Rachel Runya Katz’s debut is a multi/mixed cultural, laugh-out-loud one moment and deeply emotional the next romantic comedy starring a couple of complex characters who are childhood friends turned frenemies. Her storyline is a unique look at what it means to be a biracial Jew in America melded with a rollercoaster ride of a romance between a dynamic duo whose chemistry flies off the pages only they don’t see it. And even though the characters are a bit old for a coming-of-age story this novel does give off a little of that vibe too. Daniel is calm and composed, a treasured younger brother and son who’s still grieving the death of his father when the girl of his past dreams falls into his present, attitude, and all. Liyah is the Yin to Daniel’s Yang she’s opinionated, testy with a bit of a chip on her shoulder about dating, men and especially what she perceived as Daniel’s ill-treatment of her when they were kids. The supporting characters are also unforgettable especially Liyah’s bestie Neen and the other two members of the Speakeasy Suvivors club, Jordan and Siobhan. Debut authors deserve so much praise for bravely sharing their babies with the world and the world will welcome this gem with open arms. The author also deals with sensitive social issues with loving care. A wide range of readers will enjoy this novel including fans of rom-coms, mixed culture and really any romance lover will find themselves staying up until the wee hours to finish this fabulous read.

Liyah Cohen-Jackson’s hoping her flight back home to the windy city from visiting her bestie in San Francisco goes smoother than the trip to the airport when she discovers her seatmate turns out to be none other than, Daniel Rosenberg the boy who ruined her last year at summer camp. Well at least she’ll never have to see him again.

Funny how Karma will bite you in the butt as it did the very next week when Liyah and Daniel are forced to work together when the Museum Liyah works for hires Daniel’s firm to help in a museum membership pledge drive. The rest as they say is comedic relief.

I really enjoyed this book. I am a big fan of interracial main couples, and I enjoyed watching the characters fall in love with each other.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Rachel Runya Katz delivers so much in her debut novel. This is a slow-burn second-chance romance. The main heroine is charming, if at times harsh to Daniel. The alternating points of view between Daniel and Liyah were interesting. The diversity in this book is well done. The point of view of Jewish BIPOC characters was appreciated.

I did feel it dragged a bit at times, but the ending made up for it.
This is a well-rounded romance novel and I'm excited to see what the author writes next.

I didn't want this book to end. It was so beautifully written and the pacing of it was so good. We don't get to see Jews of Color in books often and it was such a joy to read about these experiences and celebrate Judaism in all its different facets, and recognize where the community falls short. Daniel and Liyah are so relatable and real. I felt like I knew them, went to camp with them... Their connection to each other, through their shared experiences and their shared culture, as well as learning about their differences, there was such an honesty in it all - you couldn't help but fall for them. And we all need a version of SSC.

I loved how absolutely imbued with Judaism this book was! Thank you, Neen, for talking sense into frustratingly stubborn Liyah.

I'm definitely appreciative of the chance to read this novel in advance of its release and would honestly give it 3.5 stars if I could. Did I love the lead characters? Not particularly, or more accurately, not consistently. I liked that they weren't cookie cutter and represented identity markers we don't often see in romance, but the conflict between them felt overly contrived and I grew frustrated with Liyah's reactions at times. Thank goodness for the interspersing perspective change to Daniel right when I was ready to put the novel down. I also liked the decision to use Chicago and the Field museum as backdrop to this love story, but I wished it figured more prominently later in the novel (I'll leave it there to avoid spoilers).

This was very good. I was hooked from the airplane scene. I really enjoyed the Liyah's balance between prickliness and kindness. And Daniel's swooniness.

In most romances, I find the side characters not well fleshed out or taking up too much space, so I was impressed by how much the side characters really came through and worked. I especially loved Need and Kayla.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Now to the review: I will admit, when I first started this book it wasn't really my thing. I found the FMC to be too quick to anger which is like the opposite of my own personality. I felt that if she just thought about things a bit more or allowed others their moment, she wouldn't be facing as many situations. Because of my initial feelings about her, it took me a while to get into the story. I kept going though because as a black woman myself, we're allowed to have a varying amount of personalities and I was sort of glad to see that represented in a book.

