When Chloe Adams embarked on the publicity tour for her new book, she didn't expect to appear on a live radio interview alongside Joe Harris promoting his memoir on the same subject.
Relationships.
They had last met years ago when Chloe abruptly ended theirs. Now a successful journalist, she is married to an equally ambitious film director, while Joe, still single, has struggled to move on.
The spiky reunion leads to an offer they can't refuse - hosting a podcast about failed relationships - and three months later they launch Ex-Communicate, exploring other people's heartbreak while tiptoeing around their own complicated history. Their on-air chemistry makes the podcast a rapid hit, but as their professional success grows, they're forced to confront the feelings they've buried for over a decade. Soon they realise there is a price to pay for discussing their emotions so openly in the pursuit of downloads.
The Pod Couple is a witty examination of our cultural obsession with failed relationships, exploring the uncomfortable truth that time rarely heals. It just makes things more complicated.
What did I think?
The Pod Couple is a fresh and modern love story with a podcast setting. It's not a traditional love story but it's probably more realistic as their failed relationship is put under the microscope.
The book starts with a break-up and whilst Chloe didn't think of Joe until they meet again years later, Joe has never got over it. Joe's life has been a string of failures from his relationships to his career and it can all be traced back to that break-up with Chloe. Chloe meanwhile, is married with two children but she's not exactly happy.
Oh Chloe, I bet she wishes she could go back in time and have a word with her younger self but then she wouldn't have her two lovely children. I'm not sure that would bother her though as she is quite selfish, which I thought would annoy me but it actually made me laugh.
Joe on the other hand, really tried his hardest to make me laugh but, as you might have guessed from his failed career as a stand-up comedian, he's just not that funny. Put him in the same room as Chloe though, as they discuss their failed relationship on a podcast, and the chemistry between them results in lots of laughs (usually at Joe's expense).
The Pod Couple is a very entertaining and thought-provoking book that does make you wonder "what if?". Not just what if Chloe had never broken Joe's heart, but also what if you had made different choices in your own life.
I received a gifted paperback to read for the Love Books Tours readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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