If you like romantic comedy this is the perfect Chanukah holiday book to add to your list.

I Made it Out of Clay is written by Beth Kander and includes all the perfect holiday details to make this a Chanukah special. Meet Eve who is about to turn 40 on the second night of Chanukah this year. But even more distressing is that her younger sister is getting married on the first night of Chanukah.

Eve is still single and has had a very bad year. That fact is stated multiple times throughout the book. She is still upset about the loss of her father a year ago. She keeps her phone turned off and misses many text messages and phone calls. She feels slighted by her family and upset that she and her mother do not have a closer relationship. She and her sister are not close.

She works for an advertising agency and her best friends are Sasha and Brian. But Sasha is just coming out of a serious relationship that took her away from her friends for quite awhile.

Riding the train in Chicago se runs into some anti-semitism and she also has memories of her Bubbe telling her about the Holocaust. So much trauma.

But at the top of the list this week is the upcoming wedding and she needs a plus one ! Also the company she works for is going to have layoffs.. and no one knows who is on the chopping block.

She comes home one night and asks the cute guy across the hall to be her plus one..but he is busy.

So when she is down in the laundry room late one night, she spots some leftover clay and builds a golem. He is there to take care of her and protect her from all evil. He rides the subway with her and makes her feel safe. He is her plus one for the wedding.

Of course things go wrong and as it all falls apart it all falls into place and there is a perfect ending.

This was a light entertaining story. There are of course so many unbelievable parts and I guess if you are going to date a golem, I should not be uncomfortable with a sex scene with the golem, but that was the part I thought was the least well written.

I really enjoyed this quirky story. I would say it's marketed wrong for what it is, and the cover and synopsis makes it sound very rom-com but the story is darker and more about a journey of self-discovery. The Golem doesn't even show up until halfway through.

But I love Eve's spiralling pity party, and how leaning on her friends and family is what eventually pulls her out. I'd compare this to Dolly Alderton's Ghosts - a funny and relatable story about a woman's grief and her search for happiness.

Confession time - though I chose this book BECAUSE of the golem element, that ended up being my least favorite bit of the story.

This starts like a light romcom, and I was enjoying the trials and tribulations of Eve. She's not a particularly likeable character, but I sympathized with her concerns over keeping her job, and the pressure to participate in family functions. Like our heroine, I'm not a big fan of returning emails and replying to texts.

Sometimes a gal just wants to be left alone.

Then the fantasy element was introduced, and my interest cooled quickly. So much about the golem is murky, from how he was created to how an inert "statue" got transported, and stashed in the back of a closet. And the "everybody getting amnesia thing" really annoyed me.

I'm usually a fan of dramedy, but this one just didn't work for me.

Still a fan of golems, though . . .

I read the description of this book and after starting was like "hmm, this is reading more fiction, when does the golem come in?" and then at 40% the book gets wild. Eve is preparing for her 40th birthday, which also happens to be the weekend of her sister's Hannukah-themed wedding. Ever since her father and grandmother passed, Eve's relationship with her family has been more strained than ever and she needs to find a date to her sister's wedding as soon as possible.

The story was entertaining, but nothing amazing. I always enjoy reading books with Jewish representation and while this had that, it wasn't overpowering. I thought the representation of the discrimination Jewish people experience was insightful and well-written, especially the incidents on the train. There was a lot going on in this book, and while it was all good, nothing was particularly memorable either.

I liked how everything ending, and I thought Eve had good, albeit unsurprising, growth throughout the story. It was a little frustrating that she automatically assumed her sister and mother didn't want a relationship, but I understand how that dynamic supported the plot. The situation with her best friend was also a WILD coincidence.

I would say if the premise of this one interests you, I recommend reading, but it wasn't a must-read either.

Darker than I expected, and the end wrapped up very quickly. But generally good read that touched on real issues without being too serious.

Evie is single, about to turn 40, and her job is in jeopardy. She's been grieving the death of her father for a year, and her sister is about to be married. Then she creates a golem to be her date to her sister's wedding. He's not what she expected and isn't as easily controlled as she'd hoped. Although I appreciated the author's attempt to craft a story that honors how difficult it is to be depressed and grieving during family events and holidays, this fell flat for me. The premise was good but the execution was lacking.

Eve is turning 40, her father recently died, her job is in jeopardy, AND she doesn’t have a date for her younger sister’s wedding. When the guy she’s liked from afar says no to going to the wedding, Eve gets desperate and remembers her grandmother’s story about creating a golem when you’re in desperate need of help. However once the golem is created, he is not at all what she expected nor easy to control.

