After reading Askel's Delia Suits Up, I was looking forward to reading another book by her and I enjoyed NO FUNNY BUSINESS even more than I expected. The book had such a unique premise, with a focus full of laughs and taking every opportunity you can.

After Olivia is let go from her job as a lawyer, she's free to take her show on the road, literally. With dreams of being a big-time comedian and the chance to go on tour with Nick Leto, we're taken along for the ride as the two comedians tour the country and get to know each other.

At first, I didn't like Nick, but as the story went on I enjoyed how Askel wrote this friends to lovers, close proximity romance for how different it was. While this romcom could've delved a little deeper into the characters, I felt like the light-hearted fun worked well for this particular story and setting and while I'm not a comedian, I thought the behind-the-scenes work of show to show and how each of them writes their story into a set was very realistic and fun.

I know joking about personal experiences is not for everyone so I highly recommend anyone considering picking up this title to check out the trigger warnings for this one. While I enjoyed the way comedy was a way of moving on for our MC, I know the jokes may not be received the same way for those dealing with death, divorce or some of the other issues brought up by our MCs.

Thank you to the author, Berkley Romance & NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.

This wasn't necessarily bad, but the tone of this just did not work for me at all. This definitely did have it's funny moments, but I feel like the delivery didn't necessarily land as well in book form as they might have in an actual stand up special. TL;DR: this was fine, but not my vibe!

This is supposed to be a rom com but the male MC was not what most male leads are in rom coms. The chemistry was flat and Nick was gross. I had high hopes for this and was disappointed.

This is such a cheerful, feel-good rom-com which is perfect for the summer!

This is your stereotypical romantic comedy, friends to lovers types story which has lots of laughs, misunderstandings, friendship, jokes, a little bit of cringe and some slight cheesiness, but all good fun and will keep you engaged and reading.

I've not read the author before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I did overall enjoy her light-hearted, funny and entertaining writing, it made for a refreshing change to what has been reading lately.

The characters are well-rounded and entertaining, they are your typical friends you know need to be more than their friends, I loved the concept of the road trip to follow her dreams. Olivia and Nick are a cute couple, they really are made for each other and yet they are so different which makes for entertaining reading.

It does tread close to the usual rom-com style but I enjoyed it, and I think others who read the genre will too.

Olivia is an attorney but her secret passion is to be a stand-up comedian. After she loses her position at her firm she decides to go full time with her comedy.. She lands an audition on the late show and has a cross country tour. She is traveling with the other comedian on the show, Nick, and there is so much fun banter, hotel issues, one bed problems etc.

I love Amanda's humor and enjoyed Delia Suits Up too! A mix of humor and serious life issues. Being a woman in any field seems to a disadvantage but certain industries are even worse and misogynistic. Comedy has a lot of females but it's still very male heavy. It's fun getting to be on tour and feel the bombed show and the successful shows. As she works her confidence up for the big audition while getting to know Nick better.

Also dealing with loss and parents and our own ideas of what our life should be.

I've read some comedians memoirs and after what happened to Chris Rock being on stage making jokes it tough and hecklers be dangerous. But I can see how the high of getting people to laugh is addictive. I love to make my husband and friends laugh 😂

Thank you berkleyromance and amandaaksel for the gifted copy and signed bookplate!

Short synopsis: Olivia Vincent (a lawyer on NYC) is trying to make it as a stand up comedian, when she gets the chance of a lifetime to tour with a fellow comedian the handsome and hilarious Nick Leto.

My thoughts: This is a cute romantic comedy about comedians on the road, with some cute witty banter.

I liked Olivia, a witty strong female just trying to follow her dreams, with absolutely no idea how to pack for a road trip. Nick was cool and he knew it. The chemistry seemed a little forced, especially two complete strangers road tripping together but somehow it worked.

I enjoyed the funeral and wedding scenes along with the stop to Graceland, and the ending tied up nicely in a cute little bow.

Overall, short cute read you could wrap up in an afternoon.

Read if you’re a sucker for
* Celebrity Cameos
* Greasy burgers
* Road-trip music
* Elvis pompadours

Olivia, a lawyer at a NYC firm, moonlights as a stand-up comedian. After missing a meeting with a big client for a comedy gig, she gets fired from her job and takes it as an opportunity to pursue what she loves. Her agent gets her an audition in LA, but she’s too broke to even buy a plane ticket. Enter Nick, a fairly well-known comedian about to go on a cross-country comedy road tour. Will Olivia be able to keep her promise that there will be no funny business between her and Nick?

