The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon: A Book Review

I don't listen to the radio often these days. I get in the car, and it automatically connects to Apple Carplay and listen to my playlist. However, after reading The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon, I may start listening to the radio more often! 

Rachel Lynn Solomon is an author I had just heard of when I came across this book on Vinted. Her other books including 'Weather Girl', 'See You Yesterday' and 'Our Year of Maybe' have already been firmly added to my TBR list. The Ex Talk is the book I'm going to discuss today -

Let's set the scene

Shay Goldstein works at a public radio station in Seattle and has done so for 10 years. She is a producer and absolutely loves her job. However, she has to work with Dominic, a man who has just joined the radio station as a reporter. She finds him arrogant as he won't stop harping on about how he has a journalism degree. 

When the struggling radio station needs a new concept for a show before its pledge drive, Shay proposes a new show, 'The Ex Talk'. The idea would be that two exes deliver relationship advice live on air. Shay and Dominic's boss, Kent, suggests they would be perfect to host this new show as they already despise each other. Neither of them likes lying to their listeners as they have never dated. but it's either this or unemployment, so they agree to do it. 

The show takes off well and becomes increasingly popular. However, as the show gets bigger, so does their deception to the audience. Also, Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other, how long can they keep up with the lie?

What are my thoughts on The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon?

This book is like the explicit version of the comedy 'Frasier'. I really liked the premise of this book. A classic enemies-to-lovers theme. There were a couple of things about this book I really loved -

*The woman was older than the man.

*The cool podcast premise.

*The man was not a player and showed a lot of innocence.

For points 1 and 3, you don't see that often in a contemporary romance. The plot was a little muddled in the middle. Sending the two main characters on a weekend away was written too soon in the book. That could have been saved nearer the end of the book to build up the tension. 

However, there are a lot of great moments in this book. It was nice to see the turnaround from Dominic as he was quite arrogant at the beginning of the book. It was lovely to see his sweet side after the first few chapters. 

I also wish there were more 'on air' scenes with Shay and Dom, I already loved the concept of their show and on-air parts, but I'd have liked that to be delved into more. The book has on-air transcripts, which makes great reading, but I wish there were more of them throughout too. 

This book has a light-hearted feel about it, and I like the subplots too, including Shay's mum's wedding and her best friend moving to Virginia for a new job. 

Would you recommend The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon?

I'd recommend this book for a really easy Summer read. This book has definitely got me wanting to work in radio, I'm not sure if my voice/accent would be up to scratch for it though!

Trigger Warnings - the book deals with topics that include the death of a parent (past), sexism, sexist work environment and sexually explicit scenes. This book is for over 18s only.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this book review!