✨ Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
❤️ Steamy rating: Moderate
⚡️ Profanity: Moderate

This was such an unexpected delight! I binge listened in one day.

Born and raised in Georgia, Presley is now an assistant at a late night comedy show in NYC… a job she loves. She and her roommate Isabelle are single and loving NYC commitment free, though Peesley’s fear of commitment could come from the grief and trauma she experienced watching her mother drink herself to death. Out of the blue, Presley runs into her mom’s childhood best friend, who also lives in NYC. The two spark up a unique friendship that changes both of their lives.

This one was not what I expected. It wasn’t a hardcore romance, but it did have some romance and spice. The characters in this book are special. Plus, it was quite funny with a binge worthy plot. I loved that the author was able to write about serious topics but still made the book feel light and funny. I also love stories of young people living in NYC.

Triggers: death of a parent, alcoholism, infidelity, and sexual harassment

Thank you so much @macmillan.audio for the early copy of Humor Me! I absolutely loved it and feel honored to write a review.

#macaudio2024

This was a really interesting read - it didn't feel like very much happened, but I did generally enjoy it. This felt like the most honest and realistic slice of life of an average person trying to make it in their career in the city. I'm really glad I listened to it as an audiobook, because it almost felt like getting a super long voice memo from a friend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for granting me access to an audio ARC!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the sophomore book by Cat Shook, with the audio wonderfully narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Presley Fry loves NYC and her job finding new comedians for a tv show and has a crush on her coworker, Adam, but they seem to be stuck in the friend zone. For romance, she tends to use Tinder for hookups, and lets her roommate, Izzy, be in charge of her social life. She's also still coming to grips with her feelings about the death of her mom, an alcoholic, with whom she had a difficult relationship. Her mom's childhood friend, Susan, whose husband has just been caught in a #MeToo situation and is the head of the network where Presley works, comes back into her life.

This is not really a rom-com, but it certainly has those aspects, as we see Presley pining for Adam, but also developing feelings for Susan's son. It's more of a look at grief, found family and friends who are there to help us through the hard parts of life - if only we can let them in. The characters felt real and Presley was lucky to have lots of people in her corner. It's definitely a love story to NYC (and Bud Light and Trader Joe's!), and I enjoyed the look behind the scenes of discovering new comedic talent.

I found Humor Me to be a very unique and interesting story. I liked the narrator, she has a very lovely voice! I think Presley has a cool job! I'd love to go to comedy clubs all the time-sounds like a dream to me. I wish this was more of a love story, it wasn't a main focus, but overall I think it was well written.

Thank you Macmillian Audio for the ALC for my honest review.

✨What it is about:
Presley Fry is a young lady who works as an assistant in the talent booking department of a late night comedy show in New York city. She is worried about being stuck as an assistant and not being promoted. She is also grieving the loss of her mom, who was an alcoholic, and she builds a connection with one of her mom’s friends who ois also experiencing some issues in her life. Presley works to figure out her new reality, and in the midst finds more than she ever expected.”

💭My thoughts:
This ended up being more of a story about friendships, loss, and finding yourself for me. The romance was a small bit of the story that we never fully saw bloom until the very end. I found myself enjoying all the nods to New York, the inner workings of a late night comedy show, the humor, Presley’s friendship with her roommate, as well as the development of her relationship with Susan, her mother’s friend. At first, I thought that particular relationship was not going to work all that well, but somehow it survived all the initial awkwardness. That was definitely an interesting plot line the author explored, and in the end it paid out a little extra for Presley, but you’ll have to read the book to find out why. I read the digital copy along with the audio and it definitely enhanced my experience. The story was narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano and I think she did a great job capturing the youthful and some what effervescence of the main character, despite the grief she’s dealing with…a 25 year old finding her way through life and all its ups and downs. With this one you can expect a little bit of humor, a tiny bit of drama, and the start of an unexpected romance. This might just be the palate cleanser you need between your heavier reads.

