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sebondurant's review against another edition
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Alcoholism, Addiction, Dysphoria, and Excrement
kelly_e's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Title: Romantic Comedy
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Genre: Romance
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: April 4, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Observant • Light • Clever
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.
But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.
Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Well, well, well if Romantic Comedy isn't the first 2023 release where I fell complete victim to an intriguing title, catchy cover, and false marketing. This book was not on my radar until it started to pop up absolutely everywhere and was selected as a BOM pick. And I'll be the first one to admit it sounded promising - not the case!
What I like:
• characters in their 30s. It was a breath of fresh air to be introduced to more mature, thriving adults.
• a healthy romance. Sally and Noah's relationship felt mature with open communication, and a mutual respect and understanding for one another.
• the email corresponding. I am here for epistolary (in this case emails) novels every. single. time. As someone who communicates better in written form, I appreciate this aspect in a new relationship.
• the friendships. There are some seriously strong friendships sprinkled throughout and I liked these better than the actual romance.
What I didn't like:
• the chemistry. I definitely wasn't convinced. Maybe it was the structure. Maybe it was my lack of caring about the two characters involved. I'm really not sure. The romance definitely takes a back seat.
• the structure. There's a prologue, three 'chapters' and an epilogue divided over 300 pages. Even without doing the math, it's easy to tell those aren't really chapters! Each section jumped in time and it felt scrambled and rushed at times. It just didn't seem to work.
• it's not all that funny. A couple of funny lines from characters with cameo appearances and that's about it.
• the extensive detail. There's so much detail on the creative process and behind-the-scenes of working in the industry that I just didn't need or enjoy.
A solid plot idea but very poorly marketed and executed. Additionally, at this point in time I am just not sure I'm ready for novels with a focus on the pandemic as a central theme and plot. If you're looking for a book with romance and/or comedy this likely isn't it.
**Reminder to self: falling victim to the buzz surrounding books not already on your radar rarely works out.**
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• SNL fans
• readers looking for a take on modern love
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"It was a belated realization to have, but it occurred to me that perhaps this was how grown-up conversations worked—not that your communication didn’t falter, but that you both made good-faith attempts to rectify things after it had."
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Genre: Romance
Rating: 2.75
Pub Date: April 4, 2023
T H R E E • W O R D S
Observant • Light • Clever
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.
But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.
Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?
💭 T H O U G H T S
Well, well, well if Romantic Comedy isn't the first 2023 release where I fell complete victim to an intriguing title, catchy cover, and false marketing. This book was not on my radar until it started to pop up absolutely everywhere and was selected as a BOM pick. And I'll be the first one to admit it sounded promising - not the case!
What I like:
• characters in their 30s. It was a breath of fresh air to be introduced to more mature, thriving adults.
• a healthy romance. Sally and Noah's relationship felt mature with open communication, and a mutual respect and understanding for one another.
• the email corresponding. I am here for epistolary (in this case emails) novels every. single. time. As someone who communicates better in written form, I appreciate this aspect in a new relationship.
• the friendships. There are some seriously strong friendships sprinkled throughout and I liked these better than the actual romance.
What I didn't like:
• the chemistry. I definitely wasn't convinced. Maybe it was the structure. Maybe it was my lack of caring about the two characters involved. I'm really not sure. The romance definitely takes a back seat.
• the structure. There's a prologue, three 'chapters' and an epilogue divided over 300 pages. Even without doing the math, it's easy to tell those aren't really chapters! Each section jumped in time and it felt scrambled and rushed at times. It just didn't seem to work.
• it's not all that funny. A couple of funny lines from characters with cameo appearances and that's about it.
• the extensive detail. There's so much detail on the creative process and behind-the-scenes of working in the industry that I just didn't need or enjoy.
A solid plot idea but very poorly marketed and executed. Additionally, at this point in time I am just not sure I'm ready for novels with a focus on the pandemic as a central theme and plot. If you're looking for a book with romance and/or comedy this likely isn't it.
**Reminder to self: falling victim to the buzz surrounding books not already on your radar rarely works out.**
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• SNL fans
• readers looking for a take on modern love
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"It was a belated realization to have, but it occurred to me that perhaps this was how grown-up conversations worked—not that your communication didn’t falter, but that you both made good-faith attempts to rectify things after it had."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Excrement, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cursing, Medical content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
Minor: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Cancer
divorceleahfoko's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
This book was really fun and unique. I really enjoyed the setup, that the book was split into 3 different sections. First the week developing the episode of the late night show the main character works on where she meets Noah, then a section written only with their emails during the pandemic and then a third section where they meet again and really develop their relationship. The structure of the book was really unique and intriguing, and the fact that it was set in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic was really timely and unique, something that will likely show up more in books now but obviously has not been seen before. It really captured the feelings of isolation and confusion about interacting with others during that time that I think we all felt.
