How to Excavate a Heart

Product Information

It also contained instances of (past) sexual assault and a controlling/abusive relationship, and that was one of the things that were well done.

In the end, if you want a cute and sweet YA sapphic holiday romance, that stays mostly on the surface, and doesn’t dig too deep, this might be the book for you. While I found that I could not get into the romance, as it didn’t feel deep enough for me, it is explained later in the book why it was done that way, so I found other scenes I enjoyed more. I think the museum scenes were my favorite parts, and clearly done with the author’s love, and they reminded me how much I miss them since I haven’t seen any since the pandemic hit. I also fell in love with one of the cutest dogs ever. This wasn’t the book I was looking for, but it still had some nice moments and I expect that readers looking for a sweet YA holiday romance will enjoy this more than I did. Add that to the fact that I did not care for May's character at all. She seems rude and insulting to Shani and apparently to everyone else. Her relationship with her dad is sort of magically fast-forward resolved and the conflicts seem a bit artificial because literally all that is needed is communication of any kind. The primary character arc as I saw it was about Shani learning to be her own person, independent of a best friend or girlfriend, but this is glossed over in the resolution as well so I'm not sure what the takeaway was. The Year My Life Went down the toilet is queer, Jewish, and chronically ill--three things I never thought I'd be able to combine in a book. Actually, pathetic doesn’t even begin to describe Shani. The reason she is not with her mother for the holiday season (which a major point of conflict throughout the book) is because she is so desperate to follow through on her internship. The book tells us again and again that Shani is ultra, super passionate about palaeontology. That being said, the moment her romance with May begins to develop, Shani stops caring about her internship. It gets so bad and she becomes so distracted by this fledgling romance that throws priceless, scientifically ground-breaking fossils in the bin. Kelly Quindlen meets Casey McQuiston in this sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas enemies-to-lovers rom-com, as college freshman Shani’s internship is interrupted by a whirlwind winter fling.I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃ I'm always less invested in stories where we skip from people antagonistic towards each other to suddenly hanging out and flirting and there's no journey about how we got here. It significantly reduces my investment and enjoyment in a relationship and that's what happened here. We go from Shani's mom nearly mowing down May to May shutting the door on Shani's face to suddenly hanging out at art galleries and 100% falling for each other and I feel like I missed something. There are several side characters from Beatrice, the 96-year-old, that Shani is staying with to Taylor, Shani’s best friend. They helped with bringing other parts of Shani’s personality out that wasn’t always shown with her inner dialogue’s. Raphael, the corgi Shani dog walks, was a very pleasant bonus. As a dog lover, I thought his scenes added to the light-heartedness to the story.

I do admittedly feel like I have broken some sort of law by reading a book pitched as “if a Hallmark movie starred sexually frustrated lesbian Jews” and that was originally titled “Winter Break” on a very hot and humid August day, but honestly I’m glad I did because now I can confidently say that you all need to add this to your winter TBRs. There's a way to write trauma-related outbursts, sexual assault storyline’s and relationship issues, but this isn't it. I don't believe the storyline or its ramifications were well executed at all. Sexual assault is hard to write about and have conversations about in general, but even more so when the book is attempting to be a feel-good, lighthearted teenage romance and keeping everything surface level. It really does a disservice to such an important topic. If you’re going to include healing from sexual abuse trauma in a romance novel, introducing this facet of the characters experiences must happen prior to the 80% mark and can���t be used as a pseudo plot-twist.(Note: While the book references Shani’s discomfort over being sexually intimate a few times, it only reveals the reason behind this quite late into the book.) While this is definitely a rom-com, it also doesn’t shy away from covering heavy topics, especially in regards to Shani’s ex-girlfriend. The discussion around Shani’s discomfort with sex following Sadie sexually assaulting her was handled very well, and I loved that 1) both Jake Maia Arlow and Shani herself drew a clear line between someone not being comfortable with sex due to trauma and asexuality, as Shani is the former and not the latter and 2) that the book did not end with Shani miraculously overcoming her trauma and having sex with May and instead with the two of them agreeing to take it slow. I can foresee some people possibly having problems with the way that the third-act breakup plays out and how it ties into Shani’s past assault, but I think it felt like a realistic response to trauma as opposed to using sexual assault as a plot device. I also love that this is a YA book that centers on college freshman but is still very much appropriate for a teen audience—the college experience is not really central to the book since it takes place during Shani’s internship during winter break, but the element of being alone (especially during a time of year where family is seen as the central focus) is very much there. Also I forgot to mention this in my original review since I wrote it uh. very late at night but this was also SO funny at times. Genuinely some of the most realistic texting (especially the Beep Beep Scene; you'll know it when you get there) that managed to be funny and also feel like actual texting conversations I'd have with my friends. Full disclosure, close to the end there was a triggering part so I skimmed past that. I had recently read RUMOR GAMES and had to DNF close to the end for a similar reason and just didn't want to do it again. So do be aware of trigger warnings before going into this (the author also provides trigger warnings.) This was very enjoyable and it was nice to have a holiday romance that doesn’t revolve around Christmas. Shani and May are both Jewish and I liked how that made it just different enough to notice. I highly recommend this to fans of YA and winter holiday rom-coms.

