Wake Me Most Wickedly by Felicia Grossman is a reverse retelling of Snow White. Sol and Hannah must navigate the perilous of antisemitism in 1830's London. Hannah is shunned by her community, but will do anything to get her sister the life Hannah believes she deserves. Hannah does not believe she is deserving of love and affection. Sol disagrees. His open heartedness reaches Hannah in her purest heart. The story is also a fascinating glimpse into London Jewish culture at the time. It is refreshing to read stories of folks that have different struggles than the usual upper society folks. It was a good read. (I read an ARC)

"wake me most wickedly" is a regency snow white reimagining with plenty of spice and a great forbidden (ish) romance. hannah moses is a pawnshop owner and an outcast within the jewish community of london, whereas solomon weiss is from an upstanding family and is expected to find a respectable wife. a chance encounter where hannah saves sol's life has him falling for her fast and hard. despite her insistence that they can never be together, hannah's resolve weakens with every clandestine meeting. if you like period romances, feisty heroines and golden retriever mmcs, this is certainly the book for you. bear in mind the period-typical anti-semitism, which has a big role in the story but is handled delicately in my opinion.

Romantic and exciting, Wake Me Most Wickedly Truly delivered! I am not a Historical Romance reader, and yet, Felicia Grossman manages to write stories that captivate me. In this Snow White retelling, I swooned over Hannah and Sol's romance. The two have wonderful chemistry and banter. Danger lurked just beyond every corner and it was so well written that I constantly felt anxious about the wellbeing of these fictional characters.

I am obsessed with the cover, as well as the Jewish representation throughout. Grossman did a phenomenal job of highlighting the prolific antisemitism Jews experienced in 19th Century London. It was a society where some renounced their Judaism to get ahead or be accepted and "good" and "bad" Jews were pitted against one another as gentiles only welcomed the "right type" of Jew. Reading this story given the current rise in antisemitism globally and tokenization of the "right type" of Jew really struck a chord. The struggles Hannah and Sol suffered for being too Jewish made the Epilogue oh so sweet, a balm for my soul. I loved the glimpse of the pair committing to live proudly Jewish and SPOILER ALERT raising the next generation Jewishly. It filled me with hope.

Grossman's Author's Note explains the relevant history of antisemitism and should be required reading for all. She concludes with this powerful and inspirational thought: "And yet, still, like Hannah and Sol...we will march around with the Torahs and wave our flags for Simchat Torah...with [the] message that our work is not done so we will continue it forward, generation after generation, that we will keep striving to be guided to create a better world, and that we, as a people, will persevere, and outlive all who want our lights to go out."

If you're looking for a unique voice in Historical Romance I highly recommend this book. Better yet, start with the first in the series Marry Me By Midnight. And I can't wait to see which retelling we get from Grossman next!

4.5 Stars

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for the ARC. Wake Me Most Wickedly will be out 4/9, so add it to your TBR now!!

Felicia Grossman is a new to me author and I’m glad NetGalley allowed me to discover her writing. This romance is all about Solomon and Hannah and all they must go through to be together. The story is packed with amazing detail with strong characters that are drawn to each other. This is such a clever and fun twist on Snow White. So creative. A wonderful adaptation as they work past differences and their own selves to discover each other. Your going to love this adventure.

Felicia Grossman continues her reinvention of fairy tales with this flipped Snow White retelling. Hannah's heritage and past has her shunned from her Jewish community, even if it was of no fault of her own. She is seen as The Huntsman. Sol lives to repay his half brother. He is seen as Snow White.

Reading Grossman's novels has opened a whole new world of Jewish Heritage. It is fascinating to learn little tidbits throughout the tale. The characters are likeable and of course, they like each other with such searing heat! This is definitely a spicy book!

