Reviews with content warning for Cancer - The Ex Talk

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

61 reviews

paperkindle's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a highly enjoyable listen! I will say that I am predisposed to like stories involving radio or podcasts or narration, so this was kinda made for me already.

📝 I really liked this story. The FMC, whose POV the story is told from, is an interesting character with some unresolved issues, particularly around the loss of her father a decade ago. And she has baggage from past relationships that leads her to make less than stellar choices with MMC. MMC has his own issues too, and he is younger and less experienced than FMC in terms of relationships/sex.

The MCs start a radio show that is hosted by two exes (them). The only thing is, they never actually dated. But the show gets really popular and well, obviously stuff happens with that.

🎧 This was first person POV, only from the FMC. The female narrator did an amazing job with the content and the story itself was engaging. I think she had to walk a fine line, because it is a fact in the book that the FMC has a "girly" and often "grating" voice, but you don't want to actually alienate the listeners for the book, so she had to perform something feminine, that is close to, but not actually, grating. I thought her voice was incredibly pleasant but I don't have internalized misogyny about feminine sounding voices so ymmv.

🌶️ 3.5/5 there were a few explicit sex scenes (btw the narrator executed these scenes to perfection).

🏳️‍🌈✊ There was a lot of diversity represented in the story. Asian MMC and white Jewish FMC. Multiple queer and ethnically diverse side characters. An African American (the patriarch is from Nigeria) family joining into FMC's.

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khymihr's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bzliz's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I didn’t have high hopes for this which is probably for the best because it was just okay. I enjoyed it enough to finish it but it wasn’t anything special.

I think the author tried to include some more serious subjects that people face in life like sexism, racism, loss and grief, but none of them went in depth enough to feel genuine. The closest was the sexist boss at the radio station getting minorly told off for his awful behavior but it was mostly handled through conversations about him between female characters which means nothing really came of it. There was also some mention of the struggle of interracial dating but it was brief and the main characters didn’t have to deal with any of it.

Shay and Dominic were fine characters but they were hampered by a downright obsession with public radio. There were a couple of romance tropes used to varying degrees of success. The rivals to lovers aspect was fun vs the ‘just one bed’ trope which was super predictable from the moment they were being sent on a trip. And Shay mentioned being pushed up against the wall roughly a dozen times which got old quick.

If you read purely for vibes, this is worth checking out. If you’re looking for something with more heart, you can skip this.

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likeagilmoregirl's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kiingchika's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I honestly don’t have much to say about this book I can’t lie other than I’m glad it worked out?¿ Would not reread but hey, I learned a little bit about public radio! Dominic and Shay are cute

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vj_thompson's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book started out slow but once the initial plot of Shay and Dominic host the radio show together happened, it got good. Seeing their relationship develop was absolutely adorable. The relationship felt normal aside from the miscommunication. Ugh, that sucked. The story surprised me. I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did.

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