The Ex Talk
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon is $1.99! This is also a Kindle Daily Deal. Catherine read this one and gave it a B-:
There was some lovely writing, some fantastic banter, and I really did like Shay and Dominic together. They had terrific chemistry and the sort of teasing relationship that makes me very happy, because it means there is a firm foundation of friendship underneath the romance.
Public radio co-hosts navigate mixed signals in Rachel Lynn Solomon’s sparkling romantic comedy debut.
Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.
When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it’s this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it’s not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.
As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.
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Night Hawk by Beverly Jenkins is $1.99! This is my personal favorite Jenkins, but I realize that it was my first book I read by her and so I have some nostalgia attached to it. Do you have a favorite Jenkins?
Outlaw. Preacher. Night Hawk. He’s had many names, but he can’t escape the past.
Since Ian Vance’s beloved wife was murdered years ago, the hardened bounty hunter know she’ll never feel love or tenderness again, so he’s made it his mission to ensure others get their justice. But when he’s charged with delivering a sharp-eyed beauty to the law, Ian can’t help but feel he may still have something left to lose.
Orphaned at twelve, Maggie Freeman has always found her way out of trouble. But now there’s a vigilante mob at her back who would like nothing more than to see her hang for a crime she didn’t commit. Maggie may have to accept help for the first time in her life . . .even if it’s from the one man standing between her and freedom.
As the past closes in, the sassy prisoner and toughened lawman may just find a passion between them that could bring blinding happiness . . . if they’ll let it.
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is $1.99! This scifi novel has been recommended and loved by many of my friends, and talked about highly in my book group. The book has some great queer representation, though readers remarked it’s more character driven than plot driven.
A rollicking space adventure with a lot of heart
When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn’t expecting much. The patched-up ship has seen better days, but it offers her everything she could possibly want: a spot to call home, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and some distance from her past.
And nothing could be further from what she’s known than the crew of the Wayfarer.
From Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the chatty engineers who keep the ship running, to the noble captain Ashby, life aboard is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. That is until the crew is offered the job of a lifetime tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet. Sure, they’ll earn enough money to live comfortably for years, but risking her life wasn’t part of the job description.
The journey through the galaxy is full of excitement, adventure, and mishaps for the Wayfarer team. And along the way, Rosemary comes to realize that a crew is a family, and that family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe… as long as you actually like them.
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The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa is $1.99! This is another book from today’s Kindle Daily Deals. Grab it while you can! It released in February and was recommended by Aarya in our Ready, Set, Go: Funny Romances post. Have you read it?
Critically acclaimed author Mia Sosa delivers a sassy, steamy enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy about a wedding planner whose new job opportunity forces her to work side-by-side with the best man who ruined her own nuptials: her ex-fiancé’s infuriating, irritating, annoyingly handsome brother. Perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory, Helen Hoang, and Sally Thorne!
A wedding planner left at the altar. Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s managed to make other people’s dreams come true as a top-tier wedding coordinator in DC. After impressing an influential guest, she’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. There’s just one hitch… she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials.
Tired of living in his older brother’s shadow, marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. Then he learns he’ll be working with his brother’s whip-smart, stunning—absolutely off-limits—ex-fiancée. And she loathes him.
If they can survive the next few weeks and nail their presentation without killing each other, they’ll both come out ahead. Except Max has been public enemy number one ever since he encouraged his brother to jilt the bride, and Lina’s ready to dish out a little payback of her own.
But even the best laid plans can go awry, and soon Lina and Max discover animosity may not be the only emotion creating sparks between them. Still, this star-crossed couple can never be more than temporary playmates because Lina isn’t interested in falling in love and Max refuses to play runner-up to his brother ever again…
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The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is great. It is a comfort read for me – one of those books where you just want to immerse yourself in the world it builds. All of the books in the series are great and are loosely connected. This is the first book. The second one, A Closed and Common Orbit, was my favorite, but they are all good.
I had A LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET on my TBR shelf for at least two years before reading it last month after reading A PSALM FOR THE WILD-BILT shortly after it was released this summer. I actually have all the books in the Wayfarers series and I’m kicking myself for not reading the series sooner. I’ve already read the second book and plan to finish the series by the end of teh year. Needless to say I think Becky Chambers will be my newest auto-buy author for me. Her books are character driven, but they are hopeful and contemplative and don’t veer into trauma porn even though her characters can go through a lot in their lives. Highly, highly recommend.
