The Ex-Talk by Rachel Lynn Soloman-Excerpt & Dual Review
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 26, 2021
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.
•••••••
Sandys Review:THE EX TALK by Rachel Lynn Solomon is a multi-troped, contemporary, adult, romance story line focusing on twenty-nine year old, public radio producer Shay Goldstein, and twenty-four year old, journalist turned radio host Dominic Yun.
Told from first person perspective (Shay) THE EX TALK follows the building romance and relationship between twenty-nine year old, public radio producer Shay Goldstein, and twenty-four year old, journalist turned radio host Dominic Yun. Shay Goldstein was the fastest rising producer at Seattle’s Pacific Public Radio, and her weekly radio series ‘Puget Sounds’ was going great until it wasn’t. Her barely veiled hatred of newcomer and journalist Dominic Yun would become fodder for management, and in this, our couple would be forced to work together by the station manager or lose their jobs. Liking the ‘sparring’ and ‘vibe’ between our leading couple, it is suggested a series of podcasts focusing on relationships but more specifically on an ex-relationship, that never was. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Shay and Dominic, and the fall-out when the secrets and lies become public knowledge.
Shay Goldstein and Dominic Yun couldn’t have been more different, and working together to create a fake, former relationship draws the couple together but a mandatory weekend together finds our couple falling for one another, a fall that will hit rock-bottom when the truth is revealed. Developing a relationship that never was reveals one another’s relationship history, family, and future hopes and dreams.
The relationship between Shay and Dominic is a friends to enemies, forced fake relationship where the sexual tension is masked by the back and forth, yin and yang of jealousy and hate. Dominic, with a Master’s in Journalism, had just come off of a long term relationship, and our heroine was no longer looking for someone to love. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The colorful secondary and supporting characters include Shay’s mother Leanna, and her fiancé Phil; Dominic’s parents Morris and Margot; misogynistic station manager Kent O’Grady; show host Paloma Powers; Shay’s best friend Ameena and her boyfriend TJ; junior producer Ruthie Liao.
THE EX TALK is an age-gap, multi-cultural, enemies to lovers, fake relationship story line. Rachel Lynn Solomon’s ability to slowly build the background and history of our leading couple is the ideal set up for a wonderful story that is sure to resonate to many readers. The character driver premise is engaging and imaginative ; the characters are quirky and sassy; the romance is tender and seductive.
_________
Barb’s Review:
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon is a delightful & fun romantic stand alone novel. This is my first-time reading Solomon, and it will not be my last; as I loved The Ex Talk, which turned out to be a fun enjoyable read.
Shay Goldstein, our heroine, has worked as a producer on her Seattle Pacific Public radio station for 10 years. Lately, Shay has been feeling a bit lonely, as her mom is remarrying, and her best friend is possibly moving to Virginia; but most of all, she finds herself annoyed and jealous of a newly hired colleague.
Dominic Yun, our hero, has only been with Pacific Public for three months, and keeps promoting his master’s degree, and how good he is. It doesn’t hurt that he is cute, smart and arrogant. When he manages to interrupt her show with a scoop about the local mayor, Shay is not too happy, but management loves him.
At a team meeting, the boss tells his staff that the numbers are going down and they need some new ideas for the station. Shay throws out a new concept; have a couple that are ex’s and talk about their issues, as well as help others calling in. The boss loves the idea, and later to their surprise, he wants Dominic and Shay to pretend to be ex’s and do the show; since their constant demeaning of each other was perfect (fake enemies to lovers). Neither one of them is interested, until the boss tells them that there will be layoffs all around the station and if they won’t do this, they could be one of the layoffs.
What follows has both of them working together, especially in preparation as to questions about their fake relationship, and to be able to give advice live. Shay at first wasn’t sure about her own voice, which she didn’t like, as she was always behind the scene as the producer, but when they go live that never became an issue. In fact, the show went through the roof, with the show becoming an instant success. Everyone loved them together, with their constant bickering, fun and even sexy comments, as well as giving advice on various subjects. In a short time, Dominic and Shay become closer, helping and learning more about their lives, which begins the start of a slow build romance. I also loved Shay’s weird dog, Steve, who Dominic seemed to be able to handle him well. There were some great secondary characters that were also great; Shay;s mom, her best friend, her assistant, Ruthie, and others from the studio.
