I received this book from NetGalley and the publishers to read and review. All statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.
I LOVE seeing Jewish representation in books, something that I don’t see enough of! I really enjoyed this book!

This was a perfectly fine romance. The protagonist was so oblivious that it annoyed me in that classic romcom way. I much prefer when there's any sort of obstacle other than a basic misunderstanding, but that's my preference. Overall, a well-written debut with some lovely funny moments, but nothing I'd rush to recommend.

I was really excited for a Jewish romance, I was looking for representation and all I could find was Matza Ball (which is secretly just about christmas) and I really wanted to love you book-I was primed for it actually, but it holds a lot of internalized misogyny. A lot of "only certain women are virtuous, the rest are silly/cruel/foolish/flighty/slutty/unreasonable". The explanation of Maya spending more money than Penina is a great example. 1. she spends too much money 2. she still weakly relied on her parents until they confirmed she was weak and cut her off 3. I am virtuous because I am modest and save money and make it fun. We are supposed to find this woman to be a believable friend, but every opportunity she is shown to be capricious and foolish and selfish and worst of all, she DATES. It feels emotionally uncomfortable, every secular woman is portrayed negatively and it feels very uncomfortable. EVERY secular woman is rude about Judaism and is basically a mean girl in such a way that it outweighs anything else they do. Their main trait is "nasty woman".
The rest of the book was fine, but I couldn't enjoy it. The cute fluff just didn't outweigh the internalized misogyny for me.
I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be recommending this to anyone.

A romcom that will warm your cold heart. Or cool your warm heart. Whatever your heart is, it’ll do what it needs to. Definitely recommend.

Palate cleanser contemporary romance starring an orthodox Jewish girl. Penina hasn’t had an easy time finding a match. She’s Nablus to have chi,dream and she’s overlooked as a candidate for marriage.

She’s a working girl, who feels extremely responsible for her family’s financial situation. When her boss retires and his son takes over the business, she’s knocked off center by him. He’s attractive, but very arrogant and also not a practicing Jew.

THeir love story is a great ride.

First off, thank you so much to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review!!
3.5 stars rounded up!
I really enjoyed this book! It was tagged as for fans of Ali Hazelwood and Sophie Kinsella and I definitely agree! I liked the family aspect, everyone can have a complicated relationship with familial obligation and I liked this perspective/take on it. Along with the idea of "forbidden love," I think this book hit a lot of good points for me!
The tension between Sam and Penina was off the charts, and I really liked reading this love story!

This book!! I didn't fully know what to except when I started reading this book but I absolutely loved it. As a Jewish woman, it was incredible to read about a Jewish FMC. I loved the representation of the Jewish community throughout the book. For someone who is not of Jewish faith - have no fear, this book does an amazing job at going over and explaining the details without being too over the top. I laughed a lot while reading this book; I did NOT expect it to be so funny. Without giving away spoilers - the ending is perfection. I can't recommend this book enough.

I was given an Advanced Reader Copy by NetGalley for an honest review.

This book was quite interesting to me not only with the romance but with the world and a lot of Orthodox Jewish traditions.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. The book is not bad, it just wasn't my kind of read. I am very particular about the romance books I read and this wasn't it. The main character was constantly thinking and talking about how she was going to be single forever. Any glance with a man for more than a couple seconds had her flushed and her heart beating faster and all those things. I honestly just got bored and impatient for the actual plot of the book to start.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Unorthodox Love brings us the story of Penina who is looking to find her soulmate. We follow her along her journey with men who just don’t cut it for her, all while she is starting to form an attraction to her less observant boss Sam. That alone brings tribulations. Throw in Penina’s family, their troubles, and a host of other characters and it makes for great side stories all with happy endings.

If you’ve never been introduced into the Orthodox world, this is a great novel for you to read because author Heidi Shertok does a great job explaining in detail all of the customs, etc…. For me though, it felt like too much at times.

I did enjoy the story line though, and enjoyed reading this.
I’d give this 3.5/5 stars.

When reading the excerpt for this book, it said it was for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Ali Hazelwood, so sign me up! This was a great romance book with good representation. I really enjoyed the banter and issues that were brought up!

This is more or an explanation of Jewish religion and less of a story. DNF after a few pages in.


************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.*****************************************

This book is filled with many romantic tropes that should have had me swooning, but just didn't connect with me as a reader. It somehow felt quite insta-love, despite the slow draw. The rapport of the characters were often interrupted by long descriptions of clothing & fashion that seemed irrelevant, and inconsistencies in the main character took me out of the story instead of making her realistic. Some may love it, but it wasn't for me.

