I enjoyed reading Humor Me by Cat Shook. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

3.75⭐️

Twenty-five-year-old Presley Fry has a lot on her plate! An assistant at a late-night talk show she is long due for a promotion and is on the hunt for a talented new stand-up comic to be featured on the show which has her exploring the stand-up comedy scene in NYC. It’s been a little over a year since her mother, with whom she shared a complicated relationship, passed away, and Presley is yet to come to terms with her loss. Her social life is mostly guided by her friend and roommate Isabelle, "Izzy," which is fine by Presley since she isn’t too confident in herself. She is also trying to navigate her feelings for a colleague, not quite sure whether the person thinks of her in the same light. When her mother’s childhood friend, the charismatic Susan Clark, who is also navigating a particularly disturbing life situation takes her under her wing, Susan’s friendship, advice and worldview not only nudge Presley out of her comfort zone but also help her to navigate her grief, open up to new experiences and embark on a journey of healing, self-discovery and personal growth.

The narrative is presented from Presley’s first-person POV. A lot is going on with the characters, but the narrative is fluid and the plot never gets convoluted or difficult to follow. The character-driven elements were stronger than the plot-driven aspect of this novel, which made this an interesting and enjoyable read.

The pacing is on the slower side, which suits the nature of the story. Cat Shook writes with wit, humor and much emotional depth and addresses sensitive themes such as complex mother-daughter relationships, alcoholism, the #MeToo movement, grief and infidelity with maturity and compassion. Her characters are real and relatable. We might not agree with all of their choices, but you can understand them. Presley is an endearing character and I was invested in her journey as she navigated her personal and professional struggles, her grief and much more. Susan is an interesting character and I enjoyed her dynamic with Presley. The romance angle was well-developed and deftly woven into the narrative. I enjoyed the insight into the NYC comedy scene, though I would have liked this aspect to have been featured in more depth. The ending is a bit too neatly tied up and convenient, but stories such as these are mostly predictable, so that’s not surprising.

Overall, I enjoyed Humor Me by Cat Shook and thought it was a well-written novel.

I paired my reading with the audiobook narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano, which made for a delightful immersion reading experience.

Many thanks to Celadon for the digital review copy and Macmillan Audio for ALC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Humor Me offered me everything I wanted from another literary fiction/romantic comedy that takes place in the comedy television space and didn’t get. In my opinion, this book is so much more than a day in the life of a struggling NYC young professional. Is there romance? Yes. Is it rom-com material? At times. Akin to contemporary romance authors like Emily Henry and Abby Jiminez, Cat Shook provides a very real, and raw, reflection of trauma and grief that I think many who have suffered can understand and empathize with.

Our main character, a survivor of child neglect, a byproduct of addiction, shows so many signs of unhealed trauma. Through her various relationships, she begins to work through said trauma after years of just existing aside it. She finds an unexpected friendship with an older family friend, and her son. Both women are suffering through grief and loss and really help support each other through their journey. I loved seeing the dynamic of our younger main character and her mother’s old hometown friend. Through this friendship, she is able to connect with parts of her mother she never saw as a child and begin the process of healing from the neglect she remembers. I’d argue the friendships in this book are equally as important as the romance in seeing our main character begin her healing journey and I loved it.

I personally found myself relating very strongly with the main character and saw glimpses of a younger me struggling to build healthy relationships while remaining closed off and hyper independent. I absolutely adored the character development in this book and found myself wanting to read an epilogue set further into the timeline to see all of our main character’s hard self work pay off.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves stories of self love as much as those of contemporary romance.

Thank you to Celadon and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book; all opinions are my own.

Presley Fry has escaped small town Georgia to New York City where in her mid-20’s she’s slowly making her way up the assistant chain at a late-night comedy show. Presley helps book talent for the show and has recently been tasked with discovering the newest rising comedian to showcase on air. Besides hanging out with her best friend and roommate Isabelle in the East Village, she spends her nights in underground stand-up comedy venues and open mics on the hunt for who’s ready to be showcased on national TV.

Underlying the fun 20-somethings who intensely love New York City vibe are serious elements: Presley’s still reeling from the death of her alcoholic mother, having been brought up by her grandparents, and also she’s been recently befriended by an old childhood friend of her Mom’s, Susan Clark – whose powerful husband has just been denounced for sexual bad behavior at work.

