Synopsis:
When Chani, a young writer, gets hired to write a profile of her celebrity crush and the newly cast James Bond, she knows this opportunity will open big doors for her career. When what was supposed to be just one interview with the famous Gabe Parker turns into a weekend full of jello shots, a red carpet movie premiere, and Hollywood house party games- the tabloids are left to question..what really happened that weekend between Chani and Gabe?

Written in alternating timelines between then and ten years later- Chani still gets questioned about THE profile of Gabe, the one that skyrocketed her successful writing career 10 years prior. When Gabe’s PR team reaches out to Chani to recreate the interview for positive publicity, she hesitantly agrees. Because after everything that’s happened, she needs to know if he still thinks about that weekend too.

Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book so much! This would be a perfect book for anyone that is going through a reading slump because of the alternating timelines and the multiple media segments scattered throughout- it’s highly engaging and found myself laughing out loud during some parts *cough cough* (dog bed).

I fell in love with Sussman’s writing style- it’s both humorous and addictive! This is a messy, complicated love story with morally-grey love interests. Some of their actions are not my favorites to see in romance novels, and even at times, I had mixed feelings about these characters, but in the end, I found myself rooting for them to get it together!!

I do wish that the media intertwined throughout the book had dates on it, just to help with the timeline. Although I understood generally when things were, 10 years is a long time and I would have enjoyed seeing when some things were spaced in relation to others; A lot happened that weekend and a lot happened in those 10 years both publicly and personally for these characters, and I feel like a couple of those events/components were mentioned but not fully fleshed out.

With that being said, this was a fun read and I will absolutely look into picking up Sussman’s other books!! Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing, and Elissa Sussman for this copy in exchange for my review :)

Posted to Goodreads and Storygraph

"it’s you"
that’s how i felt with ‘funny you should ask’. i fell in love with this book from the first page. the premise itself had me hooked so i’m glad the book lived up to my expectations and even exceeded them. lately i’ve read books about hollywood, specifically romance books about actors. something i loved about this book in particular is how real the connection between chani and gabe felt. what they shared was real and them falling in love felt believable. i liked how there’s three parts and how we get to see the then and now, as well as the news articles and chani’s newsletter/blog. overall, this was a great book that had me shedding a few tears. thank you netgalley and the publisher for sharing an advanced copy of this book!

I started this book a while ago and then put it down, and didn't pick it up for a while. I wish I would've kept reading because I really enjoyed this book and flew through it!

You start by learning the back story of Chani, and how she came to write a story about her favorite celeb Gabe Parker. Then we jump back and forth throughout the weekends that she spent interviewing him, 10 years ago and now.

I love a back and forth in the story. I really enjoyed that this storyline went through each day, then and now, it was a very interesting plot layout. You come to have a soft spot for Gabe, and feel for Chani. Like many romance/rom coms, you want the best for the two in the end.

And obviously, you fall in love with Gabe's dog, and Ollie throughout the book.

There were many times where I had butterflies thinking about the lovely things that were happening between the two!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This second chance romance was the perfect read for Valentine's Day. Chani and Gabe had excellent chemistry on the page and I loved the dual timelines and that both took place over a four day period. This isn't your normal fuzzy romance though, this story deals with some heavy issues like depression, self esteem, divorce, addiction and infidelity to mane but a few. But in between all that heartache was a lot of growing up and love. I loved watching our main characters change and mature over the ten years. I loved how the author incorporated the blog and magazine/newspaper articles. This was such an entertaining book that was heartfelt and heartbreaking but oh so romantic too...what a unique premise as well. And a special shout out to that wonderful cover!

If you have read THAT infamous GQ profile of CEvans one or 2 or 5—whatever, some totally normal number of—times, entranced by the crackle, the teasing possibility, the “what if” of it all, then you’ll likely revel in Elissa Sussman’s FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK.

There’s an irresistible allure to its set-up: a normal, flawed, average-ish woman is thrown in with a gleaming, Dorito-shaped Hollywood heartthrob, and finds that even heartthrobs are human. And that this one, in particular, is also an “aw shucks, mom” boy-next-door behind the pomp and circumstance of his fame. Their spark is something. Or maybe it’s nothing. It becomes a thing for public consumption, speculation, and then it becomes an unanswered question. For ten years.

Until the two are thrown together again, two divorces and some wildly diverging career trajectories later.

This one had a heady vibe similar to Zan Romanoff’s Grace and the Fever (a 2017 novel about a girl and a boy in a band; not, it must be clarified in 2022, about a girl and a viral pandemic). FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK is fun & frothy, a deliciously indulgent snack, and I gobbled it down in a single sitting.

