I couldn't put this book down!
I loved the fact that it wasn't a classic romance novel, even though the romance was there, but the plot was much more creative than that.
I was constantly wondering what would happen next. The pacing was superb.
The plot combined both a crazy-yet-sweet premise and many meaningful life lessons.
The discussion of anti semitism was especially important during these difficult times.
I'm looking forward to reading the next novel by this author.

Important note to publishers: Recurring typo spotted- there is always a space between f and l "f l", throughout the book, for words such as floor "f loor" etc.

good romance and interesting that she made a man out of clay and all of her adventures with the him and dealing with family and work. good romance.

Beth Kander, you’ve done it—what a great read! Eve is a hot mess who is down on her luck. Everything seems to be going wrong in her life, and she is desperate for a little help and security. Enter Gollum to save the day; however, things start to take a sinister turn, and this is where the story gets interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found myself constantly picking it up with the intention of reading just one chapter, only to never want to put it down. The length was perfect, with no parts that dragged on. While Eve did get on my nerves at one point, it all came together seamlessly in the end. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, for the advanced reader's copy of this book.

A perfect read for #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth, author Beth Kander explores modern issues of identity and grief as well as friendships and family. The feels are heavy, especially with loss of a parent, but there is something about the way she writes that pays homage to real feelings without being too heavy or throwing in humor to counterbalance.

The author was creative with the golem only being able to be understood by their creator, but I will say I could have done without the repeated use of golem sounds followed by translation throughout and would have been happy to have the concept introduced and then left as something we, as readers, understand (translation only in protagonist perspective and onomatopoeias only if it’s untranslated golem talk in another persons perspective). I mistakenly thought this would be more in the tone of a rom-com (which I would gobble up), but it is definitely more in the tone of what I would call Women’s Fiction.

I loved this story and its diversity!! It was very well told, despite the formatting errors throughout. I love that Sasha also made the same mistakes that Eve made!!

Meet Eve Goodman. She’s about to turn 40 and her younger sister is getting married. Eve has been mourning the sudden death of her father for a year now and is trying to get her act back together. Eve, her mother and her sister have all been handling their grief in completely different ways. Eve “threw herself into work, started eating everything in sight, and stopped making any decisions.”

Between the pressure from the upcoming family wedding (her sister is a well-known TikTok influencer and has been posting lots of wedding-related videos) and expected layoffs at her Chicago marketing agency, Eve is stressed. Her best friends have also been acting a bit oddly and she doesn’t know why. In addition to all this, she’s faced with the upturn in antisemitism, both around the world and right there in Chicagoland. In fact, her family’s synagogue has just had a bomb threat (that turned out to be a false alarm) and she is verbally assaulted for being Jewish while on a Chicago train ride, while wearing one of those “ugly Christmas/Hanukkah sweaters” in honor of the season. So Eve is very stressed. Not a spoiler due to the title of the book - while drunk she somehow manages to create a golem.

For anyone who doesn’t know what a golem is - it is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. (Thank you to Wikipedia for this brief definition.) Its purpose is to protect the Jewish people. It doesn’t have free will but will do whatever its master/mistress tells it to do. (A mixed blessing, as you may imagine.) This particular golem is rather handsome and Eve is determined to bring this golem as her Plus One to her sister’s wedding. The scenes of her shopping for appropriate clothing for him and dining out with him were pretty funny. This golem LOVED coffee!

There are some really wonderful observations about everyday modern life, social media, etc. “It’s so easy to just keep things surface level. Do a cursory check-in, hit the proverbial like button, and just move on.”

(Quotes are from an advance readers copy and may be changed in the final, published book.)

Thank you to NetGalley and MIRA for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.