There’s also a Gen Z romance burbling along: between Presley and Adam, a fellow assistant at the late night show, whose boyish sensitivity have them both struggling to break out of best friends’ mode to a relationship.

A fun summer read, blending humor with a feminist twist.

Thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Humor Me is a marvel. Billed as a love letter to the NYC stand-up comedy scene, its protagonist is Presley Fry, who works as an assistant on a beloved late night show. Presley is dealing with a lot. She’s anxious that she hasn’t yet been promoted, and she’s mortified that she seems to have caught feelings for her work BFF, Adam. But mostly, Presley is dealing with grief over her mother’s death the previous year, trying to grapple with the fact that so much about their complicated relationship was left unresolved. When she runs into her mother’s childhood best friend, Susan, the two strike up an unexpected friendship, leading Presley to relationships and realizations she never could have anticipated.

Humor Me is one of those novels that celebrates the messy magic of life: what it’s like to be young in a big city, trying to figure out who you are and what you want, both personally and professionally; how it feels to fall in love – with someone else, with your city, with yourself; what it’s like to navigate the fraught waters of grief. Presley is the best kind of character; she’s vulnerable but guarded, longs for connection even though she sabotages opportunities for it at every turn, self-aware even though she stubbornly refuses to face some hard truths about her life. Her closest relationships – with her best friend Isabelle and especially with Susan – are conveyed with so much authenticity. I adored the relationship between Presley and Susan, with its subtle mother-daughter vibes and the genuine warmth and affection at its heart.

Humor Me is funny and sexy and charming, but also surprisingly emotionally resonant, dealing with deep themes like complex family dynamics, alcoholism, and #MeToo in a well-balanced narrative. It’s a “slice of life” sort of book, not majorly plot-forward – it’s more just the story of Presley’s growth and becoming, and Cat Shook kept me invested in her whole journey. Thank you to Celadon Books for the early reading opportunity.

Humor Me follows Presley Fry, a talent recruit/assistant for a network late night show, as she guides us through New York City, from a NYC lovers eyes, and with a somewhat jaded approach to dating/finding love: isn't having a best friend roomie to come home to enough?

Presley also grapples with the loss of her mother while navigating a new friendship with one of her mother's old friends, who happens to be married to the head of the network at which Presley works, and was recently involved in his own scandal.

There are many threads of this story, but I found that they worked to give us a look at city life, boundaries, what different kinds of love look like, and flashes of standup comedy sets.

3.5 stars rounded up

I loooved If We're Being Honest, Shook's debut last year. So I was really excited to see she was releasing another!

Presley, a 20-something transplant in NYC and lover of the stand up comedy scene, she's an assistant at a Late Night Show, and reluctant dater. She's close with her roommate, and has a giant crush on her co-worker, but otherwise keeps everyone at arms length.

Presley has some grief and trauma from her late mother that she's mostly ignoring, when she meets her mother's childhood friend Susan, who is dealing with her own set of issues.

Susan becomes like a pseudo mom and a source of comfort for Presley, as they share that familiar tie to Presley's late mother.

I definitely felt for Presley, she's just trying to live her best life but she has some pretty heavy stuff weighing her down. Trying to outrun her grief just isn't working for her.

As with If We're Being Honest, I loved the characterization and their growth throughout the story. Though, there were parts that seemed to drag on and others that didn't seem to add anything to the story, I didn't feel the connections between characters like I'd hoped.

I know others struggled with the switching perspectives in her last book (especially on audio), so I was glad to see the single POV with this one. I was rooting for Presley and also just wanted to shake her 😆.

🎧 I enjoyed this on audio and flew through it. I struggled with some of the narrator's inflections, that I feel would've read completely differently on the page, but it ultimately didn't detract from the story.

When I first "met" Presley Fry, I wasn't anticipating becoming so connected to her, so intertwined with her fictional life, but Presley became a living, breathing person that leapt from the pages and allowed me to grow close to her. I found myself thinking about this book while I wasn't reading and couldn't wait to get back to New York with Presley.

This novel brought out all the emotions in me. The female friendships are ones I would love to have in my life and I so enjoyed the loyalty and fierce protection each woman had for her friend.

