Late Night Love
by: Chayla Wolfberg
February 20,2024 Self Published
336 pages
review by: E. Broderick
The one time I tried to watch Saturday Night Live as a kid was during a sleep over in which we kids were in the basement and there happened to be a TV in our room. I didn’t understand a word of it, but I was with friends and being sneaky, so it was still a good time. Thankfully, I have matured since that incident, and was therefore able to dive into Chayla Wolfberg’s adult m/f romance Late Night Love.
Heroine and comedy writer Emily Beckerman clearly was a very different child than I was. She has been watching the sketch comedy show Live From New York, since she was a child. She finally has her dream job writing for the show, but it has both worsened her anxiety and exposed her to some of the more toxic sides of working in media. However, when a small prank gets her truly heinous boss fired, she finds herself paired up with Chris Galloway as co-head writer for the show as well as co-anchor for the fake news segment that appears every week on Live.
While this might seem like a win, there are some unfortunate strings attached to this promotion. The show is close to cancellation and Emily’s first season as head writer could be her last if she and Chris cannot work together. Chris, for his part, has no interest in working with Emily since he blames her for the prank that got his friend fired. The feeling is mutual because Emily blames Chris for enabling his friends misogynistic, racist, and frankly just every kind of obnoxious, behavior over the years which in all likelihood is what drove the show’s ratings into the ground in the first place. A massive office war ensues.
Since Late Night Love features literal comedy writers, I feel compelled to comment on the jokes. I found half to be hilarious and half to not be my type of humor. Which is about par for the course for any comedy show. But Emily herself? She’s got a wicked sense of humor and I truly loved being in her head, especially the way she ended the first chapter. It really hooked me and convinced me to continue reading. This is good, because the story is told solely from Emily’s POV. It’s a voice that we could use more of in media – she’s a plus size woman that has to think about her romantic partner seeing her shapewear, and also a person living with anxiety.
The romance is steamy, with two very explicit sex scenes that I found to be well done. The third act break up scene went on a little long, especially since the trigger came out of nowhere, but we were already suspicious about some of Chris’s behaviors. The resolution takes place in a way that also involves Emily’s faith and features some of the best jokes in the book (for my taste) since they are delivered deadpan by a reform Rabbi. Truly delightful.
Mostly, I think Late Night Love was really relatable, even for people who are not involved in comedy or the entertainment industry, because Emily is a character that a lot of people can see themselves in. I liked the choice of having the book come entirely through her POV because I don’t think I could bond with Chris quite the same way. Emily had me laughing, crying, feeling all the feelings. I rooted for her completely and was overjoyed to watch her achieve her happy ending.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a free copy of this book from the author.