Recommended For You is an adorable young adult romance. Jake and Shoshanna are such cute characters. The story was great and I flew through this one quickly. This was a hit and I loved it.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It sounds like such the perfect concept - rom-com at the book store between two sales people? sounds fun. I loved working at a book store. Unfortunately, I found that Shoshana's character was annoying and judgmental. The issues that she had with her family and friends, not thinking before she acted, was a big problem and the amount of times she did it was unrealistic. I enjoyed Jake's character, but it wasn't enough of a draw.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Recommend for You was an adorable, fluffy, fast-paced read.

The story follows Shoshanna Greenberg, who works at Once Upon, her favorite local bookstore. Her car needs to be fixed, and her moms are fighting at home, and the bookstore has become her happy little escape. When her boss announces a holiday bonus to the person who sells the most books, Shoshanna is thrilled and determined. That bonus will help fix her car. Except the new hire who doesn't even read, Jake Kaplan, makes that complicated.

I really enjoyed the characters and plot. A bookstore setting was a cherry-on-top. There were important messages throughout this story, a ton of representation including POC/LGBTQ+ characters, and an adorable romance. Shoshanna and Jake had great chemistry and banter throughout the story.

I really liked this book!

An adorable YA romcom! Shoshanna is a fun, likeable protagonist. The book teaches of friendship, standing up for causes you believe in and opening yourself up to new experiences. A fun, easy read - perfect for lovers of Nora Ephron movies.

I really enjoyed reading book to take my mind off of reality. It was a sweet, light hearted YA romance. There are few things that really set this book apart from other YA romances. The main character (Shoshanna) loved books and worked a book store, this will really connect with teens who love books and feel safe in a library, bookstore or at home reading their favorite book. It reminded me of myself and many students I have taught over the years. Shoshanna was also dealing with her two moms having issues with their marriage. It showed a very realistic view of what it feels like to have your parents having marital issues and wondering if they will stay together. I liked that she had two moms and that was just part of the story, not an issue for her but just a normal thing. The author did a great job showing kids that this is a normal situation. Shoshanna was working in an independent book store that was struggling to get by, it was a realistic struggle and maybe reading this book will encourage some young people to buy their books from small book store. The book was set at Christmas but the main characters were Jewish, it was really a good part of the book. It was also such a funny book! I found myself laughing at Shoshannas jokes and just the situations. She is a great character. The romance was sweet and I could see how some people might thing it went to quickly or wasn't realistic but that is likely because are looking at it with a adult perspective. It was perfect for teens. I can't wait to recommenced this book to my students when it comes out. I hope this becomes a series.

A cute premise but the characters never felt fully developed. Shoshanna’s actions felt annoying rather than sincere and made her character a little unlikeable. There were so many plot points thrown in without real development.

What an adorable book! Shoshannah just wants the best for her Moms, friends, and "second home" Upon a Time bookshop. Despite her best efforts, things do not go as planned. To top it all off, the new guy Jake is really grinding her gears. Will Shoshonna fix everyone before it is too late?

Light-hearted YA romance set in a bookstore - the perfect read! Shoshonna, the main character, was qirky goodness in this fun take on a workplace romance.

**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.**

Title Recommended for You

Author Laura Silverman

Description from Amazon

Shoshanna Greenberg loves working at Once Upon, her favorite local bookstore. And with her moms fighting at home and her beloved car teetering on the brink of death, the store has become a welcome escape.

When her boss announces a holiday bonus to the person who sells the most books, Shoshanna sees an opportunity to at least fix her car, if none of her other problems. The only person standing in her way? New hire Jake Kaplan.

Jake is an affront to everything Shoshanna stands for. He doesn’t even read! But somehow his sales start to rival hers. Jake may be cute (really cute), and he may be an eligible Jewish single (hard to find south of Atlanta), but he’s also the enemy, and Shoshanna is ready to take him down.