The dating scene in New York was sometimes difficult for me to watch as Presley held back from commitment to relationships due to past issues of feeling unloved, unworthy of being loved that she still had to deal with. I loved watching Presley grow and realize with the help of others that she was indeed worthy of being cared for and loved.

The novel tackles the issue of men dominating the workplace and keeping women from advancing and often I felt the anger right along with Presley. It also deals with men cheating on their wives and the effects it has on the wife and children.

I want more time with these characters and know this book will stick with me for a long time. I will be recommending it to everyone.

Humor Me by Cat Shook was engaging from the beginning and I couldn’t bear to put it down.
I found the main character relatable while still seeming honest and unflinching about herself.
I thought this was a well written, thought provoking novel.
I really enjoyed this story and I’m honestly looking forward to Cat’s novel!

Thank You NetGalley and Celadon Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Thank you Celadon for the review copies for me and I also note a very generous sharing with my college class of 2001 (that's right) book club! We can't wait to discuss it, seems a lot of themes resonated with my friends.
Thank you as well to MacMillan Audio, this was a great book to read and listen to, I thought the narration from Ferdelle Capistrano was excellent and really captured Presley's voice and made Cat Shook's book resonate in a fun engaging way. Great audiobook!

My review:
TLDR: I really enjoyed this contemporary coming of age rom com that leaned nicely into themes on grief, friendship and self-growth. A great ode to NYC as well as the complex but exciting personal and professional challenges that many 20 somethings experience. The audiobook is a great way to get into the pace and tone of the book!

I really liked this blend of romcom with coming of age themes and how deftly Shook gave space to Presley to grow, a balance of a young person figuring things out, making some mistakes (though I hesitate to say mistakes as much as perhaps necessary parts of growing up...?), and learning about what she wants, who she is, and what is important to her in relationships. I loved her friendship with her roommate, the book is such a testament to the importance of found family and having people who get you and show up for you.

The romcom allusions are there with themes on figuring out who is the right and the wrong person for you, learning that some relationships just aren't that great after all, and that figuring out what you want can help you see people, and yourself ,more clearly. This was nicely explored in a way that honored the tropes but also blended nicely with the bigger themes on self growth, growing up, and for Presley also gaining her own strong sense of self.

Humor Me also is a story of grief, what it means to lose a parent to alcoholism and to grapple with what that has meant and may continue to mean for identity and growing up. At the same time, I thought Shook wove in the role of Susan, Presley's mother's best friend but also Presley's work mentor, effectively to showcase care and nurturing that Presley needed but also to give Presley a sense as to who her mother was outside of/before addiction took over; I thought this was deftly done and I think added to the themes on grief and coping in valuable ways.

Clever and wickedly funny! A story about self discovery, healing, and found family under the guise of romance and comedy that I found very relatable. The friendships in this book are now on my vision board.

Blurbed as perfect for fans of Romantic Comedy, and I second that but this is even better. My only hang up — the overuse of adjectives and internal monologues felt distracting at first, but the extra witty characters complement the verbose writing style.

I really liked the premise of this book about an assistant on a late night tv show, whose mother recently passed, making her way in NYC. I found it too slow for my taste and couldn't really get into it.

Thank you Netgalley & Celadon Books for the advanced reader copy.

I LIKED this book- I didn't love it but I certainly did not dislike it!! It started out so strong for me, but dipped about 20% in. We bounced back towards the end though!! I found Presley to be soo frustrating, but I think that is the point. We the people want to read imperfect characters. Honestly Izzy and Susan really stole the show for me. They were wonderfully written and perfectly supported Presley in her journey. I wanted to fall in love with this book, and I can't exactly pinpoint why I didn't, but I know the right reader really will! Feels like a sweet, deep, heartfelt indie movie come alive.

Humor Me is a raw and heartfelt story that touches upon friendships, grief, and healing. There is a little bit of romance as well. Presley, the main character, lives in nyc with her best friend and works at a late night comedy show. You see how she navigates life in the city. Within the story you see all the ups and downs Presley goes through and how the power of friendships go a long way.

There were some parts in the book that were a bit slow for me, but overall a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and Celadon for the Arc!

