Romantic Comedy (Reese's Book Club): A Novel

Funny satire of what some say is a little reminiscent of Tina Fey’s life and her time at SNL.

The story itself is interesting to keep us reading and the building of the relationship between Sally and Noah is slow at best. This isn’t the kind of “the minute their eyes locked, so did their lips and body melding into one,” troupe, thankfully. It starts off as a guest host and a regular writer to “Danny Horst Rule” to later, a misunderstanding (actually, it was just plain rudeness on Sally’s part) to COVID and what comes out of being secluded from being in lock down due to COVID.

I felt a newfound respect for the show SNL as in this case, it is called TNO.

Sally is part pragmatic, hides behind her comedy but is secretly a little bitter, and a bit of a loner by choice. She doesn’t believe in love, having already been married and then to lose herself and then finding herself but then consciously uncoupling. Can she do this again? Does she want to do this again? Then there’s waiting for the heads to say, “okay, thanks for all your hard work but we have new kids who are funnier and have more cutting edge humor.” Does she leave on her own terms or just continue to write and be in the background?

Noah’s character is what captivated me most. His pure heart and openness to be the butt of the joke, do things that he is comfortable in doing and pushing it outside his comfort zone but not passing his integrity. His willingness to do the “Danny Horst Rule” and contribute to the “how he got started” skit shows his range. He’s not just a pretty face with great hair.

Writing: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Theme: 4/5

It was a cute easy read. Predictable but fun.

DNF I cannot think of a book I have disliked more. If you love incredibly long sentences that go on so many tangents you forget how it started, then I guess you’ll be fine. The MC is an insufferable wench who is ungrateful, bitter, and unrelatable. The authors is not coy about her political affiliations (as in she constantly shoves them down your throat to the point that even if you agree, you will will be begging the author to stop worshiping at the alter of politics and get a life). And I didn’t even get to the point where there is 80 pages of emails and long reminders of Covid. This book had me rooting for the love interest to take a hike and find someone better. Glad I suffered through the 15% I did read so I could learn I’ll never read anything by this author ever again.

The book was alright…took me almost a month to finish; that could be due to the fact that I’ve had less time at night, or the fact that the whole book was three chapters for 300 pages and stopping points were frequent. The first chapter was 128 pages long (YIKES) and felt very long and in -depth, but about very random things, so it was really hard to follow. I didn’t really start getting into the book until the emailing portion (chapter 2). It was a fun plot, but the main character was so self-deprecating that it was almost unenjoyable. The author was really good at capturing the awkwardness of a relationship’s beginning and I liked her conversational writing style, just not the overall organization of the book. Overall, the book was fine. Not the best I’ve ever read and not the worst.

Really liked this. Starts in a Saturday Night Live-inspired writing studio and takes a few joyfully unexpected turns. A great romance if you’re looking to stay away from the traditional Hallmark variety of romance stories. Witty and has a lot of emotional depth.