And I'm glad I didn't give up because as I got deeper in the story, just more things were revealed to me that allowed things to just start making sense. Personally, I wouldn't have held a grudge for as long as she did but I could see why.

The MMC was nice though I wish he had just a tinge of more personality. His grief was delicately dealt with and his hesitation in dealing with the FMC was obvious. It would've nice to see something more from him though as at certain parts it felt like he existed to love and not as much depth was added to him as the FMC.

The story does have Jewish representation and how it feels to be a person of color in the religion for a few scenes so I thought that was a nice thing to see be I feel like most people don't even think about that. But once you do, it's kind of hard to stop and I like that the book drew attention to that.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any reader!

Thank You For Sharing is a beautiful childhood friends, to enemies, to lovers romance full of laughs and heartwarming moments in equal measure.

Daniel, an employee of a marketing company, and Liyah, a junior curator, are tasked with a work collaboration, which may be harder than normal since they were once childhood friends. That was, before one conversation ended their friendship for over a decade. However, with potential promotions on the line for both of them, they're forced to put the past behind them and learn to work together.

I really loved this book. It was overflowing with witty (sometimes even snarky) banter, laugh-out-loud humor, and heat. The romance between Daniel and Liyah was also soft, tender, and moving. I enjoyed watching them both fumble slowly towards love through meetings, work related gatherings, and their shared experience of being Jewish people of color.

Speaking of, my favorite thing about this book was how diverse and inclusive it was. The author included characters with representation for: non binary, queer, black, Korean, and Jewish people. I really appreciated that each of these characters felt very authentic, well-written, and fleshed-out instead of simply being thrown in for quota purpose.

Read if you like:
- sparkling banter
- burning tension
- soft, heartwarming romance
- inclusive rep

TW: racism, death of a parent, grief, mention of rape (past)

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

Beautiful story

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Thank you St. Martin's Publishing for giving me the chance to read a digital ARC of Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz. What immediately drew me to this book was the interracial main characters on the cover. I knew that this was going to have important representation, and it didn't disappoint. I like how Katz talks about Liyah's struggles of not fitting in to people's perceptions of what a certain race or religion should look like. Liyah and Daniel used to be friends a long time ago when they met at a summer camp, but something happened at summer camp that ended their friendship. They go a long time without speaking, until they find themselves sitting next to each other on a plane, and then Daniel's firm is hired by the company Liyah works for. Suddenly, they find themselves thrust back into each other's orbit. They start off getting back to the point of friends, and then it is a bit of a slow burn from there. They don't want to admit their feelings for each other, and they spend a lot of time trying to keep it casual, but secretly, they are both falling for each other. They also have a group of friends that start meeting once a week, and there are a couple of characters that I would love to see get their own book, namely Jordan and Siohban. Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read, although maybe a little long, but I did enjoy it. I'm not always the biggest fan of the third act breakup trope, but I'm glad that everything worked out in the end for Liyah and Daniel. 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this book. It felt authentic and genuine and I loved that the characters felt multidimensional. They all clearly had flaws that they dealt with throughout the book and I honestly don't know how else to describe the journey of how love and companionship helped these characters learn and grow with each other. I loved how the author highlighted how different people deal with emotion and strife. This all goes to say how genuine this felt for me. I felt all the feels lol.

I also loved the meeting minutes the author included at the end of most chapters. I felt they brought a necessary light and comedic break throughout the book and thought it was a creative way to detail meetings without taking us through every SSC meeting.

In terms of the writing style, I felt it was very detailed, sophisticated, and very witty. Definitely appreciate the extra detail, especially for readers who have a harder time picturing things in their minds. I also thought the book was really well-paced overall.

I really wish I could share my highlights and annotations here to share my live reactions to some of the scenes! I'm really grateful to have been able to read this book and share my thoughts. Thank you!

