The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

This month’s Saturday Spotlight theme is Holiday! Last week I shared The Holiday Switch by Tif Marcelo, which you can find here.

This week I am sharing Eight Dates and Nights by Betsy Aldredge. Hanukkah is starting on Monday, and this is the perfect book for this holiday!

I don’t celebrate Hanukkah, but I loved this book so much! It really educated me on Hanukkah and Jewish culture. It was also full of food, and as a major foodie, I loved that part of the story. Food is such a big part of culture, and I loved how the food showed Jewish culture. If you are looking for a Hanukkah book full of food that is cozy and sweet, Eight Dates and Nights is the book for you!

Two teens with two very different ideas of how to spend Hanukkah learn to work together to save the last Jewish remnant in small town Texas in this cozy holiday romance!

New Yorker Hannah Levin is allergic to exactly two things, horses and tinsel. Unfortunately, she’s surrounded by both this Hanukkah when, thanks to a freak snow storm, she’s stranded in the small town of Rosenblum, Texas, visiting her grandmother, who she hasn’t seen in years due to family drama.

Super lonely, missing latkes and reliable wi-fi, she follows the scent of fried potatoes and wanders into an old deli where she meets the only other Jewish teen in town, Noah, who happens to be equal parts adorable and full of annoying, over the top Hanukkah spirit that he’s determined to share with Hannah, one ugly, itchy Hanukkah sweater at a time.

She makes him a deal, she’ll help him save his family’s deli, which is practically the only Jewish remnant in a town that once had a thriving community of European immigrants, if he’ll leave her to sulk in peace. However, after a spectacularly memorable kiss Hannah wonders if there’s more to Hanukkah, this community, and even her grandmother than she thought.