A wonderful coming of age story about a Jewish girl finding herself on a temple trip to Israel. Explores mental health and demisexuality in a way young adults can easily relate to and understand. With a fun unexpected twist Tally's Israel adventure gives readers great insight into topics like sexuality, anxiety and mental health disorders, the impacts of drunk driving, Judaism, and more in such a way that flows seamlessly.

This book is so important and needs to get the praise it deserves! This book packed so much substance into a relatively short audiobook without feeling overdone or stuffed with too much. I loved that the characters weren't stereotypical jewish characters. They had a lot of depth and diversity. I loved that it was set in Israel. Ive done trips like the one described in the book and lived there later on. It truly paints an accurate and beautiful picture of Israel. It also mentions the conflict of the area in a great way and tackles hard issues with grace. As someone who lives with anxiety/depression I saw myself in Tally and Max. Am I Tally? Is Tally me? Jewish,..Check! Musical theatre nerd....Check! Issues with anxiety...check! I laughed, I cried, I truly loved this book!

Look i understand judaism and Israel are controversial topics, but don't let that dissuade you from picking this book up. The book is packed with diversity from LGBTQIA, Mixed religion, mental health and more. there is literally something for everyone!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I enjoyed this book very much and think a lot of young people will really appreciate this story quite a bit! It felt a bit scattered and rushed at times but overall, I enjoyed the audiobook version!

I love how this book took me back to one of my favorite places in the world. The descriptions of all the foods, sights and activities matched up with my own personal memories of Israel, and the author's illustration of the group tour experience could not be more accurate, from the Israeli soldiers to the bus rides and the bonding activities. Most importantly, I think the author did a great job discussing what it means to be Jewish, the struggles teenagers may have with their Jewish identity and how there is no one way to be Jewish. The main characters come from an interfaith family, and while they grew up culturally Jewish, they meet people on their trip who've had many different experiences from their own. I do wish the author included more detailed descriptions of the historical landmarks and background information, especially for readers who have not had the same experiences I've had.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for young adults (9th grade plus) who are interested in exploring and learning about the Jewish religion and their identity.

Read if you like:
-Learning about Israel
-Birthright/ teen tour trips
-Contemporary American-Jewish stories
-Brother-sister relationships
-Awkward teenage moments
-Musical theater
-Mental health/ LGBQT+ rep
-YA books

I was given an eArc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've been excited for this book since I read it's blurb several months ago. I'm always interested in books about contemporary American Jews.

This book was fine, enjoyable even. But it felt a little shallow, the main character's anxiety just didn't feel real and people and places didn't feel particularly well developed. I may be biased on this front however as a twenty something Jew from the Boston area (like which of the Jewish suburbs is this girl from??). In the same vein there were some gaps in her knowledge that I found unrealistic, like how have you not heard about the segregation at the Western Wall? How do you not know which camp your family was sent to? But again this may be because I am too familiar.

Like I said, I enjoyed this book and found it entertaining, it just didn't have the emotional oomf that I had hoped for.

As someone who never went on a Birthright trip myself I loved living vicariously through Tally and her exchange trip in Israel. First let me just say how much I appreciate the growing Jewish representation in books. I feel like this was an experience so many of my friends went through that I loved seeing it through Tallys eyes.

This story follows Tally and her brother Max as they go on a winter exchange trip to Isreal. Max is dealing with grief from a car crash and Tally just wants to see her brother live his life again. I loved seeing how all of the characters grew through their trip and you can feel the love and care Neil put into this book.

This book touches on a lot of issues that are present for both teens and adults including not feeling comfortable in your religious identity, grief, and LGBTQ+ rep.

I also want to should out Cady Zuckerman who does an amazing job narrating the audiobook. You could really feel her embody Tally and her range of emotions from love, to confusion, to just being a teen.

One thing to note is that this book does touch on the Isreal Palestine crisis and I really appreciated how they approached it and didn't shy away from a very present issue in our world.


Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book — it's such a powerful coming-of-age story. Tally is on a winter break trip to Israel with her twin brother Max and finds herself questioning her Jewish identity, her sexuality, and struggling with her mental health. The author was so thoughtful and sensitive as she hit on these heavier topics. I struggled a bit with Tally's character in the beginning, but eventually warmed to her as we saw her grow and navigate very real challenges.

Tally comes from an interfaith family and continually questions if she is "Jewish enough." As someone who is not Jewish, I appreciated seeing and learning from the full spectrum of Jewish representation and a bit of their history. I found myself googling all the sights of Israel mentioned from their trip.

It has grief, friendship, awkward teenage moments, LGBTQ and Jewish representation, and is overall just a beautiful story. Highly recommend picking this one up, and I especially enjoyed the audiobook.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Tally is determined to get her twin brother, Max, back on track. After he was a passenger in a car accident that killed the driver, he hasn’t been the same. A group trip to Israel with a Jewish youth group sounds like the perfect way to get her social brother out of his shell again, and Tally will do anything to see the old Max again.

