How to Excavate a Heart is a book that hit so many good and familiar notes for me. Shani has just finished her first semester at college where she also got her first girlfriend, who broke up with her just before the start of winter break. Luckily Shani got accepted to an internship that the Smithsonian museum of natural history where she’ll work under her idol on coelacanth fossils, giving her distance from home and something to put her focus towards that isn’t her broken heart. Except as her mom is dropping her off, they bump into May with their car - a most inauspicious start to what will become a winter romance!

This was such a delightful story full of messy feelings, working through issues with parents and trying to be a better person and child, and a sweet lesbian romance (and yes, they both identity as lesbian on page!). I also really adored Shani’s friendship with Taylor and the various ways they were there for each other, and the mentor/mentee dynamic that develops with Mandira while working in the lab and finding an older queer person to talk to about those feelings and experiences. And May and Shani! They’re both such nerds for their interests (weather for May, coelacanth for Shani) and I loved the different ways they shared those feelings with each other, and the way the other was enthralled by their passion.

This truly is such a delightful story so full of love and heart and I’m so glad I was able to read it. If you want a story that is overall soft (oh and features a truly adorable corgi!) with feeling and absolute nerds, I definitely recommend picking this book up!

[cannonball review will be posted Oct 30, 2022]

It's rare that I read a rom-com, but I was intrigued by the description of the characters, particularly the Jewish queer representation. I quickly found the book irresistible and devoured it. Shani's voice is hilarious and so self-aware. Even when she's being horrible to her mother, Shani knows what she's doing, even if she can't stop her actions or the words coming from her sharp tongue. The meet-cute for Shani and May is very funny and the circumstances author Jake Maia Arlow puts them in makes sense that these two characters would be forced to spend time together. I also found Shani's love of fish and the giddiness with which she works in the fossil lab to be very engaging and compelling. It made her original and I really enjoyed the chapters that explained the work she, her boss, and the professor were doing. My only quibble with the book is that characters (the "dolls" and "angels") living in the same house as Shani were so under-developed that I found it very hard to tell them apart. Other than one creating the dog-sitting situation and one helping during a medical emergency, they didn't really have a place in the story. Overall, HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART is a fun read, so I'll definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a queer rom-com and I may also use an excerpt to highlight the power of a character having such a clear, distinctive voice.

I don’t care for the holiday season. I don’t like dogs. I don’t like oddly specific fields of science (unless they’re linguistics). So you might be wondering why I decided to read a book about a paleoichthyology lab intern living in Washington, D.C. for winter break who falls in love with the owner of a corgi she’s been walking while her housemate, the usual dog-walker, is gone for the holidays. (Oh, also, they’re both Jewish, which I am not.)

And to that, I say: it was gay.

I’m just kidding. Everything about this book is actually incredibly endearing, and you will fall in love with this book faster than Shani and May fall in love with each other. (It only takes them, like, three weeks. Lesbians move fast, etc.)

Regular readers of this column will know by now that I love a good love story. A proper romcom has to have a few elements for me to enjoy it: a perfect sense of humor, a third-act breakup that actually adds to the story, characters I can easily love and a certain unexplainable charm to the whole thing. Jake Maia Arlow’s YA debut manages to capture all those details and more.

I cannot remember the last time I felt such a wide range of emotions while reading a book. Arlow has perfected the art of putting the “com” in “romcom” (but rest assured, the “rom” part does not disappoint). Shani and May’s interactions and Shani’s inner monologue are seriously incredible, and the situations that Shani ends up in will make you laugh, cringe and quite possibly cry.

Also, I should probably actually talk about the romantic plotline! I will not name names, but I recently read a book where the main couple had zero chemistry whatsoever, and Shani and May were a breath of fresh air. They’re absolutely adorable. Their conversations are chock full of banter. You will be begging for them to kiss before they actually do, and then when they do, you’ll probably cheer out loud and then feel very embarrassed that you had such a visceral reaction to a bunch of words on a page.

Maybe I lied a little when I said I didn’t care for the holiday season. This book made me look forward to it. No, I am not going to have a whirlwind romance with a girl my mom almost kills when we first arrive in town while it’s snowing, but this book did make me crave a warm mug of hot chocolate and a fun snowball fight.