When books have a strong narrative voice, I'll sometimes 'hear' the text, along with the dialogue. This book kept playing into my inner ear in a Brooklyn accent, so strong was the New York vibe.

It's marketed as romance, with stand-up comedy as an element. I nabbed it from NetGalley, saving it for a time when I really needed relaxing reading; I ought to have remembered that stand-up comedy always has more than a spicing of pain at the keelson.

There were times when this book veered more into women's fiction. Not a bad thing. The writing was tight, stylish, aware, and the characters varied, their pain real. But the romance between the leads pretty much took a back seat to the romance with the city. It's a love letter to the people of New York.

I'm not sure what genre I'd classify this book as, but it felt like just living a slice of life as a twenty-something New Yorker, which I've never wanted to do in real life but enjoyed nonetheless. It's 2017 and Presley Fry works as an assistant on a famous late-night comedy TV show, and fills the emotional void her mother's death left behind with purposefully distant hookups, work, a will-they-won't-they with her coworker Adam, and the friendship of her bestie/roommate, Isabelle. That's all well and good until Presley gets roped into friendship with her mom's childhood best friend, Susan, who's going through a marriage crisis, Adam and Isabelle both get girlfriends, and Susan's son insists on being nice to Presley.

There's a lot of humor in this book, fittingly, but it's paired with a painfully realistic depiction of grief for both the loss of someone you had a complicated relationship with as well as the loss and nostalgia for certain periods of your own life. I definitely got choked up a few times, and while the start of the book is a bit slow, the payoff was worth it and felt realistic rather than just wrapped up in a bow. Female friendship is the heart of this story, as is being emotionally stunted, which, relatable. I loved Presley but I also wanted to shake her a few times. And her interactions with various types of men in this were uncomfortably real, not just through her personal relationships but even just people she worked with, etc. I'll definitely keep an eye out for future work from this author; she writes emotions so well and authentically, I can't imagine a story in which I wouldn't appreciate that. Thanks to Celadon and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

"Presley Fry is an assistant on the Late Night Show. She scouts comics hoping to find the next big thing. She struggles with dating and relationships. And she's still grieving her mother's death."

This is the "single girl living in New York City and figuring things out" trope. I struggled to relate to that part of Presley. I think writers sometimes forget how different NYC is from the rest of the country. I did appreciate the decriptions of Presley dealing with her mother's alcoholism. It's pretty accurate without being overly dramatic. There are several instances where Presley has her emotions under control - much better than I would in those same situations. Her friendship with her mother's old friend is an interesting choice - but it works. The magic mushroom scene is hilarious.
Presley does figure some things out in this book. It's always good to see a character grow and change.

Fans of character-driven contemporary fiction should enjoy this one.

A slow start but a very well rounded, character driven story. This book was, stylistically, different than those that I usually read but it absolutely still had my attention. true to what was promised in the blurb. very good character development. I love the way this author handled Presley's grief it was very engaging to read.

Thanks to Celadon, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my gifted ARC and ALC of Humor Me in exchange for my honest opinion.
Fresh off a trip to NYC, I was swept right into this story set in the city. Presley is a recent college grad, living with her college best friend and hustling at her assistant job, trying for a promotion. She works for a late night show, trying to find the next big name in stand up comedy for their Friday episodes, meaning she spends a lot of her time scouting fresh talent at comedy clubs. Humor Me follows Presley as she navigates dating (or not), work, friendship, and her grief handling her mother’s death from one year prior. Female relationships, both familial and friends, are at the forefront of Presley's journey to establish herself.
This New Adult book is written well, which is a strong endorsement from me, considering I typically avoid the genre. I took a chance on reading this after enjoying Shook’s previous release, If We're Being Honest. Presley’s character is written with a maturity that allowed me to relate to her more than most characters in their early 20s, and I loved how sarcastically funny (maybe satirical is the better description) the book shows her early life out of college. It's not laugh out loud humor, but I found myself chuckling and rolling my eyes a lot. I mostly listened to the audiobook, and the narration by Ferdelle Capistrano was engaging and clear. The book and audiobook will be available this Tuesday!

This book started as a slow burn for me, but about halfway through I was fully involved. Presley was a complex character, and her journey through grief felt real and raw. This is an engaging read for anyone who loves a good character arc.