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A review by hsecen
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
2.0
I did not get into this book. The premise was interesting enough - two coworkers with a rivalry pretend to be exes so they can do a podcast about relationship advice. But after reading through the first third of the book, I decided I think I would have liked it as the lie instead of what it was. I liked the banter they had when they bickered but that disappeared really fast and the chemistry fizzled out for me.
Because of that, it made Shay’s more sexual fantasies about Dominic kind of cringey. It was written off as her overactive imagination, but never gave any other examples or times when she did this. It felt more like it was trying way too hard to be steamy and it did not come across well. Also part of my problem was I started by listening to the audiobook, and the narrator was really breathy and quiet during the steamier bits and that made it worse, to the point that I just turned it off and just read the book.
I never felt invested in the couple and it really just tanked my interest. I kept reading because podcasts are a thing now and it was interesting to read a little about that and public radio but otherwise, I didn’t really care one way or the other about the characters.
It was a decent try, but truly I think I would have enjoyed it more if the relationship had been what they were pretending about instead of coworkers turned rivals (in the books they claim to be enemies and really? No that was not the vibe) turned fake exes turned friends turned lovers.
Because of that, it made Shay’s more sexual fantasies about Dominic kind of cringey. It was written off as her overactive imagination, but never gave any other examples or times when she did this. It felt more like it was trying way too hard to be steamy and it did not come across well. Also part of my problem was I started by listening to the audiobook, and the narrator was really breathy and quiet during the steamier bits and that made it worse, to the point that I just turned it off and just read the book.
I never felt invested in the couple and it really just tanked my interest. I kept reading because podcasts are a thing now and it was interesting to read a little about that and public radio but otherwise, I didn’t really care one way or the other about the characters.
It was a decent try, but truly I think I would have enjoyed it more if the relationship had been what they were pretending about instead of coworkers turned rivals (in the books they claim to be enemies and really? No that was not the vibe) turned fake exes turned friends turned lovers.