Book Review of: The Ex Talk

The Ex Talk
By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Contemporary Romance
336 Pages
2021
Opening Line: “Dominic Yun is in my sound booth. He knows it’s my sound booth.”
Overall: Shay Goldstein has been working at a Seattle public radio station for nearly ten years. But a new hire, Dominic, comes in and shakes things up at the station. He has a Master’s Degree, the Boss thinks he’s wonderful, and Shay thinks he’s an annoying know-it-all. When their radio station needs a new show concept, the Boss decides that Shay and Dominic will be perfect to host a new show together called, The Ex Talk. They will be pretending to be exes that were in a short relationship together and have now amicably broken up. During their show, they will talk about love and give relationship advice on air. Neither of them like this show idea at all. They barely know eachother. They don’t like eachother. Neither really wants to be on-air hosts of a show, and worst of all, they do not like the fact that they are going to be lying to all their listeners. But, it’s do the show, or lose their jobs. So, in order to make their show a success, they have to get to know eachother quickly, to be able to pull-off the fact that they used to be in a relationship together. While working closely together and getting to really know eachother, they begin to realize that they are starting to like eachother for real. They are sent on a work retreat to spend time together, and that’s where the sparks ignite and feelings really start to sizzle between them. However, their radio show is becoming really popular, and they do not want to jeopardize their jobs by telling listeners the truth. They feel like if they tell the truth to their listeners, that they have been lying to them all along but are now actually in a real relationship, no one will believe anything they say, and on top of that they will loose their jobs. But, can they come up with a better plan?
Ovations: I like that Shay and Dominic are not total enemies at the beginning of the book. They just don’t really know eachother very well yet, but what they do know of eachother they find irritating. I find love stories more believeable when they don’t start out absolutely hating eachother. They storyline is cute and believeable. It could actually happen somewhere, and might be happening somewhere at a radio station right now! lol I also liked the addition of the totally sexist boss. Shay notices and has to deal with every sexist thing he does. I think that unfortunately many of us can relate to having a sexist boss at some former or current job of ours. So having him as the low-key villain of the book is a believeable and valuable element to the story.
Oh Well: The basic plot of this book is about 2 people working at a public radio station together. It is not the most exciting topic and a lot of the book is sort of slow and dull. But, then all of a sudden, when the two main characters do get together, there are a bunch of hot sex scenes! The rest of the book is so different and the hot sex scenes seem totally out-of-place. Not that I am complaining about sex scenes, it’s just in this very tame book they were very jarring….going from 0 to 100 so quickly.
Opinion: I liked that the plot of this book was not like any other that I have read. But, being that they were doing a relationship radio show, there could have been so much smart, sexy banter between them on air. The story could have been written so much more fun, funny, and flirtier than it was. But, I thought Shay and Dominic did seem good for eachother, so you are rooting for them to be together. However, overall, the book was a fairly slow and boring. So, the hot sex scenes came totally out of left-field! If you are into the world of radio or podcasts, then I think you will like this book. However, if you are not into those things, I think this book is just ok, nothing special. Rating: 5 out of 10