Review by Ronny

The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah is a clever and heartfelt retelling of A Christmas Carol.

Favourite Quote: 

Because there, leaning over his knees, two pink lips aimed patiently in her direction, was her ex-husband. 

And the worst part of all…

He looked good. 

Book Synopsis:

Can these exes rekindle their love this Hanukkah?

Evelyn Schwartz has the perfect Hanukkah planned: eight jam-packed days producing the live-action televised musical of A Christmas Carol. Who needs family when you’ve got long hours, impossible deadlines, and your dream job? That is, until an accident on set lands her in the medical bay with one of her chronic migraines, and she’s shocked to find her ex-husband, David Adler, filling in for the usual studio doctor.

It’s been two years since David walked away from Evelyn and their life in Manhattan, and his ex-wife is still the same workaholic who puts her career before everything else—especially her health. But when Evelyn begins hallucinating “ghosts” tied to her past heartbreaks, and every single one leads to David, he finds himself spending much more time with her than he anticipated. And denying the still-smoldering chemistry between them becomes impossible.

As Evelyn revisits her ghosts of Hanukkah past, she and David both begin to wonder if they can have a Hanukkah future. But with a high-stakes production ramping up the pressure on Evelyn, and troublesome spirits forcing them both to confront their most difficult shared memories, it might just take a Hanukkah miracle for these two exes to light the flame on their second-chance at love. 

Review: 

You will like this story if you are a fan of A Christmas Carol. Jean did a fabulous job of taking that classic tale, modernizing it, and adding a Hanukkah twist. Overall, I enjoyed this book; it’s not one of my favourite Jean Meltzer books, but it is well written and is definitely entertaining at times. I think one reason I didn’t click with this book as much is that I am not a huge fan of A Christmas Carol, but my curiosity had me picking it up anyway. I enjoyed the overall festive vibes this book was giving off. I love Jean’s writing and storytelling. She always creates such a diverse story. The main character and often a few secondary characters have a chronic illness that they are living with. In this case, Evelyn deals with chronic migraines. As the story is unfolding, we watch as Evelyn tries to cope with living with this chronic illness while juggling a very demanding job. Jean always does a great job at showing the downside of living with a chronic illness (the pain, the negative stigma, etc.), but more importantly, how the character can still live a full and happy life despite their illness.    

I liked the overall story. I thought it was clever to turn the traditional three Christmas ghost visits into eight Hanukkah heartbreak ghost visits. There is definitely a heaviness to the overall story. This book deals with a few tough topics and lots of big, messy emotions. There aren’t too many light, fluffy festive moments in this book. Evelyn’s journey in this book isn’t fun or silly. It’s tough, heartbreaking, and a harsh awakening to what her life will be if she doesn’t change. Evelyn’s character will be tough to love for many readers. She is prickly, selfish, and can be downright rude, especially to David. She is close-minded, and just when you think that maybe the Hanukkah ghosts are getting through, she reverts to her old prickly self. But if her journey hadn’t been as rocky as it was, I don’t think it would be as believable. She needed to get knocked down (not literally) a few times in order to let those walls down. 

This is a second-chance slow-burn romance. I sort of like the chemistry between Evelyn and David. I could see the potential between these two. But their relationship was a tough sell for me at times because of how snippy and, at times, mean Evelyn was to David. I didn’t get to see many of those heartfelt moments in the first half of the book, where I could see the spark that makes being together feel real. David is a sweet, genuine, good guy, and Evelyn really treats him like crap. It got to be a bit hard to watch at times. But Evelyn wouldn’t be Scrooge if she were a good, kind person.    

The Eight Heartbreaks of Hanukkah is an emotional retelling of A Christmas Carol.

Thank you, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.