I can say it definitively: Rachel Lynn Solomon's adult romance debut The Ex Talk is one of the most well-rounded rom-coms I've read in a bit.

It's truly got it all: Snappy dialogue! A realistic look at how media works! A heroine with actual issues and her own shit going on outside of falling in love! A cast of diverse characters who all have incredible personalities and interests and who don't simply live to serve the protagonist! A very adorable book boyfriend! A truly batshit but lovable rescue dog!

Admittedly Dominic was almost a little too perfect for my taste, but I'm letting it slide because the dude knows how to clean cast iron pans, enjoys cooking, and has good taste in music. Also, I love that Shay Goldstein is a Jewish leading lady. L'chaim, girl.

Seriously though, when's this being turned into a movie?

This is perfect for anyone who’s into podcasts and enemies to lovers! I really enjoyed reading the banter between the two main characters and I intend on doing a more in-depth review on my blog. I have already created a bookstagram post.

Shay has worked at Pacific Public Radio for ten years, so when 24-year-old hotshot Dominic strides in and wows listeners --her listeners-- it doesn't exactly endear him to her. But when they are strong-armed into a new show where they pretend to have dated one another in order to talk about dating advice, sparks fly. However, journalistic ethics are on the line seeing as how they've never actually been in a relationship (and now doesn't count)-- can their show, their love, survive the creative storytelling?

This romance is an homage to public radio, and, while the references to longtime NPR shows and hosts can be unwelcome to those who aren't fanatics, it hits all the right spots I want in a contemporary romance: banter, a haters-to-lovers trope, emotional openness, and character development. As someone who, like Shay, has had a misogynistic boss, I really appreciated that subplot-- and especially when others back up Shay's feelings that he's sexist. Some of the jokes are even the same ones I've made with friends about my misogynistic former boss.

On the chaste to steamy scale, I'd give it a 6. There is some on-page steaminess, but it's not overly done or too graphic.

Diverse reads:
- Dominic is Korean American.
- Multiple side characters are not-white and not-straight.

What a fun plot!! I loved this book so much. Rachel Lynn Solomon has the ability to write a super intriguing, funny contemporary romance. She is able to create some really fun banter between the two characters.

A very creative take on a contemporary romance novel, the Ex Talk follows Shay Goldstein and Dominic Yun on a “coworker turned enemies turned fake exes turned cohosts turned romantic partners.” The idea of a radio station hook-up was great! The author, Rachel Lynn Solomon, did a wonderful job building a story around the ins-and-outs of radio and also how podcasting and social media has changed the industry. How being innovative to have listeners ‘tune in’ is key.

The dialog in the book was well done. The intermittent chapters of Tweets and scripts was a nice touch! One thing I struggled with was some of the acronyms. I am not knowledgeable when it comes to text abbreviations, so a few times I had to look up what something meant in a conversation. Although the author explained that the super long acronym WW..something..something.. was I couldn’t remember and to save time ‘flipping’ on an ebook to find it again, I just gave up and moved on – some feminist mantra from what I remember.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and would consider reading another novel Rachel Lynn Solomon has released.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for giving the opportunity to access this ARC. I really enjoyed it and look forward to adding it to my library when it is released!

Sexy banter? Public radio hosts? Pledge drive love confessions? If this is the stuff of your nerdy liberal dreams, this might be the book for you. Other than the doubtful ability of a a single woman to buy a house in Seattle on a public radio producer salary, this book kept the fantasy alive. Dominic and Shay had sexy chemistry, witty dialogue, and interesting back stories. I thoroughly enjoyed entering their world for a few hours.10/10 would recommend.

Okay, wait, WHAT? I read modern romcoms never expecting them to genuinely be good, and am sometimes super surprised. Like with Talia Hibbert. And now, apparently, The Ex Talk. Because dang!

I’m always thankful for when a romance book has a decent background plot to the romance. Most of the time, the entirety of the romance novel’s plot IS the romance and nothing else, but this book had so many different moving parts and plots! Plus, it dealt with changes whilst facing adulthood, the amazingness that is public radio, and a whole slew of other subjects. I enjoyed the Jewish perspective, as well. This isn’t a very eloquent or well thought out review, but if you want a good modern romcom that has steamy romance AND an actual plot, then this is your best bet.

A delightful reading experience. Laughs and squeals; the characters have fun tension and banter. The running master's degree joke was great. This will appeal to fans of contemporary romcoms or anyone looking for a sweet read.

I loved this book. It was an absolute delight, and the ending especially was perfect. I'm from a bit north of Seattle, so I loved all the familiar places and such. I also just really loved Dominic and Shay's relationship, and all the public radio and podcast elements. Just a wonderful new romance.

Some heroes wear capes. And some heroes write extremely cute, whip smart, super sexy romcoms that warm the cockles of my NPR loving heart. Thank you for bringing this slice of joy into my life, Rachel Lynn Soloman! I'm preordering my own copy because I know this is going to be a re-read for me.

Also, lowkey and it's very lame, but I was never really into podcasts but this book inspired me to try some out and it turns out I love them now??

This book was SO CUTE! I loved the whole premise and it really delivers. The workplace setting of a public radio station felt so fleshed out and was just a really wonderful place to hang out for a while. The fake exes was so much fun. I thought their banter was really great and a few moments were laugh out loud funny. Also I thought their emotional arcs were done really well which led to some top tier close proximity and a really satisfying HEA!!

I am OBSESSED with this book. If this sounds like something you'd like, I promise you won't be disappointed. Funny, smart, and brilliantly written... this is everything I've come to hope for in romance. Pre-order NOW.

