@Janine: I read Crooked Hearts years ago, but I love con artists (cf. my current “literary novel” written under my real name, Ami Silber; the protagonist of which is both Jewish and a con artists–but definitely not a mensch). I’ll have to reread this one, if I can find it. I did read a few Nita Abrams, though they were not quite my cup of Maneschewitz. :) I’ve been hearing good things about Megan Hart, and the idea of a Jewish hero in an erotic romance sounds fantastic.

@Laura: Haven’t read any Scott (I’m woefully derelict in my 19th century reading), but I’m always curious about representations of Jews in historicals. Shout out to Carrie Lofty, who has an adorable young Jew in Sherwood Forest and who later goes on to Medieval Spain. Yay, historical Jews!

My upcoming series for Kensington has lots of multiculturalism (a Canadian Indian hero, an African-Anglo hero), but I’m hoping that if the series continues, fingers crossed, to have a Jewish hero or heroine. Gotta represent the lantsleit!

Does such a thing exist that isn't of the chick lit variety? If so, please dish. I'm on shpilkes here!

Let’s see…

Barabara Samuel has a wonderful medieval romance set in Germany called Bed of Spices, which has a Jewish hero and a German heroine, with the backdrop of the plague and the resulting anti-semitism.

One of my all-time favorite contemporary romantic suspense books, set in New Orleans before Katrina, Meagan McKinney’s A Man to Slay Dragons, has a Jewish heroine. Awesome book — I love it to bits.

Dirty by Megan Hart, another great book IMO, has a Jewish hero.

It’s kind of a spoiler for this book, but the hero of Patricia Gaffney’s Crooked Hearts, which is about two con artists in 19th century San Francisco, is a lapsed Jew. I enjoyed this book, though it isn’t up there with Gaffney’s best (To Have and to Hold and Wild at Heart).

Fallen from Grace by Laura Leone, about an author who falls in love with her neighbor who happens to be a male prostitute, has a Jewish heroine. This one is set in contemporary San Francisco. Not a perfect book, but one I enjoyed a lot nonetheless.

A lot of people love Eva Ibbotson’s The Morning Gift, but I would only rate it a B or so, though I’m a huge Ibbotson fan. This one is set in Austria and England during World War II. The heroine is half-Jewish. The British hero is a family friend who marries her in order to get her out of Austria so she can escape the Nazis. I love Ibbotson but I thought this book was a little too light for its subject matter.

That’s it for the ones I have read. I’ve heard that Liz Carlyle’s recent book, Never Deceive a Duke, has a Jewish hero. And Nita Abrams has a series of historicals with Jewish spies. I have heard great things about them, but haven’t read them yet.

Also, most Judith Arnold characters…

I have the same impulse sometimes about books with Jewish heroes or heroines.

Does such a thing exist that isn’t of the chick lit variety? If so, please dish. I’m on shpilkes here!

I was sooo thrilled that the hero didn't have that bizarre deer in the headlight look that a lot of Desire cover heroes have had. Im seriously thinking of asking if all my heroes can be quartering away for the cover *g*

I totally agree. I think it’s a great cover for a SD. At least the hero is looking at the herione. You could say he might even like her. (shock! horror!) On some of the SD covers, I wonder even that. The heroes usually look so dissmissive and arrogant. Like they would rather be anywhere else but there, with their heroine draped all over them gazing longingly at them. Urghh!

The hero/h never matches the cover L Graham heroine are always on the plush/lush curve wise and the cover is always some skinny chick with small boobs.
Author Susan Napier’s book Another Time has an Asian heroine and on the cover she is Asian which I liked (was a good read too.

http://www.fictiondb.com/author/susan-napier~another-time~27254~b.htm

Also, Ruth Wind had a Jewish/Muslim hero in her SSE Light of Day (I think that’s the title). I remember it particularly because it was the first I’d seen in a category … actually, maybe any romance.

Ah, Rosario did a review of it here.

Have you read “Best of Both Worlds” by Elissa Ambrose? Jewish heroine. I loved this book. Love, love, loved it. It’s a Silhouette Special Edition from 2004 I believe.

Two words: Asian Heroine. I'm giving this book a B just for that. This might be my new grading scale. Every book with an Asian heroine starts at a B grade from the beginning.

I have the same impulse sometimes about books with Jewish heroes or heroines.

It did have an awful lot packed into it, but it didn’t seem to trip my WTF? meter. The hero gave great ‘grovel’ at the end. I thought it was one of the better SD’s I ‘ve read. I’m not really a fan of that line.