[grid post link to come closer to pub date]

I'm usually not a fan of romance, but this one was excellent, It felt fresh, and the characters were relatable. I will definitely be recommending this book to a lot of people, especially my friends who loved The Idea of You by Robinne Le,e, these books had a very similar vibe!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute book with likable characters. The story goes back and forth between two weekends 10 years apart. A reporter and her celebrity crush she is doing a profile on. I really enjoyed the time jumps and alternating timelines and how the story was pieced together.

Overall it was a quick fun read and I think it will be a hit for those who enjoy the second chance and miscommunication tropes.

Funny You Should Ask is an entertaining romance novel about Chani, a journalist who writes a story about Gabe, an actor, that goes viral after she shares details of their weekend together. Then, 10 years later she is asked to interview him again. The reader finds out more details of their past as the book goes on. It also includes Chani's articles, as well as articles and posts written by others, so it's fun to see the different perspectives and what Chani includes and omits. It's a charming story, and the 2 leads are very likable and relatable, considering one of them is a famous movie star. I am totally confused about the title, I did a search and this phrase, while not completely off base, is not used in the book once. But the cover art is lovely. This book is not going to change your life, but it's an entertaining read, and would make a great movie!

This was a really fun romance to read. Chani Horowitz interviewed a movie star 10 years ago and launched her writing career. Now they are reuniting for a second interview. So much has changed in both of their lives. Is the spark that was there 10 years ago still something that can be kindled? Funny and heart warming.

I do love a good second chance romance story and this one did not disappoint. It was fascinating to see the two main characters reunite after many years pining. They had both matured in the meantime. This is a fun and entertaining story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman was an okay read, but a cute read nonetheless. There were a lot of interesting characters and the prose was good, but it was a slower read.

I read this book fairly quickly, but it still felt like a slow read to me. I think that’s often true of the back-and-forth between past and present. I just want to know what is happening now and can pretty easily imagine how things fell apart before, without dedicating half the book to recounting it. I almost feel as though this particular story would have been better served with a prologue of what happened 10 years ago, and then telling the the rest of the story more linearly in the present. I found myself wishing I could be in Gabe’s head some of the time, because while I didn’t find Chani unlikeable, I found her POV pretty repetitive.. And at times it felt like more effort was being put into keeping us in the hook about what ~really~ happened that weekend than actually spent the reader what these two see in each other. Because despite being in Chani’s POV the entire time, I got to the end of the book and still didn’t know exactly why her twenty-something self had fallen in love with Gabe. She spends so much time thinking about how she could exploit the situation but doesn’t, or how this is so unprofessional, or how he probably doesn’t even like her but just wants good press, and very little time thinking about what she sees in him beyond his celebrity. And of course we can assume that Gabe fell in love with Chani’s drunken quirkiness, but I don’t know. In the Present, I understood a lot more of what they saw in each other (or at least what Chani saw in Gabe) but since their present relationship really depended on that past chemistry/history, I just felt like there was something to be desired.

Overall, I thought <i> Funny You Should Ask</i> was a fun, fluffy rom-com. Ten years ago Chani, a young journalist trying to make her mark on the world, was sent to interview Hollywood's hottest male actor. Sparks fly and Chani's article goes viral. However, that's only half the story of what occurred when the two met. When the pair meet up again ten years later they have to come to terms with their feelings for each other and what happened that weekend.

The book is really fun, but at times Chani feels a little too Mary Sue (everyone loves her! Instantly!), and the supporting characters can be a little flat. Her ex is so awful, it makes you wonder why Chani would stay with such a knob for 10 years (we don't find out).

If you're a fan of Hollywood gossip, the story definitely seems based on the infamous Channing Tatum interview where he takes the interviewer camping.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC of the book.

This book was very slow for me. I was surprised that even being a miscommunication trope, it wasn't as enjoyable. Needless to say I put it down and tried again after 4 days. I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong and the writing but didn’t relate or like the characters. It was a very slow burn.

"Funny You Should Ask" had a really great premise. I was really excited for some "famous-non-famous" relationship as well as a a rekindled romance. I was really excited to start this one, BUT, I was not as happy with the end result as I anticipated. The book features the miscommunication trope, which is not a fan-favorite by any means. This is definitely a slow-burn, which I can normally get into if done well, but it just wasn't working for me in this one. Those who are a fan of those elements I just mentioned are in for a treat though. All in all, in my opinion, the book fell short.

