Love List: Adult Jewish Romance Novels

I am Jewish. I love Romance novels. However, the twain do not meet all that often…or at least they didn’t used to. Suddenly Jewish romance novels are everywhere, and I am extremely here for it. These are my current faves, but there are plenty more out there, some of which I still must read!

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan (m/bi f) - this is my all-time fave, despite how anxious I was to see how a rabbi hero would be handled. This book is both sexy as hell (definitely the highest spice level in the list) and so Jewish, with a reform rabbi hero and a heroine who’s a former porn star and is starting to re-find her faith. (Naomi from The Roommate, if you’ve read Danan’s debut.)

Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon (m/f) - Solomon’s always dependable for fun and sexy rom-coms, but she has serrrriously kicked up the steam a notch in this newest, which stars a ghostwriter, a cult classic actor who’s having his memoir written, aaaaand…sex lessons.

Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok (m/f) - as an Orthodox reader, this was really fun, and the first rom-com I’ve ever read where the heroine is more observant than I am. Shout-out to Shertok for getting a little steamy feel into a book where the heroine literally does not touch men. It was also cool to read a romance with an infertile heroine, knowing what this means in the Jewish community.

Kissing Kosher by Jean Meltzer (m/f) - speaking of conditions it was interesting to read about in a fun (and foodie!) romance, this feuding families rom-com is also largely about chronic pain, medical marijuana, and finding intimacy when your body does not seem to be tailor-made for it.

Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman (f/f) - this one’s a shorty, officially classified as a novella, but Glassman packs so much cuteness into this knitting-centric romance, and it’s perpetually $1.99 in ebook, so how can you not check it out?

Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz (m/bi f) - absolutely adored this rom-com starring not one but two Jews of color, which meshes both great tropes of second chance and enemies-to-lovers. And ohhh did it take me back to summer camp hookups, my lord.

A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee (trans m/pan f) - probably the heaviest of the bunch in subject matter, as both protagonists struggle(d) with addiction and being ousted from their homes, this one’s just so lovely in its honesty and care and the way it looks at Orthodox Judaism from different angles. I’ll admit that when I saw that the heroine was “ex-Orthodox,” I got a little nervous about what that portrayal would look like, but I should’ve known Lee would handle it beautifully. This one’s also sexy (and a little taboo, but very little - do not skip this one over professor/student not being your thing) and fun and will definitely resonate a lot with some readers. (I think this is also the only interfaith book on the list, too, now that I think about it.)

Note: I wrote about the last two as part of my monthly queer romance column for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, too.

Also, most of these are m/f, even the queer ones, but if you’re looking for more queer Jewish romances, check out KD Casey’s Unwritten Rules series (m/m), Season of Love by Helena Greer (f/f), and Roz Alexander’s Hot for the Holidays series (f/f)!