3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Read if you like:
🏙️ Stories with female friendships
🏙️ New York City
🏙️ Stand up comedy
🏙️ Unexpected love
🏙️Coming of age

⚠️CW: Alcoholism, death of a parent, grief, infidelity, mention of sexual harassment.

3.5 rounded up

A heartfelt, coming of age millennial friends to lovers story set in NYC that is both a love letter to the NY stand up comedy scene and an homage to Nora Ephron. Good on audio and perfect for fans of books like You, again by Kate Goldbeck. I liked this more than the author's debut and am excited for what they'll write next. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Narrator 5/5 stars.
The narrator was easy to listen to and had very good emotion.

I liked this book, but it seems very niche. I enjoyed listening about past moments in pop culture, but I'm not sure all would understand some of the references, especially people under the age of 30. This was the first book that I have read/listened to by Cat Shook and I will be looking up more.

Thank you for the audio file, this is my honest opinion.
#MacAudio2024

Presley Fry is easily the most honest, relatable characters I’ve met in a while! While reading Humor Me, I enjoyed every moment of experiencing the world through Presley’s mind and eyes. I was fully engaged from the very beginning!

I think a lot of the connection I felt with the characters was due to the excellent narration by Ferdelle Capistrano! Her voice ranged in personality and emotion. I am so impressed and hope to hear more from her soon.

Humor Me is a fresh and funny character driven novel that does not shy away from the painful emotional parts of life (even if our main character is actively avoiding facing those emotions). Grief of a parent plays a big role in the book, but there is a lot of nuance around it and how it seems to thread into every aspect of life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, feel expanded by reading it and highly recommend to others for their next read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced recording in exchange for an honest review.

Humor Me was a refreshing and honest story about the complexities of relationships, whether it is about friends, family, or romance. As far as female main characters go, Presley was likeable, with just enough flaws to make feel real (and, perhaps, even more likeable in return). It was equal parts hopeless and hopeful, and I loved witnessing the characters go through their moments of honesty, confusion, and joy.
The audiobook itself was very well narrated and easy to engage with, so it was a perfect cleanser between my longer, nonfiction reads!

#AudiobookReview thanks to @macmillan.audio ❤️
I enjoyed this novel so much!

Narration: Pleasant & easy listening, the female narrator embodied the character- her age, her uncertainty, her loyalty- perfectly. I would've liked a little more distinction to differentiate the male characters but enjoyable either way

In #HumorMe we meet Presley, assistant at a late night comedy show that she loves. The novel is about this moment in time in Presley's life, a single girl living with her bestie in NYC, navigating advancing her career, her love life, & her friendships, as she's on the cusp of possibly figuring out all 3

@catshook_ has such a talent for drawing the reader in to her characters' lives by highlighting their relatability.
I always appreciate novels like these, blips of life that examine all different kinds of relationships, and this story was ripe with relationships to explore, (from her mom to her boss, from her best friend to her mom’s old friend, and of course the love interest. It was refreshing to read Presley allow herself to connect with her mom's friend Susan & be vulnerable enough to let an actual friendship form with the older woman. I admired Presley's ambition and grit when it came to work & her easy way of going with the flow when it came to the relationships that came her way.

I loved how the author peeled Presley back through the progression of the novel- having her be the kind of person who didn’t confront or speak about things and then slowly allow herself the uncomfortable vulnerability. It’s always tough to read a character’s struggle to communicate but the author navigated that so well, making Presley’s inability to speak her mind completely understandable, while also giving her the tools to get to that ability, stripping away that frustration from the reader, making her bravery all the more commendable. The story was wholly satisfying, I wasn’t ready to leave at the end!