First of all, the book cover is adorable, so props to the designer - this caught my attention immediately!

I devoured this audiobook in one night, and thought it was a great mix between light and heavy topics. From the first minutes of the book, Tally’s anxiety is prominent, and continues to be present throughout. There is a panic attack depicted in the book, so be mindful while reading. The topic of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is mentioned, gender inequality sexuality, and the Jewish identity are discussed, but are not quite the focus - these all point to discovery, learning and opening yourself up to something you didn’t know you needed.

The setting of a group tour was fun, and I really enjoyed the camaraderie that formed between them by the end.

My favourite aspect of this story was how the author showed grief, and how everyone handles it differently. This book felt like a gut punch at parts, but in the best way. Things got a little teary!

I really liked the narrator too - Cady Zuckerman’s voice suited so well and kept me engaged the whole time.

Overall, I really enjoyed, but I wish it was longer! A 7 hour audiobook goes by far too quickly!

I’ve been on a roll with the phenomenal coming of age stories lately. Once More with Chutzpah was a beautiful story that hit me with all the feels. This book follows high school senior Tally, who is visiting Israel for the first time along with her twin brother Max as well as a group of other Jewish teenagers. Throughout this book Tally is grappling with three major things: understanding her Jewish identity and where she fits in, dealing with her anxiety as well as major grief from losing her best friend in a drunk driving car accident (that Max was also in), and finally finding herself in terms of her romantic and sexual identity.

Some highlights:
Incredibly raw and honest portrayal of mental health and grief
Chapter titles named for Broadway songs
So much information on Jewish faith and culture while still recognizing and describing that there is no one way to be Jewish. I loved seeing each character’s unique experience with being Jewish and the commentary on how it looks so different for many people

I loved the audiobook. It’s around 6 hours total so a fairly quick listen for an audiobook (especially when you are like me and listen at 2x speed). I thought the narrator did a great job really capturing the emotions behind the story as well as the incredible details of Israel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy.

This was so so good. I've seen a lot of reviews from people who haven't read the book and are making a lot of assumptions about what's said in the book regarding Israel, birthright trips, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. I wish some of them would actually pick up the book instead of jumping to negative conclusions. This isn't a happy romp through Israel. This isn't a birthright trip. This book is fairly heavy and tackles a lot of complicated issues including Jewish identity, sexuality, systemic sexism, systemic racism, and yes, the Israel-Palestine conflict.

So this book is about Tally, who is going on a student exchange trip to Israel. She is going with her twin brother. They are both multi-faith as their mother is Catholic and their father is Jewish. Tally is set on helping her brother grieve and work through some of his depression, following a tragic car accident involving drunk driving. Except, Tally has some grief to work through of her own and her realizing that and confronting it was one of my favorite parts. Obviously my favorite part was the asexual awakening. I live for acespec rep and didn't know this book had queer rep (I'm bad at reading summaries) but on page use of the terms asexual, demisexual, and different types of attraction brings me absolute joy.

There is also on page anxiety rep, which Tally lives with every day. She isn't formally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but that doesn't diminish the fact that she has at least one. She struggles with what seems to be general anxiety disorder and also potentially social anxiety. I really appreciate candid mental illness rep and it was exceptionally well done here.

This book also discusses what it means to be Jewish, struggles some of the teens have had with their Jewish identity and its intersection with other identities. Since, I'm not Jewish, I wont speak to the authenticity of the representation but I will say it felt like the author put a lot of thought and care into how she tackled such a huge human rights issue. She took time to delve into intricacies on multiple occasions regarding Israel and Palestine, Jerusalem, and the Holocaust. This book is a coming of age story but it doesn't shy away from the heavy topics.

rep: questioning/demisexual and demiromantic Jewish MC, gay SCs, lesbian SC, bisexual SC, sapphic SC, all Jewish cast.

CW: genocide, violence, discussions of the Holocaust, discussions of the Israel-Palestine conflict, sexism, racism, death of a friend, car accident, drunk driving, alcohol consumption.

I really enjoyed this coming-of-age novel about a Jewish teen who brings her twin brother along to a trip to Israel after he was in a car accident that killed the driver. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book, and I loved Tally’s journey and self discovery.

The twin relationship between Tally and Max is so sweet, and I adored the support and sibling love they show to each other. Tally’s journey to Israel does so much more for her than connect her to her Jewish roots: she meets some wonderful friends who help her realize her sexuality has a word, and validates her experiences. I loved the Jewish elements to the book, especially Tally’s grappling with her Jewish identity throughout the trip.

I am loving the issues and topics that newer YA and teen novels are bringing up. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to the audio ARC! The book will be out February 22nd, 2022.