Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Funny You Should Ask

Where do I start with this review... The main character felt insufferable for about 85% of the book, the writing style was just idek, and the ending??? Really???

I'm gonna flesh out each of these things just to kind of give you an insight as to why I didn't like each thing. But before I get started, please know that these things are not personal digs at the author, I'm sure she's great. This book, however, just did not do it for me. That's not to say you shouldn't pick it up if you think you'll like it! You read what interests you, these are just my personal opinions while I was reading it.

Chani. Chani, Chani, Chani. I feel weird even typing that because the love interest does, in fact, say that during the smut, which I will touch on later. But for now, I just need to rant about the main character for a sec. I honestly think that for once, if this had been dual POV, I would've enjoyed the guy's POV better. Other than Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty, this is the most insufferable MC I have ever read about. This whole book felt like "Poor, pitiful me. I'm a famous writer and I have the best life ever but it doesn't matter because my life is actually awful since I didn't get to f!ck this hot celebrity man." Babes... this is like the entirety of stan twt complaining because they didn't get to sleep with a member of BTS. It would be nice, but it's just not going to happen.

And then when it did happen? After she spent 10 years complaining and sulking because she didn't take her opportunity to sleep with him and now she finally can, guess what? Her first instinct is to complain because it did happen 🤦🏻‍♀️

Which I guess brings me to my next point, the ✨️smut✨️ scene. Now my first complaint is that I had to wait 302 pages, nearly the entirety of the book, for her to say "we were tangled up like two horny octopuses." 😐 yep, you read that right. You know what the smut chapter felt like? 10 pages of glorified wattpad fanfiction. Especially when you consider that this man feels like a knock-off Tom Holland or someone like that. The smut in this book was just embarrassing...

Tbh the overall writing style was just... I don't even know how to take it. One minute, there would be fancy words I had to Google the definition of while the only variation of speaker tags we had were "I say" or "He asks". Like there were no other speaking verbs other than those two. Maybe this wouldn't bother someone else, but I'm autistic, I have to have tone indicators to know how I'm supposed to take these things.

Finally, because I could go on forever if you let me, I just need to release my anger for the ending. Because wtf was that? You just expect me to believe they haven't seen each other in a decade, then sleep together the day after they reunite, tell each other "F!ck you!" and basically break up despite not even being together, and their mutual friend sets them back up together all within a span of about 12 hours??? Girl wut?? And then you expect me to believe after they have a single conversation discussing their feelings for all of about five minutes, that they're happily married in the epilogue? I simply cannot compute.

All this being said, I do think this book would've been great as a Y/A book. Someone's thirteen year old daughter would eat this up if there wasn't a smut scene and a scene within the first ten pages of the book where MC thoroughly describes how hot and bothered Gabe Parker makes her feel with one glance over. So I think if you enjoy Y/A romance and celebrity romance, you'd probably enjoy this book. However, for me personally, it just wasn't what I wanted considering I picked this up on the premise that it was a contemporary romance.

Content Warnings

readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-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

3.5

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fromthefoxhole's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

When we first meet our journalist, Chani, she is a little ball of anger and embarrassment, most of which is directed at Gabe Parker, irrationally hot former movie star. One fateful interview a decade ago led to a whirlwind weekend between them, but things didn't end the way either of them (or the rest of us) hoped.
Rather than flat up front, their story is told through a series of flashbacks, articles, and snapshots from the present.

While I can definitively say I enjoyed reading Funny You Should Ask, I also found myself regularly rolling my eyes at Chani. I found her immature and incapable of recognizing her own faults, so much so that

Gabe literally calls her on it shortly before the book ends.

I think the structure of their story is thoughtful, and their characterizations include a lot of wit and charm. I just also want to hold Chani by the shoulders and very sternly remind her that she is nearing 40.

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laheath's review

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emotional funny 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

Given the opportunity to interview celebrity, Gabe Parker, who is poised for a comeback, writer Chani Horowitz is having second thoughts. Her first interview with him, ten years prior, helped to launch her career, but not for all the right reasons. Told in alternating chapters of Then and Now, interspersed with Chani's blog posts and articles, as well as other reviews, this was a fun story of can a regular girl get the celebrity? At times, Chani is so self-deprecating that the reader is left agreeing with her, why would the celebrity be interested in her? When they're together, they have great chemistry, though, and at least the ending of this very slow burn finally answers some of those questions.

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