Above all else, Arlow manages to capture a distinct, awkward, mistake-filled part of the queer experience that I crave more of in YA novels. Shani is a hot mess, and I love that about her. She fights with her mom, she doesn’t know how to interact with her crush and she shares a little too much with her lab coworker about her burgeoning love life. But she’s trying her best.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will be hanging posters around the College’s bulletin boards to advertise this book. Yes, I will actually be doing that. Also, I think that means I’ll have to do that to advertise my own book in, like, a year. God, that’s terrifying.

Before reading this book, do have a look at content warnings. Particularly, while the tone of this book is overall lighthearted, there are references to the main character’s past experience with sexual assault.

“How to Excavate a Heart” comes out Nov. 1, 2022. Many thanks to HarperTeen for the early copy (and to Jake for letting me blow up your DMs while I was reading).

and with this, i have read the fifth and final queer hallmark holiday novel of the year! i liked this--it felt like it skewed a bit more new adult than ya even though it was marketed as the latter. i am largely deciding this because of the number of times i wanted to physically stop the MC from making a really terrible choice--new adult books are FULL OF THESE MOMENTS. anyway, nerdy and queer and charming, worth reading!

This is a perfectly good YA book that I would recommend to teens. The main character is overcoming obstacles in her first relationship over winter break while away from home. At the same time, she is falling for the girl her mom almost hit with a car. It perfectly depicts will they, won't they while other characters add playful moments to draw the plot along. But, it's a slow plot, and really a cute holiday book perfect for teens.

I absolutely devoured “How to Excavate a Heart” and could not put it down. I found myself rooting for Shani and May the whole book and just wanted the best for both of them. The story also did a great job with sensitive topics like consent, coming out, responsibility and accountability through relatable experiences where the characters are growing and understanding how to be themselves. Everything in the book felt balanced: the romance, the banter and humor, and the more serious conversations. There wasn’t a moment I spent reading this book where I wasn’t endlessly humored and touched. I loved how Judaism was incorporated, with little sprinkles of informal traditions and Yiddish words. As much as I enjoyed May and Shani, my absolute favorite character of the book was Raphael the corgi aka “Loaf Boy”. May and Shani would not have gotten together without him.

I cannot recommend this book enough for those of you who want something cute, fast and fun. It's like a good candy. And highly recommend reading it around the holidays. I love the way Arlow describes DC in the wintertime. She has me wanting to go to the botanical gardens around Christmas time. It sounds so beautiful. I would love to see this being adapted as a holiday movie. Thank you so much to Jake Maia Arlow, NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for thoughts. I can’t wait for Arlow’s next book!

“How to Excavate a Heart” is a warm young adult novel that reads like a classic Rom Com. It would make a great addition to any LGBTQIA+ romance collection.

How to Excavate a Heart was a charming sapphic romance. It was great to see queer Jewish representation, and the backdrop of the winter holiday was a great way to highlight the characterizations. The main character was very realistic, if not slightly repetitive in her narration. Overall it was sweet, but could have used a bit more of a satisfying ending.

This book has a lot of wild happenings, laughs and romance. If you like all those things in a book, you will enjoy this.
Shani and her mom were on their way to drop off her things at her new place for her internship. On the way there, Shani's mom accidently hits someone, Maya. Shani is freaking out as is Maya. Maya is unharmed, but very aware of Shani.
Fast forward and Shani's new roommate is unable to do her dog walking that evening and pleads with Shani to take her place. She agrees. When she gets to the house to do the dog walking, who should answer the door but Maya. Maya is not pleased, but lets her walk the dog. The dog is her dad's and she not interested in the dog at all. She only deals with it when she is at her dad's place.
The dog walking becomes a regular thing as Shani's roommate is unable to for awhile. The cold exterior that Maya has for Shani is slowly starting to thaw. Maya and Shani start walking the dog together and realize they have quite a lot in common. They also start spending time together.
A quick read and a really good book!

