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)

Cutesy story, with excellent narration!

Sometimes you just need a fun, easy listen. This is a cutesy story with excellent narration! Will definitely look for more audiobooks read by Emily Ellet.

Dynamic Read

I really enjoyed this story. It felt light and airy, something that wasn’t difficult to take in. The discussions of grief really touched me and helped me to feel a deeper connection with the characters. The performance was exactly what I would want in a narration- not too over the top but not dull either.

My only caveats:
Like another review has mentioned here- the book felt like it was trying TOO hard to be PC or check all the boxes for diversity. There were times where it felt very forced.
The story became a bit predictable toward the end, to the point where I called the most minute detail about the last five minutes.
The sex was well written but it was confusing to go back and forth between a “chick-flick” and what felt like erotica, I honestly felt uncomfortable listening to it while driving and had to turn it off.

Lastly, this is my fault not the authors, I really thought the conclusion was going to see Shae turn the audio recordings of her dad into an actual podcast to realize his dream as a way to honor him. Because I had built up that ending in my head I was disappointed it didn’t happen. I feel like it wasn’t the satisfying ending it was building toward.

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.

What a narrator!

I enjoyed this story, it was full of feeling and great characters but especially loved the narration!

Such a cute story

I really loved the story and the characters were lovable! The narrator did a great job as well.

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.