I really enjoyed this story, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so heavy on the family trauma. I expected to see a woman use her voice and take a stand in order to finally have representation in the Hanukkah festival she’s forced into planning, all while falling in love with the sunshiney customer who comes into her coffee shop every day.

I did really love the effort Seth made into making sure Abby was welcomed into his family and got to participate in some of the traditions she missed out on because her own family sucked. I also really loved that he took her to all the greatest Jewish places he knew of in NYC in an effort to help her with the festival planning. It was heartbreaking to see Abby tell the white woman (who forced her to do the festival in the first place) all of her ideas only for this Karen to shut her down and try to make things more “fun for everyone” instead of focusing on accurately representing Hanukkah.

I wish Abby had stuck up for herself a little sooner than she did. I understand why she didn’t do this, but it’s one of the issues in the book that bothered me. I also wish it wasn’t so heavy on the “I was emotionally abused by my parents and that’s why I can’t connect with anyone.” For my own selfish reasons, I didn’t like this and it kind of put me in a dark place during and after my read.

I would definitely recommend this book, but I would make sure anyone I recommended it to knew it wasn’t just a fun and fluffy book about two people falling in love while planning a Hanukkah festival in their small Vermont town.

Abby Cohen is struggling to keep her coffee shop open in the small Vermont town she now calls home. When she's recruited to drum up tourism by creating a Hanukkah festival (the Vermont market is saturated with Christmas festivals), Abby struggles with the microaggressions of other small business owners who think dressing a Christmas festival in blue and white is close enough. Searching for allies, she discovers the only other Jewish person in town just happens to be her most annoying customer, and he's got a proposition: he'll help her make the festival a success if she goes home with him to New York and pretends to be his girlfriend.

The fake relationship trope works well with this grumpy-sunshine romance. Abby doesn't let people in because of childhood trauma, but Seth's optimism and gentle presence seems to be the balm her soul needs. I also enjoyed meeting Seth's friends, and seeing Abby connect not just with Seth, but also with them. A great winter holiday read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot!

I love a holiday romance not centered on Christmas and this book was a great vehicle for hanukah fun!

I love that the author was informative in a seamless way. However, the romance got a bit lost in this book while the explanations of hanukah and the side characters took up too much of the overall story.

This was a cute holiday read! I loved the Jewish representation and it was amazing to learn so much more about Hanukkah and the different traditions and foods associated with the holiday. It's great to have another holiday romance that focuses more around Hanukkah than Christmas! My main negative from this book though is the FMC and her extreme pessimism. I'm all for a grumpy main character but there's a difference between grumpy and overly negative & rude attitude. All in all though, I think I would still recommend this book to someone looking for a new holiday romance.

Read if you like:
- New York City
- Black Cat x Golden Retriever energy
- Fake Dating
- He Falls First
- Latkes

I really enjoyed this cozy and romantic Hanukkah rom-com! It was mostly closed door and very sweet. Abby is brought into organizing a Hanukkah festival and gets help from the only other Jew near her that can help. In exchange, Seth needs Abby to pretend to be his girlfriend and come home for the holidays with him. It was a very fun and heartfelt book! I love the relationship that blossoms between these two. I would definitely recommend!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

3.5, rounded up

very cute story that made me emotional at times. i also appreciated that Abby's reasons for being so closed off made perfect sense (not always the case in romance!) still, i wanted a bit more from it. i felt like for a majority of the book our two romantic interests really didn't interact with each other all that much? it was more about Abby's experiences with Seth's family and friends and exploring the community. which i enjoyed quite a bit (especially the descriptions of food!) but i did want some more romance in my romance. :P

We need more Hannukah books. Such a fun, joyous, proudly Jewish holiday romcom!The food descriptions made my mouth water, but the slow burn, fake dating romance was what we all need.

Amanda Elliot, I love your stories. I live in Texas, and imagining a small town that says things like "why can't there be a tree at the Hanukkah festival?" was one of the easiest things I have ever done. Not quite as easy as imagining Seth slightly damp after the shower though, which I am grateful was included. Thank you for this lovely book.

In this book, Abby is a cafe owner in a small town in Vermont where she’s seemingly the only Jew in town - and then she gets voluntold by the head of the local chamber of commerce that the town is going to have a Hanukkah festival and she’s in charge of planning it. Seeking help she discovers that there is one other Jew in town - Seth, a regular customer of the cafe who annoys her. He agrees to help her if she will come home with him to NYC for Hanukkah and pretend to be his girlfriend.

This was a cute slow burn enemies to lovers/fake dating rom com, with good characters with interesting personalities and backgrounds beyond just the romance. And of course, lots of Hanukkah representation! I especially appreciated that neither Abby nor Seth is jealous of Christmas and that they take pains to point out that Hanukkah, while fun, is a minor holiday and not just the Jewish version of Christmas.

As a Jewish woman, it is rare to find a book that encompasses Jewish culture, that is also a fun romance book. This book was exactly that, a Hanukkah romance full of Jewish references and filled to the brim with romance.

Charming, realistic, fun, and an ode to Jewish culture and Hanukkah!

This was a delightful little Hanukah romance that gave me all the warm fuzzies. I appreciated Abby's apprehension especially considering how big of gaslighters her parents were. And I always love a good golden retrieve MC, so Seth was definitely swoon-worthy. This was one of the few romances where I felt the journey to love was done well in a believable and organic way. Which isn't to say that a little it of fantasy isn't good because we all need that every now and then. But this was something I could genuinely see happening in real life. Very cute and sweet and perfect for anyone looking for a Hallmark like vibe but with a different winter holiday. I will warn that you will get hungry when reading this book.