Another thing I really liked about this book was that the relationship between the two characters when they meet up during covid was very realistically awkward. Lots of romances sort of making everything seem rosy and perfect and that is fun of course but I liked that their conversations were awkward and uncomfortable at times when the main character would make a joke in poor taste or would say something because of her insecurities that would make for an awkward situation. I also thought their honest conversations about alcohol were really cool to include and I appreciated the slightly awkward nature of those conversations as well because I think it speaks well to what it’s like to talk about something like that when you have a challenging history with alcohol. I liked the realistic nature of that, combined with the very practical description of what comes with dating a celebrity/the weird daily experience that a celebrity goes through as seen through Sally’s eyes. While of course aspects of the story are still not completely accurate and are definitely romanticized a little, I liked that the author made an effort to make choices that wouldn’t fit in the traditional romantic comedy in order to point out those flaws in many of those stories. I thought it was really well written and unique, and I had a lot of fun reading this book.
At times I felt that the descriptions of TNO at the beginning went on a little bit long and too into the details, but I think that might be personal preference due to the fact that I am not super interested in what the process of writing for a late night show is like so I wasn’t quite as engaged by that aspect of the story, but I think if that’s something you’re really interested in then that section might be a lot more interesting to you.
Overall this book had a really fun concept/story, unique writing style, and sweet romance. I would recommend!
Another thing I really liked about this book was that the relationship between the two characters when they meet up during covid was very realistically awkward. Lots of romances sort of making everything seem rosy and perfect and that is fun of course but I liked that their conversations were awkward and uncomfortable at times when the main character would make a joke in poor taste or would say something because of her insecurities that would make for an awkward situation. I also thought their honest conversations about alcohol were really cool to include and I appreciated the slightly awkward nature of those conversations as well because I think it speaks well to what it’s like to talk about something like that when you have a challenging history with alcohol. I liked the realistic nature of that, combined with the very practical description of what comes with dating a celebrity/the weird daily experience that a celebrity goes through as seen through Sally’s eyes. While of course aspects of the story are still not completely accurate and are definitely romanticized a little, I liked that the author made an effort to make choices that wouldn’t fit in the traditional romantic comedy in order to point out those flaws in many of those stories. I thought it was really well written and unique, and I had a lot of fun reading this book.
At times I felt that the descriptions of TNO at the beginning went on a little bit long and too into the details, but I think that might be personal preference due to the fact that I am not super interested in what the process of writing for a late night show is like so I wasn’t quite as engaged by that aspect of the story, but I think if that’s something you’re really interested in then that section might be a lot more interesting to you.
Overall this book had a really fun concept/story, unique writing style, and sweet romance. I would recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Excrement
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Addiction, and Death of parent
vel629vet's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
I really enjoyed the format! The humor was quick witted and fun, and the main character was relatable in her self destructive tendencies. The love interest was a little too perfect, but the story wasn’t really about him so I can forgive that. Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Pregnancy and Excrement
icapturethecastle's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Confinement, Excrement, and Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer, Death of parent, and Eating disorder
chasingpages1's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Excrement
loveisland's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
yeah yeah, curtis sittenfeld loves white liberal women but my comfort genre is smart, funny yet flawed white women do stupid things and we watch them do it in real time so i had a hell of a time. it's persuasion coded and that got me GOOD. read it in a day. i'll read just about anything curtis writes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, Excrement, and Sexual content
ciaomara's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Sexism
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Cancer
Detailed description of Covid 19 symptoms.purplepenning's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
A literary ROMANTIC COMEDY in three parts: the romance of comedy, the romance of communication, and the romance of life. In part one, we get a detailed week-in-the-life account of what it's like to be a female comedy writer for a live SNL-like show. Sally, our narrator, is a complex, sharp, bold writer and slightly neurotic and uncertain person who meets Noah, a gorgeous, good-natured, too-good-to-be-true (?) crooner who is the host and musical guest that week. Against all odds and the rules she wrote for her own skit (hot women can date normie slubs, but hot guys don't date normies), they seem to hit it off. Until Sally sabotages it. In part two, time and COVID protocols have turned them into pen pals and the connection is even more obvious. In part three, real life finds them and maybe they find their real selves.
With a gender-swapped Notting Hill trope, a bit of writer's life catnip, and a touch of A-list celebrity fan fiction feel, Romantic Comedy is perfect for fans of Nora Goes Off Script, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emily Henry, and Olivia Dade.
With a gender-swapped Notting Hill trope, a bit of writer's life catnip, and a touch of A-list celebrity fan fiction feel, Romantic Comedy is perfect for fans of Nora Goes Off Script, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emily Henry, and Olivia Dade.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Body shaming
Minor: Sexual content, Drug use, Excrement, Cancer, Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Death of parent, and Chronic illness
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