Talk Bookish to Me: TikTok made me buy it: the perfect laugh-out-loud romcom

by Kate Bromley

A hilarious romcom for fans of The Hating Game and Beach Read

Inspiration can be found in the most unlikely - and inconvenient - places

Kara Sullivan is definitely not avoiding her deadline. After all, it's the week of her best friend's wedding and she's the maid of honour, so she's got lots of responsibilities. She's a bestselling romance novelist with seven novels under her belt, so she's a pro. Looming deadlines don't scare her, and neither does writer's block, which she most certainly does not have. She's just eager to support Cristina as she ties the knot. Right? Right.

But then who should show up at the rehearsal dinner but Kara's college ex-boyfriend, Ryan? Turns out he's one of the groom's childhood friends, and he's in the wedding party, too. Considering neither Kara nor Ryan were prepared to see each other ever again, it's decidedly a meet-NOT-cute. However, when Kara sits down to write again the next day, her writer's block is suddenly gone. Are muses real? And is Kara's muse . . . Ryan?

• ISBN10: 183877565X
• ISBN13: 9781838775650
• Publish Date: 27 May 2021 (first published 25 May 2021)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Zaffre
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Written by Kate Bromley, Talk Bookish to Me is marketed at a quick, witty, and fun romance. Since I was looking for a bit of a light read, it sounded like the perfect next book for me to pick up.

Kara Sullivan is a writer and a social media influencer. She spends most of her life wrapped up in the novels she writes or the tall tales she spins for her bookstagram account. However, the life she portrays is far from the life she has.

At the moment, she should be focusing on her latest novel and its looming deadline. Instead, she's helping her best friend prepare for her wedding, which means getting mentally prepared to see her ex-boyfriend again.

I went into Talk Bookish To Me, hoping for a fun, flirty, and quick read. Overall, that is exactly what I got. It wasn't a novel full of surprises, but then again, I wasn't expecting (or looking for) that. However, I didn't end up loving Kara's character as much as I had hoped.

I want to mention that before I go any further, Talk Bookish To Me is 100% one of those books that plays with the 'book within a book' trope. The title and description probably made that obvious, but I wanted to add some clarity, just in case.

Personally, I don't mind that trope when done right. But I know that some readers hate it, so it seemed worth mentioning. Here, it was done in a lighthearted way, so it didn't bother me in the slightest.

What did bother me were some of the decisions characters made throughout this book. It made me want to take them by the shoulders, shake them, and give them a good yell until they understood the error of their ways.

So yeah, not quite the light read I was hoping for, not on that front, at least. Still, it was quick and distracting, so I can't complain too much.

Thanks to Graydon House and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Pufflekitteh]

First reviews over on blog: The Pufflekitteh Reads.

 

From the moment I heard about this book, I knew that it was right up my street. I’ve been on a little bit of a Romance kick lately, and then seeing this book features a story within the story, I was sold.

I’m not going to lie, I had a few issues getting into this book, but that could be due to my bad health, rather than the book itself. I did, however, feel like I’d been dropped into the middle of the story instead if at the beginning. After a while, though, that feeling went away.

I liked Kara. She is one of those flawed characters who is a little nervous, and yet, sure of herself at the same time. She’s very much aware of her flaws, but is making a clear effort to work through them.
Ryan felt like a ‘boy next door’ type of character, who makes mistakes but has a good heart.
Duke is, by far, my favourite character (but as some of you know, I have a huge soft spot for animal companions). I loved Maggie, she’s one of those kinds of people who I’d love to have as a friend. There’s a few other characters in the novel that we’re introduced too, but I didn’t feel anything for them, as we don’t see them that much. They felt more like plot devices, rather than characters. Everyone except Liam, that is. I appreciated that instead of forcing some misbegotten romance, he became the friend she needed in that moment.

As someone who has lost their dad, and doesn’t have the greatest relationship with their mother, there was a moment between Kara and her mum that I loved. Kara was able to put into words emotions that are really hard to put into words, especially in the heat if the moment. And I loved that her mum took some time to reflect on the pain she’d unintentionally caused, apologized and made an effort to work around her behaviour.

I didn’t know what it was about the plot, but I didn’t enjoy it as I thought I would. Maybe it just didn’t feel quite ‘high stakes’ enough? I’m honestly not sure. What I do know is that I liked it, but I didn’t love it. There were some really great moments that had me laughing. I think Kate has a lot of potential as a writer, so I look forward to reading more by her in the future, also, to future rereads of this book when I need a mood lift.

Overall, I think it was a nice, light fluffy read, and I am glad I had to chance to read it.

I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Jeff Sexton]

Fun Tale. Unnecessary Element In Epilogue. This was a fun rom-com full of angst and banter and miscommunications. The book-within-a-book worked, even while I'm not really a fan of the Regency style historical romances. Indeed, until the epilogue itself this was truly a fun, witty, banter-filled tale filled with heart. Even the actual endgame itself (the last 15% ish of the book, IIRC) was interesting, even as it got away from the main storyline for quite a bit of it. (Unlike some other reviewers though, I totally get why and how it worked. It isn't a *usual* storyline in romance novels, but I've seen it before - and even a few times in real life.) My only issue, and it is more of a quibble since it *is* just in the epilogue, is the completely unnecessary baby. It adds nothing, and only reinforces the "you're not a real couple unless you procreate" bigotry. (Also, not an actual spoiler - romance novel. Couple by definition ends up together. :D) Still, on the whole this book really was fun and had some interesting twists to it. Very much recommended.