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theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition
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
A slow burn that gets spicy fast once the characters realize what they want.
There’s a bit of an age gap between Farley and Meyer. Their ability to communicate and reconcile after a misunderstanding was refreshing. I do wish I had laughed more at the comedy in this book, since both MCs are comedians, but all in all it was a wonderfully sexy read.
There’s a bit of an age gap between Farley and Meyer. Their ability to communicate and reconcile after a misunderstanding was refreshing. I do wish I had laughed more at the comedy in this book, since both MCs are comedians, but all in all it was a wonderfully sexy read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Cursing, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
kb33's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
I do not give out five star ratings easily, but I want to give this one six stars. I just finished and I think I’m going to open it back up to the beginning and start again. I think I’ve done that three times in my whole life. There were so many funny parts and swoony parts, and the emotional maturity had me relaxed knowing there wouldn’t be any cheap drama.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent, Bullying, and Vomit
gracescanlon's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Much to love here!
I’m a big fan of the friends to lovers, single dad, grumpy-sunshine, and workplace romance tropes. I’m not a fan of the fake dating trope usually, but when it’s two besties who’ve been pining after one another for years? That, apparently, is the fake-dating scenario for me!
I know it was frustrating that these two didn’t fully confess their feelings for years, but honestly, I felt it was beyond realistic. I’d definitely believe two best friends did the same in reality, especially two best friends with a professional relationship, and even more so if one of them is a single parent. Also, their repressing their feelings and rationalizing away each other’s signs was really the only instance of the miscommunication trope, so often over-utilized and poorly (annoyingly) done. I will admit that this particular miscommunication was a major through-line for most of the story, but again, it was incredibly believable, so I forgave it. Additionally, Meyer and Farley were otherwise fabulous communicators, which is just *chefs kiss.*
The Deaf representation was awesome! I loved that Farley was already fluent in ASL before meeting Meyer and Hazel. I felt that her learning ASL was both a ringing endorsement for and an effective normalization of studying the language, which more people should do (myself included). Hazel was so smart and funny, but still realistic. Meyer was a dad doing his best — and his best meant he was a great father in general. Hazel and Farley’s relationship was lovely — I wanted a little more of it, even though the story was about Farley and Meyer. I simply demand more Hazel, and more Hazel and Farley time!
Farley’s character growth throughout the novel was a joy to see. She was always unapologetically herself (love!), but to see her gain confidence in her abilities, and receive much-deserved support and success were both wonderful too. Also, women supporting women is the best! For Shauna and Kara (and Farley) to do so in a competitive, male-dominated field was a delight. They refused to be pitted against each other, supported and respected each other, and enjoyed each other’s company.
All stories have flaws, so here’s the handful I encountered in Funny Feelings:
I’m a big fan of the friends to lovers, single dad, grumpy-sunshine, and workplace romance tropes. I’m not a fan of the fake dating trope usually, but when it’s two besties who’ve been pining after one another for years? That, apparently, is the fake-dating scenario for me!
I know it was frustrating that these two didn’t fully confess their feelings for years, but honestly, I felt it was beyond realistic. I’d definitely believe two best friends did the same in reality, especially two best friends with a professional relationship, and even more so if one of them is a single parent. Also, their repressing their feelings and rationalizing away each other’s signs was really the only instance of the miscommunication trope, so often over-utilized and poorly (annoyingly) done. I will admit that this particular miscommunication was a major through-line for most of the story, but again, it was incredibly believable, so I forgave it. Additionally, Meyer and Farley were otherwise fabulous communicators, which is just *chefs kiss.*
The Deaf representation was awesome! I loved that Farley was already fluent in ASL before meeting Meyer and Hazel. I felt that her learning ASL was both a ringing endorsement for and an effective normalization of studying the language, which more people should do (myself included). Hazel was so smart and funny, but still realistic. Meyer was a dad doing his best — and his best meant he was a great father in general. Hazel and Farley’s relationship was lovely — I wanted a little more of it, even though the story was about Farley and Meyer. I simply demand more Hazel, and more Hazel and Farley time!