How to Excavate a Heart was such a cute story. The character development was thorough, and I loved the discussion of coelecanths. I spent more time telling my friends about fish fossils than anything else about the book. I appreciated seeing Jewish representation in a holiday story. This is definitely a book I will buy to give my students access to in the classroom.

This is a really lovely, hilarious YA book that centers Jewish lesbians during the winter holiday season. I kept describing it to people as "like a Casey McQuiston book, but less annoying," so if that sounds appealing to you, I really can't recommend it enough.

I think the McQuiston comp is an obvious one, but I also want to point out that this book is an example of really excellent contemporary YA romance even without that similarity. Shani's narration made me laugh constantly, and my younger self would have really connected with her struggle to balance her passions and responsibilities with her romantic life. I like YA books that feature college-aged characters having experiences that younger teens can both relate and aspire to; this book is totally manageable content-wise for a younger audience, but it's not patronizing or uninteresting to older readers, too. Jake Maia Arlow really strikes that challenging balance, and it's impressive to see. I think she's really going to take the middle grade and YA world by storm in the next couple years.

I really enjoyed the characters for this story. The awkward/ angry teen romance matching perfectly with a love/ hate for the holiday season. My only qualm with this books is the amount of swearing. I found it actually took away from the story and will make it hard to recommend to teens when selling.

This is a very solid sapphic YA romance, though, as many others have said, it's way less pure rom-COM than a genfic book about overcoming trauma, with a heavy dose of romance sprinkled in.

I've read only two or three chapters of this cuz my life just went insane. But from those three chapters-actually just from the first- this book is amazing. Preorder it. Read it. It's amazing.

This book may have followed most of the same tropes as every other lesbian romance (including an issue I’m currently experiencing in mine, along with another issue from my last one), but the actual story made it feel different. I loved the way the characters initially met, for instance. Shani’s internship was fascinating. It was nice that they were Jewish, too, because diversity is what’s needed in the publishing world (and in the real world).

I’ve read quite a few lesbian romances now and this is one of my two favorites.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

I've read a few wlw Christmas-based books this year and I think this one may have been my favorite! I loved the story between Shani and May and really liked the balance between one character who is confident in her sexuality and another who is still discovering it. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a YA wlw Christmastime romcom!

AMAZING. Huge thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this .
SHANI AND MAY NATION.actually , Shani. May. Taylor. Nation<3
This was such a fun read , mostly because I have no life , nor do I want one .
SHANI'S MOM MVP!!!
I totally recommend <3

This is the lesbian winter break romcom of my dreams! As someone who had a DC internship that was moved online because of the pandemic, this book let me live out my dreams of wandering around the city doing exciting work, and as a lesbian, it made me so so happy to have two lesbian leads. Arlow really knows how to capture the quintessential sapphic experience of going to a museum with the girl you like. Recently I’ve been a little bored by contemporary YA romance, but this book fixed me, awakened something in me, etc, etc. I am going to scream at everyone in the world to read this book, which has perfect holiday season vibes, and I’m going to wait impatiently for the next story Arlow chooses to bless us with.

I enjoyed hanging out with Shani and May in this "Sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas rom-com" and the book was fine, but there might be some trigger points that kind of get glossed over and makes it feel more like a book about trauma and healing from it with a little romance sprinkled in vs romance.

(To note for anyone wanting or not wanting "spice": nothing graphic or sexual, kissing/making out (A LOT) and there is a description of a past sexual assault in which the survivor's experience is validated, and the author does say that it will be in the beginning of the book with the exact page number as well when this is published in November.)

I really wanted to love this one more, I love anything Sapphic, I love anything with romance, but as a few other reviewers also mentioned, its a Jewish mc, that dislikes being Jewish and prefer Christmas, but why erase the culture if you are going to say they are Jewish?

I would not stop anyone from reading this, it is a cute "hallmark" style read, but it just misses the mark on a few things and thats why I am giving it a 3 star rating.

This was cute, and I relate to some of the unhealthy ways of dealing with things that the main character went through, but it wasn't my favorite. It didn't necessarily feel like a romance. It felt like a book about healing from trauma that had a romance in it. Which is fine, I just didn't feel like it was billed that way. Overall I did like it though.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an arc in return for my honest feedback.