But as the competition intensifies, Jake and Shoshanna grow closer and realize they might be more on the same page than either expects…

Release Date September 1, 2020

Initial Thoughts

I was approved for this book in NetGalley, and, of course, I wanted to read it right away. It sounded so cute and who doesn’t love a good holiday story?

Some Things I Liked

Shoshanna is my spirit character. I just loved her. She was quirky, outspoken, and unafraid to be herself. I want to channel my inner-Shoshanna more often because she was phenomenal. I don’t often relate to contemporary characters so strongly but she was just a treasure.
Comedy. This book was hilarious. I adored the way Shoshanna called the Christmas celebrators, “the gentiles” and more than just her Jewish humor, the scenarios were so funny. I found myself laughing so much while reading.
Realism. This book has several themes that are no laughing matters. Shoshanna’s moms are going though a difficult time as well as Jake’s father not being in the picture don’t make for a picture-perfect, Hallmark, ending for this book. I thought the realistic problems gave the story a richness and made the hopeful note at the end that much more satisfying.

Series Value

I enjoyed the characters in this book and can easily see Laura Silverman expanding on them in future books. However, I can also see this as a stand alone novel. The ending was open-ended and hopeful but I think that openness is an important part of the plot. Shoshanna and Jake have uncertain futures, as we all do, so this ending felt fitting.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. I didn’t know I was in the mood for a holiday book until I read it. This book just made me happy to read. There were some sad themes and a lot of uncertainty, but I really enjoyed the hopeful, holiday vibes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter – if you enjoyed the themes of books, Hanukkah, and laugh-out-loud comedy, try this April 2020 release.
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord – if you like cute rom-coms with a sort of enemies to lovers vibe, try this book by Emma Lord.
The Art of French Kissing by Brianna R. Schrum – if you liked the enemies to lovers vibe mixed with a competition, try this cooking-inspired rom-com.

3.5 stars, rounded up because of good rep

This was a sweet read. Some of the writing could’ve been tightened up for my liking, but overall cute. Plus, who doesn’t love a plot based in a bookstore?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

A book about teens working in a bookstore. I'm in. Say no more.
This was such a fun read and had quite a bit of depth to it too.
Shoshanna was such a likable character. Yes, she was flawed but she knew it and always did everything out of the goodness of her heart. She hurt when others hurt and rejoiced when they rejoiced.
So there were a few loose ends that I would have liked to be wrapped up. Near the end, it mentioned that Shoshanna writes and that she basically wrote all night. Umm...I don't recall it being mentioned that she was passionate about writing. And another example is from when she sent a link to a book review she wrote. Where? As a reader, I had no idea that she is also into reviewing as well. These may be slight little things but they did bother me a bit.
All that said, I'm glad that I gave this book a chance because it certainly lived up to my expectations.

Rating: 4/5
Language: a few forms of a**, d***
Romance: mostly crushing and one non-detailed kiss
Spiritual: Shoshanna and Jake are Jewish, some making fun of gentiles and Christians
Violence: N/A
Note: the main character has two moms, one of the MCs female friends has a girlfriend

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

Recommended for You is a cute, quick YA romance. I read it in a day and spent the night thinking about Shoshanna and her friends. It was great to see a holiday-season romance that featured Jewish characters. I particularly appreciate how little drama there was for the romance itself.

Recommended for You will be the perfect fall or holiday read for YA Romantic Comedy fans. All the bonus points for the indie bookstore setting!

Quirky Shoshanna Greenberg loves working at Once Upon, her local indie bookstore. She takes her job very seriously, in the most delightfully enthusiastic way. Enter new hire Jake Kaplan, broodily handsome, and seemingly impervious to Shoshanna's bookish expertise. Propelled by a competition to sell the most books and earn a bonus (that they both need), Shoshanna and Jake quickly become adversaries.

But, as is often the case, there's more to both teens than what meets the eye: Shoshanna is dealing with the marital woes of her Mom's and conflict with her besties. Jake has family issues and talents that surprise Shoshanna. What will happen to their battle of wills as they get to know each other? You will have to read to find out! Highly "recommend" Recommended for You!

