I've never heard of Katherine Ryan nor her comedy prior to this book. This is a brief novella about her life from high school to present, describing the arc of her high school boyfriend dumping her, only to reunite and marry him a couple of decades later once she found fame and success as a comedian.

There were some humorous anecdotes in the book, but I felt as though Ryan only briefly touched upon several deeper and bigger issues in her life, which probably deserved much more reflection and focus. These include being involved with abusive/controlling/unfaithful men, single motherhood, body dysmorphia, disordered eating/weightloss, and sexism in the comedy world. I think I would have preferred a full length memoir that delved into these areas, rather than just detailing how she and her husband reconnected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the ARC of this book.

If you know who Katherine Ryan is from her tv appearances or stand up comedy routines this short autobiography will be of interest. This is not a comedy routine but instead a thoughtful and humorous telling of her personal life starting in high school. It goes through her relationships, moving to England, giving birth to her daughter, before she finally reconnects with a high school boyfriend Bobby whom she marries. At 40 pages this is a quick read and while there are several mentions of her career that isn’t the focus of this memoir. Thank you to Amazon Original Stories for the copy of this story via NetGalley.

Thanks kindly to NetGalley for the ARC.

A surprisingly short but incredibly enjoyable read from Katherine Ryan, featuring her unique blend of raw honesty and wit. This is more short story length than anything else, and I thought it was an extract before I quickly checked that I indeed had a full copy. This had been tagged under Biographies & Memoirs in addition to Novellas & Short Stories.

I’m very familiar with her work in comedy, and read this story in her voice. Those not as well acquainted may expect more outright jokes, but her brand of sarcasm shines through and is plenty humorous for me.

I love how tightly written this was, and how many rich, throwaway lines there were that showcased how full a life she has lived, and how much more she has to share. She also seems to take genuine accountability for mistakes or decisions that could’ve been better made, and meaningfully contextualises them in that time of her life.

A thoroughly enjoyable read that leaves me hoping for a much longer and fulsome memoir from Ryan soon.

I "found" Katherine Ryan while watching Taskmaster and immediately followed her on social media and looked up everything she was in. When I saw this short story came out I had to read it. And it was not only funny but relatable. By opening up about her relationship history and her struggles she made herself vulnerable so I appreciate that. Very easy and quick read.

Thank You to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This was a fun quick read. It read more like a long go essay instead of a short story or novella but I still really enjoyed it. I love Katherine Ryan’s comedy so i was happy to read anything by her. The same humor found in her stand up specials was present through out the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for the ARC of this book.

I've seen a few Katherine Ryan comedy specials and I've found her to be extremely likeable and entertaining. She's honest and raw and speaks to women like myself who are forging their own paths in life. This short autobiography is very true to her voice and will be familiar and comforting to those who like her comedy specials.

With that being said, I fail to see the reason why this book/story had to be written. There were moments that strayed away from the main question of the book, and it felt as though she had to hit a certain word count for the publishers. For a short book/story, it occasionally felt like a slog to get through.

I also question Katherine's why for sharing this story in this way. While I do think it's important that her story be told because women should see other examples of how to have and be a family, I also feel like this book was written to convince her audience that her now husband is "one of the good ones."

I can understand and empathize with the difficulties of going public with a romantic relationship when a lot of your success came from being so open about being single can be difficult; your audience is protective of you through their parasocial relationship and they're wary of anyone "new" coming into the picture. But I also feel like if someone were secure in their relationship, they wouldn't feel the need to write about how good their new partner is? Or they would give us more about him as a person in the book/story and share a bit more of their side?

I don't want to speculate too much beyond this point because, frankly, it's none of my business. I just ultimately hope that Katherine and her family are happy and healthy and that she continues to advocate for women in entertainment, comedy, and the world as a whole. Her voice is definitely important and while I didn't love this book/story, I do feel like there is an audience for it and it's worthy of being shared and read.

