Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.

When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it’s this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it’s not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.

As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.

Pros: Dominic is delightful. His banter with Shay is super fun. The premise is just a bit silly, but in a fun, rom-com way.

Cons: Shay’s a millennial, and I never realized how different our views of life would be (I’m Gen X), but man … she annoyed me. I almost put the book down after the first three chapters. I don’t know if it’s because of how Shay’s written or the way the narrator read for the audiobook, but it just felt so self-centered and annoying. I stuck with it, though, because I wanted it to get better.

It sort of did. I stayed with it through about 36 chapters, but I couldn’t hang on after that. Yes, there were some outside factors in Shay’s life that caused problems, but the big ones were really of her own making. Still, I had invested a lot in the characters, so I skipped to the last chapter and epilogue to see how it all worked out.

One other thing: I didn’t realize how explicit the sex scenes were going to be. I don’t mind knowing that characters are having sex, but the older I get, the more uncomfortable they make me (I didn’t dock my rating for this; I just want to make sure anyone who uses my reviews as recommendations knows they’ll get a play-by-play).

Overall, kinda fun. Kinda annoying. Not as good as I’d hoped, but definitely not the worst rom-com I’ve ever read. 🙂

R-rated for language and sex. Get your copy here!

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