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon was a fun, feel good story, that was also sexy, flirty and totally enjoyable. When things fall apart at the end, we prayed that somehow Shay and Dominic would stay together. Will they? You need to read the book to find out. As I noted before, this was a fun, delightful story that is not to be missed.
Copies provided by Publisher
The exclusive excerpt has been provided by Berkley/Penguin Random House Publishers
“Maybe we should keep it simple. Working together and dating got to be too much for us?”
“That’s not very exciting,” he says. It’s fitting that we can’t agree. “Maybe you were intimidated by my raw sexual energy.”
I nearly choke on a sip of water—that’s how unexpected this is, coming from him.
But hey, I can play this game, too, especially with alcohol loosening my lips. “Or you were never able to get me to orgasm.”
“I’ve never had that problem before,” he says without missing a beat.
With just the two of us in this darkened space, I’m aware of how small the break room actually is. He shouldn’t have followed me in here. I could have climbed onto the counter and grabbed a glass myself because short people are nothing if not skilled counter climbers.
But then he wouldn’t be standing there in one of his Top Ten Most Infuriating Leans, eyeing me from beneath a truly impeccable pair of lashes.
The alcohol fully takes over. “So . . . we had a good sex life, then?”
One corner of his mouth kicks upward. “Maybe we weren’t having sex.”
Something horrific happens then: I let out this completely nonhuman sound, a mix between a snort and a laugh and a gulp. I shrink back until my shoulder blades hit the wall.
“What, you thought sleeping with me was a given?” he says. “Is my fictional self really that quick to put out?”
“Oh my god, no no no,” I say. “I was just—if we were dating for three months, then we probably—I mean, maybe we didn’t, but—”
He’s full-on smiling now, as though amused by my incoherent babbling. I bring the water glass to my face so I can hide behind it. My sweater is draped across my desk, and I’m too warm in a thin black T-shirt. He’s a six-three heat lamp.
“Shay,” he says in a low voice. Teasing. He inches closer, reaching forward to take the water glass away from my face and holding it level with my shoulder. “Honestly, I’m flattered.”
Then he taps the cold rim of the glass against my cheek gently, gently. A friendly little pat that sends my heart into overdrive. When he moves it away, I reach toward my face, holding a few fingers against the cold spot there.
His gaze is so intense that I have to close my eyes for a moment. My instinct is to back away, to put more space between us, but when I try, I’m reminded that I’m against the wall. I don’t know where to look. Normally, I’m level with his pectorals, but he’s hunched, the curve of his shoulders soft in this semi-light. Close enough to reach out and touch—if I wanted to. I watch the rise and fall of his chest. That’s safe. Safer than eye contact, at least.
I’ve never had that problem before.
“I’m glad, because I’m really wishing the floor would open up and suck me into the Hellmouth right now.”
“Buffy fan?”
“Oh yeah. I grew up with it. You?”
He at least has the decency to look sheepish. “Watched it on Netflix.”
Of course he did. He’s twenty-four, young enough to never have seen it live and sliced up by commercials. “By ‘grew up with it,’ I meant, you know, I was still very young during the early seasons, and I didn’t understand most of what was going on . . .” I break off with a groan, though I’m relieved the conversation has turned away from sex. “God, don’t make me feel like a grandma.”
A laugh from deep in his throat turns my legs to jelly. That rumble—I feel it in the last possible place I want to feel it.
It is deeply concerning.
That’s what catches me off guard, more than anything else tonight. I don’t want to think about doing anything with Dominic besides cohosting a show about our fake relationship. I don’t want to think about the way that rough laugh would sound pressed against my ear while other parts of him pressed against other parts of me.
And I really don’t want to imagine him holding that cold glass to my bare skin again.
I swallow hard, forcing away these delusions. Sober Shay would not be fantasizing about Dominic Yun when he’s right in front of her. My imagination is too creative, and my yearlong drought can’t be helping.
Dominic passes the glass back to me and straightens to his full height. Oh. It’s only then that I realize how easy it would have been for him to trap my hands over my head and push me against the wall, tell me with his mouth on my neck how journalism will save the world.
Of course, he doesn’t do any of this, opting instead to take a step back. Then two. At three steps, the temperature in the room dips. At four, I can breathe again.
“For what it’s worth,” he says when he’s halfway to the door, “I think it would have been good, too.”