Positive, this is a very quick read! It's definitely an autobiography, not funny faux guide to dating. Overall, not much learned.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this little book. It was interesting to learn about Katherine's private life, and how she got to where she is today. It gives people hope as well, since she went from such a bad place in her personal life to making a family with someone who truly loves her.

A brief look into comedian Katherine Ryan’s journey to her now husband.

I am familiar with her from Taskmaster so I could imagine her voice in a lot of this. I do think those not familiar with Ryan might not enjoy this as much since it’s so short, and we don’t get a lot about who she is beside her daughter and a few relationships (not much about comedy, career, etc.).

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant well written book.
Enjoyed every moment and was laughing
First book I've read of Katherine's and definitely be looking read more

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy to review. While I’m not too familiar with Katherine Ryan, my sister is a fan. When I saw this available, I decided to request. I enjoyed this glimpse into her dating and settling down life. Despite her being a comedienne, this story was not very funny. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it! I appreciated how open she was about sharing the good and not-so-good parts to her relationships over the years.

I received this as an early read on NetGalley and I was excited because I really thought this would be more laughs and light heartedness but it was just meh to me. It felt like I was reading a journal in a way.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198712879-how-to-accidentally-settle-down-with-your-high-school-boyfriend

This was a really fun and relatable short personal story. I really enjoyed the writing style and could actually imagine Katherine reading it to me as I read it. There were many parts where Katherine's comedic style would come through and it made me laugh out loud. I would love to read more like this from Katherine.

I found this as an Amazon Original Story and was not aware until I started to read it that it was a part memoir of the author's life. Now I am not particularly keen on Memoirs but this one turned out well.

The author is a well known comedian so I expected some funny passages, and they were indeed there but maybe not as many as I had hoped for. The topic was how she met her high school boyfriend later in life and ended up married, so there were serious issues to be discussed as well. Ryan managed this the way comedians do onstage - with exaggerated truths and no allowances for embarrassment on the part of the person being discussed!

Altogether the story ended up being entertaining and a pleasant way to spend an hour.

Katherine Ryan’s signature style is always a pleasure. I could easily hear her unique delivery throughout this book. While a sweet letter to her high school sweetheart and partner, there wasn’t much I didn’t already know (based on Ryan’s previous works). Enjoyable but not ground breaking. 3 Stars.

How to Accidentally Settle Down is a novella relaying a brief overview of Katherine Ryan's dating history and how she eventually found her way back to her high school boyfriend, Bobby. If you are at all familiar with Ryan's work then you will immediately be able to pick up her voice and humour throughout this novella. I thought it was well-written and amusing, as well as being only forty or so pages, so if you're looking for something quick and light; this may be the novella for you.

This was a quick, fun read. I love Katherine Ryan's stand up. This was short and quirky. Grab a glass of night wine and enjoy!

How to Accidentally Settle Down [With Your High School Boyfriend] was a cute short story but I didn't find it as engaging as it could have been.
Some things I thought were weird -- for example the comment about how good looking men werent typically married to someone their own age unless they were trapped with a baby or using her to il his penitentiary commissary.
I guess I found that inappropriate and completely untrue which started me off not enjoying this as much as I could have.

I do think the cute references to older songs -- such as "catch a granade" etc.. were fun.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭."

I was first introduced to Katherine Ryan while watching the show Taskmaster - and have since watched almost everything that she's in. There's yet to be a time when she hasn't made me laugh and I absolutely believe we'd be friends if we ever met in real life 😅

SO, when I saw this on NG, I knew I had to try and snag it and read it! Katherine essentially shares her journey and timeline through her relationships, and how everything ended up circling back to her high school boyfriend.

And while Matt and I never dated in high school, I totally get the feeling of circling back after 10+ years and just KNOWING.

This was a super quick read but it was a nice break from some of the other stuff I've been reading!

Thank you @amazonpublishing and @netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for this review!
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Whilst I do absolutely love Katherine Ryan, this fell flat for me. Maybe it was the length or something was just missing but I felt slightly indifferent. I'm glad it was still full of humour and had me laughing out loud a few times (impressive in such a short book!) but maybe I was just hoping for a bit more recent updates by the end.