~ I'm not sure if this is considered a SPOILER ahead so fair warning~

Part of this novel tells a tale as old as time-
Guy befriends girl, shamelessly flirts knowing she has feelings for him, all the while keeping her in his back pocket to nurture his ego, saying things that he knows can very well be taken to mean more, masking it all under the pretense of a friendship that "means so much to him"

In building up Presley's friendship with her coworker Adam, the author deftly demonstrated how precarious male/female friendships can be sometimes. I can't say I haven't found myself in a similar situation before and something about reading Presley's experience really put it in perspective for me. I so appreciated that the author allowed Presley to not only face the truth but confront it head on, even if it would cost her the friendship. It was quite empowering to have the sentiment validated, that some guys are just self serving, end of story. And what a great way to reward Presley for cutting the dead weight in her life by providing a foil male character who was direct in his interest for her

First I’ve read by this author. Delightful!!

Presley recently lost her Mom. She was an alcoholic, and she does NOT want to talk about it.
She works for a late night show, recruiting comedy acts. This seems to keep her head afloat. And, she enjoys doing it!

She has a love interest there, but it never seems to go anywhere.

She shares a tiny NYC apartment with her bff Izzy (Isabel). They talk about EVERYTHING!! Izzy swears that she will never get romantically involved with anyone. They go out together often…

One day Presley runs into her Moms bff. And they hit it off and become friends. (Weird I thought, due to the age difference… but, it actually works! They are good for each other!!)

As time moves on, different paths are presented to Presley…and she is faced with some tough choices. But, in the end, she does the right thing!

Sweet. Sad. Fun, yet surprisingly deep too!
Also, great nod to NYC and the comedy scene there!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of the audiobook which is due for release in 7/9/24.

#HumorMe by #KatShook and narrated beautifully by #FerdelleCapistrano.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me!

Feel free to like, follow and friend me on: Goodreads,
IG @ #BookReviews_with_emsr or
My Facebook Book Club: Book Reviews With Elaine.

Thanks so much for reading! And if you ‘liked’ my review, please share with your friends!! 📚⭐️

Review of "Humor Me" by Cat Shook the Audiobook

I just listened to the audiobook "Humor Me," and I loved it. The person reading the story did a great job, making it easy to follow and fun to listen to.

One of the aspects that drew me to this book is its exploration of grief, a topic that I can relate to as I continue to understand the loss of my dad. Books that address grief tend to linger with you, offering comfort and understanding, and "Humor Me" did this too. I think grief is something we carry forever, and it’s good when books talk about it.

I liked how Presley gained confidence and shifted her handling of herself based on the actions of the women she surrounded herself with.

The idea of a women scout for late-night comedy acts was an interesting one. I have never read a book with this theme, and I have read a lot of books. All in all, I felt this book was about how women hold each other up.

The author's writing style is great, and I never felt the story was slow. "Humor Me" is a wonderful book about friendship, growth, and healing. I recommend it!

Presley Fry, Late Night Show assistant, is a Georgia girl making it in NYC. Presley loves comedy and loves that she gets to expense shows to find talent for their up and coming stand up comedians on Fridays.

As we begin the book, Presley is still reeling from her mother's untimely death from alcoholism related stroke over a year ago. It's clear that their broken relationship has a still hold on her. When Presley runs into her mother's childhood friend, wife of the head of Presley's network and from their same small town, she is determined to befriend Presley and make her time in the city less lonely.

Pres has a huge crush on her close friend on the show. It's a talk all day, text all night, zero benefit situation. Presley has never been in a relationship--only does very sterile Tinder hookups on occasion. Her best friend and roommate is a gem of a human. Walking her through all this peopling.

This book meanders to and fro. We see fun (for me) details of the back end of making a comedy show day in and out. We see a determined Presley make her way in the talent and comedy space. We see her explore intimacy in friendship and romantic relationships. We see a love letter to the comedy scene of New York.

I listened on audio. The narrator, Ferdelle Capistrano, did an amazing job with this single POV story. I felt like I was in Presley's brain--fettering in her anxiety--working through to her best self. Thank you to Celedon Books and MacMillion Audio for the advanced copy. I had already preordered the book from my local indie. I was so excited to receive the ARC and experience both formats of this book!

