Love, love, love! This is one of those rare books that I truly read in one sitting (I did move from my couch to my bed lol) and I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish. This isn’t a perfect book but it was exactly what I wanted it to be. I would keep reading about Chani and Gabe for 200 more pages. Can I petition for a sequel? I loved the idea behind this story. This was such an original take on the Hollywood romance trope. I have already recommended this to multiple friends and told them to pre-order.

Thank you #Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Channi Horowitz got her claim to fame by writing celebrity profiles. A decade ago, Channi interviwed up & coming heartthrob Gabe Parker. Their short time together meant more than they both realized…

Gabe Parker is Channi’s celebrity crush, the object of all her fantasies, the background on her phone -who’s also been cast as the new James Bond.

If she nails this interview, this could be the ticket that skyrocket’s both of their careers. No pressure, right?

What was supposed to be just an interview, turned into a whirlwind weekend that had TMZ buzzing with content.

Ten years later, Channi is divorced and living in LA again. All she wants to do is focus on her work, but she has spent the beter part of the last decade getting asked about that infamous interview. No matter how great of an article she writes – it ALWAYs comes back to Gabe.

When Gabes PR team reaches out to Channi for second interview – she wants to say no. She wants to keep the past In the past and move on from all things Gabe Parker.

But the truth is, those seventy two hours they spent together meant something to the both of them – and Channi wants to explore the what if’s she has been asking herself the past ten years.

THIS BOOK GAVE ME ALL THE FEELS!

There was so much characther growth between both mc’s – and it made this novel THAT much sweeter watching them evolve over the course of
ten years.

This was a story about second chances and how sometimes in life we are lucky enough to obtain full circle moments.

Most of my favorite reads this year have been romances (are we surprised?) and Funny You Should Ask is definitely on the list. This book has movie stars, romantic gestures in a bookstore, dogs, and so much pining! Literally, what more could you want? Thank you to @randomhouse for the early copy.

Chani gets her big break interviewing Gabe Parker, the new (and controversial) pick for James Bond. They spend an incredible weekend together, and then Gabe runs off to marry his co-star.

Ten years later, Chani is asked to interview Gabe once again, and finds that she is still just as drawn to him as she was when they first met. I read this book a few weeks ago and it has stuck with me like glue. Funny You Should Ask is out on 4/12 and I highly recommend it!

Chani Horowitz writes profiles for movie stars. Gabe Parker gives Chani an exclusive and personal interview that turns into a multiple day experience she will never forget. After sneaking out of Gabe's house, Chani writes a profile that jumpstarts her writing career. Fast forward 10 years and the two come together for another interview and follow up to the original profile. Old hurts and confusion give way to future possibilities. Sussman creates a fantastical look into life with a movie star and the complications that come with fame. An entertaining romance that is worth the read.

In this book, Chani is a journalist and interviewed heartthrob actor Gabe for a big profile and there is chemistry between them but they both go their separate ways. 10 years later, Gabe is about to start in a hot new movie, has gone to rehab a couple times and Chani is newly divorced. Gabe’s PR team calls up Chani for a second profile interview. When they reunite, its hard to deny the chemistry. This is the perfect read for any rom com lover! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

