Booked for the Holidays by Liz Maverick

Narrated by Eva Kaminsky and Andrew Eiden (Teddy Hamilton)

Standalone clean Hanukkah romance novella, Audible exclusive.

I’m a sucker for cheesy Christmas romances, but as someone who’s Jewish, cheesy Hanukkah romances are even better. There are already so few romances that even mention Hanukkah, but on audio? I think there are about a dozen EVER—and ¼ of them are from Liz Maverick! That’s why I look forward to her short Audible-exclusive Hanukkah books every year. You can check out my full list of Hanukkah romances here.

Booked for the Holidays by Liz Maverick was a cute and quick listen. Abi works for a publisher, and their star author, mystery writer D.B. Ziegler, has gone radio silent with a looming deadline for the final book in her series. Abi is sent to track her down—on Hanukkah, no less—with gifts in hand. Instead of meeting the elusive author, she’s greeted by the author’s handsome but exhausted and sad grandson, Dov, who mistakes her for an attorney.

D.B. Ziegler is in her 90s, but it somehow never even crosses Abi’s mind that she could be ill—or worse. Abi may go down as one of the most clueless heroines ever, but somehow, she’s also annoyingly likable. It’s soon revealed that Dov is struggling to finish his grandmother’s novel, and over the eight nights of Hanukkah, Abi and Dov spend their time together trying to make the deadline.

While the story has a fun premise, there wasn’t a lot of romance in this novella. I wish there had been less focus on Dov hiding the truth and Abi being so frustratingly clueless, and more on building their relationship.

Likes:

Hanukkah traditions.
Hanukkah baking.
I really liked both characters.
A really cute premise for a book.
Dual 1st person POV.

Dislikes:

How did she not figure it out? Duh…
They seemed to exist in a Jewish vacuum with no mention of Christmas, and everyone was Jewish.
Not enough romance.
Some continuity mistakes.
Clean romance.

The Narration:

Eva Kaminsky and Andrew Eiden (Teddy Hamilton) are what really made Booked for the Holidays work for me. Their performances brought the characters to life and made them easy to root for, even when the story itself frustrated me.

The Down & Dirty:

I’m so grateful for any Hanukkah romance, so I wanted to love Booked for the Holidays more than I did. While it had a fun premise and charming characters, I couldn’t get over how clueless Abi was, or the odd lack of Christmas in the story’s world. Once I let go of believability, it was still a cute, lighthearted listen that’s worth checking out if you’re craving some Hanukkah cheer.