Thank you Berkley for sending me an eARC (via Netgalley) of this book to be an Own Voice reviewer

I loved this book!

This is actually my first Rachel Solomon book, but I have heard amazing things about her writing. After reading this, I will definitely be checking out her backlist!

This was a such a fun concept! Podcasts are all the rage right now, so it was really cool to read about the creation of one and see some of the behind the scenes. I think this would be really cool as an audiobook because there are some parts where you read the podcast, so I'm sure hearing it would be epic!

Plot

I loved the concept of this book! Two co-workers who hate each other, having to do a podcast where they have to pretend to, not only be exes, but exes who remained friends. I have to say, this would definitely be a good idea for a podcast! I understand how people were freaking out about it and wanting them to get back together.

I also loved all of the side plots that were going on. I think it was really powerful to see her mother moving on and being happy again. It was doubly awesome because we got to see this in a mixed race and faith way. Seeing them share their traditions was super cool!

Rep
The main character, Shay, and her mom are Jewish and it was really fun to see some Jewish traditions in this book! They shared Passover with their new family and I loved watching the kids discovering how fun it is to find the afikoman; it really brought me back to my childhood! I could also relate to Shay having to read the four questions always, because I was always the youngest as well. There were other fun little things through out the novel that made it clear that they're Jewish, and that I also do or say, so it was awesome to see it in the novel. A Jewish character that actually felt Jewish.

There were other minorities represented as well. The main love interest, Dominic, is South Korean, and Shay's mother's beau is Nigerian. I can't speak to whether these characters were written correctly, but I did love seeing that diversity!

Characters

Shay is our leading lady and the entire story is told from her point of view. I really related to Shay and how she feels about getting older and where she should be in her life. I think she is a character that most mid twenty to mid thirty year-olds will be able to see themselves in.

Dominic is our love interest in the story, and a very swoon worthy one at that. A 6'3'' man who leans, smirks, and has dimples. Yes ladies, he is what we all want! He has some faults (like never being able to shut up about grad school), but they somehow become charming the more we get to know him. I really liked him throughout the entire book. He never did anything that pissed me off. Even when I was disappointed, I still understood and liked him. And I loved him at the end.

Romance

This is a romance novel, and it did not disappoint. We got a very cute couple in this story that I was rooting for the entire time! I loved Shay and Dominic, and there was never a time I wasn't rooting for them.

There are a few sexy scenes, nothing insanely graphic, but definitely sexy!

And the ending! Very swoon!

Overall

This was a really fun read and I highly recommend it to everyone!

amazing book and sop cute and god I love all the charathers because they were so real and relatable and they were just so amazing and I need them in my life I wish I was like this

Love, love, love - Rachel Lynn Solomon fan for life! Very fun, cute romance - highly highly recommend.

This was a cute book and a nice little story. I couldn’t fully get into the romance side of things. I felt that part way through the story kind of stalled and took me some time to push through to the end.

This is a cute romantic comedy that comes with a valuable life lesson as well as a happily ever after. Shay and Dominic take their enemies relationship, turn it into a false break up, and eventually become lovers. Unfortunately there is a huge lie along the way that damages both their jobs and their new feelings for each other. Written with heart and humor, the storyline, as well as the characters, won me over and charmed me completely. I listened to the audiobook expertly narrated by Emily Ellet and enjoyed my time spent with this book.

I liked this workplace romance and will be reading weather girl this year as they have both been on my shelf for a long while. The angst and banter were great but it did remind me of a book I have already read before, very similar plot so I was definitely comparing the books in my head as I was reading

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book at the time prior to release. Unfortunately as a mood reader, I was unable to read the book around the time of the book release. I had attempted to read this book and get hooked at the time when I attempted to read Rachel’s story. If I read and review the book in the future, I will add my review here. Thanks again for the opportunity.

i'm really not sure how i feel about this book. parts of it were good, parts of it were really annoying, and for a while, i thought it was going to be completely forgettable. it still might be, honestly. but i did resonate with the main character a little bit and i found myself invested in the relationship. i'm going to sit on this for a bit and see how i feel about it in a day or two because i'm just not sure how i really feel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Oh, this book had me kicking my legs, and giggling like crazy because of how cute this romance is.

Shay Goldstein has been a producer at the Seattle public radio station for a decade and is beyond perturbed that a fresh-out-of-college hotshot named Dominic Yun has come in and decided he knows everything there is to know about public radio. In a desperate attempt to create a new show for the station, Shay and Dominic portray themselves as exes in a show they call The Ex Talk, which quickly becomes a hit. It works because they already despise each other, but as they continue their show together, some very real feelings start to emerge, threatening to ruin the careers they've both worked for.

Honestly, I just loved this story so much. It felt like a total breath of fresh air. Both protagonists felt so real to me, and all of their interactions had me REELING. The dialogue was extremely sharp. I loved them both together and individually and thought that Rachel Lynn Solomon deeply understood them both and their motivations for everything in their lives. They just felt so genuine in everything they did. And I would be remiss to mention that the spicy scenes were indeed spicy and Solomon wrote them very, very well.

I loved this book so much and consider it to be a new favorite of all-time. HIGHLY recommend it.

I devoured this book in one reading. First, the idea to have a couple pretend to be exes is such a fun contrast to the typical fake dating trope. It made book all the more interesting to read! Second, I loved Dominic. He was so pompous at first but easily fell into a really playful personality. It was a really good enemies-to-lovers without making me despise one of the characters first. I also really enjoyed the character growth both Dom and Shay underwent and how they grew together. Finally, the writing and banter kept me giggling the entire way through. Great and fun read!

