By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Romantic comedies: that is the longer term for what are frequently referred to as rom-coms. The shorter term suggests these novels are light and fluffy with no real substance. However, the best of these works offer a wider view of women’s lives. For example, two new rom-coms – “Til There Was You” by Lindsey Hameroff (St. Martin’s Griffen) and “Behind Every Good Man” by Sara Goodman Confino (Lake Union Publishing) – focus on their main characters’ desire to find meaningful work, in addition to portraying their connections/disconnections to their parents.

“Til There Was You” is the more traditional rom-com. Lexi Berman is in culinary school when the novel opens. Although she loves cooking, she finds her classes difficult and unsatisfying because she is unable to concentrate on her favorite part of cooking: creating new and exciting recipes. However, she plans to persevere, if only to make her late mother proud. Cooking for her mom when she was dying of cancer was Lexi’s way of showing love. Her desire to succeed is fueled by her wish to prove that her mother’s belief in her was not unfounded. She is also determined to prove her worth to her father, who quickly remarried and moved to Florida after her mother’s death, leaving Lexi alone in the family’s apartment in Manhattan, which no longer feels like home.

Lexi does know the one thing she doesn’t have time for is romance. However, when she meets Jake Taylor, a musician performing at a dive bar, they spend a wonderful weekend together. He appreciates the blueberry pancakes and other food she cooks for him. Although he is heading to Los Angeles to cut a record that next week, she can’t help but wonder if they will stay in touch. He seems to want to, that is, until he suddenly begins ghosting her. Lexi tries to forget him and concentrate on her classes, but then, suddenly, not only does Jake become an overnight success whose music she can’t avoid, his first hit song is about her pancakes. Even Lexi’s friends are drooling over him, although they don’t connect the new superstar to the Jake who once spent a weekend with Lexi.

Then Jake unexpectedly shows up at Lexi’s door saying that he misses her and needs a friend. Lexi is willing to help him as a friend, but wants to guard her heart. That, of course, turns out to be easier said than done. Plus, the pressure of his celebrity greatly affects her life, including the work that she is now doing at a restaurant. Lexi is not sure exactly what she wants out of life since working at the restaurant isn’t making her happy. She also has yet to deal with her feelings about her father, who wants to stay in touch, but to whom she can barely speak. These additional complications may destroy any possibility of a relationship with Jake.

“Til There Was You” was funny at times – with parts making me laugh out loud – and moving at others. Some readers may not be happy that Jake is not Jewish, but that doesn’t seem to bother Lexi. The novel contains a great amount of hot sex. Its ending was fun, crazy and exciting. The author does a good job tying together all the different parts of the plot and answering questions readers might have had about Lexi’s behavior. 

Unlike Lexi, who is single, Beverly Diamond, the main character in “Behind Every Good Man,” is married with two young children and lives in a DC suburb. Her husband, Larry, runs a senatorial campaign for an incumbent. While she does have issues with her mother, Beverly adores her father, a retired congressman and former speaker of the House, whose contacts helped Larry. In fact, her life seems just about perfect, until her world comes crashing down: Beverly learns Larry is having an affair with his secretary. Although encouraged to forgive him and move on, she can’t shake his betrayal and orders him from their home. 

Unfortunately, a woman’s economic position in 1962, when the novel takes place, is precarious. When Larry threatens to take away the house, Beverly decides she needs to find work. But she left college before graduating to marry Larry and has no business skills. However, after years of living with her father and Larry, she does have political savvy and chutzpah. She marches into the office of Michael Landau, an underdog running against the senator for whom Larry works. Although his current campaign manager is less than thrilled to have her in the office,  Beverly soon proves her worth, especially after showing the men the way to succeed is by attracting women voters.

An additional complication is finding someone to watch her children while she’s working. However, unexpectedly, her mother moves into her house to help her. That seems great, except for the fact her mother wants everything done her way. Beverly does appreciate the help, though, until she realizes that her mother has left her father and the move into her home is permanent. She can’t stand the idea that her parents’ marriage is a failure and adds reuniting them to her agenda.

“Behind Every Good Man” is light and breezy reading. The writing features dialogue and short descriptions, which makes the pages turn quickly. The best parts of the novel are watching Beverly clash with Michael’s campaign manager and successfully manipulate him. Although her desire to work began partly as revenge, it turns out that Beverly is a natural. It also helps that Michael is a far better candidate than the one for whom Larry works. The romance in this rom-com is less important than the political campaign and that’s fine because the political campaign was such fun to read about. In other hands, the novel could have been a depressing melodrama about a wronged woman. Instead, it was a great deal of fun about a woman who knows her worth.