Humor Me offered me everything I wanted from another literary fiction/romantic comedy that takes place in the comedy television space and didn’t get. In my opinion, this book is so much more than a day in the life of a struggling NYC young professional. Is there romance? Yes. Is it rom-com material? At times. Akin to contemporary romance authors like Emily Henry and Abby Jiminez, Cat Shook provides a very real, and raw, reflection of trauma and grief that I think many who have suffered can understand and empathize with. 

 

Our main character, a survivor of child neglect, a byproduct of addiction, shows so many signs of unhealed trauma.  Through her various relationships,  she begins to work through said trauma after years of just existing aside it. She finds an unexpected friendship with an older family friend, and his son. Both women are suffering through grief and loss and really help support each other through their journey. I loved seeing the dynamic of our younger main character and her mother’s old hometown friend. Through this friendship, she is able to connect with parts of her mother she never saw as a child and begin the process of healing from the neglect she remembers. I’d argue the friendships in this book are equally as important as the romance in seeing our main character begin her healing journey and I loved it. 

 

I personally found myself relating very strongly with the main character and saw glimpses of a younger me struggling to build healthy relationships while remaining closed off and hyper independent. I absolutely adored the character development in this book and found myself wanting to read an epilogue set further into the timeline to see all of our main character’s hard self work pay off. 

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves stories of self love as much as those of contemporary romance. 

 

Thank you to Celadon and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book; all opinions are my own