This story was fantastic. Both characters were mature and emotionally intelligent. The characters' chemistry was fantastic, and I thought it was great how Naina's queer identity was explored and accepted. Seeing a realistic bisexual character made me very happy.

3.5 stars! I've been wanting to try a book from 831 stories for a while now because their concept is really interesting. I loved the novella length of this and am excited to try more books from this line.
Naina was a very "real" protagonist to me. If you love Sally Rooney characters, she is the girl for you. I appreciated the bisexual representation and it was vulnerable to read about her struggle falling in love with a man for the first time and how that relates to her queerness.
The novel in general felt very real to me, this is how people meet and fall in love in the real world. The vibes and aesthetic of the story were lovely. I thought David as the love interest was okay, but he was easily the most uninteresting part of this story. I loved all the side characters and am in awe how much plot and character development Barath was able to weave into this shorter length book.
(Thank you to NetGalley, Upasna Barath and 831 Stories for providing me with an eARC for this book in exchange for my honest feedback. All opinions in this review are my own.)

I liked Comedic Timing, but it didn't really draw me in to the story enough for me to really love it. The characters, while complex, felt flat and I couldn't understand their connections to one another. If it hadn't been a novella/quick read, I don't know if I would've finished it.

beta read this for 831 and adored it - charming, complicated, messy. for the people who watched Girls and The Mindy Project and also something wholly new that no one has written quite yet

A fun and honest exploration of bisexuality, packed into a punchy novella. I devoured it! I love what 831 is doing with the romance genre and I cannot wait to see what they have up their sleeve.

Thanks to 831 Stories and Netgalley for this eARC.

I’m in love with 831 Stories, and Comedic Timing was no exception. I love bi representation in books - which Comedic Timing SO delivered on, aaaaand I adore messy women, which Comedic Timing SO delivered on; the only thing better than messy or bi representation is messy AND bi representation. Loveeeeeeeeeee

Reckless, quarter life crisis meets the NYC creative hustle—with a side of romance.

Read this for:
🎭 messy twenty-something uncertainty tackling queer identity, creativity, breakups– all in 170 pages
🎬 a will-they-won’t-they between creative collaborators
🌆 dating, queerness, and ambition colliding in New York City

Naina Rao is determined to make this her year. She’s got a steady job, she’s newly single, and she’s ready to finally break into a creative career. But NYC doesn’t make it easy—until she meets David, a filmmaker who makes the city feel a little less lonely. Their connection is instant, and that makes her question everything she thought she knew about herself.

This ambitious novella takes on a lot – mid-twenties uncertainty, big dreams, messy starts and stops of relationships, carrying the weight of grief, wrestling with heteronormativity. The premise is so compelling: a queer 25-year-old falling for a man for the first time and spiraling into an existential crisis. But in its race to be hyperrealistic and self-aware, it veers into lit-fic-with-a-romance-subplot territory. It’s a love story where I wasn’t necessarily rooting for the couple to end up together, which is a cardinal sin in the genre.

831 Stories brings us yet another strong, quick, and sharp novella in a fresh new package and this one leans all the way into the messiest parts of ourselves… but Big Fan remains solidly the supreme leader of the bunch.

I ended up Purchasing this book because I have a collection of 831 Stories books and let me tell you it was everything I needed to read! The story, the connection and setting. It was a realistic and true retelling of what dating in late 20s- early 30's is like in todays worlds ! David the MMC was just perfection, he was what we all hope we can find in our world today! Oh, and the audio on Spotify also so good! I love how it is told!

Relatable, messy, short, & sweet.

Love the bi representation and everything that 831 Stories is doing! Personally, I enjoyed Big Fan more but will continue to read everything they publish.

Another lovely little book snack from 831! Loved this exploration of the various types of grief (losing loved ones, losing versions of ourselves), sexuality and identity, and how the stories we tell ourselves can alter our perspective. So fun to see the Mischief song mention (nod to Big Fan) in the first chapter — makes me want to read it again to see if there are any other 831 Universe Easter eggs!

