A review by maybeangela
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

i'm about to make this book my entire personality.

just based on the summary of the book, i knew it'd be something i'd be into. it checks a lot of boxes for me: celebrities, celebrity culture, journalism, famous person/normal person romances, etc. i loved this book even more than i was expecting to.

chani and gabe were an amazing pair. even though i did spend so much of the book trying to figure out the exact amalgamation of celebs sussman used to create gabe (i have so many thoughts), he still felt wholly original. he was so charming, as james bond should be! but i especially loved how kind and thoughtful he was, the way he turned chani's questions around onto her just because he was genuinely curious. and chani was an incredible match for him. she felt familiar, reminding me of my own best friend (especially during her rant about 'angels in america'). and together, in both the then and now sections, it was impossible not to root for them. also, i absolutely adored ollie. he was a fabulous side character and i loved that in the "now" sections he wasn't just there for gabe, he was there for chani, too.
i also really appreciated how seriously chani took the fact that ollie was placing a lot of trust in her to not reveal his sexuality before he was ready. this book could have very easily included some kind of outing plot and i'm glad it didn't.


i also really loved the way this story was structured and the way sussman didn't reveal all of the information at once. it made me want to keep reading to understand the things chani was referencing in her internal monologue. outside media, like other articles, are integral to this story as well; i liked how they filled in the gaps and informed character decisions from a detached pov. 

thank you to netgalley and random house for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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