Farley’s character growth throughout the novel was a joy to see. She was always unapologetically herself (love!), but to see her gain confidence in her abilities, and receive much-deserved support and success were both wonderful too. Also, women supporting women is the best! For Shauna and Kara (and Farley) to do so in a competitive, male-dominated field was a delight. They refused to be pitted against each other, supported and respected each other, and enjoyed each other’s company.
All stories have flaws, so here’s the handful I encountered in Funny Feelings:
- The main characters’ names were odd. I understand their first and last names made reference to famous comedians, but I just didn’t like them. (That said, the nicknames they used with each other were adorable! “Fee,” and “My?” Or Meyer calling Farley by her last name — “Jones,” “Jonesy,” etc?? SO cute!)
- I felt that Farley’s relationship with her father, especially after her mother passed, was woefully underdeveloped. Her dad was mentioned three times: he showed up once, and Farley addressed their relationship in one of her POV chapters, and she discussed him with Meyer in one of Meyer's POV chapters. I think the author should’ve committed more fully to fleshing out their dynamic, or should’ve said even less about it. Honestly, the story function performed by her father's character could've been done more concisely and effectively without him, perhaps using the misogyny and sexism faced by female comedians writ large. It could've been another (perhaps potential) manager that led Meyer to take Farley on as a client spur-of-the-moment.
- The details and descriptions of the intimate scenes were inconsistent. The author would write perfect erotica, without being explicit or crass, but then the description would become much more vague. I just wanted consistency — either a continuation of the more detailed descriptions, or the use of more vague language — throughout the book.
In all, fun and emotional and heartwarming. I had so much fun reading this, and felt satisfied by the story when I finished it. Funny Feelings is, I think, the first romance I’ve read that didn’t overuse or misuse the miscommunication trope, and had relatable characters with realistic dynamics, and fleshed out more than just the two leads, all in the same novel. Brava!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, Ableism, and Grief
Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
sebradley29's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Ableism, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
lilalhreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall I enjoyed the story and the relationships (especially those between Farley and Hazel) but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m not a huge fan of stand up comedy in general so I’m not sure why I thought I would enjoy a book centered around a stand up comedian and her manager more.
The last halfish last quarter of the book felt very rushed as well. We saw
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol
ambercunningham's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Infinite stars. Maybe my favorite romance…ever? Meyer and Farley could not be more perfect. Meyer is top tier book boyfriend. Fee is stupidly funny but also so vulnerable and pure. Hazel? So awesome and funny and adorable and insightful. The one-liners. The therapy representation. The tension and build-up. The MUTUAL PINING omg. Perfection. I have literally no notes. THE most feel-good book ever. I’m just so glad to live in the same world as Tarah DeWitt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
ashbearly's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol
_persephone_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Funny Feelings is an amazing novel with many different- but all, for the most part, equally well done- topics.
We have two main characters, Farley and Meyer. Farley is a somewhat new, up-and-coming, comedian, and Meyer is her manager. DeWitt uses a lot of pretty common tropes like Grumpy/Sunshine and Age Gap but she twists it different ways to make it her own. Thankfully, Farley and Meyer don't fall into the worse side of those two tropes, Farley in no way acts childish or immature, and Meyer isn't some nearly unredeemable asshole who ends up being sexist to everyone but the WMC like we're supposed to find that hot. Instead, it's pretty much the opposite. Farley acts like the twenty-something year old woman that she is, Meyer, while sometimes can come off a bit asshole-ish, is completely redeemable (painfully sweet, really), and is definitely not sexist.