A powerful and moving debut from Rachel Runya Katz! These characters are full of heart and feel authentic. Doesn't shy away from tougher topics and the complicated facets of falling in love.

10* stars. This book snuck up on me and won me over chapter by chapter. I was so happy to see how these two found and fell for each other and I adored the epilogue. I hope we get more from this group of characters. It was a beautifully told love story.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

I almost almost DNFed THANK YOU FOR SHARING by Rachel Runya Katz—mostly because I was initially taken aback by the heroine & her interactions with the hero —but by the middle & end this contemporary totally won me over & it wasn’t by the heroine drastically changing her entire personality.

This is still a story about a heroine who is not all sunshine & rainbows. This *is* about a heroine who roasts the hero at most opportunities. Whose museum curating job is very important to her. Who is dealing with her past & confronting the fear of opening up.

& in the end, I adored Aliyah Cohen-Jackson & Daniel Rosenberg separately, together, & as part of a friendship quartet.

I also love the Jewish rep in this book (& the discussions of what it means for the leads to be Black & Jewish & Korean & Jewish, respectively); the sensitivity of the hero; the epistolary elements (the meeting notes from their friendship group are so funny!); & how pro therapy this book is.

In the end, this is a rich, compelling romance that addresses so many weighty topics (see CWs) but does it with grace & moments of humor & heat & I’m really glad I finished it.

Also really glad for the reminder that romance heroines can be “unlikeable,” that they don’t have to make it comfortable for everyone all the time to earn a HEA or a place in a friend group.

4.5⭐️. Out 09/12.

CWs: Racism. Previous death of father. Heroine’s college best friend raped her when she was intoxicated & during the book she runs into him at an event.

ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a grayish blue ocean. Rocks are in the foreground & a blue sky with clouds is in the background.

This was an enjoyable romance novel, and and I appreciated how seamlessly the author incorporated a wide variety of diverse characters without calling attention to this fact. Liyah Cohen-Jackson is a feisty quick-witted protagonist who by chance (or is it fate...) runs into her old middle school crush-turned-enemy and ends up forced to collaborate with him on a work project. The book is at times cheesy and eye-roll enducing, as one fully expects a romance novel to be, but between the tropes and angst was witty banter, character development, sensitive healing from trauma, and tension. A solid debut novel.

A hilarious, kind, and friends-to-lovers novel, this one lingers in the quiet moments and allows the reader bask in the slow-burning but sizzling passion.

A great book to curl up with on a rainy day and get bear-hugged in your emotional spots, even if you insist you don't have any, like the reluctantly melting Liyah.

Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a parent (past, cancer), grief, sexual assault (past, recounted on page), work tensions, racism, microagressions

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-childhood friends to estranged to friends to lovers
-this is just a hookup
-queer and Jewish rep
-forbidden romance elements
-second chance elements
-workplace romance
-found family

This was such a soft story with heavy elements. Rachel has such a unique writing voice. Dan has been pining for Liyah since they were kids, but some miscommunication has made her detest them for years. But add in a bunch of coincidences and they're back in each other's circle. I adored how they really became friends first. Establishing the Speakeasy Survival Club. How we all struggle to find our space in this world.

How Dan and Liyah bonded over their Jewish heritage and Dan's grief over his father was so lovely. That running theme as Dan talked to his father about Liyah, how he slowly opened up to his family. Both Dan, Liyah and really the friend group really went through it in this book. Because you don't magically have life figured out when you get a job and become an adult. Love is scary, wearing your heart on your sleeve is scary, and living your life without the person you've leaned on it the entire time (your dad) is scary.

The romance builds in such a soft and tender way as Liyah and Dan lean on each other for so many things and bumble through learning about each other, meeting each other's family's and just figuring out what they need. The found family elements especially just had me feel like I was wrapped in a hug.

Steam: 3

Great Jewish rep! The Jewish rep is definitely my favorite part of this book! I didn't buy the romance so much and I didn't love the texts at the end, but if you're looking for a Jewish rom com at this to your list!

A fabulous feel good story. Liyah and Daniel work through their differences, past and future.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.