I look forward to more retellings with more historical revelations.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

Felicia Grossman's books are easy to recommend for a variety of reasons, but in keeping with the nature of this blog I'll give you my personal favorite because it is a distinctly Jewish sentiment. Sometimes it feels like the world is looking for any excuse to label "good" and "bad" Jews, as a way to let gentiles vent their frustrations on their favorite punching bags. It's a convenient way for those in power to divert frustrations from class, race, or economic policy issues and onto a man made villain that has been demonized for centuries. Grossman shines a light on this age old stalwart of antisemitism, gives it the middle finger, and provides a steamy romance for good measure. What's not to love?

In her latest historical romance, Wake Me Most Wickedly, the heroine/villainess is Hannah Moses, a Jewish pawn broker who does what she needs to do to survive. Hannah blames herself and her temper for getting her parents arrested after a gentile client provoked her as a teen. The trial in which they traded their lives for Hannah's was widely publicized and the Moses' family ostracized by both the gentiles who blamed them for all the ills of London and the Jewish community who are afraid to be tainted by association. Spoiler alert for anyone reading - that never works. If gentiles want to hate Jews, they will do regardless of who we associate with or how many of our own we offer up as sacrificial lambs. Hannah learns that the hard way.

Hannah deals with it all by throwing her resources into building a dowry for her sister Tamar. She is hoping that with enough funds, Tamar, who was too young to be included in the original trial, might might be able to secure a husband that allows her to rejoin the Jewish community that shuns Hannah. She has no such hopes for herself. Instead, she is resigned to taking miserable job after miserable job in the seedy part of town.

During one such night on the job, Hannah saves the life of Solomon Weiss, who readers may recall from the first book in this series, Marry Me By Midnight. Sol is immediately captivated by the mysterious stranger with a sharp tongue and mysterious smile even after learning about her past and how it might thwart his own desire to rejoin the Jewish community. Adding a further obstacle is Sol's brother Frederick, who has distanced himself from Judaism and gone so far as to be baptized in an attempt to integrate himself with the gentile upper crust. Frederick is pursuing a marriage with a gentile widow from the gentry and he fears that Sol's insistence on being so publicly Jewish and associating with characters like Hannah will ruin his chances. Still, Sol cannot help but follow the attraction.

The romance is indeed very steamy and there are multiple explicit sex scenes, but Wake Me Most Wickedly also full of wicked wit and teasing. Unlike Isabelle, the heroine of Marry me by Midnight, Hannah is no innocent. She is also several years Sol's senior. This combination allows Grossman to show off more of her skill set. Wake Me Most Wickedly has tongue in cheek humor and biting acerbic banter along with the passion, and I was definitely into it! The tone is also quite suitable to the original fairy tale it retells - Snow White - which has always struck me as a dark story even in the Disney version.

Wake Me also has an intricate social commentary and meditative take on what it means to be a Jew and why we are such convenient fall guys for ages and ages of other peoples problems. It takes time to build that kind of framework for storytelling, so if the book feels like it starts slow, keep going. Things started to really heat up for me around 30% and by 60% I found myself in some pretty action packed moments. There are perhaps a few inaccurate statements/descriptions about food allergy, but as the author states in the content warning, she is not a physician, much less an allergist, so we can just gloss over that and zoom in on what she is a specialist in - namely dark humor, fun sexy times, and historical accuracy.

Hannah learns that the gentile world is not worth even trying to please, that she is not to blame for the past, and the scene in which she does is deliciously fulfilling. Like biting into a juicy apple - crisp and full of things you feel like you've known forever but have simply been waiting for someone else to articulate. Lucky for us, Grossman is indeed very articulate and she perfectly encapsulates these thoughts for the rest of us. As a Jew, it is the reason I fell so hard for this book.

