while and Eliza actually tries to go back to her first ‘husband-to-be’ Nathan. When she realises that she cannot go back to her old life, she is also pregnant with Alex’s child. The novel jumps between past and present and throughout the novel Leah, Eliza’s daughter, is struggling with her own identity. Never fully allowed to explore her Jewish roots—a major reason for this being her mother’s exile from her community—Leah tries to find her ‘true’ self as all 14-year-olds are want of doing.

The moral of Miller’s book seems to be that you cannot help who you love. It also highlights that closed-off mindsets about who you can love are ultimately inter-generationally damaging. This, I also hope goes without saying, applies to all mixed relationships whether romantic or platonic, whether it be race, religion, gender, etc..

Have you ever felt that you fell in love with the wrong person because of what your family or community rules were? How did you overcome it? And most importantly, will you be picking up Miller’s novel when it hits the stores in March, 2019? As always, share the reading love.

NOTE: This novel was was accessed through Netgalley and Bookouture for review purposes. Expected publication is March 2019.

Let me begin by pointing out that the cover of this book liked like such for me . . . .



There is very little chance I would have picked up the “girl with umbrella” version. Let me also say that the comparisons to Eleanor Oliphant or Where’d You Go, Bernadette? miss the mark as well. At best, this could be compared to specific moments such as . . . . .



Or . . . .



I’m giving The Two Hearts of Eliza Blook 2 Stars simply for my own personal enjoyment. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the writing and a modern Orthodox Jewish main character was certainly refreshing and not the cookie-cutter norm when it comes to female leads. However:

1. I don’t like twatty dudes . . . except occasionally when I pick up a motorcycle/shifter porno.

2. I don’t tolerate liars . . . . except occasionally when I pick up an unreliable narrator type of thriller.

3. I don’t accept cheating. Pretty much EVER.

That being said, my reaction to pretty much this entire thing was a big ol’ . . . . .



If you can get past the issues I had, you’ll most likely have a reaction totally opposite of mine.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

Thank to Netgalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom was a book I chose to request based my interest to read a quirky, funny, love story. Unfortunately, this book was neither quirky, funny or a love story. The marketing descriptions compare this to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and that is completely wrong. What frustrates me the most is that this could have been a really great book, but it was actually offensive. I say offensive because it upsets me that a younger person might read this and think that the relationship between Alex and Eliza/Aliza is love. To me, it isn't. Not by a long shot. What follows is the most polite, scathing review I could write because I am trying to be respectful of the author and the readers who loved this story. Proceed with caution...

Aliza Bloom is a beautiful girl growing up in a Orthodox Jewish family. Her parents are trying to set up a match for her as arranged marriages are part of her religious culture, but to the great frustration of everyone around her, she says no to everyone her family tries to set her up with. She finally says yes to Nathan. After courting Nathan for a while, she meets Alex through her job. Alex is secular and through coffee shop meet ups, they "fall in love" and Aliza decides to give up everything in her life to be with Alex (on the day she was supposed to marry Nathan). Aliza is promptly ex-communicated from the family and is completely stranded from everything she has ever known and now lives with Alex in his apartment. Since they are living together, Aliza insists they get married because it wouldn't be appropriate for her to live with a boy unless they were married. A few weeks later, the marriage takes place with no one in her family present. During this time, Alex slowly (in my view abruptly) brings her further and further into the "real world" and out of the safety of everything she has known for 20+ years as part of the Orthodox Jewish community. Aliza eventually reconnects with her brother and from there we see her grapple with which "Aliza" she wants to be.

So there is a lot more to it and the premise of the book is interesting, but how it was executed is where I have a lot of strong negative feelings. Let's talk about how Aliza's religion and upbringing led her to have an extremely conservative and sheltered life. No television, no cell phones, restricted foods, restricted dress, and extremely restrictive social interactions of those outside the family and opposite sex. The best parts about this book were about Aliza's upbringing and life in the Jewish community and the relationship she had with her family members. The only other book I read about the Orthodox faith was, The Chosen by Chaim Potok and I'm not nearly educated enough about Orthodox Judaism, but I'm pretty sure the representation of it in this book would raise a lot of eyebrows.

