This Story Might Save Your Life

In one of the most creative meet-cutes I’ve read, Benny Abbott meets Joy Moore when he wakes her from her sleep. No … this isn’t some Sleeping Beauty silliness. Joy is fast asleep on the floor outside a bar bathroom where her severe narcolepsy has decided it’s naptime. Yep, I’m all in. How can I NOT love this book?

This unusual first meeting is the beginning of a hilarious, heart-warming best friendship that eventually blossoms into a comedic podcast called This Story Might Save Your Life or TSMSYL for short. After beginning with Joy’s narcolepsy story, it features all manner of potentially life ending scenarios that they have to figure out how to avoid before the real answer is given. 

They seem to be perfect for each other, but as so often happens in life, the timing isn’t perfect and they never bridge that gap from friendship to something more, with Joy marrying Xander instead, who becomes their podcast manager.

Things are going swimmingly, advertisers are onboard, the listenership is exploding, a live tour is scheduled and an extremely lucrative deal waits in the wings until everything goes spectacularly wrong …

Now Joy and Xander are missing and eyes are on Benny as the prime suspect.

What happened?!

That’s all you’re getting from me, because this is worth waiting for every detail that comes after and the less you know going into it the better!

I didn’t request this ARC when it came out, but after seeing SO many friends raving about it, I grabbed the audio and Kindle copies from my library for an immersion read, and I’m delighted I did. It’s delicious! The audio narrated by Julia Whelan and Sean Patrick Hopkins is brilliant and they capture all the emotion of the story perfectly. I’m not into podcasts, but I’d listen to TSMSYL any day. The banter is hilarious and the audio includes a very fun bonus “episode” of the show.

Let me clarify something, though. People will see romance and mystery-thriller listed as the genres and probably roll their eyes, since those aren’t two genres that typically pair well, but Crum played this smart. I can only assure you that this isn’t sappy romance shoved awkwardly into a mystery-thriller narrative, and there’s also a heavier theme that I didn’t anticipate that turned this story into a whole different beast. For all the fun, there are serious topics explored and the insights into narcolepsy were fascinating.

Every time I had to set this down, I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It’s riveting stuff and Benny and Joy are two of the most likable characters I’ve met. Their chapters alternate, so you’re seeing the story through both of their POVs - Benny’s directly and Joy’s both directly and through memoir chapters she’s writing. The short chapters and quick pacing kept me flying through this every chance I could get!

Tiffany Crum has written one of the best debuts I’ve read in ages and I’ll be eagerly watching for what she comes up with next!

★★★★★ ❤