How to Excavate a Heart” by Jake Maia Arlow is a super sweet enemies-to-lovers rom-com set around the winter holidays. I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. ❃ It also contained instances of (past) sexual assault and a controlling/abusive relationship, and that was one of the things that were well done.

how to excavate a heart was such a lovely book with amazing winter vibes!! the characters were so awesome and relatable which i loved!! i especially loved beatrice - she so sweet and precious and i was upset at the end when she had to go to the hospital, but i'm so glad she was alright! the representation was also great :) Shani Levine has just been dumped when her winter break starts and she is about to begin her month-long internship at the Smithsonian. She’s decided to keep her head down and concentrate on her internship when she quite literally runs into May. She meets May again when she takes a dog-walking gig and May happens to be the dog owner’s daughter. The two have a strong dislike for one another but it isn’t long before their feelings start to change. Stars. This was a very cute holiday romance, but it wasn’t what I was expecting to read. I’ll go into the whys more but overall; I still thought the story was very sweet and cute and I enjoyed the read for the most part. The holidays don’t play as big of a role as I expected, and in the book the characters celebrate New Years so reading the book now, as of writing this review, would fit perfectly.

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In the end, if you want a cute and sweet YA sapphic holiday romance, that stays mostly on the surface, and doesn’t dig too deep, this might be the book for you. While I found that I could not get into the romance, as it didn’t feel deep enough for me, it is explained later in the book why it was done that way, so I found other scenes I enjoyed more. I think the museum scenes were my favorite parts, and clearly done with the author’s love, and they reminded me how much I miss them since I haven’t seen any since the pandemic hit. I also fell in love with one of the cutest dogs ever. This wasn’t the book I was looking for, but it still had some nice moments and I expect that readers looking for a sweet YA holiday romance will enjoy this more than I did. As this is YA, I do want to bring attention to the trigger warning. It’s there for sexual assault so beware of that before reading this. Every other character in this book has no merit; there are so many side characters that don’t need to be here. There’s entire scenes which involve this acne-riddled teenage barista boy who keeps flirting for Shani which does nothing for the narrative. Nobody is likeable. The characters are so unimportant to the novel that I can’t even recall the name of the best friend character, which is ironic given Shani’s propensity to also forget her existence whenever she’s in a relationship. How to Excavate a Heart’ has certainly proved that hypothesis wrong. Good news: publishers are now also releasing poorly written sapphic romances; goodbye homophobia! Equality is now!

Representation of queer women who are sexually assaulted by other queer women is important because it’s a topic that’s scarcely spoken of. However, ‘How to Excavate a Heart ‘ does not deal with this issue in a mature, nuanced or sensitive manner at all. If anything, it felt little more like a means to an end, a plot point to be whipped out at the very end to excuse the main character’s bad personality and then brushed over. While this is definitely a rom-com, it also doesn’t shy away from covering heavy topics, especially in regards to Shani’s ex-girlfriend. The discussion around Shani’s discomfort with sex following Sadie sexually assaulting her was handled very well, and I loved that 1) both Jake Maia Arlow and Shani herself drew a clear line between someone not being comfortable with sex due to trauma and asexuality, as Shani is the former and not the latter and 2) that the book did not end with Shani miraculously overcoming her trauma and having sex with May and instead with the two of them agreeing to take it slow. I can foresee some people possibly having problems with the way that the third-act breakup plays out and how it ties into Shani’s past assault, but I think it felt like a realistic response to trauma as opposed to using sexual assault as a plot device. I also love that this is a YA book that centers on college freshman but is still very much appropriate for a teen audience—the college experience is not really central to the book since it takes place during Shani’s internship during winter break, but the element of being alone (especially during a time of year where family is seen as the central focus) is very much there. Also I forgot to mention this in my original review since I wrote it uh. very late at night but this was also SO funny at times. Genuinely some of the most realistic texting (especially the Beep Beep Scene; you'll know it when you get there) that managed to be funny and also feel like actual texting conversations I'd have with my friends. Another thing that was well done was showcasing two very messy, very stereotypical (and self-aware of it) lesbian teens in all their messy, immature glory. Throughout the book, the author also delves into many complex relationships. We see Shani’s interactions with her mom, who she fights with but still loves, with her ex, who left her with lingering trauma in the aftermath of their breakup, and with May, as their relationship develops and they learn to communicate. These dynamics reveal more of Shani’s personality and bring even more complexity to the story. ❀ Diverse Holiday Read

How to Excavate a Heart Summary

Attempted vehicular manslaughter was not part of Shani’s plan. She was supposed to be focusing on her monthlong paleoichthyology internship. She was going to spend all her time thinking about dead fish and not at all about how she was unceremoniously dumped days before winter break. Thank you to Kismet Books for the arc! If you’re a book lover in Wisconsin, pop over to Verona to give them a visit! Stonewall Honor author Jake Maia Arlow delivers a sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas rom-com in a read perfect for fans of Kelly Quindlen and Casey McQuiston. PDF / EPUB File Name: How_to_Excavate_a_Heart_-_Jake_Maia_Arlow.pdf, How_to_Excavate_a_Heart_-_Jake_Maia_Arlow.epub

The book reveals at around the 80% mark that part of the reason Shani has unresolved trauma from her break-up with her ex-girlfriend is because said ex-girlfriend sexually assaulted her. Add that to the fact that I did not care for May's character at all. She seems rude and insulting to Shani and apparently to everyone else. Her relationship with her dad is sort of magically fast-forward resolved and the conflicts seem a bit artificial because literally all that is needed is communication of any kind. The primary character arc as I saw it was about Shani learning to be her own person, independent of a best friend or girlfriend, but this is glossed over in the resolution as well so I'm not sure what the takeaway was. this is arlow's debut, and i think they nailed it. it's YA in a wholesome way that made me root for shani's growth, rather than be annoyed by her immaturity. the drama is balanced with witty chapter titles, funny banter, corgi cuteness, facts about fish, and more. i love the side characters, especially hilarious and often-inappropriate elderly beatrice, cool queer mentor mandira, shani's sweet rejected-yet-relaiable mom, and dopey pup raphael.

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This is a book that heavily features bodies, poop, and anxiety relating to those things. If you are sensitive to those topics, please take note and care. Frankly I could just write “there is a corgi who wears booties” as the review and that would justify the rating, but I figure since this is an arc review I ought to give a bit more. This is my second middle grade novel, and the first one with chronically ill characters. The entire main cast is both queer and chronically ill (they all have IBD). I was diagnosed with Crohn's when I w Keep your friends close and the bathroom closer. If Shani’s trauma had been a key component of the story and her journey to dealing with her trauma was a main plot point of the book then perhaps my rating would be different. Instead, sexual assault is used in ‘How to Excavate a Heart’ as a ungraceful, forced conflict between Shani and various other characters and never gets properly discussed. Only once is the experience actually called sexual assault and, again, this happens very late into the book. The treatment of the topic in this book really made me question whether or not sensitivity readers were brought in to give notes on the representation of sexual assault. I truly cannot conceive of how this ham-fisted inclusion made it into a traditionally published novel. This is my second middle grade novel, and the first one with chronically ill characters. The entire main cast is both queer and chronically ill (they all have IBD). I was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was the same age as Al, our protagonist. I didn't have other people to talk to about my disease, and it felt embarrassing to have a chronic illness based almost entirely around the toilet.