I wanted so much to like this one (I love a good golem story) but it fell flat for me. There were some plot points that didn’t work for me - and I didn’t I just love the main character. The ancillary characters were great and I did like some parts and the read was quick, but this was a somewhat forgettable book for me once I was done.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Mira Books and NetGalley for the ARC to review

This was both a funny and poignant novel about how a woman and her family cope after the death of her father. The way Eve dealt with that grief resonated so much with me. I also appreciated the Jewish representation. With the title “I Made it Out Of Clay”, Hanukkah and the golem would obviously be touched on, but seeing rituals like the unveiling & the various reasons for the breaking of the glass during a wedding, was great to see. Definite recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Beth Kander for the ARC!

I’m not a huge holiday romance reader but 𝗜 𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗜𝘁 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘆, a weird yet darkly funny book, offers a very unique twist on the Jewish golem legend.

Eve is about to turn 40, her sister is getting married, she doesn’t have a date to the wedding and her advertising agency job is feeling precarious. Added to all this stress is Eve’s unresolved grief over her father’s recent passing. In a desperate moment, she makes a golem, a figure traditionally known for protection, and calls him Paul Mudd. Hijinks ensue!

Kander deftly touches on antisemitism as well as Jewish customs and traditions without the narrative ever feeling too ponderous. I especially loved Eve’s handsome British neighbor Josh who also happens to be Jewish (“𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯! 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯, 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦!”). The story very cleverly subverts the typical romance tropes while exploring deeper themes of safety and control. This is fun romantasy with authentic Jewish representation, and it makes a perfect holiday read.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a #gifted copy of this book. I also listened to the audiobook and Gail Shalan did a fantastic job with the voices!

Many years ago I read the book, The Golem and The Jenni by Helene Wecker and really enjoyed it so when I saw I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander I was excited to read it. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t what this book presented. There was no comparison between the two books. I was really disappointed by the way Beth Kander chose to represent the Golem in I Made It Out of Clay. It started out with some promise but quickly grew unrealistic and even violent. It focused on family, friendships, depression, coping with loss, grief, stress, layoffs and antisemitism. The ending had some redeeming elements. Overall, I was disappointed. I don’t think that this was the best book for me to read.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for allowing me to read I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I Made It Out of Clay looks deep into grief and pulls out a sexy golem just for the holiday season!
Eve is locked in grief after her father’s grief the previous year. Her mother seems to be moving on and her sister is getting married. Eve feels no one is grieving as much as she is. It’s Christmas time, which is hard for her because though she is Jewish, both she and her father have been fans of the festive side of Christmas. Add to her stress are the looming layoffs at work plus the fact that she is turning forty the day after her sister’s wedding on the first night of Hannukah. And she still doesn’t have a date for the wedding. One night, after a few too many drinks and being verbally assaulted for being a Jew, she tries her hand at Jewish folklore and wakes up with a very sexy golem.
I had trouble liking Eve. This woman just gave up and was just cruising through life. She’s worried about the layoffs at work but she does the bare minimum and spends most of her time trying to hang with her friends. Her biggest issue though is her grief: she wallows in it and blames everyone else for her issues. She hardly ever turns on her phone because of related from losing her dad but she misses invitations and allows herself to believe people don’t want to be with her. Beth Kander captures this idea of depression wonderfully; the lies in our heads are reinforced by our own protective behavior. This helps you understand the character and fuels the plots (as well as the very real and very scary acts of antisemitism that did move me).
The book is rather humorous when not dealing with Eve’s grief or the mentions of antisemitism. While I never laughed out loud, I was rather amused and impressed with Kander’s ability to balance humor and heart. Then in the last 15 percent of the book, everything goes truly dark. While I knew something was going to happen, I didn’t expect it to be as extreme as it was. (Also, Eve. Another reason I don’t like you. If you see something, say something!) While the event itself was handled well, the clean-up of the event felt hollow and too perfect.
But there are good things about this book. This is a book about family. It’s a book about faith. It’s ultimately a book about overcoming grief. And there is some good humor. I just didn’t have it on my bingo card that I would read two books where women would get drunk and use Jewish magic to create a golem but happily, here we are. Overall, I Made it Out of Clay is an uneven tale with heart and humor.

I recently returned from Prague , where the legend of the golem originated. I was pleasantly surprised by this story, as it was not a lighthearted romance, but a serious look at the many challenges facing Eve, a 40 year old Chicago woman, single and Jewish. Eve is trying to cope with the loss of her beloved father, her upcoming 40th birthday, the marriage of her younger sister, but also the rise of antisemitism, impacting her daily life. Memories of her Bubbe, the grandmother who survived the Holocaust, included stories of wishing for a golem to protect her family. There is some magical realism involved, but the story is so much more. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