This is the third romance novella released by 831 Stories, skewing more towards lit fiction than romance compared to the first two. If Big Fan is the romance equivalent of tomato soup with grilled cheese, this is Italian wedding with crusty garlic bread. No idea where that analogy came from, but it feels right. It was overall just a like for me. The story follows the friends-to-lovers situationship arc of Naina and David. Naina is new to NYC, having fled Chicago following the breakup of a long-term relationship. She’s drawn to David, but has a lot to figure out before starting a new relationship. This is not the situationship of your college years (no one wants to read about that hot mess of cringey behavior lol). Instead, it draws from more adult issues- the trauma and scars that result from having actually lived, loved, and lost. It was dense, and at times hit a little too close to home despite my experiences being so different than Naina’s. Kudos to the author, Upasna Barath, for that one. Everything came on too strong and too fast for me, maybe the curse of a novella. I didn’t feel like I had a chance to figure out who Naina was, or feel an emotional connection to her before we dove right into the whole tangled mess of interpersonal relationships. I felt too tired to cheer at the end of it, but appreciated that it was well written and a unique story. If you’re a fan of happy endings that really make you work for it, fictional relationships that have realistic messiness, or just in a headspace where you want to put on someone else’s shoes and walk around in them (I was absolutely not), you should pick this up!

I loved this story. Both characters were emotionally intelligent and mature. There wasn’t major conflict dealing with miscommunication which is refreshing. They were fleshed out, full characters who were imperfectly human. Telling a love story rooted in a situationship seems difficult but this felt seamless and surprisingly real. I wish it were longer because I would’ve loved getting more from the last third of the story. Overall a lovely read.

What’s comedic is how I convinced myself how this was good while reading it. Looking back, it’s just okay.

I’ve read better, but I’ve also read much worse.

I think the only reason I would purchase a copy is if I got the rest of 831’s books because they all looked pretty beside each other. Otherwise, I couldn’t care less.

This was the perfect slow burn novella for me. I loved the chemistry between the characters and really loved the way Naina’s queer identity was explored and validated. I would love to see Chloe and Christian’s story.

I absolutely devoured this book in one day. Never in my life did I think I’d be crushing over a book boyfriend named David and yet here we are!!!

Barath’s writing is so authentic and relatable and it makes me enjoy a book even more when I can see myself within certain elements of the characters.

I was lucky enough to get to attend an event with the author, and getting to hear about her influences and thought process while writing this story was so lovely.

831 stories has been killing it with their recent releases and I can’t wait to see what they come out with next!

I was intrigued by the premise but this just wasn't for me. I struggled to get invested in the characters and it all fell pretty flat.

This book was an enjoyable, quick read but I think it left something to be desired. I know it's the nature of a novella, but things moved quickly and I wanted to see more of Naina and David's actual relationship. Although that being said, it is definitely a testament to the character development that I was left wanting so much more of their interactions.

Comedic Timing is about 25 y/o Naina who recently ended a long relationship with her ex-girlfriend and moved to NYC, and she is exploring her sexuality. I really struggled to get into this short story, it’s around 170 pages long, but it felt like it was dragging. My main issue with the text was the awkward, overly introspective dialogue between the main characters. It felt completely unrealistic. I could not feel their chemistry at all. My fav part of this novella was Naina’s struggle with her sexuality. I thought it was very well done. I also wanted there to be more comedy since many of the characters were comedians. Overall, this was a 2.75-star rating for me. I love the 831 story Easter eggs that was fun. I will continue to read through all their published stories so far because I am enjoying them. Many thanks to 831 Stories & NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I can't believe this is a debut novel. Upasna's writing is SO GOOD. I devoured this novella. I loved the character development and the characters themselves. It made me sooo happy to see a realistic bisexual character. I truly cannot wait for Upasna's next book.

I really enjoyed this overall- I think it makes great points about being kind to yourself and accepting the humanness of being imperfect and flawed. I felt a little disconnected from the main character and her choices but could see why she needed to make them and learn from them.