I'm sure YA romance readers will probably enjoy this book but I really didn't like either of the main characters. I thought she ca min e off very bratty and hff e was kind of a jerk. I'm usually a big fan of YA romance but, not this one.

I love books about book shops or libraries, so this was right up my alley. Teen bookseller Shoshanna can’t stop getting in her own way, but she just wants to fix things! Jake, the new guy at work, is irritating. Add a competition and you’ve got a really sweet book about learning how to let go of the things you cannot control. I read this courtesy of netgalley.

This was a cute YA romance! The protagonist was hilarious and kept the story interesting. Such a happy story that left me cheesing the whole time.

A sweet YA romance about Shoshanna a force to be reckoned with in the book world. Shoshanna's neat little world has a plot twist she would like to revise and spends the days before Christmas trying to reconcile her moms, get the new hire, Jake, to not take her bonus, and find the money to fix her car Barbra.

The conflict between Shoshanna and Jake could have been a little stronger. For an enemies to relationship story, we don't hear much from Jake other than how Shoshanna feels about him. Perfect buy for bibliophiles who will read anything that involves a job with literature.

It's a cute book - at face value it is a rom-com about two Jewish teens who work in a bookstore at Christmas time. However, in addition to the light and fluffy (and wholesome) romance between our main characters (Shoshanna and Jake), there was A LOT going on. Some of it worked and some of it didn't. I definitely felt like some of it detracted from the main plot. At some point, I just wanted it to be a rom-com about two teens in a bookstore.

On the positive side, this book does a great job with diversity. It portrays economic diversity, racial/religious/ethnic diversity, and there was character who was physical disabled. I greatly appreciated the care the author took when portraying each one of these characters.

But, as each one of these characters had an individual problem during the novel and also, at some point, had a problem with Shoshanna - it felt a bit overwhelming. Sometimes it felt like there was just TOO MUCH GOING ON. At the end all I could think was, "Poor Shoshanna. Her week was incredibly stressful - no wonder she was all over the place and made so many mistakes."

Actually, Shoshanna was a hard character to like. She had a very naive innocence surrounding her and her actions felt altruistically self-centered (does that make sense?); she did things to the people around her without asking and then didn't understand why they got so upset with her. It drove me crazy. But, then I realized something. Something that was amazing. SHE ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE A REAL TEEN. Real teens do stupid things all the time. They have stupid fights with their friends (although Shoshanna's friends were WAY too forgiving), they misinterpret signals from their love interests, they do things without thinking, and they try to fix their world to suit them. Developmentally speaking, this is how teens behave - they are incredibly self-centered. I love the fact that Laura Silverman wrote a teen who looked and felt like a teen! (It made me realize that there are just too many YA novels where the teens don't act like teens). Because of this, Shoshanna's growth at the end of the book was the most important part of the ending for me.

I'm going to be honest - I didn't actually love the romance in this book. I suspect I'll have to go back to reread it to see if I feel the same, but Shoshanna and Jake didn't seem to click for me. Maybe it was because they were so nasty to each other at the beginning, that the moment when their hate relationship started to shift eluded me. It seemed that one day they both hated each other and then they just didn't. There was no thawing of their feelings towards each other. And because of that, their relationship felt a bit forced.

I also liked that this book is appropriate for younger YA readers. <spoiler> All Jake and Shoshanna do is kiss and that happens in the last chapter of the book. Shoshanna's friends make out at one point, but that's all the physical intimacy we get. </spoiler>

As a Jewish librarian, I greatly appreciate having a YA novel with Jewish protagonists. However, I wish that their Jewish identity had felt more organic; that is was more naturally incorporated into the story line. As it is, I felt that since they are both cultural Jews and there is no scene in a synagogue or youth group, that the author threw in every cultural Jewish reference and random Yiddish words in places where it did not feel natural. That way, you knew that THEY WERE JEWISH! I felt like I was being hit over the head with stereotypical secular Jewish culture instead of feeling like these characters were authentically Jewish. Which is sad. I expected more.

