This was an extremely compelling story but it was definitely problematic. Wayyyy too casually racist in a way that made it clear it wasn’t the CHARACTER but the author who holds those views.

Thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC.

Bump rating to 3.75. I am not Jewish... I requested this because I felt it fell into my interest in other cultures, and on that front it was a very satisfactory read. Author Naomi Ragen provided detailed descriptions of food, living conditions, customs, and more in a surprisingly relatable setting. For me, the reading went slowly only because of the extensive use of the Orthodox jargon in the story; although a glossary was provided in the back of the book, I find these difficult to access in a digital edition. After a great deal of build up and scene setting, it seemed to wind down quickly at the end.

Good for people like me who want enjoyable insight into other cultures, recognizing that I'm ignorant about this particular culture, and trust Ragen's descriptions (her acknowledgements indicate she has the background).

Leah is lost after many disappoint,Mets and a tragedy, leading her to find herself in the religious community of Boro Park. As a Baal teshuva, she tries to perform good deeds to get community acceptance, a difficult task since she does not have the family background. Yaacov, a religious Jew, lost his wife, and is struggling to keep his family going. Hoping for a marriage, he turns to matchmakers who disappoint him. How these two meet and what happens makes for a very absorbing novel. One of Ragen’s best, how the realities of not just religious communities, bu all humans, comes into play. Highly recommended.

An amazing story about life, family and religion. Naomi Ragen did a wonderful job writing this book!

I loved this! I really like to read about other cultures, especially religious ones, and this was a great story about Orthodox Jews in New York.

I feel like I learned a lot in this book. I am not Jewish but my aunt and her family are so I’ve celebrated the high holidays with them, but they’re the opposite of orthodox. So this book was definitely enlightening. I have a lot of feelings about the orthodox community because, on one hand, I would think it is comforting to have everyone have a role in society and “know their place,” as it were. But it also just seems very limiting and isolating.

I think Lola/Leah’s Journey was fascinating, and I wonder if she would have become orthodox had she (spoiler) not lost her fiancé in that hiking accident.

I loved her interactions with the children, and then with Yaakov, and how their relationship grew from there. I wished there was more focus on Shaindele, the older daughter, and her relationship with Leah — that would have been so interesting to explore, they seem very similar if you dig into the characters.

I had never heard of this author before and didn’t quite know what to expect. I was so pleasantly surprised by this novel of faith, love, and acceptance. While Leah and Yaakov were wonderful characters, to me the minor characters were where the writer’s talent shone. I love how thoughtfully written this was, and I learned so much about Orthodox Jewish faith and culture. At times humorous, compelling throughout, and often encouraging of my own reflection, this was a five star read for me!

Thank you Netgalley for a complimentary advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I will definitely be reading more by this author.

A really good story. I loved reading a book about a baal tesuvah, a similar journey to my own, as well as the complicated family of Yaakov and the very religious community. The writing is a bit amateur but the story and characters are so good it's easy to forgive that

An Unorthodox Match is set in the ultra-orthodox community of Boro Park, Brooklyn, and is told through the points of view of several characters. Leah (Lola) is Jewish by birth, but was raised by a mother who wants nothing to do with the religion of her own upbringing. Leah only discovers faith and deeper meaning as a college student, and eventually pursues religious studies in her path back to observant, orthodox Judaism. Yaakov, a widower with five children mourning for his late wife, is a prize sought after by a slew of matchmakers, all looking to make a marriage involving his prestigious family. Yaakov's mother-in-law Fruma Esther wants what's best for Yaakov and his children, but not at the risk of their family's reputation. And getting involved with someone newly returned to religion is a sure way to get gossip flowing, possibly endangering the future standing of the next generation.

This book is a deep dive into the community and its social constructs, and does a good job of explaining why a modern, educated woman might turn to a world that outsiders view as repressive and misogynistic. Leah is an interesting character, and the author does a good job at letting us see why Leah might find a fresh meaning and purpose through religion, faith, and tradition.

I'd tried everything the secular world had to offer and still felt empty. I wanted something else, something that would give meaning to my life. In your world, I found so many of the things I'd longed for all my life: safety, order, rules, limitations, real community, deep values. But I have to be absolutely honest with you... I've also discovered some things I wasn't prepared for.

The family dynamics are well-drawn and touching, and I felt quite sorry for Yakov, his late wife (whose postnatal depression is only revealed late in the book, although there are certainly plenty of hints), and the children whose lives fall apart, until Leah steps in to provide love and order in their home once more.

Of course, as a 21st century feminist, I have a huge problem with religious rules that force women into "modest" clothing, declare them unclean when they have their periods, and require the rabbi's okay for a woman to stop having babies when she's clearly suffering and in severe distress. Through Leah's perspective, the dress requirements are freeing, keeping her body private and preventing men from seeing her as a sexual object -- but that only goes so far. Leah (or the author) seems to be a bit fixated on weight, and we keep hearing about how Leah has gained weight since giving up running (which she can't do as a religious woman, since the clothing and/or activity would be immodest). The issues around body image and looks got in my way quite a bit, as did some of the characters' attitudes around race and difference.

That's not to say that An Unorthodox Match isn't a good read -- it is. I was caught up in the story and invested in the characters... but I definitely was challenged by needing to put my own opinions aside in order to accept Leah's values and hopes.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. Full review at Bookshelf Fantasies.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a gifted copy of AN UNORTHODOX MATCH.
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I'm struggling with how to rate/review this one. There were a lot of things I loved about the story, but the execution fell a little flat for me.

What I liked:
- The Orthodox rep!! This was a major plus. Most books out there about Orthodox Judaism is in a negative light or is about someone leaving the sect. It was so nice to see some positive representation. It's a big win for Orthodox Jews to be able to see themselves in a romance novel.
- If you don’t know much about Orthodox culture, you will learn a lot from this book. There's also a glossary in the back for terms the reader might not know.
- The life lessons and every day struggles portrayed. There were a lot of things to get out of this book including the stigma of mental illness, treating others with respect, accepting a stranger and more.

What I didn't like:
- It was too slow for me. I felt as though nothing happened until the last ~50 pages. I kept waiting and waiting for something to come and it didn't. I thought there was a lot of unnecessary detail and dialogue.
- There wasn't really a plot? It was kind of obvious what was going to happen in the end (not a bad thing, just in the typical romance novel you-know-who-is-getting-together way), but it felt it just took a lot of words without action to get there.

So, with that said, I'm still not sure how to rate this. Like I said, I really loved the idea and concept, but not so much the execution.