I love road trip books and romcoms, but I had never read a romcom about two comedians embarking on a cross-country comedy road tour! What a fun and unique premise! There was awesome music (and debates about good music), burger stops (and debates over the best burgers), and even Elvis impersonators (and debates about whether Nick was doing an Elvis or Uncle Jesse impression)! There were hilarious jokes and one-liners sprinkled throughout the book, as you would expect since they were on a comedy tour, but the characters provided much more than just comic relief. Olivia and Nick were dealing with their own personal issues, and along the way they started to open up to one another. There were some bumps along the road, and I do wish they’d had better romantic chemistry. Olivia compared herself and Nick to Seinfeld and Elaine several times, which I thought was a more accurate depiction of their relationship. Despite that, I loved their witty banter and how Nick helped Olivia gain more confidence and improve her act. I really enjoyed taking this journey with Olivia and Nick! It was full of humor, fun, adventure, and heart!

I’m having quite the run with road trips books. In No Funny Business by Aksel, the passengers are two stand-up comedians on a cross-country tour.

Olivia Vincent is trying the Jim Gaffigan approach to comedy. Keep a corporate job while you build a reputation. She’s a New York lawyer with student loans and no family to fall back on, doing comedy at night and on the weekends. But when she gets fired for skipping an important client dinner to open for dreamy Nick Leto, she decides to try going all in on comedy. Her agent has a big opportunity in LA, and the chance to get there by road tripping with Nick and opening for him across the country. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, a lot actually. Flat tires and icky stand-up condos, missing hotel reservations and bombing on stage. Plus, a growing attraction to your road trip buddy/sort of boss who dubs you the platonic Elaine to his Jerry Seinfeld.

I combined the audio and ebook and there was a lot to enjoy. The two get into many fun shenanigans, a couple involving Elvis impersonators, and there are tons of great comedy references for stand-up lovers. There are also heavier topics. Olivia’s grief and unresolved issues around the death of her single father and Nick’s secrets.

The main issue I had was that I didn’t really believe the romance. They were both nice characters who supported each other, but I didn’t ever buy in to the initial spark so the arc felt a little anticlimactic. I imagine a lot of readers won’t have this problem. I also wished we’d seen a little more of their stand-up in the book. We eventually get to hear some of Olivia’s, but I don’t think we ever hear Nick’s.

Thank you so much to @letstalkbookspromo and @berkleypub for a copy of the ebook and I’m so grateful to @prhaudio for the free audiobook.

Charlie Chaplin said it best when he said, “ A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
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To me laughter is the most important thing and that’s why I found this book so fun. Olivia has been chasing her dreams of being a comedian by night and working as a lawyer during the day, but when she gets let go from her day job she knows it’s time to put everything into comedy. She jumps at the chance to join comedian Nick Leto on tour and try to earn a spot on the Late Night Show.
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Even though they spent the majority in this book with a Jerry/Elaine dynamic (Seinfeld for you young folks that have no clue what I’m talking about ) sparks do fly for these two comedians.
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I love stand up, comedy movies and I have been on a major Seinfeld kick! If you are into standup this book is for you!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks and @dg_reads @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The banter was hilarious. The pop culture references, especially the Seinfeld ones, were perfection. The gaffs and physical humor had me giggling. And through it all, there was love, friendship, forgiveness and the story of a woman who learned to love herself her again and follow her dreams and her heart. Side note - the lawyer part was incredibly frustrating since she absolutely blew off work for her comedy and I started the book hating her… way too busy at work these days to read about someone not getting their work done! But once I got past that, I was hooked and laughing out loud.

3.75⭐ rounded up.
What a hoot!
I was worried that it would be full of joke after joke after joke, but luckily there was just the right amount to keep me turning the pages quickly. As expected there was quite a bit of famous name dropping.

Olivia is a lawyer by day and an aspiring comedian by night. Her dream is to be a full time comedian, so when she get fired she realizes there's no time like the present to make her dream a reality. Lucky for her, a once in a lifetime opportunity has come up just at the right time.

Nick is a full time comedian and needs someone to go on tour with him. Thus sets forth a fun two week road trip for these strangers as Nick helps Olivia grow and succeed in the world he's known for a while. It wouldn't be a proper road trip without a few bumps along the way though.