Which is not surprising considering another main theme of this books is feminism, one that is done very well. Farley talks about how misogynist people in her field can be, widely uplifting male comedians while putting female comedians down. One of my favorite parts of this book is the female friendships, Farley has a wonderful, mother-ish relationship with Meyers daughter, Hazel, one that is obviously very well thought-out and very adorable. Then you have Farley's friendship with her best friend, Marissa, and with two fellow female comedians, they all support and uplift each other repeatedly, and have very hilarious but heartfelt conversations between them.
Additionally, Hazel is deaf, a topic, which isn't even a topic in the best way. It is integrated very naturally into the story. As someone who is not deaf, I will not speak too much on whether it is well done, as I do not know, but I do know that from a writing standpoint, it was very smooth and consistent. The characters facetimed Hazel whenever they wanted to talk on the phone, the author remembered to have them set the phone down somewhere so they could sign, and the writing wasn't redundant, in the way that it didn't make you feel like you were stupid by reminding you everytime that Hazel was there that they were signing ASL as they were talking, they mentioned it when it was needed or relevant but not any more or less than that.
Now, for the reasons this was a 4 star read and not a 5 star. Firstly, the representation. Like I previously mentioned, Hazel is deaf, and, from my knowledge, I believe it was pretty well done, but sadly, that's all there is. The two main characters are obviously white, with the cover showing them as such (and with Farley being a natural red-head). From there you can also assume that Hazel is white, unless she is mixed, which is never mentioned. Then there's the side characters, all of which you can assume are POC if you would so choose but, once again it's never mentioned either way. Then the vague sense of heteronormativity you get when you realize that every non-single person is either dating or married to someone the opposite sex then them, with no mention or hint of queerness from anyone. Even in the characters internal dialogue, sometimes I got the feeling that even they just assume that everyone in the room is straight. It's not like it's a big thing, or even a thing at all in the book, no one is homophobic or, bringing it back to the lack of people of color, racist, but I guess that's the point, it just goes unnoticed, forgotten. Next there's the pacing and timing. The characters would often be at one place, the suddenly, with no real explanation be at the next, and the author wouldn't even say where they were until you were already thoroughly confused. Lastly I feel like certain topics never really got a satisfying conclusion, or at least one topic specifically. I feel like with how much Farley talked about her dad, or her own 'daddy issues', that her dad would've shown up more then in that one flashback near the beginning, instead they barley talked about him. I mean, where was she when she Farley was growing up? Where was he after her mother died? Did Farley even know? Was him and Farley's mother ever together? Did they get a divorce? So many questions and no answers except them talking about how he's disappointed in her. And the only conclusion we got for any of it was one sentence talking about him at the end .
In all though, Farley and Meyer were adorable, and very fluffy, which I suppose is the main thing you want when you read a romance novel. My only complain about them was that, like most romance novels, there was indeed a third act breakup. For the most part, I've gotten used to these and the don't bother me anymore, but this one in particular really bugged me. Through the entire book, Farley and Meyer had amazing communication, they talked through and about everything together. So, imagine my surprise when the TAB was caused by one of them keeping something from the other. It came out of nowhere and didn't even make sense. Not to mention that it added nothing to the plot, and I mean nothing. It didn't develop Farley and Meyers relationship whatsoever and it was too short and nonsensical to actually cause conflict.
Even so, I did truly enjoy this book and will definitely be rereading it.
Rep: Deaf side character
Tropes: Age Gap, Grumpy/Sunshine, Single Dad, Workplace Romance(kind of), Dual POV, Friends to Lovers
We have two main characters, Farley and Meyer. Farley is a somewhat new, up-and-coming, comedian, and Meyer is her manager. DeWitt uses a lot of pretty common tropes like Grumpy/Sunshine and Age Gap but she twists it different ways to make it her own. Thankfully, Farley and Meyer don't fall into the worse side of those two tropes, Farley in no way acts childish or immature, and Meyer isn't some nearly unredeemable asshole who ends up being sexist to everyone but the WMC like we're supposed to find that hot. Instead, it's pretty much the opposite. Farley acts like the twenty-something year old woman that she is, Meyer, while sometimes can come off a bit asshole-ish, is completely redeemable (painfully sweet, really), and is definitely not sexist.