I love it for being a sapphic Jewish holiday romance, but the actual execution was middling to low. This is my second middle grade novel, and the first one with chronically ill characters. The entire main cast is both queer and chronically ill (they all have IBD). I was diagnosed with Crohn's when I w Keep your friends close and the bathroom closer. Stars. This was a very cute holiday romance, but it wasn’t what I was expecting to read. I’ll go into the whys more but overall; I still thought the story was very sweet and cute and I enjoyed the read for the most part. The holidays don’t play as big of a role as I expected, and in the book the characters celebrate New Years so reading the book now, as of writing this review, would fit perfectly. Ultimately, I’m really disappointed with this book. It had so much potential to be a great sapphic, Jewish romance that pushes against stereotypes and tells a nuanced story of growing up, becoming independent and uncovering who you are outside the pretences of relationships. Sadly, it wasn’t even close to that. I really wish I could give this a higher rating, but due to the insensitive and needless portray of sexual assault, I really don’t feel comfortable giving this anything higher.

Frankly, Shani is one of the worst —if not The Worst— protagonists I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading about. Not only is this girl utterly foul to her mother, she’s incredibly selfish, small-minded and pathetic. To be completely honest, this book is not good. I’ve become accustomed to a lot of heterosexual adult romances being pretty poorly written — after reading ‘The Spanish Love Deception’, the ‘Bromance Bookclub’ and snippets of Colleen Hoover’s novels (among others), I’m generally more surprised when a straight romance novel is actually well written. Well written romances, I previously believed, were reserved for the sapphics. Every other character in this book has no merit; there are so many side characters that don’t need to be here. There’s entire scenes which involve this acne-riddled teenage barista boy who keeps flirting for Shani which does nothing for the narrative. Nobody is likeable. The characters are so unimportant to the novel that I can’t even recall the name of the best friend character, which is ironic given Shani’s propensity to also forget her existence whenever she’s in a relationship. Thank you to Kismet Books for the arc! If you’re a book lover in Wisconsin, pop over to Verona to give them a visit!

Shani Levine has just been dumped when her winter break starts and she is about to begin her month-long internship at the Smithsonian. She’s decided to keep her head down and concentrate on her internship when she quite literally runs into May. She meets May again when she takes a dog-walking gig and May happens to be the dog owner’s daughter. The two have a strong dislike for one another but it isn’t long before their feelings start to change. Stonewall Honor author Jake Maia Arlow delivers a sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas rom-com in a read perfect for fans of Kelly Quindlen and Casey McQuiston.

Attempted vehicular manslaughter was not part of Shani’s plan. She was supposed to be focusing on her monthlong paleoichthyology internship. She was going to spend all her time thinking about dead fish and not at all about how she was unceremoniously dumped days before winter break.Seemingly an unpopular opinion but I thought this one was just fine, which is reflected in my rating. how to excavate a heart was such a lovely book with amazing winter vibes!! the characters were so awesome and relatable which i loved!! i especially loved beatrice - she so sweet and precious and i was upset at the end when she had to go to the hospital, but i'm so glad she was alright! the representation was also great :) If Shani’s trauma had been a key component of the story and her journey to dealing with her trauma was a main plot point of the book then perhaps my rating would be different. Instead, sexual assault is used in ‘How to Excavate a Heart’ as a ungraceful, forced conflict between Shani and various other characters and never gets properly discussed. Only once is the experience actually called sexual assault and, again, this happens very late into the book. The treatment of the topic in this book really made me question whether or not sensitivity readers were brought in to give notes on the representation of sexual assault. I truly cannot conceive of how this ham-fisted inclusion made it into a traditionally published novel.