Their chemistry was the pg 13 kind and I enjoyed their easy going banter. Bernie was a great agent!
Slow burn rom-com delightfulness that'll have you laughing the cheeseburgers right out of ya.

No Funny Business follows two comedians on a cross-country road trip to get to an audition in LA. As you can expect from the subject matter, there is a lot of humor in this book. This book certainly had me chuckling throughout! Nick and Olivia found themselves in a series of ridiculous situations that were a lot of fun to read.

Olivia's character was very well-developed, and I was rooting for her from the start. She struggles with some personal issues throughout the road trip, which provided a nice contrast to the lighthearted comedy scenes.

I was a little skeptical of Nick and Olivia's relationship at first. Nick clearly has some baggage and less-than-ideal qualities, but Olivia is drawn to him nonetheless. Their banter was great, though, and I came around to Nick eventually.

I read Delia Suits Up last year, and enjoyed No Funny Business even more. I'm excited to see what Aksel delivers next!

“Life is funny isn’t it?”

I loved this new book by Amanda. The book features Olivia who is a lawyer from Midland Texas! (A girl after my own heart) Olivia desperately wants to be a full time comic but is weighed down by life and bills. Then she loses her job and takes the opportunity to take a cross country road trip/comedy tour with successful stand up Nick. What starts as a fun adventure becomes so much more between them but can they both drop their rules about not funny business long enough to be happy?

I LOVED Olivia! Not only were the Texas references spot on, but her spunk and humor and drive were everything I love in a female lead. She and Nick were both beautifully broken but helped each other along the way through this fun road-trip. Their banter was amazing and I loved the references to them as Jerry and Elaine! Their chemistry was also 🔥

I read Amanda’s last release and i think she just keeps getting better and better. I can’t wait to see what she gives us next! Thank you for Amanda and Berkley for an advanced EARC and to Berkley for the gifted hard copy!

Thank you @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the EARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! ✨

No joke, this book was so cute! I was instantly charmed by Nick and Olivia’s connection! I love a road trip romance and paired with them being stand-up comics made this such a unique and stand-out book.

Humor and banter were perfectly balanced with more serious moments of Olivia and Nick recovering and working through their pasts.

I found myself smiling and laughing and if that isn’t a sign of a good book I don’t know what is!

📝 It should be noted that this book had some of my favorite underrated tropes of forced proximity 🚗 and one-bed 🛏, but alas is a closed door-romance 🚪.

Would recommend for anyone that loved romcoms, stand-up comedy, and a cross-country romance 🚘 💕

Now, I'm sure this book is for someone, but it isn't for me. I had trouble connecting to the protagonist, who is aggressively quippy (a requirement, I suppose, in a book about a stand-up comedian), is the definition of a mess (and a flake and a narcissist), and has a manic edge that could have been interesting if explored seriously but was mostly just irritating. Further, as a native Texan, I found the (I'm sure well-intentioned) representation of a Texan character ranged from hollow to offensive, with only the occasional detour into relatable.

Now, the relationship between a Texan and her state is inherently complicated by the strong state identity all Texans hold or at least grew up around, and it only becomes more complex when viewed through an intersectional lens, of course. For this reason (and others — hello, pop culture stereotypes!), I'm always wary of (and inevitably disappointed by) attempts by non-Texans (even Texan-adjacent people, as in this case) to write a Texan protagonist. That's why I never knowingly pick up a book set in Texas or about a Texan unless it's from an author I trust (like Ferber or Michener). But I didn't know that about this book going in, and despite a few moments of despair and outrage, I decided to grit my teeth, ignore as much of the nonsense as possible, and... it was okay. It's an okay book. But it is not for me. I admit I might have liked it more if the the main character wasn't from a place I know so well — and didn't shove it in my face so much. But that part, at least is true — if there's a Texan in the room, she'll make sure you know it!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have no idea what "take your time Texas" is all about because nobody in Texas does *ahem*, but I do know it's 10 o'clock, which is one of three official Dr. Pepper times, so I'm off to drink a bite to eat and forget this ever happened. Y'all take care.

