Next Time by Robin Alexander

Next Time by Robin Alexander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Humor is tricky to pull off well for many reasons – chief among them the relatively simple fact that there’s no form of humor that appeals to everyone (and I mean 100% of all people), and the more you drive to reach a large significant portion of the audience, the more likely the humor will end up being super mild and would likely, at best, generate just a weak smile. Not only is it super easy to offend with humor, it is, in some ways even worse, very easy to bore with humor.

And here I thought of putting in a bunch of stuff about different types of humor, like: satire/parody, broad humor, low humor, high humor, word play humor, domestic humor, etc. etc. And mention how one of the types of humor I like best is the kind somewhat rarely actually seen, at least by me, in prose novels – the quick-witted sharp dialogue that seems more easily shown, in example form, in plays by Noël Coward (who, largely, seemed to like the comedy of manners type of humor (at least his popular early work) – married couples (Private Lives, Blythe Spirit), families (Hay Fever), etc. I rarely see it in prose novels as, as noted, it tended to involve married couples, not something that’s hugely popular, it appears, with what I personally read. But all of this is beside the point: the point being that humor is difficult to do well, and even when it is done well – 50% of your intended audience might still be bored (at best), or disgusted (at worst).

I specifically mentioned Coward above so I’d mention married couples – so I’d note that this book here involves a married couple. In snippets, at least, in the ‘present’. They, Payton Foret & Ryann Seely, technically aren’t married since, at the time this book was published and set, lesbian marriage was not yet legal in Louisiana, but the two are a long term couple who see themselves, basically, as married. But that’s the ‘present’. And most of the story consists of what happened in the past, when Payton & Ryann first meet, entangled with others, and then finally come together in coupledom. So it’s a variation that both allows the reader to see a ‘married’ couple long after they got together, and see what is normally shown in romance books – a couple coming together.

Payton and Ryann first meet in a bar – as ‘wingwomen’ for Jana and … um, I’m going to say Melena, but could be Melissa, or Melina, or . . . well, doesn’t really matter. Jana and Payton are best friends, while Ryann and M are friends – though, as is both seen throughout the book, and stated at the upfront – M would rather have had Ryann’s significant other there as the wingwoman, as Leigh is more of M’s friend. Leigh being Ryann’s long-term partner of roughly 8 years (several years go by in the telling of this story, and the number 8 got tossed out there at some point, not sure when the number was used, so I’m going with 8).

Payton and Ryann meet well – they have an instant spark, but they also have no obligation to like/dislike/or go through the ‘game’ of romancing – since they are there for their friends, not for themselves. Though Payton does mention that she might have made some kind of play for Ryann but for the fact that she knew that Ryann had a long term girlfriend.

The two meet again about … oh, several months later when M and J have a BBQ. By this point Ryann is still dating Leigh, and Payton is dating ‘squirrel-woman’ (a successful voice actor who specializes in ‘funny voices’ who doesn’t have good control over the ‘on/off’ switch). Squirrel-woman is in and out so quickly from Payton’s life that I didn’t really catch her name (but, then again, I couldn’t recall M’s name and she’s there throughout the book so . . . ). Payton and Ryann reconnect at this party and continue their liking of each other, and their witty banter. For reasons this is only the second time they both have meet, months after first meeting, largely due to how easily Leigh falls into jealous rages at the slightest opportunity, and how little Ryann does to fight this impulse of Leigh’s (beyond basically never going anywhere but for work and home – at least not without Leigh).

Payton and Ryann meet for the third time on J & M’s anniversary – Payton, by this point, is by herself, while Ryann is still with Leigh. Throughout all this time Ryann has made noises that indicate that she doesn’t really want to still be with Leigh, and is ‘just about’ to break up with her. For roughly a year or more. And so the two still don’t date, or cheat with each other, for neither are the cheating type and Ryann is still with Leigh.

Payton works as a ‘children’s educational music jingle writer’, or something like that. She writes children’s show/commercial/film songs. Ryann works as a teacher, I believe a high school teacher though I might have that part wrong.

Of importance: the woman whose name I can’t remember, Melena or whatever, is in the book throughout but mostly on the side as she’s the lover/girlfriend of Jana (not a main character) and more friends with Leigh (not a main character) than with Ryann (main character). Jana is best friends with Payton and therefore pops up whenever the book needed someone like her to pop up (you know, to say things like ‘I know you aren’t the cheating kind’ and stuff like that). Shelly is Ryann’s straight sister, and seems very much her close friend (mom Carol and the two named sisters, and two (or was it three?) unnamed brothers play little part in this story, at least until near the end when the sisters and Carol pops up – for reasons). Shelly’s kids and husband are there when needed for excuses for certain things – like why Shelly’s suddenly over at Ryann’s place (Evan, the husband, tried to burn down the house making food), or why there’s a ‘rat’ running around (Brody, Shelly’s son, got a ferret without asking permission) – but are not otherwise of any real importance to the plot.

Beyond everything else, like say romance and humor, there are two things Alexander likes including in her books: travel and ‘old people’. Here, in this specific book, the travel is covered by several impromptu car trips, while the ‘old person’ is covered by Grace, Payton’s next door neighbor of advanced age. The old people tend to be sources of amusement and be quite wacky, here, though, the wackiest thing about Grace is her weird food combinations.

This is the first book by Alexander that I have successfully reread. I’d previously attempted to listen to the audio for one prior book, without success, which is why I worded the first sentence the way I did. As I somewhat expected/suspected, rereading a book I’d previously rated 5+ stars by Alexander ends up with me pushing this book onto the exclusive ‘reread only’ six star shelf.

Right, so, great bits of humor that I personally found quite good and others might find boring; great romance that others, not me, might find vaguely lacking something (in terms of the potential angst/drama of one woman already in a relationship when she meets her ‘soulmate’ – tension somewhat lessoned by the fact that the story is being told by a happy long term couple about how they meet). Oh, and there’s some graphic sex that occurred. Lovely top tier book.

Rating: 6.0

December 18 2017



View all my reviews