Spotlight & Giveaway: Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jean Meltzer to HJ!

Hi Jean and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Kissing Kosher!

 
Hi, everybody! I’m so excited to be here today!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Kissing Kosher is about a man named Ethan Lippmann, heir to a kosher baked goods empire, who goes undercover at a kosher artisanal bakery in Brooklyn in order to steal their world-famous recipe for Pumpkin-Spiced Babka. While there, he meets General Manager, Avital Cohen—a woman suffering from sexual dysfunction due to chronic pelvic pain—leaving both to wonder if they have the right recipe for falling in love.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

Avital Cohen wasn’t wearing underwear.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Kissing Kosher was inspired by my own journey. I became a chronic pain patient in 2020, and my search for both relief and answers, inspired me to write this story.
  *The working title of the book was Half-Baked, and while it didn’t make it into production, it does sit on the cover of the book as the tagline: “Their half-baked rivalry is about to heat up.”
• In Kissing Kosher, a rabbi runs a medical marijuana dispensary. Believe it or not, this is actually based on real-life experience.
• I always try to name my characters something that speaks thematically to my book. Avital means dew in Hebrew. I, originally, wanted to name my heroine Aviva, which means spring. But my best friend is named Aviva and I couldn’t stop seeing her in my head while I was writing, so I went with Avital.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Practicalities. LOL. Ethan is sent undercover at the behest of his iron-fisted grandfather. Avital is suffering from worsening chronic pain and desperately needs help at the bakery. It’s why any simmering tension between them must be ignored…

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

And when he was done, when all the secrets of his life were laid out before her, he readied himself for the worst.
Who could ever love a nothing?
Who would ever want someone so broken, and fallible, as him?

Readers should read this book….

• If they love laugh-out-loud romantic comedies
• If they like books that take them on an emotional rollercoaster
• If they love bakery romances
• If they, or someone they love, lives with chronic pain, chronic illness and chronic disability
• If they are Jewish, know someone who is Jewish, or are curious about being Jewish
• If they would like to read more diverse romance
• If they like books with strong character development and great worldbuilding
• If they are curious about medicinal marijuana and its uses in treating chronic pain
• If they would like to learn tools for sex and intimacy that they can apply in their own lives

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on my fourth book, Magical Meet Cute. Magical Meet Cute is about a proud Jewitch woman and potter named Faye Kaplan, determined never to fall in love again after being traumatized from a series of toxic relationships, who finds herself the victim of an antisemitic incident. Desperate to reclaim her power—and after two bottles of wine—she heads to her pottery studio and crafts a man out of clay, etching all her desires for a guardian and protector, friend and lover, onto his skin, before burying the doll in her backyard. When a handsome and mysterious stranger arrives to town the very next day, and checks every box scribbled on her clay man’s belly—including the most esoteric ones—Faye is left wondering if she’s looking for reasons to avoid falling in love, or if she’s inadvertently summoned a golem.

I’m also in the middle of launching a podcast. Chronically Fabulous with Jean Meltzer will begin airing teasers and snippets August 21st, with a start date in early December 21st. It’s a show about finding joy, and living your best life, with chronic pain and chronic illness. Consider me your spoonie best friend going forward!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: (1) A print copy of KISSING KOSHER by Jean Meltzer 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite baked good?

 
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Excerpt from Kissing Kosher:

It was still dark out when Ethan arrived at Best Babka. Hopping over puddles, he made his way down Flatbush Avenue, still nearly empty. Even though it was freezing, and the sidewalks were an icy mess, he was in a great mood. Glancing up at the sky, the stars were still shining. He marveled at how cool it was to be up early enough to see them—when he ran straight into a pole.

Or…what he thought was a pole.

Ethan looked down to see Avital, hands swinging in circles, her mouth formed into an O. She was falling. Her life flashed before his eyes.

The rest was pure instinct. He reached out, attempting to grab her by the arms. Sadly, his attempt to play the hero was all for naught. The new distribution of weight, in addition to his inappropriate shoes for the weather, spelt immediate disaster.

Ethan slipped on a patch of black ice, taking Avital down with him. From there, they rolled three times—a tangle of arms, flailing legs, and choice words—before finally, coming to a stop at the edge of a snow plow drift.

Ethan took a few moments to recover from the shock. Scanning his body, he was grateful that nothing seemed broken. Much to his good fortune, something warm, and soft, and extremely pleasing, had managed to break his fall…

Ethan swallowed, his eyes lowering.

Avital was lying face-down on the sidewalk, and he was pressed up doggy-style on top of her.

“Owww,” Avital said.

“Oh God,” Ethan said, scrambling to get off her, “I’m so sorry!”

He reached down to help her up. And then, stopped. Avital Cohen—his boss, his enemy—wasn’t wearing underwear.

It was just a quick glance, but long enough to see that the pink-and-black leopard chiffon skirt she had been wearing during their fall had somehow managed to get wedged between her butt cheeks. One round and perfectly shaped pale half-moon gazed up at him. A tiny little freckle, the most delicious little dot of brown, sat off-center.

Red-hot embarrassment rose in his cheeks. That spark of something wonderful and pleasant returned, until there was no choice but to look away from her completely.

“Um, Avital,” Ethan said, clearing his throat, “normally, in this situation, I would help you up…and I mean this in the most respectable way possible, but if your hands are working…you may want to adjust your skirt.”