Your review
Mar 25, 2024

Wake Me Most Wickedly introduces us to a new type of heroine - one with such a wicked reputation that even her own Jewish community has shunned her. But Hannah doesn't let their scorn nor the insults from the gentiles upset her. She has one singular goal in life and that is to see her beautiful younger sister marry a good man. But a dowry is necessary for that, and so Hannah becomes a huntress of the night. She bears the unwelcome attention of men at best, or is punched and choked at worst. She knows it will be worth it in the end —at least, that's what she keeps telling herself.
Solomon Weiss may very well be the epitome of grace and charisma, but his brother Frederick still thinks he's much too Jewish to have around his new friends. And now that Frederick is courting a blue-blooded gentile, he demands that Solomon stay out of the way—and out of trouble. But trouble seems to find him in the form of an attractive Jewish woman with the worst type of reputation; and should he be caught with her, it would forever ruin what Frederick has worked so hard to achieve.
Yet, circumstances keep throwing them together and Hannah and Sol soon discover that the most dangerous predicament of all is falling in love with someone you can never have.
"This irrepressible love story will have you sighing with happiness and swooning over the extremely sexy and delectable hero. It's a beautifully crafted tale that explores familial trust and loyalty, and illustrates the risky measures we sometimes take to help the ones we hold dearest. But as our heroine and hero eventually discover, the most dangerous predicament of all is falling in love."
- Heidi Shertok, author of Unorthodox Love.

Another winner from Felicia Grossman’s Once Upon the East End series. Set in the Jewish community in Regency England, Solomon Weiss is the younger son, trying to find his way. His brother Friedrich, who raised Sol after their parents’ death, has been baptized and is seeking marriage with a titled gentile. Sol doesn’t want to get in the way of this marriage, but he finds himself attracted to Hannah Moses, the daughter of a disgraced family who was caught fencing stolen goods through their pawn shop. Hannah doesn’t expect much from life. She views herself unworthy of happiness. Their love story was affecting, and makes her question those assumptions. Another great aspect to this book: the danger these characters faced on the streets of London was gripping. Grossman captured the eerie atmosphere of this time and place well. She also doesn’t shy away from the antisemitism the characters must endure. I liked that the villain of the story was complex. And it was nice seeing Isabelle and Aaron from Book 1. For anyone looking for a regency romance that doesn’t tread the usual territory, I recommend this series and book.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

Happy Purim - and though that’s not the holiday featured in WMMW, I saved this review as a treat anyway. First order of business: Thank you to @netgalley and @feliciagrossmanauthor for this ARC!

Second order of business: if you don’t know, this series is a historical, gender bent Jewish retelling of popular (Disneyfied?) fairytales: the first in the series was Cinderella, and now we’ve got Snow White. Did you ever imagine Snow White as a beautiful, himbo-esque Jewish banker in 1830s Jewish London? If you didn’t, that’s ok, because now you have Sol Weiss and you can read it THIS WEEK (3/26).

Sol’s huntsman/huntress is Hannah Moses, an ostracized, poor, Jewish woman who was caught selling stolen goods with her parents in their pawn shop. Her parents have been punished legally and Hannah is living her life social punishment, one pawned item at a time. Hannah is definitely no sparkling ingenue — she’s a bad, bad girl, and she knows it. 🔥

Of note, Jews in London were often punished for doing things gentiles were also doing, and then ostracized by both gentiles and Jews who wanted social mobility. Because of all of this, when naïve Sol takes a liking to her after they accidentally meet, she knows immediately she’s going to ruin him — ruin him and his oily, social climbing, ambitious, most likely evil brother Frederick. Hannah tells Sol to stay away from her, but…

Sol and Hannah can’t keep their horny lil paws off each other. 🔥

I’m not going to spoil how the Dwarves show up except to say I’m always here for elderly sisters and elderly gals being pals showing up in my books. If you liked Aaron Ellerman and Isabella Lira, they’re back, and they’re here to severely meddle in Sol’s business! It’s a good thing, bc Sol is optimistic to a fault and needs a little help solving the puzzle of who’s trying to kill him.