An unusual rom-com, darkly humorous and entertaining. I enjoyed it as it's compelling and made me laugh.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book was funny, absurd, and ultimately kind of sadly relatable. It's an emotional roller coaster of a book. I liked all the characters in this one, even when their decisions frustrated me. I read the book during the holiday season and it works as a decent holiday read, even though it's more of a story that takes place during the holidays.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I saw this book being talked about on Jewish bookstagram prior to the pub day so I was intrigued to request an ARC. I have no regrets because I really enjoyed it a lot! I found myself chuckling at some parts. I was glued from the beginning to the end as we follow Eve’s life. Eve is recently single and turning 40. She was dreading to go to a family wedding without a plus-one so she created a golem. It’s a good mix of fantasy and romance! The book flowed really well and the author did a good job of building the tension. I would highly recommend this read! Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Important. I didn’t realize how important this book was until almost the end, but it’s very important. It’s Chicago-based; I’m a little biased as I live there and love seeing it in the spotlight! I resonated with the main character, Eve, even though I’m not Jewish. However, it’s very necessary to get progressively frustrated with the narrator and to want to jump into the pages and give her a good shake. The tension this book builds, done so well. Keep your imagination wide open and hold space for the supernatural, and you’ll definitely appreciate this. In regard to the book structure, I like how the story is told on a daily basis with multiple chapters within each day, leading up to an eventful weekend. Such a clever way to tell this story. The writing is smooth and easy to absorb. I highly recommend this!

If I had a nickel for every book I've read this year featuring a contemporary woman in her 30s making her own golem, I'd have two nickels, which would be two more nickels than I'd have if you'd asked me how many of those I'd read in all previous years combined. This one was heavier than the cover and marketing around it has made it seem, but is still an excellent read- just beware that it's far from a lighthearted romance. Eve is dealing with intense grief from the death of her father, alongside a precarious job situation, staring down her 40th birthday, and a rise of anti-semitic attacks and threats in her community. I was moved by this one, and definitely recommend.

This is going to be one of those reviews where I write AROUND the book more than I write ABOUT the book, because my reaction was considerably more about the issues it raised than it was about the content – and that’s saying something because I have more than a few of those as well. Just that some of those issues are ‘me’ things that may or may not be ‘you’ things.

As always, your reading mileage may absolutely vary, so in this particular case I’m pleased that I have an excerpt from the book to include so that you can judge for yourself whether this will turn out to be a book for you.

I have an additional reason for including the excerpt. I want you to have a chance to see what the book actually IS, rather than what the blurb says it is. Because that’s very much a case of never the twain shall meet.

As the story opens, Eve’s life is far, far, far from being a rom-com. Also, the story is neither darkly funny nor sweet, surprisingly or otherwise. And she doesn’t create the golem until nearly the halfway point of things.

But the story is dark, because Eve’s is in the middle of a long, dark night of the soul. Her beloved father died suddenly just barely a year ago as this Hanukkah story opens, and she’s still utterly devastated. She’s never gotten over the death of grandmother a few years previously, so she’s grieving double while her mother and sister both seem to be breezing along. She has few friends, she’s terribly lonely, and she’s eating her feelings constantly. As if that weren’t enough, her employer is hinting strongly at layoffs AFTER the holidays if not before.

In other words, Eve is in a pit and hasn’t stopped digging. It’s hard to read about just how terrible she’s feeling and how much depression she’s dragging around.

Which is where the audiobook, read marvelously by Gail Shalan, made things worse for me personally because she did such a terrific job as the narrator. When a story is written in the first person perspective, and it’s narrated by someone who is a great match for the character, I get a bit too deeply caught up in the character’s emotions.

And that’s what happened in I Made It Out of Clay. Not just because Eve and I are both Jewish, but because her Chicago neighborhood is where I used to live, her parents’ synagogue is in the town where I used to work and I lost my own father exactly the same way she did. It all got a bit too close – at least before she magicked up that golem – and I got so into her problems they were depressing me.

So my feelings about the story went to places that the author couldn’t possibly have known or intended, but absolutely did affect my reading and listening of it.

The story does get, well, livelier, for lack of a better term, and does head into the sort of horror-adjacent dark I was expecting from that blurb, once the golem arrives on the scene. Eve’s frantic efforts to disguise her wedding date as a real person and not a magical construct gave the story a lot more oomph than it had up to that point.

But I was too mired in her depression to see whatever funny or sweet parts there might be until the very, very end.

Escape Rating C: If you’re looking for this to be a Hanukkah-themed romantic comedy based on that blurb, you’re going to be in for a bit of disappointment. Instead, II would recommend you take a look at Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot, Eight Nights to Win Her Heart by Miri White to fill that particular holiday craving and Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer if you think your Hanukkah romance reading won’t be complete without at least one golem among your eight nights of presents.

Thanks to NetGalley and Halequin for my copy of I Made It Out of Clay by Beth Kander. Eve’s life is a mess. She’s mourning the loss of her father, her little sister is getting married, she’s terminally single, and she’s about to turn 40. In a moment of drunken desperation, Eve creates a golem. A very handsome golem. Shenanigans ensue.

