Match Me If You Can

Title: Match Me If You Can
Author: Heidi Shertok
Published: October 30, 2025 by Embla Books
Format: Kindle, 416 Pages
Genre: Romance
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: For five years Ashira Wernick has thrown herself into the company her mother built, continuing her work as a matchmaker in the Orthodox Jewish community. But when a small (read: huge) faux pas lands her in hot water with one of the most powerful families in Brooklyn, Ashira's future starts to look a little shaky.

Now, her only hope of saving her mother's legacy is to make the match of the century and she has just the person in mind: New York City's most eligible (and eternally single) bachelor, Caleb Kahn. Her older brother's best friend, and the man she is determined to keep her distance from.

As each match goes from bad to worse, with Caleb seemingly intent on sabotaging every date she sets up, Ashira will need to take a more hands-on approach if she is going to repair her damaged reputation. She just never figured that her heart would be on the line too.

My Opinion: I’ll admit, I was a little nervous going into Match Me If You Can. Heidi Shertok’s debut, Unorthodox Love, set the bar high, and we all know that second books don’t always capture the same magic. But this one? It absolutely delivered.

From the very first chapters, the humor sparkles, the banter feels effortless, and the romance is flirty without ever tipping into excess. What really impressed me, though, was how Shertok weaves cultural insight into the story. Without ever feeling heavy handed, she opens a window into the Orthodox Jewish community, showing how tradition, reputation, and personal longing can collide in ways that are both poignant and relatable. I love it when a book teaches me something new while keeping me entertained, and this one did exactly that.

At the heart of the novel is Ashira Wernick, a matchmaker caught between duty and desire. Her professional role demands she help others find love, yet her own heart is drawn to Caleb Kahn, a former Navy SEAL turned CEO, whose past and present make him both intriguing and complicated. Their dynamic plays out against the backdrop of communal expectations, with the friends to lovers trope adding sweetness and tension. Miscommunication, longing, and the fear of repeating past mistakes all swirl together, creating a story that feels both lighthearted and emotionally grounded.

What makes Match Me If You Can shine is its balance. It’s undeniably a romcom, with humor softening the edges of cultural and personal struggles, but it also carries depth. Shertok reminds us that love isn’t just about sparks, it’s about navigating the spaces between tradition and individuality, and finding joy even when life feels like a string of mismatched dates.

In short, this book is witty, heartfelt, and unexpectedly illuminating. It’s the kind of story that makes you laugh, root for the characters, and walk away with a deeper appreciation for the world it portrays.

The Greatest Sentence Ever Written

Title: The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
Author: Walter Isaacson
Published: November 18, 2025, by Simon & Schuster
Format: Kindle, 80 Pages
Genre: Political Science

Blurb: To celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson takes readers on a fascinating deep dive into the creation of one of history’s most powerful “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, this line lays the foundation for the American Dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation.

Isaacson unpacks its genius, word by word, illuminating the then-radical concepts behind it. Readers will gain a fresh appreciation for how it was drafted to inspire unity, equality, and the enduring promise of America. With clarity and insight, he reveals not just the power of these words but describes how, in these polarized times, we can use them to restore an appreciation for our common values.

My Opinion: Don’t let this short book mislead you. The Greatest Sentence Ever Written is not something to be read in one quick sitting. This book is where rabbit holes begin. I thought I’d finish it quickly, but every couple of pages, I was off to Google, chasing down people, places, etymology, and context. What was happening at the time? Why was a certain word chosen? By the end, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my English and history education had skimmed far too lightly over these layers.

This book could easily serve as the jumping off point for a college course. I can imagine the classroom discourse: tracing where we started, where we ended, and how hypocrisy, reasoning, and resolution keep circling back. The more we change, the more we stay the same.

The chapter on Jefferson’s “Original Rough Draught” stopped me cold. I kept wondering how differently our Supreme Court might have ruled if those words had been the foundation. And then the final chapter — “The Declaration of Independence, in Congress, July 4, 1776” — felt almost surreal, like stepping into a Twilight Zone episode.

This isn’t a book to read once and shelve. It’s one to keep close, to pull down every few months, and to revisit as a reminder of where our country began. Even 250 years later, tyranny is still a battle we can’t ease up on. Isaacson doesn’t just illuminate a document; he shows how words can shape centuries.

Valleys, Vehicles & Victims

Title: Valleys, Vehicles & Victims
Author: Tonya Kappes
Published: December 1, 2023 by Tonya Kappes Books
Format: Audiobook, 268 Pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Camper & Criminals #9

Blurb: The Daniel Boone National Forest is gorgeous in the fall. The leaves have painted the sides of the mountains with yellow, oranges, reds and browns you won't see anywhere else. That's why it's such a popular destination for weddings!

