Marry Me by Midnight

I really, really wanted to love this book. A gender-flipped Cinderella romance set in a Jewish community that gets all of the subtle nuances right about my religion/culture should have been a home run.

But sadly, my reaction was lukewarm at best. Grossman's dense prose makes for a slow read, and the MCs' respective “she's too good for me”/”I can't afford to marry for love” tropes are repeated ad nauseum. Aaron's characterization is inconsistent; he's both a downtrodden schlemiel who is reduced to serving as the synagogue's janitor and a sexually experienced charmer whose witty repartee is incompatible with his humble reputation. Isabelle is unbelievably perfect: a beautiful, tough-as-nails, Machiavelli-quoting businesswoman with a 21st century sex positive attitude and expertise in swordplay (sure, why not throw that in, even if it's irrelevant to the plot?).

Isabelle hires Aaron to spy on her prospective bridegrooms, but the fact that he barely accomplishes anything is never addressed; the task is just an excuse to get them in the same room so they can banter, flirt, and eventually make love (I never want to see the words "Please suck my shmekle" on page ever again). I realize this is supposed to be a fairytale, complete with Fairy Godmother, but then why include sobering reminders about 19th century English Jews' ever-present fear of persecution or expulsion?

I hope this book finds great success, because we need more tradpub romances with Jewish MCs. But I feel like I “took one for the team” instead of really enjoying the book.