Title: Magical Meet Cute
Author: Jean Meltzer
Length: 400 pages
Genre: romance, fantasy, paranormal
Is this book part of a series? no.
I discovered this book via... Netgalley working with Harlequin Trade Publishing
Publish Date: August 27th, 2024
Is he the real deal…or did she truly summon a golem?
Faye Kaplan used to be engaged. She also used to have a successful legal practice. But she much prefers her new life as a potter in Woodstock, New York. The only thing missing is the perfect guy.
Not that she needs one. She's definitely happy alone.
That is, until she finds her town papered with anti-Semitic flyers after yet another failed singles event at the synagogue. Desperate for comfort, Faye drunkenly turns to the only thing guaranteed to soothe her—pottery. A golem protector is just what her town needs…and adding all the little details to make him her ideal man can't hurt, right?
When a seriously hot stranger mysteriously turns up the next day, Greg seems too good to be true—if you ignore the fact that Faye hit him with her bike. And that he subsequently lost his memory…
But otherwise, the man checks Every. Single. Box. Causing Faye to wonder if Greg's sudden and spicy appearance might be anything but a coincidence.
I have to admit, I have been on the fence here. There's a ton to love- the characters are great and show good amounts of personal growth as well as showing their closeness. There is a fair representation of the jewish community and folklore, which I found interesting. The fact that they covered the very heavy subject of anti-semetism, was surprising. I was expecting more of a light and fluffy romcom- and it had it's moments! It had a lot more depth than I thought it would.
My issues were with the absolute over-use of the "misunderstanding" trope. Faye thinks she created him- and has to put him down (to hilarious results); Greg thinks he's someone that could hurt her. Neither thinks they are worthy of one another and they don't talk about it- there are some false starts, but they never discuss their feelings. Not really.... In part I get it- the man had amnesia and on Faye's side... well, how would that conversation even go?
..."Hey, this is crazy but you are just my type- to the point I fear I may have created you in a night of fear, frustration and drunkeness. Wanna see where this goes anyways?"
I mean, I get that there's no real good way to clear everything up without hurting one another.... but man that part of the story was painful.
For the most part this was an interesting premise with a good flow to the dual narrative. It was engaging and charming, witty and at times heartbreaking. I respect that, and I did enjoy the book. It just felt like there could have been more. Sadly this isn't going to be one of my favorite books of the year, but it was good. I would give it a three.
On the adult content scale, there is sexual content, language, racism/ antisemetism, and violence. I would say this one was geared toward adults and new adults.
I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley working with Harlequin Trade Publishing in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!
The book comes out Tuesday- is it on your tbr?
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