Abby Cohen has been tasked to plan their town's first Hanukkah festival. As the only Jewish business owner, it is assumed it will be right up her alley. The problem is, Abby hasn't celebrated Hanukkah since she moved to Vermont. As well as that, Seth, her most annoying customer seems to be the only other Jewish person in town, the only one she can ask for help. As it turns out, Seth’s parents have been badgering him to bring a "Nice Jewish Girlfriend" home to New York City for Hanukkah, and if Abby can survive, he’ll introduce her to all the vendors she needs to make the festival a success. But over latkes, doughnuts, and winter adventures in Manhattan, Abby begins to realize that her fake boyfriend and his family might just be igniting a flame in her own guarded heart.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved getting to know both Abby and Seth and seeing them get to know one another. I also loved all the various Hanukkah activities. This wasn't just a sweet romance, as Abby had some secrets. Her childhood, specifically her relationship with her mother was toxic and dealing with that baggage is one of the reasons she fled New York and stopped celebrating. She was also dealing with the head of the tourism board, who didn't really want to host a Hanukkah festival, but just put a slight Jewish twist on a Christmas festival. They can still have a nativity, the Holy Family was jewish, just put yarmulkes on the wise men. The vendors coming from New York will be too expensive and so on. So, yes, this is a romance, but it is also a story of seeing Abby grow and finally be able to stand up for herself. It is also a celebration of Hanukkah. I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️

“I just didn't want Christmas in my Hanukkah, the same way I didn't want to dip a grilled cheese in my cinnamon roll latte. Both were delicious, but I didn't want them together.”

So the beginning of this book didn't start off great. Abby isn't an extremely likable character and unfortunately she's so pissy in the beginning that it took me a minute to give her a chance. Once we got past that little hump and really delved into the story I really enjoyed it a lot more.

This was a really fun Hannukah romance read and probably one of the better ones I've read. I know next to nothing about this Jewish holiday so it was really cool to get a little bit of history thrown in while the characters are also exploring their fake-dating scheme. Especially through the usage of food. This story follows a Jewish bakery owner so of course we have a ton of food-related conversations and plot-line, which is great because I love a good delicious pastry or meal!

Outside of the food, we have a fake-dating, he falls first, open-door romance. I really liked Seth & his family. He was such a golden retriever man who always looks for the positives and I liked his influence on Abby's character.

I tried really hard to get into this, but couldn’t.
May try again next year.
It started off really slow. When the audio was released I gave it a try there a well and still couldn’t get into it.

Abby is the only Jew on the tourism board of her Vermont town. When she’s charged with planning a Hanukkah festival, she finds that local vendors aren’t exactly prepared to provide for a festival that isn’t about Christmas, she enlists the help of Seth, her most annoying customer - and the only other Jew in town - to help with the festival. In return, she agrees to pose as his fake girlfriend when he returns home to New York for Hanukkah. But as the two spend time together over sufganiyot and menorahs, she starts to realize that there might be real feelings in their fake relationship.

What better time to read a Hanukkah romance than during Hanukkah? This closed door, sweet and very earnest romance will find fans who celebrate Hanukkah and those who don't. The slow-growing friendship between Abby and Seth, and how they both worked on breaking down one another’s walls is believable and paced well, making the book's inevitable ending feel worth the work to get there. Vivid side characters and strong dialogue round out a very strong holiday romance. A great recommendation for folks who do not want any spice on the page whatsoever but love a little angst.

Short synopsis: Abby a small cafe owner in Vermont agrees to host a Hanukkah Festival in hopes of keeping her business alive. She enlists Seth the other other Jewish person to help, in exchange she will be his fake girlfriend to get his parents off his back.

My thoughts: I absolutely adored the Jewish Rep in this. I feel like I learned so much about the traditions of Hanukkah that I knew nothing about. And all the food talk had me really needing to try a latke!

I liked how the main characters warmed up to each other and helped each other come to understand themselves, even when it was difficult. I also really enjoyed the interaction with Seth’s parents, and the scene set for the Holidays in New York City has me craving a trip there!

Read if you love:
- Jewish Rep
- Grumpy/Sunshine
- Fake Dating
- New York City
- Friend Groups

Amanda Elliot writes a heartfelt, funny, and food centric ode to Hanukkah and I LOVED IT.
Elliot is my go to for food centered novels - Both BEST SERVED HOT and SADIE ON A PLATE are two of my favorites, because of how the food really shows through on page. LOVE YOU A LATKE is no different! The food imagery is so beautifully written.
As the holiday festival came together, I loved following Abby and Seth explored their Jewish culture, how Abby felt like she returned home, and how Seth did not judge her for being out of it for so long. Seths parents were adorable, his friend group and Freya were so fun, and I loved as each day progressed, lighting the candles, and with Abby learning a little bit more about herself. Truly so enjoyable - I am glad I finished it this holiday season. The end had me wanting to cry for Abby during the festival and how she finally got to see her religion represented well.
Amanda Elliot they could never make me hate you!!
THANK YOU to Berkley and netgalley for early access to this book, and for Amanda Elliot for her beautiful writing hehe.

This might be my favorite Hanukkah romance ever!! I loved that the characters were more on the secular side (like me!) because I found their journeys throughout the story very relatable. I loved that this grumpy/sunshine story featured a lady grump! Fuck gender norms!

All of the tropes throughout this story worked together perfectly to create a joyous story with a lot of depth. I loved Abby's backstory and the way she handled her trip to NY with all of the trauma she had there and I loved the way Seth supported her throughout it all. I found it really fitting that Abby's relationship with her parents didn't have a resolution - it felt very reflective of real life and I appreciated that,.

I will also say, Amanda Elliot is always making me hungry in her books! The descriptions of latkes and lattes had my mouth watering the entire time. If you're in the market for a non-christmas holiday romance, give this book a shot!