The Ex Talk: Rachel Lynn Solomon

We meet again!

I took a break from the mystical, spooky, supernatural and overall surreal to read what I, and my lifelong friend/boss/fellow bookie, like to call a “fluffer”. You know, that book that you read in between all of the fantasy or serious or spooky books that you dive into? They’re fun, they’re usually romantic, they’re silly and they just give you a good feeling overall before you read something else that’s going to likely rip your heart out and leave it beating on the ground. Well, anyway, here we go :)

Brief Synopsis: Meet Shay, who’s stuck in a lot of ways. She’s stuck with her job, she’s stuck with her dating life, and she’s decided that she’s on a dating app hiatus. Seemingly all at once, everything about her life decides to change. Her mom proposes to her boyfriend at dinner one night, at the same dinner that she finds out that her best friend is taking a job interview that will take her to another state if she’s chosen. Following this, she finds out that her job at the radio station is in jeopardy.

Talk radio has always been a passion of Shay’s, something that she shared with her dad. When her dad passed away, that was something that she carried into her professional life. She has spent the past ten years as a producer at a local radio station, though her dream was always to actually be on the air.

During a brainstorming meeting, Shay proposes a dating show, one between two exes. She almost halfway proposes it as a joke, not expecting to be taken seriously in any way, and she’s blown away when her boss decides that he likes it. What’s not so awesome? He wants Shay and Dominic, the under-25 graduate that thinks he knows everything there is about radio, to co-host the show and pretend to be exes.

Though deeply against it at first, Shay realizes that this is her big chance. It’s not really lying, more like story-telling, right? It takes her a while to convince Dominic, but then they are in it knee-deep, hosting a show that’s taken off and pretending to be more than casual work enemies. When one caller says he doesn’t believe that they’re authentic, their boss sends them away for a weekend to get to know each other. Okay, Shay can do this and it not be weird, right? Never mind that she’s been realizing that Dominic isn’t as obnoxious as she though, and oh my God, when did he get so cute?

This book honestly navigates a lot, but not in a way that seems overwhelming. It navigates the truths of being an adult on your own and noticing that it’s maybe not a bad thing. It navigates changing relationships (even ones outside of being romantic) and most surprisingly, it navigates loss, which I hadn’t been expecting. The author is really good at going through how Shay and her mom have worked hard to accept the loss of her dad.

Now, I know that I said this was a fluffer book, and I know that sometimes those are only good for a steamy read or something mindless. But this book is honestly a lot more than that, and it has characters that are so dimensional that you just can’t help but cheer for them after all.

My rating:

9.5/10. Honestly, pick it up. It’s fun, it can get serious, but it’s not too much of either, in my opinion.

Favorite Quote(s):

“So often, I’m trapped between the pain of remembering and the fear of forgetting.”

“It’s powerful, the realization that you can steal words from someone like that.”

Other books I have read by this author:

After a quick Amazon search, I am honestly baffled that this is the first book I am discovering of Rachel’s. Trust me, though, that’s going to change quickly.

Check out my Goodreads (Traci Bishop) to see what I’m currently reading and to see a good chunk of the books I have already read. My Instagram can be found on the home page and I will share whenever a new post is up as well!

Until next time <3