Just My Type by Tara Sivec

Romantic Comedy. Standalone follow up to The Simple Life

(Want a brief review? Skip down to the Down & Dirty)

I didn’t know I loved romantic comedy until I read Seduction and Snacks by Tara Sivec in 2012 and became a creepy stalker. Since then I have read hundreds of romcoms, but Just My Type reminded me yet again why Tara Sivec is the QUEEN OF ROMANTIC COMEDY. My favorite thing to read in books is e-mail or text banter, and kids of any age. Just my Type by Tara Sivec had both, plus Tara’s signature humor. So you know what that means for a 50+-year-old mom? Bladder leakage when I laugh. Thanks, Tara.

“You titless whore. Fuck fitted sheets!”

Just My Type is the standalone spin-off of The Simple Life by Tara Sivec (Ember, the heroine, is Clint from The Simple Life’s sister and Brooklyn’s best friend). I loved The Simple Life (my review), but Just My Type may now be my most favorite Tara Sivec book ever, and that’s saying a lot!

Ember and her husband and baby left her beloved town of White Timber for Chicago when her husband got an amazing job opportunity there. She is suddenly thrust into being seen and not heard; just a pretty thing on her husband’s arm. She hates it there and has no friends, and after 3 months, the “titless whore” decides he wants a divorce, but she can’t go back home because of the custody agreement.

15 months later, still miserable in Chicago and kind of pathetic, Ember works doing transcriptions at home. She keeps notes that the clients never see, including giving them some interesting names and adding her own commentary to keep her attention while she listens. Due to a system glitch, those hysterical notes get sent to the client along with her personal email address.

“I called the client Shit Mouth. I accused him of not having any balls. And steroid use, just because he owns a gym. He’s going to rip me a new asshole.”

The email she gets back is hysterical, let me tell you, Baker cracked me up! As I said, banter, especially via e-mail or text is my #1 favorite thing in a book, and Just My Type had some of the funniest email exchanges I have ever read. Add to that a hysterically adorable little boy, (“Can we name him Penis Breath?”) and I am smiling so big my face hurts.

“He’s hot. He’s a wounded war veteran. He opened a gym for other wounded war veterans. He’s funny. He likes that you’re a smartass. He’s protective of his sister. He likes kids. It turned him on when you threw up your baggage all over him. Am I forgetting anything?”

Sigh…I can’t wait until this comes out on audio, because I am so ready to crack up again listening to it.

“It’s called a piss boner, it makes you pee in two streams instead of one, it looks like a goddamn spitting cobra, and you can look it up.”
“What’s a piss boner?” Lincoln asks. “I want one. Can I have one?”

Not only was it funny, but it was totally sexy at times, and there was lots of sweet. Tara also introduces a new animal, Ron Jeremy, who was definitely the star of some of the most laugh-out-loud moments ever.

Likes:

I was laughing out loud just from the table of contents. The chapter names are the best!
Hysterical email banter.
A funny-as-hell little boy.
Tara’s signature 12-year-old boy humor.
Enough story and emotion to balance out the silliness.
Another adorable animal, and his name, Ron Jeremy, could not have made me laugh harder.
I’m not sure if this is a like or a dislike…but as a 50+-year-old mother, my bladder control was nonexistent when reading this. (Warning: wear a pad if you tend to tinkle when you laugh too hard).
I loved how Baker was totally macho (wounded war veteran who owns a gym) but totally not macho in personality, he was funny and easy going.
Baker’s sister and her wife were a great addition and I love how he defended them.
Visiting with the characters from A Simple Life.
Pinky Swear.

Dislikes:

I would have liked a more fleshed out reason for her having to stay there rather than just “custody agreement”.

The Down & Dirty:

As much as I read romantic comedy, nobody writes it like Tara Sivec. The smart-ass, immature, fun and silly banter just strike my funny bone in the perfect way. These are my people. 6 years ago I created Wicked Book Weekend so I could (in my mind) hang out with the characters (or at least the brain behind them) from Seduction and Snacks. I feel the same way here. I totally want to hang with Ember & Baker. I mean, I’m the girl who made a penis joke in my son’s Bar Mitzvah speech (no, it didn’t go over well, but I still think it was funny), so I love crude and stupid humor as long as it’s clever and has sweet and emotional moments as well. There is something about Just My Type that just felt easy. It felt like it flowed right from Tara’s head, but never once felt like she was trying too hard, or pushing for the funny lines. Lincoln rivals Gavin for my favorite book child, and Baker’s e-mails are my favorite book e-mails ever. I loved The Simple Life, but I loved Just My Type even more, and it is absolutely a 2019 favorite. Pinky swear. It’s been over 7 months since my last 5+++ star review, but any book that makes me laugh hard enough to leak (from eyes and elsewhere) deserves 5+++ stars. Though Just My Type by Tara Sivec stands alone easily, I highly recommend reading The Simple Life first to appreciate it to the fullest.