REVIEW: The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer: Jacob has been through a lot in his years. His father’s abandonment and his mother’s illness caused him much distress over his adolescence, but he threw his life into his party planning business. He became a party planner for large events and made a name for himself. When he decides to focus on the Matzah Ball, he is back in New York for the first time since he lost his summer camp love.

Rachel felt that Jacob set her up for their first kiss to be a prank, and she has held a grudge against him since. When she is asked to write a Hannukah romance novel instead of her normal Christmas ones, she’s at a standstill. Even though she was raised in the Jewish faith, she always looked at Christmas as a magical time with all the lights and tinsel and garland unlike her normal Hannukah. Trying to find inspiration, she realizes that she needs to get a ticket to the Matzah Ball – the sold-out and most-talked-about event of the year. When she finds out that Jacob runs the event, she tries to put aside her prior notions to get a ticket to the event.

Between the two of them, they have to learn how to open up and be honest about their lives. They both have different things that they hide from the world for different reasons. Jacob hid his mother’s illness and subsequent death as well as his father’s abandonment. He didn’t want to bother people with information that didn’t impact them, but he learns that he can rely on others.

Rachel hides her chronic illness from the world because she doesn’t want to be looked at being disabled. She also hides her career as a Christmas romance novel writer from her family because of her devout Jewish faith. Rachel has multiple roadblocks to overcome but being surrounded by her family and Jacob, she is able to understand that she is not her disability and has a lot to bring to the table.

Overall, the writing is beautiful and powerful between the conversations about Rachel’s illness and Jacob’s relationships with his family to the way they interact with each other. It is an easy read that dives deep into the emotional aspects of each individual without being risqué. I loved the cute moments between the two characters and how they also interacted with the others making it a standout novel. It also taught me a lot more detail about Judaism that I hadn’t known before without feeling like it’s being thrown down your throat.

Book Info:

Publication: September 28, 2021 | MIRA |

Oy! to the world

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach.

But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry. Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy—Jacob Greenberg.

Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah. But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah—and Jacob—in a way she never expected. Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze.