Meteors and Menorahs

'Victimhood fueled religion like nothing else.'

Greetings Readers! Welcome to Meteors and Menorahs, the semi-sci-fi, contemporary, family drama, romance novel by Nessa Claugh. I received an ARC of Meteors and Menorahs in exchange for an honest review. The release date is November 15, 2021, on Amazon. Check it out.

Enjoy Meteors and Menorahs!! Thank you Nessa for the ARC!!

Goodreads' Blurb

Knar has been studying the physiology of humans for years in preparation to introduce Earth to the rest of the galaxy and present them as a species that can adapt to change well. Although he believes in his mission, he’s also had his eye on his coworker Leah, and her invitation to come home with her for the holidays is just the opportunity he’s been looking for.

Going home for Hanukkah is normally the least of Leah’s worries until her mom lets it slip that her dad invited her ex-boyfriend. Desperate to keep him at arm’s length, Leah invites her handsome coworker Kenneth Knar to be a buffer against her family. Having to pretend he’s her new boyfriend doesn’t hurt, and if it annoys her parents, all the better.

He just has to find some way to tell her that he’s more than just a gentile. He’s not even from this planet. And Leah hates liars.

The menorah isn’t the only thing getting hot this holiday season…

This book was a first for me. I've never read anything heavy in religion because I for one don't understand most religions. Not that they're wrong or weird or anything. It's just I'm not religous and I don't know anyone who is. So, I don't know how to understand the difficult or complex aspects of diverse religions. The rules, social constructs, and interpertations usually fly over my head. Ignorance is my BFF when it comes to religion. I'm in no way shape or form excusing my lack of knowledge but religious conversations can get defensive and confusing, so I usually stand clear. Like I'm in Jersey and religion is on Venus! But, I was pleasantly surprised with Meteor and Menorahs. Nessa carefully explained Judaism in a way that wasn't difficult to understand, defensive or that made the religion seem like it's the 'superior' religion. For those that don't know, there is no superior relgion. They're all important and special. Relious equality bitches ;). I enjoyed the history of how people and events came to be and it added substance to the (no disrespect) 'silly' romance. After this book I will definitely be researching religious histories!!!

Book Review

I'm going to jump right in with this one, I didn't love it but I didn't dislike it. Its like the stars on Goodreads, I didn’t rate it a 'I loved it' five star but not a 'I don't like it' one star either. I loved the concept of the storyline. Alien researcher falls for unsuspecting human during Hanukkah in her family home. I adored that his out-this-worldness was brought to light in the beginning of the middle portion of the novel. The maturity of Kenneth when he dealt with insecurity David. LOL. The cute interactions between Kenneth and Leah were adorable and hot at time. By the way, I want to applaud Nessa. There is a scene within the book that is hot but it’s hot from intimacy. No sex, tits, d*cks, sultry eyes, nothing! For those of you that don’t understand it can be extremely difficult to create sexy moments in writings that don’t evolve the key sexual stimuli. A. K. A. the erogenous areas. But Nessa wrote scenes about mundane intimacy that made you swell with excitement. For a scenes that didn’t lead to anything, it was suspicious libidinous (my word of the day ;)

But as we know no matter the highs there are always some lows :(. Leah and me had an interest relationship while reading. I adored her in the beginning but as the story went the chick got on my nerves. The lessons of the past are here to guid us toward better decisions in the future. Not completely halt your from growing at all!! Now I understand that she has to have faults. I told myself dozens of times that a MC with no issues don’t creat good books. But god, why was she like that? She really needs a female supporting character to slap her shit out her body. LOL, the excersiem of Leah’s revolting habits.

This book is not action packed. There are no new characters help spice it up, so after a while my interest deteriorated as I continued. Things became dull only to have what I call a pick up scene to keep me engaged.

*Pick up scene:

An attention grabbing a scene after a stint of dullness to help prolong a reader‘s interest

I also want to remind you that although there are moments of lackluster, overall the novel was funny, cute, and dramatic. I enjoyed Kenneth and Leah‘s family. David was the epitome of a jealous, arrogeant ex. Leah was fun to be around when it didn’t pertain to her issues with David and Kenneth. Meteors and Menorah was an interesting story. It may not be my cup of of tea but this new flavor wasn‘t bad.