Love You a Latke

Amanda Elliot celebrates the winter holiday season with Love You a Latke, a heartwarming exploration of community and human connection set during Hanukkah.

When coffee shop owner Abby Cohen is steamrolled into organizing a Hanukkah festival in her small Vermont town, she has no idea where to start. Needing inspiration, she searches a dating app for other Jewish people in her area and discovers only Seth Abrams, the handsome but annoyingly optimistic customer who visits her shop every morning. Seth agrees to help, but in return, he asks Abby to pretend to be his girlfriend and spend Hanukkah at his parents' home in New York City. Abby, who grew up in the city but fled her childhood home and emotionally abusive parents several years ago, dreads the thought of returning but reluctantly agrees.

As she is immersed in activities with Seth's parents and friends, Abby is reminded how much she loves the holiday's traditions and misses being a part of a Jewish community. Additionally, their forced proximity compels Abby and Seth to confront their mutual attraction and individual insecurities. They both have habitually avoided confrontations by running away, but perhaps they can move beyond their chosen coping methods and build a future together.

This wonderful novel has a well-defined plot and characters with absorbing emotional depth. The story is set against the contrasting but equally vivid backdrops of New York City dressed in its holiday finery and charming small-town Vermont with its snowy landscape. Elliot's mouthwatering descriptions of latkes, doughnuts, and artisanal coffee will delight readers, as will the rest of her engaging novel. --Lois Faye Dyer, writer and reviewer

Powered by: Xtenit