With shrapnel-filled explosive belts, instead of Gucci black leather belts, this is not your typical chick lit book.

Having grown up in calm, dreary, and cold Minnesota, Jessica Fishman decides to give up the comforts of American life in the Midwest and move to a land in the Middle East that is full of idiosyncrasies, terrorists, and beautiful, olive-skinned men.

When she arrives in Israel, at twenty-two years old, she was a wide-eyed immigrant hoping to survive on idealism, ideology, and optimism.

Instead of working the land on a Kibbutz or being swept off her feet by a strong, yet sensitive Israeli soldier, Jessica is faced with a barrage of ridiculous obstacles – fighting a bureaucracy worse than FEMA’s, embarrassing herself daily with kindergarten-level Hebrew, serving as a soldier in an army in which she could have babysat her commanders, working under bosses who made Ahmadinejad seem like a peacemaker, and dating Israeli men who made Hamas terrorists seem like potential husband material.

With a self-deprecating wit, Jessica takes us on a personal journey through these challenges, one of which will shake the core of her identity and threaten the very ideology that brought her to Israel. This universal story – about a young woman losing and searching for identity, overcoming heartbreak, and finding her place in the world – gives a seldom-before-seen snapshot of Israeli culture.

Want to read more? Check out the first few pages!