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A review by rachelagain
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I really enjoyed this book up to the 29% mark, when Chani and Gabe were still in the first interview stage. At that point it was fun and flirty, and quite meta about celebrity profile articles. It felt like it would be a meta and sexy celebrity romance.
After that, the story jumps 10 years to the present when Gabe is a recovering alcoholic and Chani has just divorced a guy she knew she didn’t like 10 years ago…and the whole thing dragged from then on.
This is marketed as a romance novel but it’s actually more so a novel about being a (bad) writer. Chani is an unsympathetic narrator who only takes responsibility for her own decisions at the very end of the book. Even the gossip article and film review excerpts from other writers throughout the book don’t solve the single POV problem, they just aid exposition.
At one point, Chani acknowledges that she and Gabe have only ever spent 6 days together and yet have seemingly been obsessed with each other for 10 years. To make that believable I would have needed a lot more pining, palpable longing and missed connections over those 10 years.
The sex scene, 10 years in the making, arrived after the 90% mark and was ultimately prudish and trying too hard. It felt like it was crammed in there so the book could technically qualify as contemporary romance. It was a really poor payoff for the sexual tension the author kept mentioning throughout the book.
Finally: I do not like the book cover design. I’m broadly neutral on the illustrated romance covers trend but I find it really off putting when an adult book has a cover that could easily appear on a YA book. The cartoon faces of Gabe and Chani make them look like Duolingo characters rather than two really good looking people (which the book tells us they are!). This just adds to the feeling that this book has been shoehorned into the adult romance category, where it doesn’t naturally belong.
This is marketed as a romance novel but it’s actually more so a novel about being a (bad) writer. Chani is an unsympathetic narrator who only takes responsibility for her own decisions at the very end of the book. Even the gossip article and film review excerpts from other writers throughout the book don’t solve the single POV problem, they just aid exposition.
At one point, Chani acknowledges that she and Gabe have only ever spent 6 days together and yet have seemingly been obsessed with each other for 10 years. To make that believable I would have needed a lot more pining, palpable longing and missed connections over those 10 years.
The sex scene, 10 years in the making, arrived after the 90% mark and was ultimately prudish and trying too hard. It felt like it was crammed in there so the book could technically qualify as contemporary romance. It was a really poor payoff for the sexual tension the author kept mentioning throughout the book.
Finally: I do not like the book cover design. I’m broadly neutral on the illustrated romance covers trend but I find it really off putting when an adult book has a cover that could easily appear on a YA book. The cartoon faces of Gabe and Chani make them look like Duolingo characters rather than two really good looking people (which the book tells us they are!). This just adds to the feeling that this book has been shoehorned into the adult romance category, where it doesn’t naturally belong.