Fake dating (kinda). Public radio. Seattle. Rivals-to-lovers. A neurotic rescue dog. [A ROMANCE NOVEL THAT DOESN'T END WITH AN ENGAGEMENT IN THE EPILOGUE, THANK JESUS. (hide spoiler)]

An absolutely delightful read that will surely please any romcom fan. Put this in the hands of any 20-something, especially fans of Casey McQuiston and Talia Hibbert.

I honestly did not want to put this book down after I finished it. Rachel Lynn Solomon is a fairly new author to me. Today Tonight Tomorrow was the first book of hers that I read and I soaked it up fast. The same is said for this one. The moment this was added to my Netgalley shelf, I dropped everything and read it within 6 hours.
The relationships are beautifully portrayed and I felt like I was right in Seattle with the characters. The beauty of the sexual scenes in themselves also needs to be discussed as I found them even more enticing than the sexual scenes in a Sarah J Maas novel. And that is saying a lot. They are done tastefully but are steamy!
Honestly will say: this is in my top books read in 2020 and I’ve read a lot. Highly highly recommend.

The FEELINGS. I had to keep putting my iPad down to yell because this was so perfect. The tropes were perfect, Dom and Shea were delightfully flawed and fleshed out, and Solomon manages to also wrap in the very specific loneliness of being in your late 20s and feeling like you don't have your life together. This was sweet, steamy, smart, and satisfying. A great pick for fans of Talia Hibbert's Brown Sisters series, The Hating Game, Kerry Winfrey's Not Like the Movies...

This one is a quick read and a lot of fun. Two public radio workers pretend to be exes so they can host a buzzy new show in order to boost the station's ratings. Funny jokes, hot enemies-to-lovers action, and gentle wisdom about work and self-worth.

I’m not the biggest fan of adult romance but this was really cute! I love Rachel Lynn Solomon’s writing so much and the fact that it was centered around public radio was really cool.

I loved this book so much!!! Shay and Dominic's enemies-to-lovers romance was perfectly executed. Their banter is excellent, their love scenes steamy and fun, and I loved each of their individual emotional arcs alongside their growth as a couple. The grand gesture at the end is one of my favorites I've ever read. Finally, I'm obsessed with Shay's dog, Steve Rogers Goldstein. Perfect romance novel that I can't wait to recommend highly!

This is my second Rachel Lynn Solomon book this year and I think she may be quickly becoming an auto-buy author for me. I know her first two novels were less rom-com, more heavy non-romantic relationships, but I really think I need to pick them up because she is so talented at creating an authentic feel to her characters.

The Ex Talk is her first adult novel, and there was a few times where it felt a little unsure of itself, more like a debut. It is, technically, her adult debut, so no shame there! She went a little heavy with the millennial jokes, but truth be told, the audience it’s for will probably eat those up.

It’s hard not to compare Today, Tonight, Tomorrow with this novel, not only because they’re about 6 months apart in pub date, but also because they have the same romantic trope. However, I think T3 did actual enemies-to-lovers better. But for an adult audience, I think coworkers-who-don’t-get-along-to-lovers is easier to relate to and honestly is probably a much easier transition to write. Our main characters, Shay and Dominic, have sooooooo much chemistry and ~witty banter~ and it was legitimately fun to see what jokes they’d crack on each other next.

Now, I know nothing about the radio. I don’t listen to even FM radio anymore, and I’ve never listened to talk radio. I also don’t listen to podcasts. So I have no real concept of the work setting of this book. But it was written so well that I could honestly picture the sound booth or their office and desks. So major points there.

Some smaller things I liked:
Solomon’s Jewish representation that’s present in her books. Same for Seattle and the (what feels) realistic portrayal.
Very very normalized inclusive queer and POC side characters, Shay’s best friend is Indian, Shay’s mom’s boyfriend is Nigerian, his son is married to a man and they have a toddler, her producer is Asian and talks about dating both men and women, Dominic himself is Korean - and not one of these things needed any extra sentences. Everything was just stated as fact, and it sounds like I’m applauding the bare minimum a bit here, but it’s so easy for inclusivity to be portrayed as an afterthought, or something cut and pasted in, for tokenization. It’s just nice to see such a well-rounded group of people organically in a story.
The story tackled misogyny in the workplace - the end of that storyline is satisfying in a fun way, but there’s not much justice, I’m afraid
The feeling of being alone in a big city, being an adult who still feels more like a lost child, seeing other people your age advancing with societal norms faster than you.. idk, as cringe as some of the flat-out millennial jokes were, I think the millennial experience comes across very well in this story
!!!small age gap romance with gender roles reversed small age gap romance with gender roles reversed!!! ((Dominic is 24 and Shay is 29)) I’m 2 1/2 years older than my boyfriend so I was very pleased to see this dynamic
Shay’s dad died in high school, so over ten years ago by the time this story takes place, and she still deals with a lot of grief. But this book is not about healing in the slightest or trying to fix the problem. It’s just a fact of life, it molded her as she went to college and found a career plan and affected her relationships and it was what it was
HER MOM PROPOSED TO HER STEPDAD INSTEAD OF VICE VERSA SO AYEEEE

I could honestly probably go on and I think my T3 review has a similar list of every social issue or item that was touched on in the novel - it seems Rachel Lynn Solomon is great at covering a wide spread of topics at once. Which may help her stories feel so authentic, because real life is never gonna let you breathe in one category just to focus on your big problem at the time. We are all dealing with so much at once at all times... but we have books like this to make it better.

And omg I forgot to mention the extremely hot and steamy sex scenes, and even how much hotter the sex scenes without penetration were, but unfortunately I’m all out of tim-

This book is a pure, goddamned delight. I love every single second of it. Shay and Dominic are hilarious and hot and delightfully nerdy.