It’s not easy to find time for even a fun fling when you work three jobs and sleep in your childhood bedroom.Jenna is stuck. It’s been nine months since she graduated college and moved in with her parents. She hasn’t had a hint of romance for even longer. That changes when she meets Asher, who’s in town for a business meeting, at the Temple’s annual Singles Purim Party. Asher is bored. He’s … bored. He’s doesn’t do relationships, especially with women who want the suburban white picket fence life. That changes after a drunken hook up with Jenna; he can’t get her out of his head and wants more.
A quick fling is just what they both need to find themselves again. Purim Fling is a fun story about learning about who you really are and standing up for what you really want.
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Why I only gave this a 2-star rating…
Don’t ask me why I decided to read this via KU. A late-night “fling”? (You have to read the tale to get this inane reference meant to be a sad attempt at a joke…) But I’ve never read a Jewish romance novel… erp! Sorry! It’s a short story mean to be a novel but is only part one of how many installments??
Being a Gentile, my only exposure to Jewish life has been what you’d run into at a Jewish deli or online with the now-defunct Joy of Kosher. I love kosher cooking, even if it meant not enjoying non-kosher food items I enjoy. It’s like enjoying vegan food without feeling the need to buy into the militant vegan philosophy. (Which ends up demeaning the importance of plant life because of the notion they don’t have souls. They only don’t have vocal cords so that vegans don’t have to hear them screaming, that’s all. Respect ALL LIFE, folks, not just those that make you feel guilty about killing them.)
Anyway, I will have to say I was intrigued with the angst of what Jewish adult children feel when they are transitioning from live-in teenagers/20-somethings to independent adults (depending on their actual GPS locations away from their parentals). That was an eyeful. Jewish cock with the male sense of entitlement. That was new to me. (No, that’s not exactly how it was stated in this book, but my quote is without the political correctness attempting to keep a mother from blushing too much about the truth!) And how bitchy females get around eligible bachelors despite the fact that they might had been BFFs back in middle school. But what it reminds me was how closed-community many Jewish families still were, just like my mother’s and father’s had been, and they were Gentile farmers in the middle of rural Midwest where everyone feels entitled of knowing exactly what was going on in your life. (Good thing I grew up in SoCal!)
Grammar and other editorial niceties weren’t terrible, just still not close to looking professional. My BIGGEST objection is that is this only a 53-page short story, not even a novella! And I’ll need to wait until next month for the next installment? Look, girl, if you want a more loyal readership, mash together all these installments and create a REAL novel according to my experienced editorial eye. You would have made a better impression on me had you had done that. That is why the 2-star. It is an incomplete story. If I wanted to read a serialized story, I’d be reading an old issue of Redbook magazine!
This is bitter sword of KU. A writer loses out monetarily while a reader loses out in the quality of books s/he is reading. I just realized today that I am witnessing the foul endeavors of schooling of this generational edition of indie writers. You were trained so poorly and have no idea what a REAL book is supposed to look like. I remember being so flummoxed by English teachers who were graduating students who couldn’t spell! Their excuse? “At least they were getting close.” That is NO EXCUSE! Now we are reaping that harvest. No wonder I’ve been so frustrated. And this author made me realize that.
I admire the moxie of Sara Marks to write this story that seems so out-of-line of the standard contemporary romance novel. In fact, I really, really liked this idea. I only recommend reading this “installment” via KU. That’s the other side of the double-edged sword. If this had been an entire novel rather than an installment, I probably would have bought it. However, if this is how this author wants to play the game, then KU it is. I just need to mourn the loss of the real writer and get over it. I won’t be seeing writers of that caliber again.
Listen to your character. You have a lot more to offer than to listen to others about how you should break of a story to make you noticed in the readership community. There was a survey done, asking readers what they liked/disliked, and over 90% of them objected to short installments, wanting to read NOVELS of greater than 250 pages. Listen to the readership, not these emails from writers who think they know their demographics. Most readers are like me.
I’ll let you all know if I like the entire story (if it gets that far which is why I hate these installments!) later. What else is there for me to do?