"I stared at his throat. There was a little sweat there and I could smell whatever extremely expensive cologne he was wearing mixed with something more primal. More like him. I was too drunk. Not just on alcohol, but on the intoxication of being close to someone I'd lusted after for a long, long time. Someone who'd felt untouchable. Unattainable."
This book has a bit of a Taylor Jenkins Reid vibe, in that it's a glitzty setting, but a peek behind the curtain.
10 years ago, Chani Horowitz interviewed Gabe Parker, a Hollywood heartthrob on the up and up. She has been promised "unprecedented access" and the line between the job begins to blur over the course of the weekend. The article went viral, launched Chani's career as a sought-after celebrity profiler and essayist, and convinces the public of Gabe's success in his recent casting as the next James Bond.
Shortly after the profile is published, Gabe jets off to Vegas with his bond girl for a quick wedding, and Chani moves to New York and gets back together with her recent ex, a 'very serious writer'.
Currently, Chani and Gabe are both recently divorced and living in LA. Chani has had a successful career and published two books, with her team expecting a third of similar content. Gabe has attended rehab twice and is attempting to make his comeback in a remake of 'The Philadelphia Story', a topic of much conversation when Chani and Gabe first met. Another profile is set up, and throughout the novel, the events of the weekend and glimpses of the past ten years are revealed.
This book is single POV, and we are only ever inside Chani's mind. While I tend to prefer dual POV, I did not mind this, as the reader, I was quite confident of Gabe's feelings and motivations. I appreciate a solid, dependable Hero, and while Gabe had his personal struggles, Gabe was nothing if not stalwart contemporaneously.
One thing about me is that I love a bit of glamour as the background for a story. Much of what Chani experiences over her first weekend with Gabe could be found in many a Wattpad story. It may have come off that way if they were not both so earnest and somewhat bashful. The story was well done and even felt real, for a story about a famous actor and the woman interviewing him.
I appreciated their repartee, and they each had distinct motivations and personalities. I always enjoy a Jewish heroine, and although it wasn't a considerable aspect of her character, it was well done and much appreciated. I identify a lot with Chani, due to this, as well as her fast-talking soapboxing, and self-protective nature.
Much of this book was somewhat predictable, but I still found myself wanting all the nitty-gritty. What was said on the phone call?
3.5 rounded up to 4!

Thank you to NetGally & Dell Books for the advance ebook to read of this one.

I absolutely loved this book from the beginning. It's one of those books that stays on your mind even when you aren't reading it. In a way, it's what a lot of people (writers, anyway) dream of. Getting an interview with the heart throb of the day and having the kind of chemistry you can only dream about. Chani, an author who so far has only been able to write "puff pieces" as her then ex-boyfriend calls them about the entertainment industry, gets an interview with the new "Bond" actor, Gabe. Up until the day of the interview he was her lock screen on her phone. (I especially loved this detail, because I have had a Tom Hiddleston pic as my lock screen forever). They hit it off, and she ends up going to a premiere the next day and a party at his house the following day. They have serious chemistry but don't actually do the deed.

10 years and a divorce each later, she is asked to interview him again. She's determined to keep it professional but again he convinces her to go to Montana with him, to see his hometown and meet his family. She doesn't want to fall for him again, because as it is everyone thinks the success she's had is because she slept with him in the first place.

I devoured this book and am positive it will be a re-read for me.

26 year old Chani gets the opportunity to interview the actor tapped to play James Bond next-Gabe Parker. She ends up spending most of a weekend with Gabe and the resulting article has most of Hollywood wondering if there was more to it than she printed. They meet again 10 years later for another article. At this point, both are freshly divorced and the sparks could still be there. This book took me a little bit to get into. I liked the trope but there is a lot of bouncing back and forth in time which could be confusing. About halfway in, I started to appreciate this set up as each bounce back explained what the characters could be feeling 10 years later in the next chapter.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my honest review.

The way that I absolutely burned through this book, you would not believe! This book was everything that I wanted from a celebrity/normal person romance pair up. I love a romance where a famous person ends up with a non-famous person so much, and this had the added benefit of giving a shoutout to an interview that I think every Chris Evans fan remembers.
Chani is fresh off a breakup when she is assigned to interview up-and-coming actor Gabe, who I don’t think is the first American James Bond, but this is not a thing I would know. She ends up spending an entire weekend in his world of normal and famous things, and then she writes the kind of interview that people cannot shut up about for the next decade.
Ten years later, Chani is given the chance to do a follow-up article. The vibe is different as Chani and Gabe are now older and more aware of the connection they once shared. I loved the Hollywood article clips and inserts from Chani’s blog. I felt like I really knew and understood these two by the end of the book, which is exactly what I wanted from this romantic getaway. I cannot wait for this book to be available to everyone, because I think romance and movie lovers alike will love this one.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC!

