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bzliz's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Cancer and Racism
bookishspy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
slow-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
The Ex Talk was a solid read but was missing something for me.
Shay was pretty interesting, and I was pretty pleased that I didn't hate an FMC for once. She had a personality, and she adopted a cute AF dog, Steve Rogers! I've got to say, being a dog trainer myself, the little bits of dog training "advice" did kind of make me want to stop reading, but otherwise, that was super cute.
Dominic felt a little flat for me most of the time. There were moments when his personality peeked out, and I LOVED it, but he just felt very one dimensional otherwise. Perhaps this was because the story was only told from Shay's perspective? I wanted to know what was on Dominics' mind.
Their romance was totally believable, though. It was gradual and slow and felt really natural. I wanted more honestly it was so good!
The side characters were all fantastic. I also love the diversity in this book and that real-life issues like sexism and racism were brought into the story.
The pacing at the end did feel a little weird. I didn't quite feel satisfied like I'd hoped. I think because we were hit so hard, and then we got barely any time to recover.
Overall, this was a good read that I could recommend to most people, but it was just missing that satisfying finale and the wow factor that makes me go for that extra star
➛ 𝟒 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬
Shay was pretty interesting, and I was pretty pleased that I didn't hate an FMC for once. She had a personality, and she adopted a cute AF dog, Steve Rogers! I've got to say, being a dog trainer myself, the little bits of dog training "advice" did kind of make me want to stop reading, but otherwise, that was super cute.
Dominic felt a little flat for me most of the time. There were moments when his personality peeked out, and I LOVED it, but he just felt very one dimensional otherwise. Perhaps this was because the story was only told from Shay's perspective? I wanted to know what was on Dominics' mind.
Their romance was totally believable, though. It was gradual and slow and felt really natural. I wanted more honestly it was so good!
The side characters were all fantastic. I also love the diversity in this book and that real-life issues like sexism and racism were brought into the story.
The pacing at the end did feel a little weird. I didn't quite feel satisfied like I'd hoped. I think because we were hit so hard, and then we got barely any time to recover.
Overall, this was a good read that I could recommend to most people, but it was just missing that satisfying finale and the wow factor that makes me go for that extra star
➛ 𝟒 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Racism
megelizabeth's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
I enjoyed this a lot overall. I liked the romance, with its great chemistry and believable tension, and I loved the 'she-has-no-idea-how-obsessed-with-him-she-is' vibe that's there right from the start. I loved, too, many of the side characters and other relationships that are explored (and particularly all the casual queer representation). I also went into this knowing basically nothing about public radio and so it was super interesting to get an insight into that, and I essentially just really appreciated how well-balanced the romance is with everything mentioned above and also with the explorations of some heavier topics. Overall, then, a really solid read - I didn't connect with it enough emotionally to give it a higher rating, but I still enjoyed my time reading it and I'd recommend it if it sounds at all interesting to you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Moderate: Racism
vj_thompson's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer and Racism
green_mm's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This book was nice; I really enjoyed the concept and was happy to see it executed, and I loved the public radio workplace setting as I used to work at my town’s NPR & PBS affiliate station. I am glad that Shay got the ending she did, as I felt she was at her most empowered and focused by the end of the novel. Although I did like the story, it felt off balance. There seemed to be a slow build through the first two thirds of the book, then a lot of big movement in the last third, but the audience wasn’t given a lot of time to truly sit in those important moments and process them. Also, it was hard for me to root for Shay at times because 1. she could be relatively dense and 2. she continued to struggle with recurring topics without putting meaningful, active effort into resolving them. I suppose she did face said challenges in her own way, but I was not able to sympathize with her as much as I would have liked. I recognize that is just my relationship with her though, so I must acknowledge the book as sound and Solomon as a strong writer. Overall, it was pleasant but not a top read for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, and Death of parent
Minor: Racism
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
“The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.”
➽ The Ex Talk is a fun Adult rom-com about two rival radio hosts! Shay Goldstein and Dominic Yun work at the same radio station, but have been clashing more often than not. Shay's a bit bitter that her new coworker is getting all attention, even though she has seniority. As a woman, she's still facing prejudice in the industry and her boss isn't hiding that he likes Dominic, even though he's new. They end up pretending to be exes for their new show The Ex Talk as it might be the only thing that can save the radio station! I loved getting excerpts of the show and seeing two people pretend to be exes instead of fake dating!
➽ I liked Shay and Dominic's dynamic! I love rivals to lovers and here we've got the added tension of them having to pretend that they dated each other. I liked that Shay's the one who was a bit older than Dominic! Even though they don't get along, they end up growing closer together and finding out that the other person has hidden depths. I appreciated the discussions about loneliness in adulthood. Shay's still grieving the loss of a parent and Dominic feels unsettled in a new city. Both of them know what it's like to be lonely and to not have anyone else to talk to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Racism, Grief, and Death of parent
bbygirl21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I enjoyed this book. I just probably wouldn't read it again. It was a great story and has some great characters. But my issue is that I've read something really similar to this before and i felt this one was a little too slow for me.
I'd still recommend it. The plot was good, I loved the characters, and there were a lot of really funny moments scattered throughout.
I'd still recommend it. The plot was good, I loved the characters, and there were a lot of really funny moments scattered throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Racism, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer and Panic attacks/disorders
olpapi's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
CHEMISTRYYYYY! The electricity jumps off the page.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Racism, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer
mengzhenreads's review against another edition
funny
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 really liked learning more about public radio and that aspect of journalism and for me that was honestly really interesting and fun. The romance itself was cute-ish, but I didn't like how much the author emphasized their age gap even though I feel like the gap wasn't that big (5 years), and it was kind of uncomfortable to read about it over and over again. Also this book is AGGRESSIVELY millennial and full of pop culture references which was very cringe. Also, the characters are literally copy paste of the main couple from Hating Game which is either very good news or very bad depending on how you liked the book. Overall it was cute and fluffy, with smut scenes that really go full out with the details, but this was really nothing special. The only thing unique about this was the setting that the characters worked in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism
Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, and Racism
lindsayerin's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief
Minor: Cancer and Racism