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garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition
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.
📝 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Alcohol
mollieweitzman's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was such an enjoyable read and I pretty much flew through it! Really good if you’re in a slump. I read this as an audiobook and shoutout to the narrator because it was probably the hottest spicy scenes I’ve ever experienced hahaha highly recommend! They talk about being millennials SO MANY TIMES that was a little bit annoying and the miscommunication trope is particularly PAINFUL I’m over here screaming at the FMC like girl are you dumb!!! I do have to hand it to my anxious Jewish queen though sometimes we are a little silly. I thought some parts (particularly the ending/last hour) were dragged out a little too long. Great rec for if you’re always complaining about romance book endings being too short 😂 highly recommend :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Death of parent
ninariella's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Sexism
sabinedion's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
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
beebowbabe's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Rachel Solomon is for the girlies. I read Business or Pleasure first and I must say I love the way she discusses topics that are often deemed too superficial or such, but are on the minds of myself and many women I know. How she does that, and also makes me horny, I'll never understand 😂
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, and Death of parent
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
toni7tess's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Loved this book so much! It's a fun, feminist rom com with a lovable, diverse cast and a really, really cool idea. A fresh take on the pretending to date trope, with a great setting in public radio and the cutest ending. The characters had great chemistry and I loved "listening" to their banter on the radio. Steve Rogers Goldstein was my favourite. More books like this one please!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
likeagilmoregirl's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexism and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer and Misogyny
kiingchika's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer