This book has a predictable "twist" that makes me hesitant to recommend it. I enjoyed the relationship between younger sister Becky and older sister Sara. Throughout the story, both are keeping secrets that would disappoint their parents and the secrets inevitably come out. The reaction to Becky's secret is underplayed while Sara's secret leads to over-the-top consequences for her.

I am not from a Jewish background, so I did like learning about the traditions of a Jewish family and the amount of work it takes to prepare for a bar mitzvah.

Spoiler Warning:

Sara's fate really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not sure if the author was going for a modern Romeo and Juliet tale, but Sara seemed smart enough to not drive in a snowstorm in the middle of the night. She could have used her phone to text Sean (and most teens would nowadays). It also felt like she was being punished for daring to go against the wishes of her father. I would have preferred if the parents found out about the forbidden relationship and confronted Sara leading her to dash away in the car.

I am so thankful for this book. Growing up a book like this wasn’t an option for me, so being able to read this book as an adult was the most therapeutic and lovely experience. Becky is a great protagonist and getting to experience so many different highs and lows was fascinating. The author does a fantastic job of capturing a realistic story of grief especially as someone who experienced loss too young like Becky. Her family is my favorite part of this entire book and I enjoyed their dynamic so much, and found them so relatable and lovely. I can’t say enough good things about this book. Thank you so much for giving representation to Jewish girls everywhere

This was such a beautifully done story and enjoyed the sibling relationship element to this. The characters were everything that I was hoping for and enjoyed how everything flowed with the story being told. It was realistically portrayed and glad everything had that element to it. I enjoyed the way Naomi Milliner wrote this and can’t wait for more.