Rating: 5 🌈⛄️
The wonderful Kim Fielding is at it again this holiday season with the absolutely wonderful new story Dreidels & Do Overs. It’s a true heartwarminer of a holiday contemporary romance that landed itself in my top ten books this year with its unconventional characters and lovely, gentle love story.
It’s not as often that we get a romance that is focused around Jewish men and their religion, and does so authentically. Then encapsulates so many potentially problematic issues as we might expect a angst filled story.
Instead, Fielding proceeds to deliver a realistic, believable, moving story of reconnection,redemption belief in oneself, self discovery, and love.
The heart of every Fielding story remains her characters. It’s the same here. Caleb Stern, a janitor working a holiday craft fair, is a man we slowly we get know. His history and current living situation will reveal itself in bits and pieces, through conversations with his boss and with Jasper Adams, a man who knew him years ago in high school. Caleb is such an amazing person, a bit worn, hesitant, and yet courageous in a quiet way. I loved him.
Jasper Adams also is in many ways a quintessential Fielding personality. He’s someone who’s reevaluated his life choices and struck out on what most people would call a different, even lesser path. Jasper’s not got a ripped body, he feels a bit self conscious about that, but he loves what he does and is content that he’s happy in his new choice of careers. And when a chance to connect with a person he had a crush on years ago appears, he takes a chance on that too. And the man.
Fold two lovely lonely men together at Hanukkah and you have a beautiful story for the holidays.
It’s perfect Fielding and one I’m highly recommending.
Happy Holidays!
https://www.goodreads.com › showDreidels & Do-Overs by Kim Fielding – Goodreads
Synopsis:
Caleb Stern was the high school hotshot, but a bad attitude and poor decisions led to years of misery. Now he’s trying to do better, and a job on the cleaning crew at a holiday craft fair could be a new beginning. What he didn’t expect was that his new start might be tangled up with ties from long ago.
Jasper Adams left an unfulfilling career and unsupportive boyfriend to follow his dreams. His handmade journals are a big success at the craft fair, which is great, but the real holiday miracle turns out to be a blast from his past.
Hanukkah nears, and both men yearn for holiday happiness. But moving forward often means first making peace with where you’ve been.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 