My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re looking for a rom-com with a hefty dose of comedy, No Funny Business has you covered! Olivia Vincent is a small-town Texas girl trying to make her dreams come true in NYC. She’s a lawyer by day, and wannabe stand-up comedian by night, scraping together gig after gig, hoping for her big break. She finally finds it when she meets fellow comedian Nick Leto. When she ditches an important lawyer-y event for a stand-up performance, she finds herself without her “day job.” She agrees to go on tour with Nick for two weeks, culminating with a late-night TV spot audition in L.A. The only condition–no funny business between them.

Besides keeping you laughing out loud, this book has so many of my favorite things. First of all, there’s an epic cross-country road trip in a Jeep. I’ve been falsely advertised fun “road trip” books in the past, but No Funny Business truly delivers. From car trouble, radio control arguments, unexpected pit stops, and finding the perfect eats along the way, I loved this part of the story.

I love that things don't just automatically fall into place for either the relationship or the career pivot. Olivia has to dig deep to find out what she truly wants and needs, and she’s given the stage to make it happen. Each character is nursing a wound, healing from different forms of grief. While they deflect with humor and a bit of self-deprecation, they really start opening up more to each other along the way. The banter and easy conversation between Olivia and Nick was top-notch. Olivia’s stand-up bits are hilarious, and I would absolutely watch a special or show with her content! By the way, one of my favorite aspects of Olivia’s character was that she wore glasses. I mean! This is a totally underrepresented character trait in romance, and I’m totally here for it. The cover is so adorable. Overall, this book was fresh, fun, flirty, and funny, and I’m thrilled to have gotten an early look thanks to Berkley and NetGalley.

I was looking forward to starting this one since it was about comedians. It’s not a job I have read about in a book, let alone one that both the characters have who are heading towards a relationship. It was definitely a unique aspect and one that I liked.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Olivia. She is living a life that isn’t fulfilling enough and when opportunity comes knocking she takes it as a sign and decides to dedicate more time to trying to make it as a comedian. It was interesting to see her move from one job to a hobby becoming a job. It is very quick since a majority of the book is her traveling as a comedian.

We do meet the love interest very quickly and it gives more time for them to interact with each other. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of him. The author makes him very unlikeable after the initial meeting between them and it was hard to switch thoughts about him once some things were mentioned. The author does try to put him in a better light in one instance, but again I still wasn’t a big fan and nothing was going to change my mind about it.

The best part of the book was seeing Olivia live her dream of being a comedian. She does have a very optimistic look on it and sometimes that leads me to dislike how she acts when it comes to situations but it is what it is. Maybe childish is the word I am looking for to describe her.

Overall, this was okay but not one that I fully liked due to the romance. He just wasn’t a vibe.

No Funny Business is a forced proximity romance that's full of comedy. I wasn't the biggest fan of the road trip element and found myself zoning out while listening to the audiobook and not even realizing that I had missed anything. I did think the friendship with Imani was good, and Olivia's growth and how she dealt with grief.

Attorney Olivia Vincent is tough, sassy, and determined to make it big in the comedy world. When her big break comes, Olivia risks it all to take the road with veteran comedian Nick Leto. Hoping to sharpen her chops before her big Late Show audition, the tour is nothing like Olivia anticipates, especially when she starts falling for Nick.

No Funny Business has a great feminist message in a male dominated comedy world. Olivia is a hustler, never giving up or shying away from her dreams, despite objections from her friends and family. I loved the friendship she has with her roommate Imani and the themes of grief well done. Not only was the roadtrip about Olivia's growth as a comedian, it also served as a journey of connecting with her dead father, which gave her character depth.

While Olivia and Nick had great banter between them, I was incredibly turned off by Nick's character. He was very aloof and the fact that he was a smoker (and it was discussed and pointed out nonstop) really made me dislike him. At times, I honestly wasn't rooting for the pair to get together, because I felt like Olivia was way too good for him.

No Funny Business is a forced proximity, semi-closed door romance with hilarious roadtrip hijinks and comedy along the way. Thanks to Berkley Romance for the advanced copy! The book publishes July 12.

Two comedians jump in a Jeep to travel from NYC to LA on a comedy tour that turns into a comedy of errors. Olivia and Nick are literally Jerry and Elaine from Seinfeld - the only difference is that these two might just be falling in love while on tour.

This book features so many of my favorite things:

Seinfeld - best show ever on TV, and hands down the Contest is the best episode.
Classic Rock - YES please 70’s & 80's rule
Coffee - A damn good cup of coffee is a must
Elvis - enough said!

This RomCom is truly hilarious, and your face might hurt from laughing. Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary copy to read and review.