Friday, June 29, 2018

Audiobook Review: Dating-Ish by Penny Reid

Series:     Knitting in the City #6
Pub. Date:May 18, 2017
Publisher:Cipher-Naught
Narrator:Joy Nash
Length:11 hrs 13 min
Source:Audible Romance

You ever "save" a book for a reading slump... and then forget that you were saving it? That is totally what happened to me with Dating-Ish, as I am a huge fan of the Knitting in the City series. I remember deciding to wait to read this one until I hit a dreaded reading slump, and then I realized that I was still saving it when I noticed that Marriage of Inconvenience was about to be released. So I had to rectify the situation immediately. And I was so happy that Joy Nash was narrating again. I fell in love with her narration in Truth or Beard, and she did a stellar job in this story. Joy's narration brings the zany characters to life and she has great comedic effect and timing that works so well with Penny's romantic comedies.

Our knitting group heroine in this story is Marie, the fearless reporter who has saved her friends and went the extra mile to conduct research in the name of journalism. Marie is feeling envious of her friend's relationships, but exasperation at the sad state of the dating pool. When Marie's latest online date starts asking her if she thinks kidnapping and sodomy is a good time, it was the last straw. The whole disastrous affair sets off a chain of events which will see Marie pursuing paid and robotic intimacy as a means to a story and her love life (or lack thereof). I have liked Marie throughout this series, so it was fun seeing her in action this time. It was hilarious to see her nurturing side come out when faced with professional cuddlers, dry humpers and OMing sessions. But what else could you expect from a Penny Reid book?

You may recall our hero from previous books, as the next door neighbor to Fiona and Greg. Matt is an awkwardly endearing hero - a nerdy scientist who is more comfortable with robots than people. I loved how he would get caught up in his science and techno-speak, and thought his plans for companion robots was interesting. But most of all, I loved all of his nerdy sexual innuendo and flirting. I've never heard computer terms being wielded quite so fluently as sexual suggestions before. If ever there was a case for a beta male in romance, Matt is an exemplary beta hero. He was great.

The romance between Matt and Marie was a slow burn, with our couple moving from dislike to mutual respect to the dreaded friendzone before ever being truthful about their growing attraction for one another. I thought there was a decent amount of chemistry for this being such a slow burn novel, and I think Matt and Marie were paired well. Following along with Matt's research and Marie's pursuit of the loneliness cure was absolutely hilarious... and I can only imagine the research that Penny had to do for all of the paid services that were discussed in this book. I am definitely excited to get to Dan and Cat's book next... but I'm also a little sad knowing that it will likely be closing out the series.

If you are a romantic comedy fan, you can't go wrong with a Penny Reid story.

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