I loved this book SO much! Elissa Sussman, thank you for this story! This funny, sexy, and heartwarming story of two people who become something akin to friends but something more in a short weekend then spend the next ten years orbiting near one another but not quite only to find themselves back in a similar situation. Together in space and time, with ten years of thoughts, feelings and history between them. I loved how this story made me think about the idea of if there really is one right person for us and the choices we make when the things we want don't seem possible. I could very much relate to Chani's feelings of not quite knowing where she belonged and the feeling of staying in relationships that don't feel quite right. I definitely recommend this one! Couldn't put it down and was sad when it was over.

Chani's career was made by a weekend long interview with Hollywood star Gabe Parker--and everyone has always believed that she slept with him that weekend. The truth is much deeper. We spend the book flipping back and forth in time, from that weekend to ten years later in the present where she gets to interview him again. But is it just an interview?

Sussman really works the tension here as the reader tries to work out exactly what happened that long ago weekend and why Gabe and Chani have such a deep connection. In some ways, this is a drawn out love at first sight/first meeting story only it involves some deep levels of celebrity and career, plus both are divorcees by the time they meet again. It's a grown up romance, that also celebrates the life of a non fiction writer, and the importance of having a partner who believes in all your talents.

What a surprise of a book!

Pros: loved that the h was Jewish, few traditionally published romances feature main characters of heritage or religion! Loved that Chani was assured in her beliefs without "shouting"! Great storyline. Love Ollie the side character and his connection to Chani.

Cons: the blurb is about Chani, yet much of this story circles around Gabe and his battle with addiction, even though its from her perspective. I actually prefer to know going into a book that a character has an addiction, there is a totally different mindset in reading these stories.
The jumping between timelines did get a smidge confusing but I don't have a solution for that as I felt the team did a good job of making visual cues in the chapter breaks.

I would recommend this book!

2.5 stars (rounded up)

CW: alcoholism/rehab, death of a parent, sexism, homophobia (mentioned).

Dual timelines, a high-concept Hollywood setting, a second chance, celebrity romance, and Jewish rep are my jam, but unfortunately, this book was not.

I read this book in one sitting, gripped by the dual timeline and the information revealed. Sussman's writing painted a clear picture of the setting but weakened when it came to her characters. Both Gabe and Chani were underdeveloped. Gabe was a flat cliche Hollywood hero struggling with fame, substance abuse, and making rash decisions. We're never in his POV; therefore, it's up to Sussman's writing of his character to prove to us he's a good match for Chani. I could not tell you if they were good together because he was such a hollow character.

Chani is a bit more complicated. In the present chapters, she constantly laments that she was young and rash in the past chapters, but she never felt that way to me. At her core, Chani doesn't grow. If the past/present headers hadn't been there, I'd think it's all set in the same year. Sure, their situations feel young and wild, but Chani never does. In the past, she reads like a quirky eager journalist who is slightly wide-eyed and occasionally reckless, but those labels/descriptors are all we're given about her character. Then in the present, she's the opposite: tired and over-it.

Sussman's writing is supposed to be emotional, but I couldn't muster any emotion for Gabe, Chani, or their love story, since I felt like I didn't know them. I never saw the "connection" beyond Chani's crush, and I didn't feel they had any romantic or sexual chemistry. Most of Chani's emotions were told, not shown, and I wasn't allowed into her mind in the way I should be (since it's her POV). Also, can we stop with all the terrible ex-boyfriend references? It's constant and aggravating. While Chani didn't feel multi-dimensional, her thoughts were. A handful of passages spoke to me, and Ollie's character saved this book in so many ways.

The one thing that I LOVED about this book is the Jewish rep. Not only are there references to holidays, summer camp experiences, and family that are relatable, but there is also a beautiful scene where Gabe practices and then ensures he says her name right. It was the one moment I let out a happy sigh. Now I want Jewish name rep in all my books!

