I liked Oliver, Gabe’s close friend (he really could’ve carried a book of his own all by himself), and Matthias. Chani has a terrific narrative voice, and the book’s exploration of journalism – specifically tabloid journalism – rings true. But as the narrative grows legs, Gabe’s flaws appear and the author adds some interesting secondary characters. Gabe is of course perfect at first – handsome, humble, a lover of dogs and frequently shirtless. They’re both with other people when they meet and are in other relationships for the majority of the book they reconnect when they’re both single but this makes their decade-earlier separation feel abrupt and arbitrary. Chani falls for Gabe pretty much immediately, and this is just as annoying as it always is. The biggest flaw in Funny You Should Ask is its instalove element. But do Chani and Gabe have a second chance at love on their hands? Childhood traumas and identity issues lie between them. By the time Chani and Gabe meet again, he, too, is divorced, and has been through counseling for his alcohol addiction.

In between chapters that weave between Chani and Gabe’s first meeting and the present day, we watch Chani’s marriage fail and her divorce percolate.

In between a move from New York to LA, she becomes a well-known interviewer and marries a writer she’s dating. Chani went on to launch a career with The Broad Sheets, a gossip website, based on that interview. Chani and Gabe spent a weekend together for the article’s sake, a spark lignited between them – and was extinguished when Gabe immediately married his co-star, Jacinda Lockwood. So when he requests she interview him again she’s more than ready to finally tie up the loose ends of the complicated, decade-long issues she’s had with their connection. The article that journalist Chani Horowitz wrote about Hollywood star Gabe Parker, just days before he began filming his first James Bond film, helped launch her career and continued to boost his. While the connection between our central twosome feels a little too instantaneous, the book in general is romantic and provides good character studies. It’s also at heart a story about a man and woman growing together – and apart – over the course of a single decade. Funny You Should Ask does a good job reflecting today’s tabloid media and it’s growth.

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman