Holiday REVIEW: Dreidle Date- Eliana West

Review By Ulysses Dietz

Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

I admit, this one had water leaking from my eyes in all sorts of ways. It is a Hallmark-level holiday romance, but it’s about the other December holiday, Hanukkah.

Here is the story of Zach Kravitz, a mixed-race Jewish boy, who writes a hugely successful line of graphic novels under a pseudonym. An introvert and bookworm, Zach has spent most of his 28 years remembering his first crush, the big handsome Irish jock named Garrett Fitzgerald who lived on his street.

The key memory is all the Hanukkahs that Garrett spent playing the dreidel game with Zach and all the other Jewish kids in the neighborhood at the Kravitz house.

Zach’s family moved away, and his connection to his friend Garrett faded away by the time he was in college. The crux of the story is Zach’s surprising reconnection with Garrett, and the realization that his crush on Garrett was not in fact one-sided. What these two wise young men do about this realization is corny, but also touching and funny and perfectly in tune with a long story intended as a holiday gift to the reader.

I confess that the Jewish idea of bashert, or soul mate, resonated with this Wasp boy, since 48 years ago I fell in love with a Jewish boy, who brought his big Jewish family into my life and changed the way I saw the world forever. This Hanukkah story is a special treat for a season dedicated to happy thoughts and family.