Overall, Funny You Should Ask is an intriguing and readable book with great Jewish rep. Unfortunately, surface-level characters and a lack of connection and emotion dominate the book.

Thank you to Random House for a review copy.

Must read! Funny You Should Ask had me absolutely glued to my kindle until the very last page! I was completely captivated by the plot—a second-chance-romance between a journalist and her dream crush celebrity!! Time hopping between the past and present this addictive read brilliantly maps out the relationship between Chani Horowitz and Gabe Parker that you won’t soon forget! The characters were so relatable and I found myself really rooting for these two! I really felt like my little teeny-bopper self of yesteryear reading the latest gossip magazine to get details of the latest and greatest celebrity couple of the hour—-love that! Funny You Should Ask is a 5 star book that would make a perfect beach read! I have never read Elissa Sussman before, but I will definitely be reading whatever she comes out with next!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book...

Overall, I thought it was an interesting read. There may of been a few details left out that would have made the story better like some of the things that happened over the 10 years they were apart, etc. I liked the book, it had great characters, an engaging storyline and I'll be sure to give it good reviews elsewhere.

Funny You Should Ask is an irresistible second-chance romance following journalist Chani and movie star Gabe as they reunite ten years after a fateful interview. Interweaving chapters from the past and chapters from the now, Chani and Gabe have incredible chemistry between them. As they unravel how things played out between them and what went wrong, it is impossible to look away. I particularly enjoyed Oliver’s story and his journey in Hollywood. The friendship that Gabe and Oliver had was wonderful to see. Of course, Teddy the puppy stole the show!

Elissa Sussman’s writing is hilarious- witty and self-deprecating in a very relatable way. I would recommend this for fans of the movie A Star Is Born and the author Taylor Jenkins Reid. I can’t wait to see what Elissa Sussman writes next! Funny You Should Ask is available April 12, 2022. Thank you so much to Elissa Sussman, Random House Publishing, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

This may be one of the best contemporary romances I have ever read.

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman was everything I could ever ask for and more. It is uniquely written in a way that takes you through the relationship of two people, both struggling with obstacles that influence not only themselves but each other's lives. The way Elissa is able to integrate both flashbacks of their relationship before the article and after the article with snip bits of publications in between is absolutely genius. It made me feel as if I was there in that moment, living with and among the characters within the ten-year timespan.

There was never a moment where I wanted to put the book down, and I absolutely devoured it.

Chani and Gabe met 10 years ago and married other people. Now life has thrown them together again--yet they have both changed. This story told in two timelines and is a fun read with a dose of glamour with Gabe being a handsome actor and Chani being the author sent to interview him. Because it's a romance you know only so much real life will interfere but I did enjoy the real life stories of Gabe and Chani. All in all a fun beach read.

Funny you should ask is an easy read about two people and their push and pull with eachother over the course of 10 years. The Now and Then chapters are well placed to blend the story together nicely answering questions the reader has at the right times. An angst love story that has you hoping for that happy ending the whole time.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this book, but I LOVED it! Told in alternating chapters from their first meeting (interview) to the present, you cannot help but wonder what exactly took place that crazy weekend that they spent together so long ago.

Chani is is a journalist with a “serious writer” as a romantic influence in her life who does a lot of shaming of her writing genre to feel better about himself. He is not a full-fledged character in the book, but yet he is the villain. Or, an easy target. Lol

Gabe Parker is the swooniest celebrity of his time and Chani has the biggest crush on him. Tasked with interviewing him, she does such a good job that her career is catapulted from obscurity into the limelight.

10 years after the first article these two meet up again and you cannot help but hope they don’t make the same mistakes of their first meeting. This is the slowest burn, but you are just rooting for them to get their HEA finally!

Such a great peek behind the curtain at a possible celebrity/normal person relationship and all the pitfall of being famous. Love it!

I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley and these are my honest opinions.