There is so much to love about this debut! For one thing, I loved that it featured Jewish authors of color because I haven't read enough of that. I thought the development of Liyah and Daniel's relationship from one-sided enemies to friends to "friends with benefits" to lovers was so well paced and I enjoyed watching it play out so much. The characters were well developed and fleshed out and the side characters, human and cat, really rounded out the story. I thought the Friday night support group was such a unique and fun touch! I really look forward to what the author brings us next.

4.25/5 Stars

+Friends to Lovers/ Second Chance
+Jewish Rep
+Grumpy-ish/Sunshine
+Themes of grief and healing

I’ve read books where it feels like the author writes diverse characters only to check a box. Their stories and journeys don’t feel genuine. Well, Thank You For Sharing, is the complete opposite. Each character felt authentic: a friend you have or a coworker you’d like to head to happy hour with after a trying day.

Thank You For Sharing’s two main characters are biracial and Jewish:
+ Liyah Cohen-Jackson: a Black, bisexual, grumpy-ish, passionate, and talented junior curator
+ Daniel Rosenberg: a Korean-American cinnamon roll hero with jellyfish tats (10/10, no notes)

Daniel has loved Liyah since they were 13 and away at summer camp. Liyah’s dislike of Daniel started around the same time. Now as 20-somethings, they are thrown together in a work situation and rekindle their friendship. In addition to their eventual romance, we see their experiences navigating culture and identity.

I particularly enjoyed their Survival Club, a Friday night meet-up that gives their foursome friend group a safe space to vent about career, life, and dating problems. I need a Survival Club! Also, the meeting notes from these meetups were so funny.

We get to watch Liyah and Daniel’s friendship develop from friends-with-benefits to much more while they begin healing from their personal trauma. I loved every page and can’t wait to see what Rachel Runya Katz writes next!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC. Thank You for Sharing is available for pre-order and officially out on September 12, 2023!

Liyah Cohen-Jackson and Daniel Rosenberg knew each other in summer camps until they were 13. Liyah still harbors deep resentment about things that happened the last days together. But now at 27 she runs into him realizing they live close to each other in Chicago. And then finds she will need to work with him for a promotional campaign for the Field Museum. The success of their work will determine if she will get her much sought after promotion to curator. Together with a friend of his and a co-worker of hers they form a friend group and get together for weekly drinks and hang outs. It turns out to be a great support group and for Daniel and Liyah it turns into something more.

There is surprising depth and representation in this book. Liyah is bisexual as is her best friend. Both Daniel and Liyah are mixed race POC and Jewish. Interestingly to me, they enjoy the cultural connection more than a belief in God. Liyah is bold and confident in her work but personally she is prickly. She doesn’t believe she is worthy of love and it impacts her intimate relationships. This book feels like you’re dealing with real people. Daniel is wonderfully supportive and the first to admit feelings yet he pushes and makes mistakes. I like that the story includes moments when she needs to check in with her therapist when feeling on edge. Some of the past camp stuff feels childish to bring up years later but it resonates with realism. Where he gets to swagger with a hot rep she gets the negative label and it also effects how she thinks of herself growing up. Yes, it is unfair to blame Daniel for that because he was a young teen and yet it unfairly happens to teen girls everyday.

This is an easy book to recommend. There is a wonderful found family friend group, easy banter, humor and naked times. But there are harder topics too. I also enjoy it being set in Chicago. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

There were so many elements that I appreciated in this story, but overall, this book just didn’t hit the mark for me. I think it could be a wonderful book for anyone who is looking for a love story that spans from childhood “enemies” to adulthood “frenemies” and eventually to romance, with slow introspective growth along the way.

What I loved… It touched on multi-racial identity and gave space to the unique experiences the characters were having. I also loved that there were non-binary and LGBTQIA+ characters living a supported life where it was easy, peasy for their friends to use the correct pronouns and accept fluid sexuality – it’s my favorite kind of inclusion, where it’s just woven in effortlessly.

I did not love… the way the main characters interacted. Enemies to romance is a tough trope for me because I just don’t enjoy snippy or mean banter. I don’t like teasing as a form of flattery or affection, and holding on to the past so tightly that you can’t enjoy today is just not my jam.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for allowing me to read an early copy of this book- I appreciate you!

Content warnings: Racism, Grief, Sexual assault

This story felt real to me and allowed me to explore other faiths and cultures while helping me understand the challenges that both may face. Liyah and Daniel are a second chance romance after a wonderful summer camp experience became a nightmare for Liyah. It’s 15 years later and they cross paths on a flight back to Chicago. For Liyah, she still carries the scars from the summer and blames Daniel. Daniel wonders why Liyah never came back to camp and has missed her over the years. Both of them are faced with issues at work as they pursue their passions but what neither expects is for them to be teamed up on a marketing campaign for the museum Liyah works in. This ends up being a good thing as they are forced to work through the past and see how they can shape their futures. I don’t know that I completely connected with the characters but I did appreciate their personal journeys and how their faith and cultures shape the choices they make. I also learned a lot along the way which I appreciated. I voluntarily read an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.

