The Ex Talk

By: Rachel Lynn Solomon

Narrated by: Emily Ellet

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

An instant Indie best seller

Public radio cohosts 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 cohosts, 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.

©2021 Rachel Lynn Solomon (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

One of NPR's Best Books of 2021

One of Buzzfeed's Best Romances of 2021

A Cosmopolitan Best Romance of 2021

A LibraryReads pick!

One of CNN and PopSugar's Best Books of January

"A very funny book.... Rom-coms need tears the way bread dough needs salt, and here the mixture strikes a perfect balance between sweet and savory." (New York Times Book Review)

"The Ex Talk delivers. This book is quick, spicy, and sweet." (Shondaland)

"The Ex Talk more than lives up to the hype." (PopSugar)

It was so funny, sexy, and relatable!

The Ex Talk is about Shay and Dominic. The pair didn't get along well, so they were the perfect candidates to host a radio show about their past relationship. Except, they never dated, and now they are starting to get to really know each other.

I LOVED the Ex Talk! It was so funny, sexy, and relatable! I am a big fan of the fake-dating trope, but I did not know I needed a fake-exes rom-com in my life until I read this book! Shay is so witty and such a relatable mess of a millennial. I mean, aren't we all just trying to figure out what we are doing? Hahaha, I just wanted to give Dominic a big hug because he was so much more complicated than he seemed at first.

This book is so funny and light-hearted while still touching on serious topics. The author brought up white privilege, age gap in relationships, misogyny, and how differently women are treated in the workplace, which I really appreciated!

It was so close to 5 stars, but one thing happened in the end that really bugged me, but I will not spoil it for you! You'll have to read it!

The narration was well done; however, I feel like it was over-acted during the smutty scenes, so be aware!

Overall, I could not recommend this book more! Any and all lovers of romcoms and deliciously smutty books should get their hands on this book ASAP! ;)

Lovely lovely fluffy story

Got the recommendation for this book from Chandler Ainsley's YouTube channel and im really happy I did!

This book is fluffy and fun and charming and hearing it as an audiobook was even more fun with all the radio segments.
Would highly recommend the audiobook as a vacation "book" even if you are just chilling at home waiting for the pandemic to go away haha,

Would love for it to be translated to Hebrew so I could recommend it to my friends!

Unexpected surprise

I was unsure what to expect, but light, breezy and great one liners that showcased the great chemistry between Dominic & Shay.

Really enjoyed it.

A very quick read

This book was a quick and easy read. While it was predictable, I really enjoyed it. The book had a nostalgic feel and was 100% what I was looking for in a story.

Good listen

Not a favorite book of mine, but was still a good read/listen. It was a little different than I expected and a pretty quick burn for my tastes. But overall was good.

Such a cute story!

This was a cute little story. Predictable but very cute and fresh. it's paced well. The narrator did a great job voicing lots of characters. I really enjoyed it

Eh

Hated the narrators voice and her “man voice.” Also I felt like there was a lot of cussing for the sake of sounding young haha.

Narrated by Emily

Narrated by Emily
She whistles a lot Please move the mic away from your mouth.

Clever, slow burn, subtle enemies to lovers, career woman

This contemporary romcom has a very authentic feel with an endearing fleshed out character. A delightful read..

Narration did not help this slow story

Ugh - the narration of the main character really hurt this audiobook. The main character is already borderline unlikeable - she's nice and all - just hard to root for. She has essentially zero self confidence, is a bit of a willing doormat and an all around total sad sack of a person. And then the narrator read her in whispered tones. It was almost as if the main character was on the verge of quite tears that she was trying to hold in constantly - or about to drift off to... nowhere... just disappearing in her own thoughts and words and would sort of cease to exist. It made it to hard to listen to. I returned this title half way through. And to be honest here, I also bought the physical book first - and couldn't get into it - but I love Public Radio so much, and the author of the book is from my hometown and I'm familiar with her radio work and I really, really wanted to support all of it - what's not to love? Podcasts! Public Radio! Seattle! A rescue dog! A hot co-worker! but in the end, after purchasing both etc book and then the audiobook - I 'll never finish either. The audio book went back and the book will go to my neighborhood's Free Library. It was like hearing a GIANT SIGH.