Funny You Should Ask: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob--and reunites with him ten years later to discover exactly how he feels about her in this sexy and engrossing novel "You will absolutely devour this book. It's filled with delightful banter, hot romance, and a love story that's worthy of the big screen."--Kate Spencer, author of In a New York Minute and host of Forever35 ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Cosmopolitan, NPR, The Washington Post, Book Riot Then. Twenty-something writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing high-profile book deals, all she does is churn out puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker: her number one celebrity crush and the latest James Bond. All Chani wants to do is keep her cool and nail the piece. But what comes next proves to be life changing in ways she never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing--and Chani getting closer to Gabe than she had planned. Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a healthy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles as a successful writer with the career of her dreams. Except that no matter what new essay collection or online editorial she's promoting, someone always asks about The Profile. It always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together. But the truth is that Chani wants to know if those seventy-two hours were as memorable to Gabe as they were to her. And so . . . she says yes. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.
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Community Reviews
I feel a little ironic writing a review for a book that features reviews based on books/writing, but here we go!
This book was a fun, short read. If flashbacks to the past aren't your thing, then this may not be the book for you. Personally, I enjoyed going back to the past because even though I knew the big picture of what happened, reading the details was what made it fun. Reading about the glitz and glamor of the Hollywood parties that happened in the flashbacks was like reading my own daydreams of being famous. The added in articles and blog posts were also a nice break from the narrative and drama and I appreciated their change in formatting.
The actual content of the article and blog posts though were a little boring, which brings me to the main part of my review. The female love interest, Chani, was boring just like her writing and I feel so bad saying it but it's true. I'm not sure how her celebrity profiles would have garnered good public opinion when all she really did was talk about herself and how she is just a normal girl but my goodness this person is famous and wow! I've read this whole book and I feel like I know nothing about her besides that she is a writer, is tall, and is Jewish (which, yay for representation!). Being a writer and wallowing in self-pity seems to be her whole personality. At first it was charming because she is supposed to be relatable to readers as a normal person swept up in Hollywood drama, but then it just got old. She was always in some kind of self-doubt and she never really grew up, even at the end of the book when she is supposed to be 10 years older and an accomplished writer finally with the man of her dreams.
The man of her dreams is Gabe, who is super famous and super cute. He had the generic heartthrob turned washed-up tragic celebrity storyline, which I didn't mind because it always works. I wouldn't say he was a swoon-worthy lead but he was charming and sweet and seemed to have more depth to him than Chani. That is a fault of the author I feel, as Gabe is flushed out with an in-depth backstory and family/friend history whereas we are simply told Chani has a mean ex and no friends.
Their romance was a little unbelievable to me, and not because she was a "nobody" and he was a "somebody", but because of the timeline in which it took place. You're telling me they spent roughly three days together (which was mostly spent around other people and with an awkwardness due to their interviewer/interviewee relationship) with NO real contact afterward for TEN YEARS, yet they're supposedly in love and always have been? I don't believe it. They even confess their love to each other after only being reunited for like two days. How? They barely knew each other past the research they did on each other for the interview!
Now, having said all that (and I know it was a lot of negatives I'm sorry), the book really wasn't terrible, just okay. If you want to feel swept up in LA charm like Chani, give this book a shot! The romance is actually sweet and warm once you get to it, and the book has a cozy vibe to it in the scenes in which they are in Montana. Plus there is a cute dog! I feel like everything I mentioned cancels each other out to come to a solid 3 star rating.
Edit: I feel a little weird now about the book because I've heard that is was based off of a 2011 GQ article on Chris Evans and the author never credited the article. And let me tell you, after reading the article it seems very similar in style/humor/happenstance to the one that Chani writes about Gabe. Even the details in the article like the journalist spending the night at Chris' house and sneaking out is identical to what happens in this book. I also believe that Chani is a self-insert of the author after looking at her pictures and reading her biography.
This book was a fun, short read. If flashbacks to the past aren't your thing, then this may not be the book for you. Personally, I enjoyed going back to the past because even though I knew the big picture of what happened, reading the details was what made it fun. Reading about the glitz and glamor of the Hollywood parties that happened in the flashbacks was like reading my own daydreams of being famous. The added in articles and blog posts were also a nice break from the narrative and drama and I appreciated their change in formatting.
The actual content of the article and blog posts though were a little boring, which brings me to the main part of my review. The female love interest, Chani, was boring just like her writing and I feel so bad saying it but it's true. I'm not sure how her celebrity profiles would have garnered good public opinion when all she really did was talk about herself and how she is just a normal girl but my goodness this person is famous and wow! I've read this whole book and I feel like I know nothing about her besides that she is a writer, is tall, and is Jewish (which, yay for representation!). Being a writer and wallowing in self-pity seems to be her whole personality. At first it was charming because she is supposed to be relatable to readers as a normal person swept up in Hollywood drama, but then it just got old. She was always in some kind of self-doubt and she never really grew up, even at the end of the book when she is supposed to be 10 years older and an accomplished writer finally with the man of her dreams.
The man of her dreams is Gabe, who is super famous and super cute. He had the generic heartthrob turned washed-up tragic celebrity storyline, which I didn't mind because it always works. I wouldn't say he was a swoon-worthy lead but he was charming and sweet and seemed to have more depth to him than Chani. That is a fault of the author I feel, as Gabe is flushed out with an in-depth backstory and family/friend history whereas we are simply told Chani has a mean ex and no friends.
Their romance was a little unbelievable to me, and not because she was a "nobody" and he was a "somebody", but because of the timeline in which it took place. You're telling me they spent roughly three days together (which was mostly spent around other people and with an awkwardness due to their interviewer/interviewee relationship) with NO real contact afterward for TEN YEARS, yet they're supposedly in love and always have been? I don't believe it. They even confess their love to each other after only being reunited for like two days. How? They barely knew each other past the research they did on each other for the interview!
Now, having said all that (and I know it was a lot of negatives I'm sorry), the book really wasn't terrible, just okay. If you want to feel swept up in LA charm like Chani, give this book a shot! The romance is actually sweet and warm once you get to it, and the book has a cozy vibe to it in the scenes in which they are in Montana. Plus there is a cute dog! I feel like everything I mentioned cancels each other out to come to a solid 3 star rating.
Edit: I feel a little weird now about the book because I've heard that is was based off of a 2011 GQ article on Chris Evans and the author never credited the article. And let me tell you, after reading the article it seems very similar in style/humor/happenstance to the one that Chani writes about Gabe. Even the details in the article like the journalist spending the night at Chris' house and sneaking out is identical to what happens in this book. I also believe that Chani is a self-insert of the author after looking at her pictures and reading her biography.
got so invested so fast
the attention to detail Gabe had literally made me cry
feel like it was what i wanted out of TJR books that i hadnât been getting
great rom com
the attention to detail Gabe had literally made me cry
feel like it was what i wanted out of TJR books that i hadnât been getting
great rom com
Interesting point of view between two characters over a 10 year period! Great if you love celebrity love stories
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