I’m so excited to welcome Stacey Agdern to the blog today. We are celebrating the upcoming release of her newest title, B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake.
What’s Next by Stacey Agdern
What’s next.
It’s a question that I as a writer, and Asher, the MMC of the B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake, found ourselves asking each other at certain points in our lives.
For me, I’d just finished a series that centered one of my comfort zones to write about. Friendships and Festivals was my debut solo series, and I loved it. It was, quite simply, the perfect series for a writer who has a soft spot for Hanukkah.
At the beginning of his story, Asher has just retired from a career he’d spent his whole life working towards. He’d trained for hours instead of doing so many other things in order to be good. It was a sacrifice, but it was one he willingly made because he genuinely loved what he did. But when he was done, both mentally and physically, he was done.
Both of us at a crossroads.
Asher’s story exists because I needed to figure out what I wanted to write next. Asher’s determination to follow up his playing career with something meaningful echoed my own when trying to figure out what I wanted my next series to be.
What I fell back on, was my desire to return home.
Wait. What? I thought Friendships and Festivals was a return.
Friendships and Festivals was a return, a solo series initially inspired by my love for my favorite Jewish holiday: Hanukkah.
But Hanukkah isn’t the only thing I’ve found solace in writing about.
The other?
The thing that Asher Mendel had recently retired from at the beginning of the B’nai Mitzvah Mistake.
Hockey.
I’ve contributed (so far) to three different anthologies about a hockey team called the New York Empires, who make the move to this series with me. I’ve even written articles for a bunch of different hockey spaces. And I’m also privileged enough to be part of a monthly you tube channel show with four other Hockey Romance writers.
B’nai Mitzvah Mistake is the first book in The Last Girls Standing series, a hockey adjacent series written by a hockey fan who is also in a position to acknowledge some of the sport’s faults.
Part of The B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake is about Asher’s next move – his desire to create a community for Jewish hockey players in a place where one is desperately needed. And the rest of his story is about what he needs to do in order to make his dream a reality.
I hope you love Asher’s story and my return to hockey romance as much as I do ☺
Stacey
About the book:
Title: B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake
Author: Stacey Agdern
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Publication date: June 1, 2023
Series: Last Girls Standing #1
Sharing isn’t caring when it comes to your big day.
Judith Nachman loves working as a project manager at the Mitzvah Alliance charity, and after five years, it’s finally her turn to have the bat mitzvah of her dreams. Judith is enjoying every single moment of the process—until she learns she has to share her day with the annoying hockey player who derailed her sister’s career.
Retired hockey player Ash Mendel is determined to start an organization to support Jewish athletes, and the first step is to have his bar mitzvah. He’s not sure what he wants his day to look like, but he knows he definitely wants forgiveness from Judith, the woman he’s sharing the date with.
But Judith’s nephew needs to interview an athlete, and Ash needs professional advice for his foundation, so they exchange favors. Except as they get to know each other and their worlds start to mingle, Ash and Judith will have to decide whether sharing their lives as well as their B’Nai Mitzvah is the best decision they could make, or the biggest mistake of their lives.
B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake – Tule Publishing Group (digital)
B’Nai Mitzvah Mistake a book by Stacey Agdern (bookshop.org) (print )
About the Author:
Stacey Agdern is an award-winning former bookseller who has reviewed romance novels in multiple formats and given talks about various aspects of the romance genre. She is also a romance writer. C. She lives in New York, not far from her favorite hockey team’s practice facility.
Social Media Links:
@nystacey on twitter
@sagdern on instagram and tiktok
/staceyaagdern on facebook
www.staceyagdern.com