Tuesday, November 30, 2021

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Matzah Ball; Jean Meltzer


 

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book ReviewsEach week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book we are reading or plan to read soon.  It's time to begin some holiday reads - I hope to read at least (4) this December.  Do you like to indulge in a few holiday reads every year?

The Matzah Ball; Jean Meltzer
Mira - 2021

1.

She needed one more.

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt stared at the collection of miniature Christmas figurines spread across her desk.  She owned 236 of the smiling porcelain Santas from the world famous  Holiday Dreams Collection.  When her best friend, Mickey, arrived, she would complete that collection with the coveted Margaritaville Santa.

Oh, The Margaritaville Santa. How she dreamed of the day that a tiny porcelain Santa, in a Hawaiian shirt and wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses would sit atop her prized collection.

Rachel had scoured eBay for the tiny limited-edition figurine, set up price alerts and left frantic (somewhat drunken) posts at three in the morning on collectors blogs.  Now, after six years, five months and seven days of hunting, the Margaritaville Santa would finally be hers.  The anxiety was killing her.

What do you think, read more or pass?

20 comments:

  1. I'd read more the tiny Santa with a Hawaiian short and Ray- Bans made me smile. :)

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  2. I'm not much into holiday reads, but I admit Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt collecting Santa figurines sounds like a twist.

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    1. Jen, I understand - something about this seem like a fun read to me - we shall see.

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  3. I love collecting things, and can feel the anticipation of it from reading this excerpt. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I bet a collector would enjoy this one although I'm not sure how big a part that plays in the overall story.

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  4. I'd read more, will look to check out the reviews.

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  5. It might be a good holiday read, if that's what a reader wants. That's not really my thing.

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    1. I get that Dorothy, I can't take the predicable ones that ends in meeting "Mr. Perfect." LOL

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  6. A Margaritaville Santa! That's hilarious. :D

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  7. I just finished this one and really enjoyed it.

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    1. Sadly, a DNF for me - I just was not enjoying it and I thought I might as my husband is Jewish so much of the tradition is familiar to me.

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  8. I got caught up in the collection of Santas - especially the Margaritaville one. Sounds very entertaining! I do like the sound of this book and I hope you enjoy it!

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    1. Katherine, I thought it would be but, I wasn't connecting and it became a DNF.

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  9. Very clever intro that will hook most readers who also suffer from having that "completist" collector's gene in their own DNA. It sounds like a cozy that would not keep me hooked for the duration, but I'd most definitely read on for a while just based on the shared bit.

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    1. Sam, the collector aspect was cute but, sadly I marked it as DNF as it was too put there at times.

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