Received this ARC via NetGalley…

Childhood crush/2nd chance - one of my favorite tropes!

I love that there is so much representation in this book! Bi-racial, Jews of color, queer, non-binary characters and interracial relationship.

I also appreciated how mental health is discussed in such a healthy and productive way. The characters created such a supportive and safe space for each other.

Content warning: references to death of a parent and sexual abuse

I enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers, second chance romance that was witty and fun. It can be hard to find a romance that is the right balance of fun and feels like it has enough weight to be believable. I loved the character development that felt realistic and also went deeper, while still having good banter and the romance heating up.

I read Rachel Runya Katz's "Thank You for Sharing" on NetGalley. I loved this book! Liyah & Daniel were meant to be. They met at camp when thirteen and then years later ran into each other again. And again. Slowly over time their reservations were lowered and they became friends. This book made me laugh and cry. This is the author's first book and I'm sure it won't be her last! I'm looking forward to reading more!

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I appreciated learning about Jewish customs in this novel, as it was all very new. I liked that it wasn't insta-love and that they got to know each again as adults.
I think the third person made it very hard to see into how the characters were feeling, and it made Liyah come across as not as likeable as she could've been.
There wasn't too much angst I suppose, so it wasn't very fast paced.

4.25 stars

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Liyah + Daniel 🥹🫶🏻 The most grumpy gal and the sun-shiniest guy have their worlds collide after not seeing each other since summer camp 14 years ago. Now, they’re forced to work together on a project that is important to them both, and it slowly forms into a friendship between the two of them, plus two other friends: Siobhan + Jordan. The 4 of them become the SSC (you’ll find out what that means in the book) and form a group that meets weekly! The meeting notes continued to crack me up throughout the entire book 🤣 I love moments like this in books where the characters and their personalities are able to shine through and truly make me LOL! Also, Neen is such a fantastic character, and I absolutely love how they know Liyah so well and can calm her down and give her a friendly reality check. (We all need a Neen in our lives!) I could’ve kept reading their dialogue all day!

I love Liyah and Daniel’s friendship, which turns into a secret friends with benefits relationship. They both see the other for who they are. Liyah even says to Daniel in one part of the book that she can be herself around him and he gets her. The vulnerability within their friendship is incredible, and they’re really able to help each other in some difficult moments. When Daniel said, “Thank you for sharing this with me, Liyah,” I was a puddle on the floor. The text messages and emails?? I ate it alllll up. So good. And the declarations of love…. Gahhhhh I love them.

And I cannot forget about Sweet Potato!!!! The precious baby 🥹🐈 I love that Sweet P is such a great companion to Daniel.

There is so much representation in this book 🤩

This beautiful book comes out 9/12/23!! Check it out!!

TW: death of parent (off page); sexual assault (off page)

DNF @ 15%

There were so many things going for the book Thank You for Sharing: the solid representation, the second chance romance, the fact that Liyah works in a museum. And because of those things, I really, really wanted to like this book. But for some reason, I just didn’t. Some books you immediately vibe with, and some you just don’t. And this was one of the don’ts for me unfortunately. The writing style fell flat, the characters fell flat—maybe that’s the reading slump I’ve been in, but I just couldn’t get into the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the free e-book in exchange for my honest review!

Thank You For Sharing is a truly touching and well written novel that hits on a number of tropes and social issues. Rachel Runya Katz has created a wild, wonderful, beautiful world and a number of amazing characters as well. The characters are diverse in background but also have diverse personalities and interests.

Lyiah and Daniel are Jewish POC and were friends and then had a teen/camp romance. They left their teen years not talking and randomly met again in adulthood then found themselves working together. And as you can imagine things have been tense. But as they talk they find common ground and maybe a bit of romance. While this novel starts a bit slow it definitely gets faster and is well worth the read.

I am a huge fan of the friends to enemies to lovers trope, of diverse characters and casts which this novel has in spades (religious, race and LGBTQIA), and of the outdoors (yay camp)! So this was an extra fun novel for me. I will also mention TW: mention of previous SA; death.

Lyiah and Daniel are former friends/teen camp romance who find themselves reunited as adults on a plane and then as partners on a work project. For some reason Lyiah holds a grudge against Daniel about something that happened at camp but I’m not entirely sure what it was. The story unfolds as a typical slow burn romance but they are so annoying because they aren’t talking about their feelings nor being truthful about their feelings with each other or themselves! But alas, that does make for a good book. And reiterates the importance of sharing feelings and talking to one another!