This is a story about expectations.  Chani Horowitz feels like she is falling behind her classmates from her MFA program, including her ex-boyfriend.  While they are securing book deals, she is spending most of her time writing fawning celebrity profiles.  Her latest assignment -- to profile her celebrity crush, movie star Gabe Parker who is about to take on the role of James Bond -- seems like it will be more of the same.  Much to Chani's surprise, she and Gabe seem to develop a connection that transcends the interview.  Instead of a single afternoon, they end up spending the entire weekend together.  Chani leaves Gabe's house at the end of the weekend wondering what to make of their relationship.

But things don't go quite as she expects.  She and Gabe never really reconnect.  But she does write a profile of their weekend together that catapults her career to the next level.  Chani becomes a successful essayist and a much sought-after writer.  Ten years later, Chani is divorced and frustrated by how much her career has been defined by "The Profile" of Gabe who, after initial success as James Bond, has seen his movie career stall.  When Gabe's team reaches out to ask Chani to conduct a second interview of Gabe as he seeks to relaunch his career with a new movie, she is skeptical.  But she can't resist the opportunity to reconnect with Gabe and finally get to the bottom of what happened that weekend a decade ago.

I really enjoyed this book! The premise is terrific, and very well executed.  The structure of the story -- switching between Chani and Gabe's initial meeting and their second interview 10 years later -- worked well for telling this story.  Chani and Gabe are both compelling, and flawed, characters, and I was highly engaged as the story unveiled what their lives has been like over the decade between their two meetings -- and the mystery of what had happened after the magical first weekend.  I very much enjoyed the author's previous book, Drawn That Way, and this one was, if anything, even better -- the author has a real talent for crafting authentic and intriguing characters.

Heartily recommended!

Although I think that this is something my book club would adore, I struggled to get through it. I loved the premise but found Chani to be a very unlikeable character.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dell for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Funny You Should Ask is the story of Gabe and Chani, A List Celebrity and aspiring Hollywood writer, who meet for an interview 10 years ago and create ripples. The piece goes viral and there is speculation about what really happened between them that weekend. The story alternates between Then and Now, in the Now Chani and Gabe are meeting up again for a second article 10 years later. The first time around, Gabe had been chosen to play James Bond but the public didn't feel like he was the right man for the job. 10 years later, Gabe has publicly hit some rough spots, including rehab and a divorce from his Bond co-star, and it's time to reset his image once again.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book and I generally love a famous person/non famous person romance. My big issue here is that I just.....didn't believe it. Chani was painted as such an awkward and unlikeable character that it kept me from really rooting for her/believing that there could be a romance here. There wasn't enough of to balance out the negativity, and the snippets that we saw just felt so random.

Overall, it's a quick read and it's a fun concept but I really struggled to connect. I wish Chani was a little more 360 like some of the secondary characters (Ollie was perfect - would read a whole book about him!) and that would have gotten me that much more excited and engaged.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House - Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. Funny You Should Ask is our 4/12/22.

Funny You Should Ask had me totally hooked and engaged from start to finish. At twenty-six, struggling writer Chani is hired to write a profile for Gabe Parker, her top celebrity crush. A lunch turns into a weekend and Chani produces a four-part article that saves both their careers. But, that weekend changes the trajectory of both Gabe and Chani’s lives. Now, it’s been a decade. Gabe has been divorced and is out of rehab. Chani is recovering from her own broken heart, has become a successful author and is asked to do a follow up on Gabe. Told in dual timelines, Funny You Should Ask is absolutely delightful. I really enjoyed both main characters and feel like author Elissa Sussman does a fantastic job of exploring relationships, misperceptions and complicated life choices. It was fascinating to watch two famous individuals on their search for what defines their own versions of success and how egos, both our own and the ones we love, influence our day to day and ultimately define moments in time. I’m not sure if I’m just a hopeless romantic, but despite their own shortcomings, I was rooting for Chani and Gabe all along the way as they stumbled and picked themselves back up. A great choice for those looking for sweet romance Spring of 2022.

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.25/5 stars.

I hoped for more from this book. The premise sounded adorable and I love a rekindled romance. However, this book was very slow to start and it never really picked up. The friendship between Chani and Ollie seemed superficial and her connection with Gabe also felt a little forced. Their primary connection was not reaching out to the other 10 years prior. In addition, the writing that was supposed to be Chani's (a professional author) was neither good nor amusing. Honestly, the best part of the book was Chani's coping with her divorce and her move back to LA from New York. I wanted more development from her. I did enjoy how the author slowly revealed what happened on the mysterious weekend as the book went on.

All in all, this could have been a really cute book but the slow pacing was distracting.