Audiobook Review: Weather Girl

Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon

Narrator: Sarah Mollo Christensen

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

A TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with unforecasted results in this charming romantic comedy from the author of The Ex Talk.

Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer.

In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.

Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies?

Weather Girl follows a meteorologist in Seattle named Ari Abrams (“weather girl”) who works for her idol, TV meteorologist Torrance Hale. While she is dealing with depression, she tries her best to be positive with those she encounters. Her mother also has depression, however, unlike Ari, she let it dictate her life, and Ari is determined to not follow the same path. As her boss is currently going through a divorce with the station’s other boss, news director Seth, the workplace is not the most comfortable place.  Single father Russell Berringer (“sports guy”) works under Seth and agrees with Ari that something needs to be done about Seth and Torrance, especially at a blow-up in front of them and their co-workers. As Seth and Torrance seem to still have feelings for each other, Russell and Ari agree to team up to try to bring their bosses back together.

Naturally, Ari and Russell develop feelings for each other as the two of them spend time together. The two of them have a nice transition from co-workers to friends and it was apparent that they cared for each other. While I felt some chemistry between them, I wished there was a little more as I could not sense an intense connection between them. Ari and Russell each are going through their own struggles, so it was nice to see them open up and share with each other. Ari’s fiancé broke up with her after he discovered she takes medications for depression, so she is fearful to open up about it again with others. As someone who also has depression, my journey may be different than Ari’s, but I loved how her character was portrayed.

One thing that completely stood out for me was Russell being on the bigger side. While some novels are including female characters of different sizes, it is rare to find one where the male character describes himself as fat and not written as one with endless abs. Since their looks do not play a huge factor in my enjoyment of the story, this was just a minor detail that I noticed. I also liked that this was written as just part of his character and not a plot point. Similarly to the two main characters being Jewish, there is not a lot of attention given to this as it is just a part of who the characters are.

Overall, I loved this story’s main premise of two co-workers teaming up to bring back together their bosses. The novel does expand on this simpler idea by adding in characters that are going through their own insecurities and struggles. Their journeys are not straightforward and there are many twists and turns along the way with lots of character growth throughout. There were portions where I wanted more from the details, but the actual writing was very enjoyable. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future!