Victoria Lee’s first foray into adult romance is a captivating love letter to self-love, healing, and finding one’s place in Judaism. Readers can expect nothing short of a roller coaster of emotions.
When we meet Elisheva Cohen, she’s just moved back to New York City for the art program of her dreams after spending almost ten years in Los Angeles. Having gone to LA to distance herself from her past, and to make an effort to become and stay sober, Ely finds herself back in the place that threw her life into turmoil. By chance, she spends her first night in the city with Wyatt Cole, a transgender man who is also sober. Everything is great, until Ely walks into class and finds out the man from the night before is her professor and artistic hero.
The magnetism between Ely and Wyatt jumps off the page, binding the entire plot. The deep connection these two talented photographers share helps them create a space for healing, and for letting go of guilt, as they each confront their pasts. Ely, who was shunned from her Orthodox Jewish community and struggles to find her place in any Jewish community, decides to turn this conflict into the focal point of her capstone project. She constantly grapples with the woman she is today versus the one that Orthodoxy raised her to be. She also wonders what makes someone “Jewish enough,” a common debate among many Jews today.
Victoria Lee expertly creates characters that are diverse not only in the way they practice Judaism, but also in how they express their sexualities and gender identities. She positions this story in the art world, using imagery to describe photographs that are as passionate as the characters themselves. A Shot in the Dark is for anyone who is looking for a deeper, more literary spin on the typical romance novel. Readers will be captivated from start to finish.
Elizabeth Slotnick works in the technology space but has a growing presence on bookstagram, where she reviews books spanning across all genres. She graduated from the University of Virginia and lives in Seattle, WA.