Review: Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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?

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. 

• Title: Weather Girl
• Author:  Rachel Lynn Solomon
• Publisher: Berkley
• Publication Date: January 11th, 2022
• Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
• Targeted Age Range: Adult
• Content Warnings: Depression, anxiety, strained relationship with parents, parental abandonment, mentions of treatment centers, mentions of panic attacks, injury (fractured elbow, bruised ribs), mentions of teenage pregnancy
• Rating: ★★★★☆

Ever since reading Rachel Lynn Solomon’s The Ex Talk, Today Tonight Tomorrow and We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This last year, she has become one of my go-to authors. I was really looking forward to Weather Girl and luckily it did not disappoint.

Solomon’s novels always make me feel like I’m talking to a close friend. Her writing has such a lovely flow and once I pick up one of her books, I don’t want to put it down until I’ve finished it. In fact, I finished Weather Girl in one day, practically in one sitting.

When I first read the synopsis for Weather Girl it gave me SUCH Set It Up vibes – which is one of my favorite movies – so I just knew that I had to add it to the top of my TBR. I mean, really, who doesn’t like a book where two characters are trying to set up another couple and they fall in love in the process? Weather Girl was filled with so many fun setups and shenanigans but also so much heart. 

Solomon writes characters who feel realistic and are likable, but have their flaws. Her characters feel like real people, and I think that’s what draws me to her stories so much. The characters in Weather Girl are no exception. I loved Ari as our protagonist. I loved how much she loved her job and her passion for science and the weather. I loved the journey that Ari went through in learning how to share her true and authentic self with the people in her life. Showing people all the sides of you, good, bad, and ugly, is no easy feat and Ari’s journey – to me – felt very truthful and progressed in a way that I felt was authentic.

I thought that Russell was such a sweet character and a really wonderful father to his daughter Elodie. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s toxic masculinity and Russell was the exact opposite. He wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable and open up to Ari once he felt that he was emotionally in a place to do so. He and Ari really worked well together and I loved how he really listened to and respected her. I also loved his relationship with Elodie, though I wish we could’ve seen more of it. 

Speaking of Elodie, I just loved how she and Ari bonded over their love for musical theatre. I loved them talking about shows, and Ari helping Elodie run lines was just so sweet. It made me think about when I was in shows and I would ask my mom to run lines with me. It was such a special thing for me and my mom, and it just really warmed my heart to read Ari and Elodie bond over something that my mother and I really bonded over. And, how iconic was it of Elodie to have a theatre-themed Bat Mitzvah? Girl has a brand and she sticks to it, which I respect. I would read an entire book just about Elodie and her acting adventures.

While Weather Girl has lots of really fun, cute, and light moments, there are also some really grounded and beautiful moments in the story. Especially when discussing Ari’s depression and anxiety, and how her mother going through the same thing during Ari’s childhood really affected her. At the beginning of the book, Solomon says:

“In the middle of the drafting process, it also became a romantic comedy with a depressed protagonist. On paper, it sounds like those two things shouldn’t mix. Romcoms are escapist and exciting and often full of hijinks. And yet what I’ve loved the most about them as we’ve seen this category evolve is their capacity to balance those wild, escapist plots with the kind of realism I used to avoid in my storytelling.”

Depression and anxiety are not dirty words and I think it’s so important that we continue to destigmatize openly discussing mental illness, which is why I am so glad that RLS didn’t shy away from it. There’s no reason for stories of anxiety and depression to not be told in a romantic comedy, or any book for that matter because these are things that people deal with every day. I really appreciated that there were multiple open conversations, from both the male and female characters, about how therapy was a positive experience for them and that it really helped them. The vulnerability and honesty that these characters expressed made me feel so connected to them and it was so beautiful to see all of them grow throughout the story. 

I also thought it was so important to show that Ari and Russell’s struggles were not magically cured once they got together. Depression and anxiety are not things that magically go away once you’re in a relationship, and it’s so important to make sure that people know that they can have meaningful and fulfilling relationships while dealing with depression or anxiety, and those things do not make them any less worthy of love.

RLS always does such a great job of weaving in her character’s Jewish heritage into the stories she tells. It is never surface level, and I love that she portrays the different relationships that people have with their religious heritage. I think that she once again did that so wonderfully in Weather Girl. As I am not Jewish, I don’t feel that it is my place to go into detail about the representation in this book and how accurate it may or may not be. For an ownvoice review, you should check out my best friend Helena’s review!

Just like The Ex Talk, Today Tonight Tomorrow and We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This, I know that Weather Girl is going to be a book that I revisit many times. Although I just finished Weather Girl, I already can’t wait for Solomon’s next novel, See You Yesterday, which will be released in May. 

Have you read Weather Girl or any of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s novels? I’d love to discuss them with you in the comments!

Links for Weather Girl: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound