Eight Winter Nights by Liz Maverick

Narrated by Eva Kaminsky and Jason Clarke

Standalone Hanukkah/Holiday romance.

A quick three hour audible original about Hanukkah, and it’s included in Audible plus? Sign me up! Jason Clarke narrating just cemented the deal. Honestly, if a few words and names were changed, Eight Winter Nights by Liz Maverick could have been a Christmas book just as easily, but that’s OK. In fact I like that—the average Jewish person is usually no different than anyone else.

Sadly, though I liked the writing style and the characters, the story itself kind of pissed me off. Here it is in a nutshell: Shy Rachel met Oz at a Hanukkah party. They really hit it off, but then her hot and bubbly best friend Tamara swooped in, took over, and Rachel just walked away.

He dates the best friend for a YEAR. Then Tamara breaks up with him and leaves town and Oz breaks his leg. So Tamara asks Rachel to go take care of him and help him get over her. But Oz wants Rachel’s help to get her back! So she helps him write Tamara love notes based on her own actual writing about him.

Honestly, neither Oz nor her friend Tamara deserve Rachel. He picked the hot girl over the one he connected with and Tamara knew her friend’s feelings. Rachel was a doormat and it just made me sad.

Likes:

Finally a Hanukkah book for us secular Jews (not religious).
I actually love the tone and humor of the story.
The writing style was totally my type.
Loved the narration.

Dislikes:

Rachel just seemed like second choice.
He picked the hot girl over the one he connected with.
Rachel seemed like a doormat.
The whole premise of the story pissed me off.

The Narration:

Eva Kaminsky and Jason Clarke are what made Eight Winter Nights so enjoyable. They were wonderful and I highly recommend listening if you grab this one.

The Down & Dirty:

I wanted to love this. The cover is amazing and it’s so rare to get a not overly Jewish, m/f romance. I loved the writing style and the author’s voice, but the story itself just made me mad. She would never be first choice. I still enjoyed the listen because of the writing and narration and the fact that it is a rare book with Jewish characters like myself.