THE WORST BEST MAN was the first (and probably only) Mia Sosa book that I read and it was a near DNF for me. It was easily one of the three worst books I read last year. Which was very disappointing because it was so highly rec’d by some of my fave romance authors and reading TWBM had me questioning their tastes. Granted, fake dating is one of my least favorite tropes but I can get around that if the book is actually good. Sosa’s writing was serviceable but the heroine’s actions did not jibe with what was being told about her. She placed too much blame on the hero for her failed engagement, instead of her, you know ASSHOLE fiance. She went along with some hijinks to get back at the hero for his part in hurting her (???- question mark mine because, again, wasn’t his fault at all), but that story line died out maybe a third or halfway through the book, and threw off the tone and pacing of the novel. And don’t get me started on the forced proximity storyline … it didn’t hold any water or make a damn bit of sense, but…hey, this is a romantic comedy, so go with it, okay! *rolls eyes* The hero had very little familial interaction even though so much of the tension revolved around his family as well, so it felt like his storyline was just tacked on to help “balance” the story. And the way the “oh shit” moment happened that will force the characters apart so they can finally recognize that they are in lurve was pathetically thin and plainly stupid and why I don’t trust Sosa as an author. A book can be silly and irreverent and not take itself seriously, but I don’t like to read about dumb shit happening just for the sake of a poorly developed plot. It’s right up there with authors refusing to let characters actually TALK TO EACH OTHER about their issues, only to have one suddenly break up with the other after a bad fight out of the blue.
When I read GR reviews after finishing I found a few that didn’t like the Brazilian rep in this book. The main character is first generation Brazilian American and had never been to Brazil IIRC. The criticisms were about how the Brazilian details weren’t quite right — like colloquial speech or how locals would describe this or that thing. And I thought that was harsh because the heroine is American, and most of her Brazilian family had moved to the US decades ago…I find it overly nitpicky to expect the heroine to know everything like a Brazilian born and raised but having moved to the US would.
Lucy Score also published a book called THE WORST BEST MAN which I enjoyed. One of the things I remember really liking was the realistic ages of the heroine & hero (mid-thirties & early-forties, iirc) and, although there was a bit of an antagonistic vibe between the couple, when they had to work together to get the groom out of a scrape he was in, they were complete adults about it. I don’t know if Score’s or Sosa’s book came first, but titles can’t be copyrighted, so whoever published first just has to suck it up, knowing that whenever their book title is mentioned, the reference might be to the other book.
Seduce Me, if You Dare by Alyssa Clarke is .99
A Match Made For Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau is free
Winning the Cowboy Billionaire by Emmy Eugene is free (sweet and clean)
The Wedding List by Autumn MacArthur is free (sweet and clean)’love this author
To actually add to the discussion, I read Night Hawk and really enjoyed it. While it’s not technically part of a series, the hero is a supporting character inJenkins’ The Taming of Jessie Rose.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is one of my favorite recent finds. The blurb makes it sound like a romance following Rosemary as main character. It really isn’t–Rosemary is the newest member of the crew, and serves to bring the reader into the tiny world of this spaceship. But really, the whole crew are the stars of this show. This book (and the two that follow it) differ from alot of the space-opera genre in that adventure doesn’t necessarily correlate with violence. Really great world-building (solar system building?) in this book, as well as the sequels.
@DDD I have read both of the “Worst Best Man” books and really liked the one by Lucy Score a lot. The Sosa one only got 2 star from me. The Score book had lots of witty dialogue and I would recommend it in an instant.
The best thing about this post is the link to Ready, Set, Go: Funny Romances which somehow I missed when it was posted. If I miss a SBTB post it is because ENTIRELY TOO MUCH is going on in my non-reading life and none of it pleasant.
I have yet to figure out how to organize ebooks spread across three different platforms and so especially appreciate having a Funny Romances list at hand both as a reminder and for new-to-me selections. Thank you!
I really enjoyed The Ex Talk. It was the palette cleanser I needed and it brought me out of my reading slump.
@M
There should be a thread about that…what highly recommended by SBTB books have you hated?
Don’t get me wrong. I have found so many great books through this site. Lucy Parker, Jordan Hawke, Talia Hibbert, etc. But whenever I see Beach Read recommended, my head explodes. I want to warn everyone not to go into it expecting a romance. I did much angry yelling while listening to it on my commute to work.
@Wingednike:
I was just thinking about this because in today’s sales, WHITEOUT by Adriana Anders was rec’d. I just finished it last week after seeing it rec’d here and it was a near DNF. It was so not a good book. The setting and atmosphere were great but the plot was batshit bonkers and the romance didn’t work for me at all (not the characters attraction to each other, but how batshit the plot was re: the romantic arc). Then again, I went through a 15 year period reading para/military suspense books and have little tolerance for those types of books anymore.
@WingedNike I feel burned about Beach Read, too—mostly that I paid $10 for it thinking I’d love it. In general, though, I get great recs from the Bitchery (or can tell what won’t be to my taste).