Romantic Comedy: Reese's Book Club: A Novel
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions—a “smart, sophisticated, and fun” (Oprah Daily) novel from the author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep.
“Full of dazzling banter and sizzling chemistry.”—People
“If you ever wanted a backstage pass to Saturday Night Live, this is the book for you.”—Zibby Owens, Good Morning America
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, BuzzFeed, PopSugar, Harper’s Bazaar, Real Simple, She Reads, New York Post
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.
But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.
Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?
With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.
“Full of dazzling banter and sizzling chemistry.”—People
“If you ever wanted a backstage pass to Saturday Night Live, this is the book for you.”—Zibby Owens, Good Morning America
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, BuzzFeed, PopSugar, Harper’s Bazaar, Real Simple, She Reads, New York Post
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.
But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called The Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.
Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy—it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?
With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.
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Community Reviews
Funny satire of what some say is a little reminiscent of Tina Feyâs 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 isnât the kind of âthe minute their eyes locked, so did their lips and body melding into one,â troupe, thankfully. It starts off as a guest host and a regular writer to âDanny Horst Ruleâ to later, a misunderstanding (actually, it was just plain rudeness on Sallyâs 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 doesnât 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 thereâs waiting for the heads to say, âokay, thanks for all your hard work but we have new kids who are funnier and have more cutting edge humor.â Does she leave on her own terms or just continue to write and be in the background?
Noahâs 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 âDanny Horst Ruleâ and contribute to the âhow he got startedâ skit shows his range. Heâs not just a pretty face with great hair.
Writing: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Theme: 4/5
The story itself is interesting to keep us reading and the building of the relationship between Sally and Noah is slow at best. This isnât the kind of âthe minute their eyes locked, so did their lips and body melding into one,â troupe, thankfully. It starts off as a guest host and a regular writer to âDanny Horst Ruleâ to later, a misunderstanding (actually, it was just plain rudeness on Sallyâs 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 doesnât 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 thereâs waiting for the heads to say, âokay, thanks for all your hard work but we have new kids who are funnier and have more cutting edge humor.â Does she leave on her own terms or just continue to write and be in the background?
Noahâs 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 âDanny Horst Ruleâ and contribute to the âhow he got startedâ skit shows his range. Heâs not just a pretty face with great hair.
Writing: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Theme: 4/5
I listened to this one on my drive from Massachusetts to Illinois for our move and I was absolutely in love with it! I saw some fairly mixed reviews and I think I might be in the minority with this one and I don't mind one bit! I've said it a million times that I often enjoy the cliche romances so that might be it but I also think that if I read this in a physical format I might not have liked it as much as I did. There are three chapters which were really more like parts so listening to them didn't make it feel as long. I was completely captivated throughout the whole book, found myself laughing out loud, smiling, crying and even speaking back to the characters! I found the story and format to be a lot different than most romances I've read and I truly enjoyed it. Highly recommend not only the book, but the audiobook!
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.
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