Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Funny You Should Ask

Rating: 4/5 stars

Writer Chani Horowitz and movie star Gabe Parker had a whirlwind weekend together ten years ago that led to a viral magazine profile, before both ended up married to different people. Now, their teams want a follow-up interview that will bring them back together for the first time in a decade.

This book wasn’t at all what I was expecting—in my mind I was in for a rom-com with the celebrity trope, and instead I got something I would call more akin to literary romance. The writing was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and I loved the commentary on Los Angeles and feminism and all the small lovely moments that this kind of intricate writing allows for.

That said, I didn’t feel like I got the kind of deep connection to the characters that I normally expect in a romance, and I was never really sold on Gabe—though his willingness to buy books for the people he loved was definitely a check in the plus column. Overall, I would recommend this for anyone looking for a more character driven and literary read!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: second chance romance; celebrity romance; literary romance

CW: Death/loss of parent; alcoholism/addiction; sexism/misogyny

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emmysforeverbooked's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

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.

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samarakroeger's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

when I picked this book up, I was planning on just reading the first chapter and then comparing it to the first chapter of a few other books that I might've wanted to read today. I didn't put this one down until I finished it. so much for trying a chapter.

anyways, more than anything, I just really enjoyed Sussman's writing. this is one of those rom-coms that is maybe lacking a little bit in the romance department, but is just a well-crafted and enjoyable book regardless of the plot. I love Emily Henry, and she totally fits into this category as well. it was tightly constructed, and the inclusion of the article/blog extracts was great. the book was well-paced, and while I would normally want the leads to spend more time actually together over the course of the book, I thought it worked pretty well plot-wise here. ah, the joys of reading something that has benefitted from the due diligence of a developmental editor.

this felt like it was somewhat inspired by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but just by the parts of her books that I like without the ridiculous melodrama and excessive sadness. here, you get a lovingly-depicted los angeles setting, multimedia extracts that act as quasi-unreliable narrators, short chapters, alternating timelines, family dynamics, and even some fake famous people. similar themes, but they felt less heavy-handed in the hands of Sussman.

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gemin1reader's review

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emotional reflective

3.25

I really enjoyed how this book was written - a mix of present-day, flashbacks, magazine articles and reviews. It made for a fun read but it also meant it felt like we missed some of the emotional connections between the main characters

I also found the FMC just a teeny bit irritating by the end.

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emharris's review

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

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thesmutsister_emma's review

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funny hopeful 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

3.75

Almost, But Not Quite
I am about to commit the sin of all reviewing sins... and make a book comparison. When I first started this book, I devoured the first 25% of it the night I got it on Libby. I was so excited, and if you know me, you are aware of why this is the case. I read Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren last year and have been searching for something similar ever since. Despite being a similar setup, as you can tell from the title, lightening did not quite strike twice in this case.

In Funny You Should Ask, we follow Chani and Gabe on two different sets of interviews a decade apart. We see an alternating timeline, observing what happened ten years ago, versus what is happening in present day. I thought this set up was going to be what did it for me because it was one of the things I adored about Love and Other Words, yet I found myself searching for more.

The Characters
Chani: I felt like when it came to Chani's character, there was much left to be said. I did not feel like I could name any of her personality traits other than the fact that she is Jewish, she is a writer, and she enjoys Star Trek (and has a weird thing for dogs' tongues...) It didn't really feel like I was reading a three dimensional character. I felt like a lot of everything that came with her was very surface level.
Gabe: I feel very similarly about Gabe as I did about Chani. I feel as though most of what happened in this book with Gabe was very surface level. Not a lot of it felt much deeper than if someone had yelled "For the plot!"and carried on. There was an attempt to try to explain why Gabe fell in love with Chani the first time around but honestly? It felt very shallow. Not everything has to have this huge, deeper meaning behind it, but this one didn't really make sense. And it really didn't make sense as to why he still cared ten years later. There was not much there other than common interests and physical attraction that gave me any reason to believe these two should still be in love.

Things I Loved
I adored the set up of this. The idea of a weekend long interview and then an attempt to recreate it to revive Gabe's career was such an amazing concept. I also loved Chani's blog posts and being able to see what she had written over the years, as well as what had been said about each of the characters. It was a neat spin to give some more outside info.

Things I Didn't Love
The way that these characters interacted was amazing, I just wish it had gone deeper. Maybe a few more interactions over the years or more the first time around would have helped me fall in love alongside them. I feel like had I read this before other books with this main trope that I would have enjoyed it more.

The Final Verdict
If you are wanting a second chance romance that is a mash up of. Emily Henry and Christina Lauren's writing styles with a little bit of Lucy Score, this is definitely the one for you. Sending all my love to you and Teddy.

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michaelakeast's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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

4.75

Could not put this book down once I started.

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