What really upsets me is Aliza's relationship with Alex. She quite literally is two people - she adopts a different spelling of her name (Eliza), changes how she eats, dresses, etc. and to me it was not all willingly. The parts that had to do with oral sex, period sex (yes, you read that right) and basically everything that Alex did to bring Eliza into the real world was extremely disturbing and not at all laugh out loud funny, romantic or quirky. Sure Alex started off as a great guy, but he basically wanted to have sex with Eliza because that's what a normal couple would possibly do, but Aliza is not a normal person. His push to assimilate her to Western culture and mores was not at all natural and in my opinion forced where I even felt uncomfortable reading it. I could go into a lot of description, but it just didn't sit right with me at all and going back to my earlier point, I don't want my daughter (when she is of age) reading this and think this is love. This is not love. This is lust. This is changing someone's identity to match your wants and needs all under the pretense that you are "freeing" them. With everything that is going on in the world today and the whole #metoo movement, this book is a CLASSIC example of what this movement is about. The fact that I am reading this *expletive* and I'm being told by a publishing company, marketing staff, etc. that this is love baffles me. I'm sorry to sound so harsh, but is this really what we want our girls reading?

Please understand that I commend any author for writing a book. I can't imagine myself doing it! There were some great segments in this novel, (particularly when Aliza when back to the nursing home to visit her ailing grandfather), that I thought were great, but the back and forth between Alex and Nathan (oh yeah - I didn't even get to write about that, but this review needs to end because at this point I am ranting) completely ruined any positive this book had going for it.

There are many other reviews that are glowing and I'm glad those readers enjoyed it. Maybe I'm looking too much into it and making a big deal out of nothing, but I really don't think I am here.

This is the story about Aliza/Eliza Bloom an Orthodox Jew who was about to marry Nathan. But then she meets and falls madly in love with Alex who is not from the Jewish faith. She runs away withnAlex on the day of her wedding. Now, sixteen years have passed and A,ex and Eliza have a daughter called Leah. One day Leah finds a photograph that had been hidden away in her mother's room. The photograph opens a can of worms and lots of questions, suspicion and lies have to be addressed.

I loved the story of Aliza, a young girl whose family believed in arranged marriages. Eliza was the name Alex called her.mwhen Eliza runs away with Alex he promises to show her the real world. He keeps a book with a list of things he is going to introduce to Eliza: from eating in a non-kosher restaurant to a bacon buttie. The story is told with flashbacks to Reika's past and the present day. This is a beautifully written and heartwarming read. There was not one thing that I did not like about this book. I just loved it.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and the author Beth Miller for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is unlike any other chick lit/romance novel. Eliza begins the book as an orthodox Jew in London, wearing long skirts, covering her collarbone and hair. However, she falls in love with someone who is not from her religion and leaves her world for him. This book is exceptionally well written and a fast read, but also extremely engaging in so many ways. The levels to which the characters were developed was amazing and thoughtfully done. Clearly a large amount of research was done in order to accurately portray these characters and I greatly appreciated it. The juxtaposition between Eliza first leaving her family and current day was so interesting to see how she had adapted to a completely new existence. Well done.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting story, but found the novel extremely long and repetitive and the cabaracters either mean or uninteresting. Unfortunately just not for me.

A lovely story of Aliza/Eliza and her quest to find love. The trouble is that she lives in a very orthodox household which believes in arranged marriages and stringent rules. But Aliza knows her own mind... and she meets Alex and her heart pulls her away from family protocols and rules.

Cue lots of anguish and obfuscation where Aliza reinvents herself as Eliza and Alex introduces her to The Real World. The insights into the orthodox way of life, sit side-by-side with the non-orthodox normality - one by one, breaking her traditional taboos... from non-kosher dairy products such as ice cream, to eating in a non-kosher restaurant and then gasp - a cheeseburger, the topics are handled with sensitivity and no judgement.

Indeed, the book sings with Alex’s re-education lists which take a leading role. His love shines through even despite the misunderstandings that follow.

A good cast of characters but I would have liked more insights into them. I loved Aliza’s sisters and her brother Dov but we didn’t really get to know the girls - nor Dov til towards the end.

I particularly liked Aliza’s grandpa Zaida and her best friend Deb. A well rounded and thoughtful book.

4.5* a bit simplified in places but a thoroughly good read and eye opening too.

Oh I loved everything about this book! This is such a beautiful story, one of the best I have ever read! The brilliant writing combined with the absolutely unputdownable story make this book one to save and re-read. is author one of my favourites - I've loved every book she's written, the stories staying with me long after I finished reading the books.And this book! Wow! This one is on a whole different level altogether. I lived every word - felt for Alyza, loved Zaida. I savoured every exquisite word and didn't want it to end because I know no other book will measure up. Funny, beautiful, uplifting, absolutely unforgettable. A must read for everyone!