It took her a moment. Her hands moved from beneath her jacket to try to figure out what Ethan was talking about. “Oh God!” Avital groaned, pushing down her skirt. “Seriously!” Ethan heard her rising to her feet. When he was certain that she was decent, he returned his gaze to her eyes.

She did not look happy. But weirdly, staring into those ferocious set of baby blues, all he could think about was that freckle. That delectable freckle that made his body twinge and his mind wander into the most dangerous territory. This was the granddaughter of his family’s archenemy, after all. And, though he was beginning to see this would be harder than he realized, he was here on a mission.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said, trying desperately to make this less awkward. “I didn’t see—”

Avital cut him off. “It’s fine.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Nothing more than my pride,” she grumbled.

She was looking away from him, arms crossed against her chest, her eyes fixed on the front door of the bakery.

“Look,” she said, suddenly, “I don’t know what you saw—”

“I didn’t see anything,” Ethan lied.

“But I have my reasons, okay?”

Ethan raised both hands in open surrender. “I’m just here to bake babka!”

Avital met him with a gaze that could cut through ice. God, she was cold. All the unfriendliness of their first meeting had now doubled after the embarrassment of their first-day-foible. There was no coming back from this catastrophe.

“You’re also here an hour early,” she snapped back at him.

“I didn’t want to be late.”

“I told you six.”

“Am I getting fired for coming in early?” he asked, seriously.

“If you have trouble following directions, I’d prefer to know sooner rather than later.”

Ethan choked on his response. Granted, he was here to steal her family’s babka recipe, and he had just seen the outline of one perfectly formed cheek…but that was no reason not to be friendly.

“I-I…” Ethan stammered. “I can wait outside if you want?”

Avital pressed her lips together in a tight line. He could see her thinking about it. Ethan shifted his weight nervously. And then, thank God, a late-Hanukkah miracle occurred. Manna falling from the Heavens. The door to the bakery swung open.

The tiniest old man that Ethan had ever laid eyes on peaked his head outside. With wiry white hair framing his wrinkles wearing a red apron with white flour streaked across the front and the sleeves of his white button-down rolled up to his elbows, he reminded Ethan of some fierce little gremlin. Yet, despite his tiny size—and an age equivalent to Ethan’s own grandfather—he had forearms that could easily tackle a polar bear.

“Chas v’chalilah,” the old man said, glancing between them, “Avi, it’s freezing! What are you doing outside?”

Avital turned her gaze to the old man. “I’m sorry, Zeyde,” she said, her voice finally softening. “I had a run-in with our new employee.” Thankfully, she left the explanation at that. “Ethan,” she said, pointing with one hand toward the old man, “this is my grandfather, the legendary creator of Best Babka himself, Chayim Cohen. Zeyde, this is Ethan, our new hire—” Avital fixed Ethan with a wry smirk. “He’s here early!”

“Ah,” Chayim said, studying him. “Well, that’s nice…but what are you both doing outside? Come in! Quickly! You’ll catch your death out there.”

Ethan trailed them inside, his heart racing. He could not believe he had just met Chayim Cohen. This was the man who had thrown his grandfather onto the street, leaving him destitute. This was the man who’d riddled them with frivolous lawsuits and left Facebook comments all over the Lippmann’s social-media pages that their pumpkin crumble doughnut gave him diarrhea.

He was not what Ethan was expecting.

“So, Ethan,” Chayim said, squeezing his forearms to check their size, “you ready to work hard?”

Ethan forced a confident smile. “Always.”

“Good,” he said, like a war general about to lead an army, “because we need tough people in our kitchen. Strong people, too! Strong of character and heart. That’s what it takes to be a Best Babka employee… Passion, but also courage.”

“That’s a job I’m ready for, sir.”

It was a lie, obviously. Ethan’s plan was to get in and out of Best Babka as quickly as possible. Indeed, he could already smell the scent of something warm and buttery, emanating from one of the back kitchens. All he needed to do now was find that pumpkin-spiced babka recipe and snap a picture. Or watch them make it, taking copious notes along the way. But his plan had always been not to stay at Best Babka for more than a day or two.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Step 1: Get the secret recipe. Step 2: Don’t fall in love…

Avital Cohen isn’t wearing underpants—woefully, for unsexy reasons. Chronic pelvic pain has forced her to sideline her photography dreams and her love life. It’s all she can do to manage her family’s kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn, without collapsing.

She needs hired help.

And distractingly handsome Ethan Lippmann seems the perfect fit.

Except Ethan isn’t there to work—he’s undercover, at the behest of his ironfisted grandfather. Though Lippmann’s is a household name when it comes to mass-produced kosher baked goods, they don’t have the charm of Avital’s bakery. Or her grandfather’s world-famous pumpkin spice babka recipe.

As they bake side by side, Ethan soon finds himself more interested in Avital than in stealing family secrets, especially as he helps her find the chronic pain relief—and pleasure—she’s been missing.

But perfecting the recipe for romance calls for leaving out the lies…even if coming clean means risking everything.
 
 

Meet the Author:

Jean Meltzer studied dramatic writing at NYU Tisch and has earned numerous awards for her work in television, including a daytime Emmy. She spent five years in rabbinical school before her chronic illness forced her to withdraw, and her father told her she should write a book—just not a Jewish one because no one reads those. Kissing Kosher is her third novel.