I appreciated the diverse characters. Korean, black, Jewish, non-binary, bisexual. It was great to have more than white straight people in a story (coming from a white straight person). I particularly loved Neen and their ability to call things out. I also enjoyed Siobhan.

Tropes/Highlights:
Slow burn
Second chance romance
Friends with benefits
LGBTQ
Forced proximity

Recommend to: all you romance readers out there! It was very mild on the spice though.

Enjoyed this one very much. The characters were relatable and well-written.
Would definitely like to see more by this author and/or in this universe (I feel like Neen's story would be hilariously intriguing).
Read if you love:
Second chances
Dual POV
Forced proximity
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review eARC.

Right out of the gate, the author has beaten us over the head that the character is both Jewish and Black. Three heavy-handed mentions in as many pages starts it off like a manifesto instead of a novel. And then she jumps down the guy's throat for not perceiving her correctly, at the same time verbally accosting him for also being biracial. Way to make me hate a character right off the bat.

By 20% in, she's at least calmed down on the aggression. She concedes to her friend's wishes to be nice in group settings, but she's still conceited and self-centered. The level of angst in this book is more fitting in a high school novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun read. The two main characters have a history. They both have been though difficult times. I felt like Liyah was hanging on to the past a bit much, but I enjoyed the story and the journey of Daniel and Liyah.

This book is just delightful! The design of the main characters and dual pov was so so well done, I liked that both main characters had very realistic challenges but they came into the book with these fairly work through with therapy (or with sisters who are therapist) and didn’t expect their love interest to solve them. I also loved the found family aspect, and in general the really strong side characters that helped make the main characters feel like they were more real outside of just their love story. I was also a huge fan of the way representation was taken as just a fact while recognizing the challenges associated. My only complaint if I felt like the ending would have benefited from one more chapter with either the support group or in therapy to close some of the loops. Excited to see what this author writes next, thank you so much for access to an early copy!

Liyah Cohen-Jackson and Daniel Rosenberg were best friends at camp as teens until a perceived betrayal split them apart. When they meet again fourteen years later as seat mates on a plane, their feud picks right back up. Both Liyah and Daniel are surprised to find themselves working closely together in Chicago as the marketing firm Daniel works for is hired to consult with the Field Museum where Liyah is a junior curator. As they work more closely together and meet with friends outside of work, Liyah reluctantly lets down her thorny exterior to let Daniel back into her life.

I found the representation in this book to be really beautiful in its inclusivity. Both Liyah and Daniel are Jewish BIPOC, and they have friends who represent a broad spectrum. There is also a non-binary side character who uses they/them pronouns.

I absolutely love the Speakeasy Survival Club and the inclusion of their meeting notes throughout the book. The way that this group of people is thrown together initially and then builds a beautiful found family over time was so lovely to witness.

The romance between Daniel and Liyah felt like a really delicious slow burn. It was apparent from the very start that there was chemistry to spare between them, but that Liyah would never move beyond her extremely casual stance on dating unless she finally found someone she could trust enough to let in. I nearly squealed when reading that Liyah and I share the same favorite teen movie and thought it was so sweet when she shared it with Daniel.

Recommended for readers who love: 🏕️ camp friends turned camp enemies turned adult enemies to friends to lovers 🍹 support group but with drinks 💜 bisexual heroine 🐈 a cat named Sweet Potato🦖 dinosaur bones 🛌 only one bed in a snowstorm 🧱 building trust through vulnerability

TW: mention of past sexual assault; previous death of a parent

This felt like a slice of life romance, the characters seemed so real and well written. The pace was a little slow for me until about half way but I loved getting to know Liyah and Daniel. Obsessed with a love interest with a cat.

There is a lot I enjoyed reading this book - there were moments of real sweetness, vulnerability and honesty. I especially liked the scene with Daniel's family celebrating the anniversary of his father's death. There were other moments that made for wonderful reading, but overall for me there wasn't enough of a flow to the novel overall. I felt the Friday night notes broke up the storyline a bit too much, and felt a bit over the top. As a Chicagoan myself who worked at the Adler Planetarium (right in the Museum Campus by the Field Museum) I was annoyed with the casual way Liyah was able to sleep at the museum at her leisure with no consequences. Liyah was a tough character to get behind, and Liyah and Daniel's original arguments in middle school, seemed like such small potatoes to be so majorly worked up over as an adult. Sure, she could have some slight animosity but even with multiple attempts of Daniel to apologize, Liyah was still holding that as a grudge. I was glad there was lots of multicultural representation and overall a diverse group of characters. The book ended up dragging on for me a bit, and there wasn't really a strong plotline to keep the pages turning so while enjoyable it wasn't the best for me personally. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.