Presley Fry could find many faults with her alcoholic mother and their toxic relationship. But after suddenly losing her, Presley is a bit of an emotional wreck. On the surface, it would seem that Presley is well on her way to having it all: After moving from a small Georgia town to NYC, she's landed a gig as a production assistant on Gary Madden's Late Night Show, with a supportive boss and an imminent promotion to talent booker. Like many city-dwelling professionals her age, Presley has a roommate, Izzy, who acts as agony aunt and partner in crime. Presley breezes through a sequence of confusing connections with near-boyfriends, drinks w/ friends at local nightspots and career-enhancing forays into the lower rungs of the entertainment industry. But the specter of her late mother haunts her at every turn. And Presley is not the only one mourning her mother's death. Susan Clark, her mother's childhood best friend, is also working through her grief, Susan and Presley end up friends w/ a relationship that is fortuitous for both of them.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audio e-arc.*

3.5 stars. This book was a fairly well rounded, character-driven novel at its core. Contemporary fiction with a smidge of a romance storyline. Set in NYC, I enjoyed the comedy tie-ins and the references to the industry that the FMC worked in. There were enjoyable characters and solid friendship representations that felt representative of the lifestyle and what I would expect from the entertainment/comedy industry in NYC.

While some of the book was paced well, there were other times in the plot that I felt it was a bit slow and I lost the point of the story. Also, there were some characters that I couldn't quite keep straight or that didn't seem to add as much to the storyline as they were expected to. I was missing a compelling event or trajectory of the story that hooked me and made me want to keep reading.

I listened to the audio version of this book and the narration was really well done. A few of the voices threw me off - but I appreciated that the narrator had distinctive voices for all of the characters- of which there are many! Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of this book to read.

This book ended up not working for me but what I did love was the New York City setting and just the love that the characters had for the city. It really made me want to pack up and move to NYC. I also loved the friendship between Presley and Susan. I enjoyed the little side romance too. However, I just felt bored through most of the book and I could t relate to any of the characters. I enjoyed the narrator and felt she did a good job and bringing Presley to life. I’ll still recommend this to anyone who loves character driven books.

Humor Me by Cat Shook was exactly what I wanted in a palate cleansing summer read. Strong female relationships, chosen family, a little humor, a little drama, and a little love story. I read it as an audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator. 3.5 stars, happily rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley for early access to this lovely audiobook.

This author’s previous book was a 5 star for me, but this one didn’t hit the same. It’s a me thing, not anything wrong with the book. As someone in my 60’s, I find that I just can’t gel with books about people in their 20’s trying to find themselves. This is well written, the characters are well developed, and the story is engaging. I did enjoy the relationship between the roommate protagonists, but the only older character in the book was not someone I related to either.

I think those who enjoy stories with younger protagonists going about their lives, while trying to make their place in it, will have a much different reading experience. I’m still impressed with this author, and will definitely check out her next book.

I really struggled with this one and really couldn't get into it and connect with Presley. Maybe I'm just not the target audience for this one, but also the book didn't seem to know what it was. The plot was a little jumbled. I did like Susan and Izzy as characters though.

Cat Shook’s sophomore novel is a love story, but not in the traditional sense. It’s a tale of learning to love oneself. HUMOR ME introduces us to Presley who works for a late night comedy show. Though she is surrounded by funny people saying funny things, Presley is stumbling through life in a state of sadness.

She’s mourning the loss of her mom and the loss of who she needed her mom to be. You see, Presley’s mom was a self destructive alcoholic who never demonstrated the capacity to give her daughter the nurturing she so needed. Presley also has an unrequited crush on a co-worker who sees her as a convenient fallback option between relationships. Enter Susan Clarke and her son, Laurence. Susan is an old friend of Presley’s mom who reaches out during her own crisis. An unlikely friendship blossoms that fills the empty spaces in both women’s hearts. And then there’s Laurence …

Despite the title, this is not a laugh out book though it does offer some humorous moments. It’s a life affirming story of a young woman who is searching for connections. Along the way she discovers her own worth. Sometimes self love is the most elusive.

The audiobook captured Presley’s insecurities and eventual growing confidence.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my unbiased review.