This book gives a very accurate history of Jewish issues in 1830s London, the struggles between Jewish communities and creation of a place for Jews in the modernizing world. This is so carefully done for a book that is at its heart whimsical and joyful. Do yourselves a favor and read it, okay?

Thank you Forever for the eARC of this book! This was a different kind of historical romance. I threw me off a little bit just trying to stay in the flow of it all but I had a good time! Solomon and Hannah have great chemistry, the story is rich and layered and darker then one might think. The spice factor was really well integrated and I feel like I'm always learning something new about aspects of Jewish culture from Felicia's books which is a great feature!

This book was absolute perfection!!!!! I absolutely love Sol and Hannah, both as individual characters and together as a couple. Hannah was unlike any heroine I have encountered in a historical romance, and I absolutely loved her prickly personality. And I just want to give Sol a big hug! I really felt for both of them, as they tried to overcome the obstacles that kept them from being together. I also loved the way the author retold the Snow White fairytale in this book, once again gender swapping the main roles, as well as some of the others (the Jewish old ladies in the "dwarf" character roles made me laugh.) But most importantly, I absolutely love the Jewish representation Grossman writes in her books. I always feel like I come out of reading one of her books having learned something about a part of Jewish History that is not often seen in books, especially romance novels.
This book was a five star read for me, and I cannot wait for the next book Felicia Grossman writes!

I was not the biggest fan of this one. While the writing wasn't bad, it was definitely not my favorite. I thought that Weiss was funny and a good example of a spicy himbo, I just literally did not care for their relationship aside from the spicy scenes. I also though that this book could have been shorter and I probably would've liked it better than I did.

Felicia Grossman’s latest spicy romance novel is a gender-bent take on the Snow White fairy tale. Wake Me Most Wickedly follows the story of Hannah Moses, an outcast pawnshop owner who must live with the criminal actions of her parents, and Soloman Weiss, a man pursuing a respectable marriage to gain the money and influence he needs to pay back the older brother who raised him. When sparks fly between the two, they must learn to navigate their different worlds and find a way to be together.

Grossman’s novel empowers the female character. Hannah is older than Soloman and she has a life beyond searching for a husband. She enjoys her dangerous work procuring the items and information her customers need, and she cares for her younger sister, saving money so that her sibling can make a respectable match. The budding romance between Hannah and Soloman is filled with fairy tale references to apples and mirrors, but it is set in the neighborhoods of London in 1833. The characters in the novel are Jewish, and Grossman seeks to explore the legal and social antisemitism reflected in British culture in the 19th century. Her author’s note at the end of the book cites Charles Dickens’ Fagin from Oliver Twist as an example of the fears Londoners held toward Jewish immigrants.

If you enjoy spicy romance with a fairy tale twist, give Wake Me Most Wickedly a try. It is an escapist romance that will teach readers about the harmful stereotypes that have plagued Jewish communities, and it will give romance fans a happily ever after.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

My first book by Felicia Grossman and I'll be reading more. This book is a Regency romance snow white retelling with Jewish main characters Solomon and Hannah. There are so many different dynamics in this book along with the romance like Jewish integration, the MMC's brother marrying a 'gentile', the class system, and the treatment of Ashkenazi Jews by other Jewish people and the community at large. The fmc Hannah is older than the mmc and I enjoyed that aspect along with the meet-cute, the banter, and the steaminess of the book. This book was so interesting with the family drama, gender dynamic, and bit of forbidden romance with two people that society did not want together. If you like historical romance and fairytale retellings you should give this a try! Also, the cover is stunning and sexy and should be a reason for anyone to pick this book up! Thanks to Forever for this arc for an honest review.

I loved everything about this book. The representation was so meaningful and it handled issues of antisemitism, internalized antisemitism, as well as the demonization of Jews with such care. The way Grossman weaved this tale in a way that was true to the original fairytale without feeling derivative was outstanding. And even without the original story of Snow White, this book stands on it's own so well. The connection between Sol and Hannah is so deep, every moment they are together was meaningful and purposeful and every moment they were apart you wanted them to be together again. I needed this book this year and I'm truly grateful for it.