This one was a challenge for me.
I really enjoyed this book up until a little over 70%. There was a comment made my the FMC about how she wants another character, whom she's in love with, to find love and be happy.. with someone who's "heavy and has bad teeth." Obviously, this was said as an insult, because she wants to end up with this male character. As a "heavy" person, the comment about heavy automatically meaning you're unattractive or unworthy of love, which is what Penina struggles with throughout the entire book, was off color.
Other then that, this was a really cute story, where the author took the time to make the relationship seem believable. (No insta love here) I learned a lot about the Orthodox faith that was really interesting and I enjoyed quite a bit. I really did fall in love with the characters and want them to end up together.
There's no spice in this book and no touching at all, which was really different, but I was really happy that throughout this entire book we had a MMC who respected her faith and the boundaries.
It took me a little bit to get into it at first because Penina has a lot going on. She feels like she needs to carry the weight of her families problem son her shoulders, which is very admirable... but I found it to sometimes be annoying.

I received this book as an ARC for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5

I liked this book for the most part. I loved all of the Orthodox Jewish representation. I actually learned more about it through reading this book. But what I did not like was the whole marrying someone for money thing. That whole plot detail just didn’t sit right with me. But I loved the whole grumpy boss / employee vibe. I love how in the end the two people you wanted to get together did. Overall I would suggest this one.

I am not Jewish so some of the rituals and Hebrew went over my head. However, many of the situations were so universal that it didn’t matter the religion and ethnicity. It had many laugh out loud moments for me! I really enjoyed the mc’s relationship with her family and work mates.

Told in Penina’s POV, it does get heavy in the explaining of religious rules and traditions. If you are not Jewish, this would be interesting information. I also felt there was some disjunct between what Penina preached and what she practiced. She briefly mentioned her Instagram account where she shares tips on modest fashion on a budget. I wasn’t sure if it was a religious dichotomy or an editor’s oversight, but much of the book emphasized Penina’s adherence to Orthodox Jewish traditions such as modest clothing yet she also dressed in a body-con dress and 3” stilettos in party scene. While the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were interesting, I wasn’t sure how they related to the story. Penina does describe some of her clothing but not enough to make it a focus of the book.

Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok is a fun and exciting debut.
I was pulled in by the synopsis.
Once I opened this book up and starrd reading, I knew this was goig to be a quick one.
I found the characters to be very interesting.
Penina pulled me into her story. And kept me turning the pages.
A wonderfully told story about romance, family and culture.
I will definitely pick up a future book by Shertok.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A very sweet love story with a charming main character, The book included Information about Orthodox Jewish life and dating, and I really enjoyed learning more about this. I was raised Jewish but not orthodox so I was fascinated by the differences. Penina was a great character and I was really hoping everything would work out for her. I was team Penina all the way! And I think Readers will love getting to know her. The writing felt a little clunky at times, but overall the book was enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the Arc. In exchange I am posting this honest review.

I have complicated feelings about Unorthodox Love. I appreciate a lot the idea of telling a story that isn’t often told in this genre, but I also found the writing to be very explanation-heavy. I wanted to like this one more.

This book was quite interesting to me not only with the romance but with the world and a lot of Orthodox Jewish traditions that I’m used to and see every day.

Unorthodox Love is about 29-year-old Penina who has been using a matchmaker to find love with someone in her religious community. Penina belongs to the Orthodox Jewish community and is also infertile which makes falling in love in her community even harder.

There are financial problems in Penina's family and because of them, Penina agrees to start fake dating Zevi, one of the men she is matched with. That person isn’t the love interest though so it was somewhat confusing to me when there was a focus on him. Zevi and her do not end up together but develop a long-lasting friendship that was so nice to see.

Penina’s love interest is her boss Sam who is also Jewish but not Orthodox or religious and over the course of the book, we get to see their relationship grow and blossom. He’s grumpy and she’s the complete opposite and they both have to navigate in her world together and get to know each other better and develop a deep friendship.

There was good banter, and fun moments and I quite liked some of the issues brought up in this book. There isn’t any spice in this book which is necessary because of the religious aspect of this and I love that the author stuck to that.

At times this did feel like Orthodox Judaism 101 which is good for readers to learn more about the religion and traditions. I also think that this book would fit in adult/women’s fiction alongside contemporary romance.
Overall I liked reading this, I loved the family moments and characters, especially Penina who stayed true to her beliefs throughout the book. I loved the traditions, modesty, beliefs, and uniqueness of this book.