To cobble together a definition, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud, brought to life by ritual incantations and sequences of Hebrew letters.

Lest anyone get on my case, I hate what is happening in Palestine. It’s a big pile of war crimes. However, Israel is one country. Judaism is a religion and ethno-cultural group. A lot of Jewish people do not agree with what Israel is doing. I don’t agree with what the United States is doing a lot of the time. What would you like me, personally, to do about it?

I’ve spent a lot of time around Jewish people and had many friends in that community. For a period in college, I was assumed Jewish until proven gentile. That community still carries the scars from the genocide that killed millions of people less than 100 years ago. Kander does a good job of showing that generational trauma and how it combines with the rise in anti-semitism today.

Kander shows that visceral fear when someone HATES you just for existing as you are. That combined with grief and feeling like you’re failing at an important part of your life is true for so many of us.

When things got spicy, Kander showed us the start of the steam then closed the door. I had questions about the logistics of boning a golem so I was disappointed that wasn’t explored. Everything else I really enjoyed.

Eve’s relatable pain and messiness. Her selfishness was frustrating but believable. It was a very enjoyable read. If you’re looking for something a little different this holiday season, I recommend it. 4.5/5

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA, all opinions are my own.

It appears that I'm in the minority here, but this didn't work for me. This is described as follows "In this darkly funny and surprisingly sweet novel, a woman creates a golem in a desperate attempt to pretend her life is a romantic comedy rather than a disaster." The only thing accurate about this statement is that Eve's life is a disaster. I didn’t see this as a rom-com in any way, and is lacking the comedy it promises. This was depressing and sad, and kind of weird. I felt was a case of a book that was marketed as one thing, but is in fact something very different and I feel very mislead after reading it.

Eve is suffering from deep depression. Her father has died in the last year and she hasn't dealt with the grief and instead of leaning on her family and friends she unknowingly is pushing everyone away. Her younger sister is getting married, and while Eve thought she was OK with being single she feels pressured to bring a plus one to the event. The company she works for is facing layoffs around the holidays, and she is about to turn 40 adding to the pressure and her feelings of inadequacy are overwhelming.

What drew me to read this book was the lore of the golem, it is fascinating. I'm always interested in learning about other cultures and religions and their traditions, mythology and folklore, this promised just that. Eve's family is Jewish, and her grandmother passed on stories of her survival as wells many of their traditions and lore before she passed. As Eve spirals out of control, she remembers a strange tale about the golem her grandmother told and about how it offered protection in times of great need. Eve is certainly in need, and she constantly feels unsafe. In a drunken haze, Eve crafts herself a golem to take care of her. Unfortunately it takes until almost halfway through the book for him to show up on the page, which made it hard to stay interested. Then when he does, Eve becomes infatuated with her man made out of clay, and I thought their interactions were strange and kind of creepy. I had a hard time suspending my belief for this particular storyline, because the golem never fully took on human characteristics and became real to me. Her golem takes his role as protector very seriously and Eve quickly realizes that she doesn’t fully understand what his purpose is and what he is truly capable of.

My main issue with this is that Eve doesn't take any responsibility for her own actions and she makes a lot of poor decisions. I can forgive poor decision making if lessons are learned along the way, but she doesn’t seem to be interested in learning any lessons until the very end of the book. She pushes everyone away, but blames everyone for her problems. She has a cell phone that she never turns on so no one can get a hold of her, but laments that no one invites her to things and if she is invited she doesn’t participate anyway. Not a fan of the walking contradiction. She is literally unreachable and never checks her text or voicemails. The best scene in the book is when her future sister-in-law calls her out for being unreachable and uninterested in being present for anything. It really puts things into perspective, that Eve's resentment of everyone in her life is somewhat misplaced. I appreciated that Ana (the SIL) not only calls Eve out, but also indicates that everyone makes mistakes and has to take responsibility for their part. They have all had a rough year and need to be there for each other. I had a really hard time rooting for Eve, she judges people without having all of the information about them or only remembering things that suit her narrative. Fortunately, she figures things out in the end, but I had a really hard time connecting with her throughout the book. It was only in the last few chapters that I felt the emotional connection I was looking for with the book.

I thought the author captured grief and depression, especially during the holidays well. She also captured feelings of inadequacy and fear of living in the world as a minority. I think this was a really great opportunity to discuss mental health and grief, but those discussions were kind of glossed over and left me wanting. I think the dark humor was lost on me. I read some of the glowing reviews, and those readers connected with Eve in a way I didn't and they laughed out loud which I didn't. Unfortunately, despite really wanting to love this book, I didn’t. This one just wasn’t for me, and that is OK. I know there are others out there who really connected with Eve and the author’s humor.