When a wedding party show up at Happy Trails Campground, Mae West is thrilled. She's all things girly and excited to assist the bride in all things southern, which is what the bride is hankering for.

Mae recognizes the parents of the bride when they arrive. They are from her past. The past she's been desperately trying to escape...especially since it was the time she was married to Paul West. This just isn't any couple, it's the owners of the famous Moonbucks Coffee Company.

Determined to get the happy couple married off and on their way, hoping to see some of her past drive off forever, Mae volunteers herself and the Laundry Club ladies to become the wedding coordinators.

The wedding is set to take place in the beautiful wedding barn at the Old Train Station Motel, only Gert Hobson, the owner of Trails Coffee Shop and providing the coffee for the happy couple, has decided there's no way she's going to help out with Tom Moon's daughter's wedding since she claims how years ago Tom Moon STOLE her coffee blend recipe known today as the special Moonbucks blend.

A public fight between Gert and Tom leaves Gert a prime suspect after a member of the wedding party is found dead at the wedding venue. There might not be a happily ever after for the bride to be or Gert Hobson if Mae West and the Laundry Club ladies don't solve the murder before the wedding party's RV rolls out of town.

My Opinion: This series always finds a way to turn everyday events in Normal into something unforgettable, and Valleys, Vehicles & Victims is no different. What should’ve been a simple wedding at Happy Trails Campground quickly turns complicated when Mae realizes she knows the bride’s parents and not in a “oh, small world” kind of way. Their arrival drags up a past she’d rather leave buried, especially since they’re the powerhouse behind Moonbucks Coffee.

The real strain, though, comes from Gert Hobson. She’s proud of her Trails Coffee Shop, but imagine discovering you’re serving coffee to the man who stole your recipe and built an empire off it. When Tom Moon ends up dead, all eyes swing toward Gert, and suddenly the wedding feels more like a crime scene.

From there, the story takes off with family drama, a will that stirs up more trouble than it settles, and Mae once again putting herself in danger despite Hank’s heartfelt plea for her to step back. That push-and-pull between Mae’s determination and Hank’s protectiveness adds a layer of emotion that keeps you invested beyond the mystery itself.

What I love most is how Tonya Kappes balances the suspense with humor and warmth. The pacing keeps you hooked, but it’s the southern charm and quirky characters that make you feel like you’re right there in Normal, sipping coffee and watching the chaos unfold.

The Raven Scholar

Title: The Raven Scholar
Author: Antonia Hodgson
Published: April 15, 2025, by Orbit
Format: Kindle, 667 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Eternal Path Trilogy #1

Blurb: Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered. We know who did it. We saw it happen. No one else did.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

If she succeeds, she will win the throne. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.

We are the Raven, and we are magnificent.

My Opinion: There must be an unwritten rule that fantasy novels must cross the 600-page mark, whether they should or not, and The Raven Scholar certainly fits the bill. It begins at a crawl, the kind of slow start that tests your patience, but then surges into waves of momentum where I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, only to ebb again into stretches that felt repetitive. It’s a rhythm of feast and famine, and you have to be willing to ride it out.

The main female character is written as thirty years old, though she often reads much younger, which occasionally pulled me out of the story. Still, the unpredictability of the plot kept me engaged. Just when I thought, “this is getting boring,” the narrative would pivot with a sharp, “oh, didn’t see that coming,” and that push and pull became part of the book’s charm.

What truly saved the experience for me was the humor. Hodgson threads witty banter through the darker themes, and it’s that levity that kept me invested when the imperial intrigue and deadly competition threatened to overwhelm.

The novel explores power, identity, betrayal, and transformation against a backdrop of richly imagined politics, divine factions, and mythic structures. All the familiar high fantasy elements are here: corruption, loyalty, fate, free will, class divides; yet, Hodgson doesn’t just recycle tropes. She twists them, layering the narrative with unexpected turns. Trials, chosen ones, court intrigue, even a murder mystery in a fantasy court; these archetypes are reshaped into something fresh. The reluctant hero, sacred animal factions, unusual POV shifts, and the scholar-as-hero themes all add texture to the story.

Instead of claiming it has “something for everyone,” I’d say The Raven Scholar is a book that demands patience and rewards curiosity. Its length means you’ll inevitably stop to question details: “but what about…” or “wait, how does that fit?” and those pauses aren’t wasted. They become part of the experience, pulling you deeper into the world rather than letting you skim along the surface.

And this is only the first in a planned trilogy. Neema and Cain’s paths remain uncertain, Benna clearly has her own designs for Ruko, and I hope that dear sweet Sol brings even more “magnificence” in the volumes to come.