There's lots to learn here about the Jewish way of life, and this in itself made the story intriguing. It is, however, a very character driven read rather than storyline driven, and for me this just made it too slow as I wasn't invested enough in the characters. Not one I would reread again, or suggest to anyone else - it became a bit of a slog.

I absolutely loved reading The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom. I found the details of Orthodox Judaism to be absolutely fascinating as this is a culture I haven't had much interaction with in the past. I loved Eliza, Alex, Leah, and Nathan, and found all of their annoying habits and mistakes make them all the more relatable. Neither Alex nor Nathan are your typical leading men in a romance, but, then again, who actually is in real life? Learning about these characters made you truly understand why Aliza would be attracted to them, and why she would run into problems with them. I will say that I believe this book is being marketed incorrectly-it's not really a laugh-out-loud, feel good story. Instead, it's a hard look at the way our past, present, and future intersect. Nevertheless, it is an amazing read.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

There is A Lot of story here and it becomes a bit drawn out, redundant and very slow. It’s strange to see the differences in British Yiddish compared to American Yiddish. Also, her dad being violent at first seemed like all Orthodox Jewish Husbands were that way, which I didn’t like. I hated the references to Reform Judaism as being “watered down”. Perhaps she could have had her husband, kept her faith AND given her daughter a strong Jewish identity had she not just given up on Judaism altogether and instead explored continuing in a Reform Temple that would accept her and her interfaith marriage and still teach her daughter the beauty Judaism has, even in a form different than the Orthodox ways that made her feel trapped instead of set free, as religion should make you feel. She wasn’t a hero to turn her back on G-d in seeking a place in the real world when her issues didn’t stem from her religion per se, but the principals of one particular sect of Judaism being forced upon her development into a changing adult woman. I kind of hate Liza now that I’ve really thought back on her throughout this book and we have so much of her story here that it’s basically a biography, so there’s plenty I know and dislike about her. This book makes Judaism look bad all bc Liza throughout her life couldn’t take ownership for her actions or feelings, whether within the “fold” or in the “real world”.

Wow..Eliza was an amazingly complex character and I truly enjoy character driven stories. I enjoyed that Eliza was of Jewish faith, I’ve never read from that point of view before and it was interesting. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review is “spoilerish”, so proceed with caution.
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Eliza Bloom is a young woman that has been raised in a conservative Orthodox Jewish community. She has always lived by the rules: she wears the “frum” clothes she’s expected to, she eats only kosher food and has finally chosen a suitable husband. And then… she falls in love with a secular man named Alex. And she has to run away from her family and from everything she has ever known.
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I thought this was going to be a book about a woman trying to navigate the “Real World” (as the author calls it) and finding herself. But the twist appeared when, after a few months out of her community, Eliza starts missing her family. Her food. Her traditions. And she starts lying to her husband to go back to her family in her old clothes, the same way she used to lie to her family about working late to meet Alex for coffee. That’s what the two hearts of the title mean: she loves her husband, but she also loves her upbringing. And she shouldn’t have to choose.
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One aspect I found very interesting about the book is the culture shock of the protagonist. I’ve always tended to assume that people - especially women - that have been raised in very conservative communities love breaking free from them and enjoying their freedom. But it’s not that easy for them: there are a lot of prejudices to fight, there is a lot of guilt and also the constant feeling of loneliness, of not belonging to this world. This book helped me be more empathetic with these people and made me be more cautious when making certain statements.
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A final thought: a thing that struck me about this book was that it was publicised as “laugh-out-loud” funny and… I didn’t feel this was a “funny” book. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for me, because I enjoyed reading the book nevertheless (it’s a page-turner), but I think it can be very misleading for other readers that are looking for a funny book.
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Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for providing me with this ARC.

I found the characters in this book deeply unlikable. The story was interesting and i found out some things I didn't know about the Jewish religion, but the characters were a sticking point. Beth is clearly a very clever writer though, and I will read her next book as I enjoyed her style.

I enjoyed this novel up until about halfway through and then it started to drag for me. There seem to be lots of extraneous information and details in every chapter after the halfway point. I did like the story line though and enjoyed reading about how orthodox Jews live. I also liked the character of Eliza and Alex and their daughter Leah Who wants to embrace the Jewish customs that Eliza left behind.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.