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I can’t remember what made me request an arc for Thank You For Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz. I think I was looking for September debut book releases and stumbled across this cute cover.
“This book wrapped a fist around my heart and refused to let go.”
—Rachel Lynn Solomon, bestselling author of The Ex Talk
About The Book 📚
Title: Thank you for Sharing
Author: Rachel Runya Katz
Publication Date: September 2023
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: New Adult, Own Voices, Romance, LGBTQIA+
Pages: 352
Content Warnings: grief, racism, profanity, sexual content, alcohol, drugs, death of a parent (talked about), rape (talked about)
R Contains profanity, violence, drug use, or nudity.
About The Author
“Rachel Runya Katz (she/they) is a contemporary romance writer living in Seattle with her partner, their cat, and far too many houseplants.
She has a PhD in biomedical engineering, which is minimally helpful for this endeavor. Her books center queer Jews of color and their layered lives of joy, sadness, and love.”
https://www.rachelrunyakatz.com/about
My Review
“She’s hated him since they were kids.
He’s missed her just as long.“
› There is a note at the front of the book that says: “Some of the thematic content in Thank You for Sharing contains discussions of sexual assault and the death of a parent; neither event occurs on the page. For more information, please visit the author’s website.” I love it when a book includes content warnings like this.
› Lucky for Liyah she managed to make her flight on time so she could find herself sitting next to Daniel.
› Daniel’s love life has been nonexistent for a while, and it might be time to “get back on the horse”. As he’s checking out the woman next to him he realizes he recognizes her face – this is the same “Leah” from summer camp when he was thirteen years old. They had a huge argument and every summer he planned his apology, but she never returned to camp.
› After an incredibly awkward flight, they both move on with their lives thinking they’ll never see each other again.
› Daniel made the mistake of telling his best friend Jordan, “a true romantic”, all about Liyah – aka the woman from the airplane. It’s been a month since Daniel and Liyah’s flight and Jordan hasn’t stopped asking if Daniel plans on trying to contact her. Liyah’s best friend, Neen, is also encouraging her to start dating again.
› Liyah studied biological anthropology at Northwestern and now works at the Burke Museum with plans to become head curator by 30. Siobhan is one of the museum’s graphic designers. They’ve been putting in many hours together creating a presentation for the exhibit Liyah would like to create at the museum. She wants to “tell a broader story of human evolution…not just the nuts and bolts of natural selection, but the greater intricacies of the development of traits that we view as especially key to our humanity.”
› Her boss, Jeff, loves the idea but needs a more thorough plan to take to the board because they’ll need extra funds to pull this off. The museum needs to attract more young adults. He makes a plan for Liyah to work with the marketing guy that the board hired to create a promotion package.
Guess who the marketing guy is….yup…Daniel.
“Why are you even here?” she asks
“I’m meeting someone for work,” he says
“I’m meeting someone for work,” she says
HAHAHA. Ya…each other!
Daniel doesn’t want to walk away from the project because he really wants to impress his bosses. Liyah is in the same boat. So, they have to figure out a way to put the past behind them and create an epic promo package for the museum board.
Aliyah and Daniel invite Jordan and Siobhan to a speakeasy called “The Prohibition” and the four of them create the Speakeasy Survival Club support group. As a joke, they keep meeting minutes and have some rules:
1. Meet: Friday nights at Prohibition
2. Anything said here stays here
3. No toxic masculinity
4. Liyah and Daniel will explain Hebrew and Yiddish phrases to the uninitiated
5. Siobhan must explain Gaelic words and Irish slang
6. Jordan may reference his charm no more than once per meeting
7. No more than one round of tequila shots
8. Daniel and Jordan may not talk about any sports team’s chances prior to the start of the season
9. A Friend of a club member is a friend of the club
10. Liyah must explain anthropological terms so that the rest of us can follow along with her work updates
› Liyah and Daniel get to know each other again as they work together on the promotion package and we get to learn about what happened at summer camp, and what happened to Liyah that makes her determined to not have a serious relationship.
› I rate reviews similar to the CAWPILE method because to me this feels like a consistent manner to rate books. I don’t give a 0 rating for anything.
1-4 Fail
5 Mediocre (pass)
6-7 (C: Good)
8-9 (B: Really good)
10 (A: Outstanding)
› Characters: 9
I found Liyah to be unlikeable and I don’t think she’s meant to be…I didn’t see her character growth. Some of Daniel’s behaviour gives me the ick. Honestly, most of the characters are immature and selfish. Neen is my favourite character. I love that Liyah has come to love her curvy body after struggling as a teenager. As a curvy woman myself, I can relate. My little Anthropology-Degree-Heart loved every time Liyah talked about her work. The Speakeasy Survival Club support group is my favourite aspect of the story.
› Atmosphere: 6
I wanted more description of the setting and world-building.
› Writing Style: 6
I like the writing style, readability, dialogue and point of view, but I wanted more “showing” instead of “telling”. I also didn’t like strange wording like “colonialism mumbo jumbo” and whimpering while kissing (so corny). I found it odd to list holidays, but not in order and I didn’t like the use of etc. (so weird to see this in a work of fiction).
› Plot: 8
Good beginning and middle. Definitely a page-turner. However, for me it was anticlimactic.
› Intrigue: 6
I wanted to keep reading but didn’t really care about the characters.
› Logic: 6
There were quite a few times when I felt myself pulled out of the story due to things like every single character being described as beautiful or hot and sexy. It’s strange that Liyah didn’t know her roommate’s name. There were times when characters laughed and I didn’t think it was funny at all. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the underground water exhibit in particular caused many eye rolls for me.
“Dee-Dubs, your beer is getting warm!” Then keeps it in the fridge until he’s ready!
› Enjoyment: 6
This was just okay for me. It made me smile a few times, but I didn’t feel much of anything. The best part for me was all of the anthropology aspects and learning many Jewish words and traditions.
Average 6.7
1 – 4.9 = ★
5 – 6.1 = ★★
6.2 – 7.5 = ★★★
7.6 – 8.9 = ★★★★
9+ = ★★★★★
My Rating ★★★
Average Story Graph Rating 4.05
Average Goodreads Rating 3.92
71% of Goodreads reviewers gave Thank You For Sharing 4 or 5 stars, so I am in the minority giving it three stars.
› Final Thoughts
• Thank You For Sharing is a sexy and entertaining enemies-to-lovers story about friends, fate, and love. I recommend this book to romance readers.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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