All in all, I'd still definitely recommend this book.

SUMMARY

Shoshanna Greenberg loves working at Once Upon, her favorite local bookstore. And with her moms fighting at home and her beloved car teetering on the brink of death, the store has become a welcome escape.

When her boss announces a holiday bonus to the person who sells the most books, Shoshanna sees an opportunity to at least fix her car, if none of her other problems. The only person standing in her way? New hire Jake Kaplan.

Jake is an affront to everything Shoshanna stands for. He doesn’t even read! But somehow his sales start to rival hers. Jake may be cute (really cute), and he may be an eligible Jewish single (hard to find south of Atlanta), but he’s also the enemy, and Shoshanna is ready to take him down.

But as the competition intensifies, Jake and Shoshanna grow closer and realize they might be more on the same page than either expects…
REVIEW

The truest and most positive way I can start this review is by saying that it's impossible not to notice that this book is incredibly well-meaning. It's written with such earnestness and belief in its story, and I don't see that often, so I have to start off by saying that. It's as cute, bookish, and bright-eyed as it sets out to be. Was it a perfect book? Well, no, few are. But what "Recommended for You" gets right is its chipper tone and commitment to its story and characters. 

At first, I didn't think I would like Shoshanna. She, like me, tends toward the over-the-top, and I can't tell whether it was because of secondhand embarrassment or just plain annoyance that I didn't like her. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because a lot of the book is actually about her journey to realizing that about herself and learning to be, er, a little less overzealous at inappropriate times, and she matures without losing any of what makes her Shoshanna. I am all about positive growth, and I'm also all about being true to yourself, quirks and all, so I loved that she was able to do both. Her sincerity was hard not to find endearing after a while. I also loved the bookstore aspect. The work environment was great and I loved the coworkers' dynamics, and of course, Shoshanna's bookishness was delightfully relatable. 

Where this book fell a little short, eerily similarly to its protagonist, was in its overzealousness. I felt like "Recommended for You" was trying to do a LOT - we have the romance development, the work at the bookstore, the friend drama, the parents fighting...almost every source of conflict that is common in YA contemporary books was here, and it was all just...Much. It was So Much. And there were some really forced conversations about social justice that, while they had good messages, felt extremely shoehorned. In a fast, fluffy read, the weirdly forced social commentary and ~15,000 different conflicts felt like they weighed it down. There wasn't really a need for that and I think the book would be stronger if it stuck to one or two conflicts instead of subscribing to the "every area of the protagonist's life must fall apart!" notion. 

However, none of that could abash this book's sunny optimism, and I would recommend it for you. :p (Yes, I had to!) 

ENDNOTES

Best Scene: the baking scene, probably. So sweet. 

Strengths: fluffy, quick, upbeat, character growth 

Weaknesses: too many side plots/too much going on 

Content: none! Seriously. The characters don't even curse??? When was the last time I saw that??? Thanks for that, Laura Silverman, I APPRECIATE YOU. This one's veeeery clean. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Golden Grasshoppers

3.5 stars

_Recommended for You_ is a cute, brief YA romance that focuses even more on the m.c.'s love of her place of employment - Once Upon - than on her romance with a coworker.

Shoshonna, the m.c., loves books, her moms, her job at Once Upon, and her car: Barbra Streisand. Early in the novel, she gets a new coworker - Jake - whom she doesn't love...but she begins to wonder if that will change. She's a m.c. in a YA romance, so you can probably tell where this is going! Shoshonna - in the midst of this crush - is dealing with some suspicious behavior from her moms, financial troubles, stress at work, and misunderstandings with friends. Because Shoshonna is so sensitive (she says this and her parents agree), she takes every experience to heart, and she expresses some challenging feelings around guilt and responsibility for others' happiness in the process.

The world that Shoshonna inhabits - particularly Once Upon - is a fun place to spend time. However, a lot of what happens to Shoshonna feels under developed. I needed more detail to care more about the outcomes of some of these plot points: even the romance. This is a cute story overall, but I wished there was more of it at times.