Plot: Ari has always been obsessed with weather. Now a grown meteorologist, she has a chance to work for her hero, who is unfortunately too busy fighting with her ex-husband and producer at the station, right in front of the entire office. After a particularly bad fight, Ari gets drunk with colleague from the sports section – Russell, and they hatch a plan to hook then up again, if only to get some peace at work. And if they make a friend in the process, what’s the harm? Shenanigans ensue.
Solomon set out to write a rom com with a mentally ill protagonist. Ari suffers from depression, but it is not the whole of who she is, and goddamnit people with depression want a laugh now and again too. It may not be quite as rare as Solomon suggests in her author’s note (Talia Hibbert has long written sweet and funny love stories for folks with chronic illnesses, neurodivergent minds, and mental illness), but it’s certainly not common. Solomon takes care with Ari, and presents her condition with kindness and compassion, but she does not shy away from the impact that such an illness can have on the people around them, a rarity indeed.
Solomon balances the heaviness of Ari’s family life and health struggles, or Russell’s complex family life, with jokes about musicals and bad Christmas decor and seasickness and truly fantastic secondary characters. I don’t know that it rises to an actual comedy, so your milage may vary.
It’s sweet as hell and it made for a lovely read, especially on a week when the weather was on my side.