Unorthodox Love

By: Heidi Shertok

Narrated by: Caitlin Thorburn

Twenty-nine-year-old Penina longs for true love and marriage, but being infertile in the Orthodox Jewish community means she’s rarely matched with the cream of the crop—or even skim milk two weeks past its expiration date. Matchmakers either set her up with men twice her age or those with serious mommy issues. At this point, she might as well wear a sign around her neck that says “professional virgin.”

As if things weren’t bad enough, her sister Libby then shares a terrible secret: her husband’s failed businesses have already put strain on their marriage, and now they might also lose their family home. Penina is desperate to help, so when a secretly gay Orthodox Jew offers a payout in exchange for a fake marriage, it feels like kismet. Who needs true love anyway?

Enter Sam Kleinfeld: rude, secular, undeniably sexy, and also…Penina’s new boss. The last thing he wants is a relationship, especially not with a beautiful, smart-mouthed employee. But soon an attraction builds that they both can’t ignore. Will Penina follow her heart and find true love, or will she stick to the traditions she knows best?

©2023 Heidi Shertok (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Sweet romance

A lot of situations where you have to suspend disbelief. Nonetheless it was a sweet, cute, romantic comedy which I enjoyed.

Cute love story.

The narrator was terrible. Both the English *and* Hebrew/Yiddish words were mispronounced. It would be much better if it were read by someone more familiar with the culture.

It was an entertaining listen.

I really wish that the reader was instructed on how to read Hebrew and Yiddish words. The pronunciations were ... not good. And the supposedly Israeli accent was even worse.

Very sweet story

A happy love story with modern, orthodox characters. I liked that they were complex characters, facing modern issues. If you are looking for a happy story that is an easy read, this is a good one. My only complaint is the reader mispronounced many Jewish and Hebrew words incorrectly. Nothing major but … knish as “Nish”? No. Otherwise a fun, easy read.

Fun story, meh narration

I enjoyed the story but wish I had read it instead of listened to it. The narrator mispronounced words regularly, especially Hebrew and Yiddish words. That was very annoying and made me feel like she didn’t care enough to do research about her subject matter.