I happened across this title, and had to read the synopsis, and a queer trans Jewish ghost story was something I didn’t know I needed in my life until that moment. I knew this was going to be full of drama (who announces their affair at Passover Seder?!) but it’s also so full of emotional nuance.
Ezra grew up as the eldest daughter and he had a lot of those tendencies baked in where he is always trying to fix things for his family and be the emotional sounding board for everyone. Even though he moved away from the family work by becoming a birth doula and yoga instructor, when the queer community center closes for renovations just before his mother announces her affair, he takes up the mantle of taking over her job doing business and accounting side of funeral home while the family is working through their anger, hurt, betrayal, and various other emotions. Complicating Ezra’s feelings is his new neighbor is the son-in-law of the woman Ezra’s mom has been with, and his husband passed away suddenly in a car accident about a year prior, and Jonathan still wears his wedding band. Ezra keeps using the wedding band, and realizing the ghost he keeps seeing is Ben, Jonathan’s deceased husband, as a reason to keep his distance, but as they get closer working on taharah and other parts of the funeral services, neither of them is able to deny their attraction and connection.
There is so much emotional work going on, especially Ezra having to learn to let others help him rather than trying to shoulder everything all the time. There’s also a lot of navigation of grief and how ritual can help with processing and moving forward after death. I loved the community elements, the chosen family, and the sibling dynamics between Ezra, Becca, and Aaron. There was so much that just made the whole reading experience a delight and hard to put down.
I also really loved how Jewish this book was and the different practices they follow and how central that is to the rituals and practices Ezra follows. I learned things about Jewish death practices I wasn’t aware of before, and I really liked how loving and caring it all felt.
There was so much love and care throughout this story and I found it hard to put down. It was just the light, fun book I was looking for with lots of emotional stuff to balance it and keep it feeling real, even as so much was dramatic soap opera worthy. I overall really loved this book and look forward to more from Shelly Jay Shore!