This is the second book in this series, but it can easily be read as a stand alone. This story is a Jewish Regency retelling of Snow White. Hannah is a Jewish woman on the outskirts of society, doing what she can to keep her promise to her parents to try to protect her younger sister. Sol is a younger brother doing everything he can to support his older step brother who raised him. I enjoyed the reverse roles where the woman was often the strong hero, and that she was older. And how they both understood each other since they each had a sibling they would do anything for, even at their own expense. There was great chemistry between the two main characters, and an interesting storyline that kept me guessing on who the bad guy was until the end. Another fun story from Felicia Grossman. Do read the trigger warnings at the beginning though to see if reading this book might be difficult for you. I received an ARC and this is my honest review.

I'm a sucker for any sort of romance that retells a fairy tale. Though it took me a few chapters to recognize the references to Snow White, I appreciated the gender reversal in WAKE ME MOST WICKEDLY and the strength of Hannah's character. I also really liked the way the story was situated within 19th century Jewish history.

This is the second book I’ve tried by this author, and unfortunately, I think I am going to have to give up. I just can’t get into her books. It’s unfortunate, because I read the descriptions and think they sound great! We need more Jewish historical romance! But I have to force myself to get through the book.

With both this book and the previous one in this series, I think part of the problem is that I simply didn’t like many of the characters. As another reviewer noted, there was just so much scheming. It was exhausting to read about so many people I didn’t like. I also agree that some of the characters from the previous book seemed like entirely different people. What’s that about?

I have read many wonderful reviews of this author’s work—that’s why I tried her books in the first place. I think that I just don’t click with her writing style. There is so little representation of Jewish characters in historical romance, so don’t let my review dissuade you from reading her work.

I love this whole series so much! As someone who’s loved fantasy stories all my life, it means the world to me to see leads of fairytale retellings who are Jewish like I am. The genderswap and Regency setting aspects are also very unique and fun. That being said I did like Marry Me at Midnight and Shtup Me At Sunrise a little bit better than this Snow White version, just in terms of plot pacing. I still enjoyed this one and am excited for the rest of this series now that it got renewed.

Review- Wake me most wickedly

This was such a good read. Every time I read a book by feliciagrossmanauthor, I learn a lot about Jewish customs and history, not to mention vocabulary, which i'm so glad she uses frequently.

This is a snow-white retelling (inearlier mistook it for sleeping beauty. Gaaah) with a gender swap. It's a spicy read, spicier than the first book. Technically, the meet cute vibe of them bumping into eachbother and her clothing is snagged in hers is the 2nd time they bump into each other, but to my #bollywood heart, that's more appealing 😄

Solomon Weiss will do anything for his brother. while Solomon has snagged a good job with the insurance company in the Jewish community, he has failed to marry a heiress so far. He's determined to maty one now. His brother is also trying to marry an english gentlewoman and trying to distance himself from anything related to the jewish heritage.

Solomon still has every intention of making sure his brother succeeds until he comes across Hannah Moses, who is a Pariah in the Jewish community and criminal in the English world? Any connection with her? It's just going to bring him down, and his brother
How is a strong character? You will get a lot of Elsa and Anna wipes from her and her sister's relationship.

Hannah's mission is to protect her sister, save enough money to provide her with a good dowry, and get her out of the east end ragamuffin life. But tangling herself with Solomon Weiss reminds her of her own desires. Although the man does not make it easy as Hannah is continuously either saving him or finding him when he is getting attacked and lost.

Hannah's dangerous job of information hunting, illegal pawn breaking, her life in East end is portrayed very well, gives you chills at some point in time. She's a perfect compliment to the charming, easy-going solomon. I'm so glad to have picked up this diverse read.

Thank you, @netgalley, and @readforeverpub for the ARC copy.
All opinions are my own.