My other issue is that this was promoted as an enemies to lovers, romcom. I’m a big fan of the enemies to lovers trope. I love when there is dislike to even hate energy between two characters that can produce its own type of chemistry that when done well makes a great love chemistry. Unfortunately, here this was not a case of enemies, it was not even really a case of dislike. I don’t want to ruin how the characters meet, as it is interesting and I liked it, but it’s not a case of bad blood, just oddity and fate playing around. There are no enemies to lovers in this romcom and I hate to say this, but this isn’t really a romcom either. Just because a romance is cute and mostly feel good, does not a romcom make. I feel like people slap this label on everything nowadays, but the “com” part actually means “comedy” and I’m sorry, but I did not laugh once during this book so where is the comedy part? It was cute and sweet, but that means it is a “holiday romance” not an “enemies to lovers romcom”. This is a book that heavily features bodies, poop, and anxiety relating to those things. If you are sensitive to those topics, please take note and care. now, to the actual story. it was a solid character study/coming of age with a side of romance YA book with some good rep and topics that aren't explored as often, that i've seen at least, in some ficton. namely a spoiler but also a heads up for, cw: sexual assault queer women assaulting other queer women, which is def important to talk abt, it happens, and in a lot of ways, i appreciated how this story showd shani dealing with what happened with sadie and how everyone in her life helped her when they found out. My last straw was when she's thinking "I should confess this thing to May. This is the time to confess my thing. It's going to be bad if this thing comes out later, I should tell her." And she doesn't ever tell her the thing. At that point, I'm all "why am I bothering with this person who can't make a good choice to save her life?" Every time a thing is hard, she blows it. Morality is about when it's hard. The things you'd do anyway? Those aren't to your credit. And Shani never once passed that test. Frankly I could just write “there is a corgi who wears booties” as the review and that would justify the rating, but I figure since this is an arc review I ought to give a bit more.

How to Excavate a Heart’ has certainly proved that hypothesis wrong. Good news: publishers are now also releasing poorly written sapphic romances; goodbye homophobia! Equality is now! Seemingly an unpopular opinion but I thought this one was just fine, which is reflected in my rating. 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.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.

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. Representation of queer women who are sexually assaulted by other queer women is important because it’s a topic that’s scarcely spoken of. However, ‘How to Excavate a Heart ‘ does not deal with this issue in a mature, nuanced or sensitive manner at all. If anything, it felt little more like a means to an end, a plot point to be whipped out at the very end to excuse the main character’s bad personality and then brushed over. As this is YA, I do want to bring attention to the trigger warning. It’s there for sexual assault so beware of that before reading this. How to Excavate a Heart” by Jake Maia Arlow is a super sweet enemies-to-lovers rom-com set around the winter holidays.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.

Throughout the book, the author also delves into many complex relationships. We see Shani’s interactions with her mom, who she fights with but still loves, with her ex, who left her with lingering trauma in the aftermath of their breakup, and with May, as their relationship develops and they learn to communicate. These dynamics reveal more of Shani’s personality and bring even more complexity to the story. ❀ Diverse Holiday Read It also contained instances of (past) sexual assault and a controlling/abusive relationship, and that was one of the things that were well done. 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 was the same age as Al, our protagonist. I didn't have other people to talk to about my disease, and it felt embarrassing to have a chronic illness based almost entirely around the toilet. This was a super cute holiday read, but I think it's also a solid read for anytime of year really! It's cute but goes a lot deeper too. It has a lot of cute and fun festive elements (also featuring lots of Jewish representation!) but it has a lot of merit outside of that as well. The main character is really interested in archeology which was a fun element. The main character Shani has a lot of struggles with relationships that I think many would find relatable. She carries trauma from her past girlfriend and watching her development as she worked through that was something I really appreciated. Shani also kind of starts to lose sight of what she personally wants because she gets a bit girl crazy, but I liked that it was portrayed as something she has to work through if that makes sense. hmm, okay. this is probably pretty solidly in the 3.5 stars camp, for me. overall, i would rec it, but it wasn't quite what i thought it was going to be? i think the 'enemies to lovers' isn't rlly accurate despite the way the main characters meet, it didn't rlly feel like it fits that trope. equally, i don't think this is a romcom. it's not rlly funny, it's def more of a character study/coming of age. a romance≠romcom, and i feel like a lot of marketing (esp with the more mainstream publishers) seem to just slap romcom onto anything with romance. i was also under the impression (based on the characters being freshmen in college) that this was more NA and less YA, so i had to adjust my expecations abt what the book was, a little. i think if those things were a little more upfront in the marketing, then i would have enjoyed it a little more, just bc there were adjustments being made while reading.oh my goodness, such cozy warmth! this book has a perfect heartbreaky romancey holiday flavor, lots of funny cuteness, and plenty of deep coming-of-age stuff. 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. 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. 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.

I am a hater of Hallmark movies. This is somewhat surprising since I do all around like the holiday season, unironically celebrate Festivus, and never fail to fall into a rut when it’s over for the year. As it turns out, the solution to my dislike for Hallmark movies is for them to star lesbians. There’s no shortage of sapphic rom-coms coming out this year that center on Hanukkah, Christmas, and/or the general month of December, and if this is the quality that all of them will be, then I welcome the seemingly sudden prominence of the sub-genre. 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. ❃ 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.I love it for being a sapphic Jewish holiday romance, but the actual execution was middling to low. 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! 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. Shani is a relatable main character, and I loved her voice. She has just finished her first semester of university, and the author does can excellent job capturing all the feelings of starting this new phase of one’s life. What I especially enjoyed about Shani is the way she makes mistakes as she navigates all the changes in her life. This makes her realistic, and through some of her messier moments, she is able to grow. ❀ Complex Relationships 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.