Which is not surprising considering another main theme of this books is feminism, one that is done very well. Farley talks about how misogynist people in her field can be, widely uplifting male comedians while putting female comedians down. One of my favorite parts of this book is the female friendships, Farley has a wonderful, mother-ish relationship with Meyers daughter, Hazel, one that is obviously very well thought-out and very adorable. Then you have Farley's friendship with her best friend, Marissa, and with two fellow female comedians, they all support and uplift each other repeatedly, and have very hilarious but heartfelt conversations between them.
Additionally, Hazel is deaf, a topic, which isn't even a topic in the best way. It is integrated very naturally into the story. As someone who is not deaf, I will not speak too much on whether it is well done, as I do not know, but I do know that from a writing standpoint, it was very smooth and consistent. The characters facetimed Hazel whenever they wanted to talk on the phone, the author remembered to have them set the phone down somewhere so they could sign, and the writing wasn't redundant, in the way that it didn't make you feel like you were stupid by reminding you everytime that Hazel was there that they were signing ASL as they were talking, they mentioned it when it was needed or relevant but not any more or less than that.
Now, for the reasons this was a 4 star read and not a 5 star. Firstly, the representation. Like I previously mentioned, Hazel is deaf, and, from my knowledge, I believe it was pretty well done, but sadly, that's all there is. The two main characters are obviously white, with the cover showing them as such (and with Farley being a natural red-head). From there you can also assume that Hazel is white, unless she is mixed, which is never mentioned. Then there's the side characters, all of which you can assume are POC if you would so choose but, once again it's never mentioned either way. Then the vague sense of heteronormativity you get when you realize that every non-single person is either dating or married to someone the opposite sex then them, with no mention or hint of queerness from anyone. Even in the characters internal dialogue, sometimes I got the feeling that even they just assume that everyone in the room is straight. It's not like it's a big thing, or even a thing at all in the book, no one is homophobic or, bringing it back to the lack of people of color, racist, but I guess that's the point, it just goes unnoticed, forgotten. Next there's the pacing and timing. The characters would often be at one place, the suddenly, with no real explanation be at the next, and the author wouldn't even say where they were until you were already thoroughly confused. Lastly I feel like certain topics never really got a satisfying conclusion, or at least one topic specifically.
In all though, Farley and Meyer were adorable, and very fluffy, which I suppose is the main thing you want when you read a romance novel. My only complain about them was that, like most romance novels, there was indeed a third act breakup. For the most part, I've gotten used to these and the don't bother me anymore, but this one in particular really bugged me. Through the entire book, Farley and Meyer had amazing communication, they talked through and about everything together. So, imagine my surprise when the TAB was caused by one of them keeping something from the other. It came out of nowhere and didn't even make sense. Not to mention that it added nothing to the plot, and I mean nothing. It didn't develop Farley and Meyers relationship whatsoever and it was too short and nonsensical to actually cause conflict.
Even so, I did truly enjoy this book and will definitely be rereading it.
Rep: Deaf side character
Tropes: Age Gap, Grumpy/Sunshine, Single Dad, Workplace Romance(kind of), Dual POV, Friends to Lovers
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Ableism
Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Bullying
audlittlebookshelf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Ableism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
meganpbell's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
4.25
Foul-mouthed up-and-coming comedian Farley Jones gets her big break with one catch—she has to fake date her manager, the perpetually frowning Meyer, good friend, former star comic, and hot, older single dad, for publicity. The dating may (or may not) be fake but the mutual pining is all too real in this steamy friends-to-lovers story! I loved the stand-up show biz setting, the Deaf representation, and ALLLL the feels, funny and otherwise, this smart, sexy romance puts in the spotlight.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Sexism
Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, Ableism, and Violence