Rating: 4.5 stars
Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Pets (Steve Rogers Goldstein plays a fairly major role in the book)
CBR16 Bingo: Dreams (Shay has dreamed about having her own show on public radio for over a decade)
Shay Goldstein grew up loving radio. She and her now deceased father would listen to radio together and even have their own pretend radio shows, so she is very grateful for her job as a producer at a Seattle public radio station, and is very happy with what she does. However, while trying her best to be an indespensable help to the hosts whose show she produces, she can't help but wish she could have a show of her own. She's also very frustrated about the fact that one of the radio station's new hires, Dominic Yun, keeps being given positive attention by their boss, even though Shay has worked there for a decade, while Dominic only recently graduated with a journalism degree.
Unexpectedly, during a pitch meeting (where her boss asks her to take notes, naturally, can't leave that to a man), one of Shay's ideas is met with great enthusiasm and before she knows it, Shay will have a chance to host her own live call-in show. The only problem? The show is supposed to be hosted by two exes, who now share relationship advice, rooted in their own relationship failures. The station boss proposes that Shay and Dominic pretend to be those exes, a little white lie to help bring listeners and advertising revenue to the station. Neither is happy about having to lie to their listeners, but once it becomes clear that both of them, and possibly their young producer too, are likely to lose their jobs if they don't go ahead with the show, they reluctantly agree.
The Ex-Talk very quickly becomes a huge success, and their fan base grows week by week. On social media, there is a lot of talk of Shay and Dominic's supposed relationship, with a lot of people hoping "they get back together". The co-hosts are both shocked and pleasantly surprised at how well their show is doing, but they also start feeling more and more uncomfortable about lying. Only their boss knows their relationship is pure fiction, even their producer thinks they dated for a few months but kept it quiet. What will happen if the truth comes out? After spending so much time together, discovering the other person's strengths and weaknesses, Shay and Dominic also find themselves falling in love. Can they really risk an actual relationship when their entire working life is based on them being broken up?
Confession here, I find radio generally very boring. Going to university in Scotland, with so many of my friends absolutely addicted to BBC Radio 4, I've listened to my fair share of it. I just don't get it. I don't really get podcasts either. Why would I spend lots of time listening to people talking about stuff when instead I could read, or listen to an audiobook? It just seems like wasted time. I will, on occasion, listen to pop culture related podcasts with my husband, but we also watch a lot of TV together, so it becomes more about the shared experience, and feels less like I'm frittering away time when I could be reading. So I cannot tell you how true to life all this behind the scenes in the radio world this book is.
I did, despite my indifference to radio shows and podcasts, really enjoy this book, mostly because Shay and Dominic are great characters, both separately and together. Both of them are very lonely people, and once their initial antagonism (much greater on Shay's part than on Dominic's) passes, they discover that they have a lot in common. Shay has invested sensibly and bought herself a house, but it feels far too big for her, and she can't really be there without all the lights on and TV or radio playing. Once she adopts a dog, the adorable, if somewhat demanding, Steve Rogers, her life improves, even if she now has to go home every afternoon to make sure he gets walkies.
Shay manages to squash down her misgivings about lying to their audience because she's wanted a show of her own for so long. She gets Dominic to agree to give it six months, even though he's scrupulous about workplace ethics and being truthful. As their show becomes not just a local listening success, but starts becoming a thing nationwide, both of them are uncomfortable about the way their boss is managing the situation, and especially how much he seems to ignore Shay, but listen to Dominic, even when they're saying the same thing. The job market is tough, and a steady paycheque is important, but how long can they continue lying to their family, co-workers and friends?
My LibraryThing tells me that I own quite a few Rachel Lynn Solomon books, both YA and adult fiction. This is my first romance by her, and based on it, considering how much she made me care about characters and a premise I wasn't sure I would even like, I am absolutely going to be reading more of her books in the next year or so.
Judging a book by its cover: I like the cute simplicity of this cover, and the two faces over the microphone. It works for me, even though I'm very aware that modern radio and podcasts in no way are recorded this way.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.
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