Overall, I recommend this book to any romcom and trope lovers.

An enjoyable romance with plenty of humor and sparks and a compelling plot at its center. Solomon is a great writer and I look forward to her future books.

I loved the immersion into the world of public radio and the hero was a very romantic lead. However, the main character felt a little flat, making it difficult to fully attach to the relationship at the core of the book;.

A really cute and funny romcom for folks who like Talk radio and enemies to lovers. There’s one scene at the end that really took me out of believing in their love story as a whole but all in all, a great book.

This book was so fun and such an interesting enemies-to-lovers romance! Solomon does such a great job with setting (this book is set in Seattle) and relationship.

I was lucky to be gifted an ARC of this book to review, and I sucked at reading it in a reasonable amount of time. But, I have loved other books by this author and I couldn’t wait to drive back into her writing. This is a great romance for fans of the fake-dating and enemies to lovers tropes. This follows our two main characters pretending to be ex’s and host a relationship podcast.

I am obsessed with Rachel Lynn Soloman’s story crafting and writing. I loved seeing the primary relationship in this story and seeing how realistic and messy it was. I like that the author focused on the main character and how she is whole on her own. But also seeing how amazing and realistic the couple is together.

I also wanted to mention that this story really focuses on the topic of grief and sexism in the workplace. I really appreciated the exploration of what it means to be grieving, and how that never truly goes away. We see our main character deal with it daily. I also appreciated the look at how subtle sexism can be, and how those who don’t deal with it can react to it. Both of these are important topics to include in stories, and I loved seeing these in a romance or a more light hearted story. This is something the author does really well in her work.

Overall I fell head over heels in love with this story and the writing.I was hooked by this story, and devoured this book in a matter of days. I can’t wait to see what other books the author had in store for the future. I have read a couple of her books at this point and she has a fan in me!

Oh my goodness! I absolutely LOVED this book! Such a perfect enemies to lovers with so much wonderful tension, swoon, & steam! I can’t wait to read everything Rachel Lynn Solomon writes!

Laugh out loud, shed a tear, and fall in love with Shay and Dominic. There’s just something about fake dating that turns into a HEA that gives life to my soul.

3.75 Stars

I picked up The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon because it sounded a little like The Hating Game, but there was a rare Jewish character. Being Jewish, I often don't see my kind in books, so I thought it would make for a more relatable heroine. (Honestly, it didn’t make a difference, it was barely brought up).
“You two have this great chemistry, this natural conflict.”

Shay has been working at her local public radio station as a producer for 10 years. She grew up listening to radio with her dad and dreamed of having her own show since she was a kid, but she just didn’t have the radio voice. So she was happy to work behind the scenes and hopefully climb the ladder.

When Dominick, a new hot-shot hire who is 5 years younger and has a master's degree (and never fails to let everyone know, multiple times per day) starts, Shay and him don’t hit it off well at all. He is suddenly the golden boy, while her 10 years of experience seem to count for nothing.

With ratings falling and layoffs happening at the station, when their boss sees their love/hate chemistry, he suggests a show hosted by exes, with them pretending to be exes. Neither likes the idea of lying, but they want to keep their jobs, so they reluctantly participate in the ruse.

With the show a huge success, their on-air banter travels, of course, to off-air, and these fake exes just may be getting “back together”. But the lie may blow up in their faces.

The Ex Talk is just the perfect kind of book for me. It’s not really a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, but it’s light and fun. I really enjoyed the first ¾ of it, but I must say, the ending conflict kind of petered out for me, it just didn’t wrap up in a satisfactory way, and the story that started so strong just kind of lost its way a little. At first, I thought it was me, so I peeked at some other reviews and saw I wasn’t alone in this assessment. Luckily the actual end was a satisfying HEA.

Likes:

•Fun love/hate banter.
•The radio setting.
•A Jewish heroine and asian hero.
•That she was older than him.
•I loved their chemistry.
•The dog was the best!
•I liked listening to the podcast episodes.
•Quirky and smart.
•A little look into the radio industry.

Dislikes:

•I really didn’t love how they lied to the public.
•The last quarter of the book and the conflict just didn’t resolve well for me and fell a little flat in the end.

The Narration:
Emily Ellet is new to me and her narration was spot-on. In this particular book, especially because it’s about radio/podcasts, I think this one is meant to be listened to over reading.

The Down & Dirty:
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon was a smart, quirky, enjoyable listen. Hate-to-love, especially in the workplace is one of my favorite tropes because I absolutely LOVE banter, and there was plenty here. While The Ex Talk isn’t the most memorable book, and there are a few things I wasn’t thrilled about, it was a solidly good, light vacation read.

Rating: 3.75 Stars, 4 Heat, 4.5 narration

4.5 STARS!

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon was another debut novel that I truly enjoyed.

We have the heroine Shay, whose been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for about 10 years and she loves working in this industry. She lost her father when she was 18, so it allows her to feel more connected to him.

But there's a new guy in town, Dominic Yun, who's fresh off a journalism master's program and he thinks he knows the all and all about public radio *eyeroll*. Cue the epic clash and sexual tense.

Soon it is revealed that the station is struggling and they are in dire need of a new concept. Shay comes up with the brilliant idea of The Ex Talk, a show about two "fake" exes that will deliver relationship advice on the air. As you can imagine, these enemies-to-lovers soon become close and eventually they will face the consequences of their lies.

This was an overall fun and sweet read! I loved that there was a bit of an age gap between the heroine and the hero. Entertaining and different, I will definitely read more books by this author *chef's kiss*!!