My Mother’s Ridiculous Rules For Dating is a hilarious and lighthearted queer romcom. The story follows Sam Carmichael, a 35-year-old former ghost writer, whose overbearing mother reminds him of a deal they made allowing her to play matchmaker for Sam should he be single at 35. As Sam secretly is planning a reconciliation with his older ex-boyfriend that his mother disapproves of, he entertains her dating rule antics and finds himself swept into a series of unfortunate blind dates. The story features several popular romance tropes, including age gap, slow-burn romance, friends to lovers, and forced proximity.

The characters in this book are quirky, charmingly flawed, and relatable, making for an entertaining read. The story is told from protagonist Sam’s perspective and is filled with his anxiety-ridden, hysterical funny inner monologues. Sam is mostly likeable but is also infuriating, as he often vocalizes his insecurities and has an obvious lack of self-belief, despite all his successes. His mother, Gloria, loves him immensely and wants the best for him but is so overbearing that she often becomes more of a hindrance than a help. There’s an abundance of funny banter between Sam and Gloria, especially with her unconventional meddling in Sam’s sex life and her being a highly vocal queer advocate who lacks a filter when she speaks. Finn, Sam’s client and potential love interest, is the only one to push Sam to challenge his belief systems and proclaim his self-belief. Their relationship is a slow-burn romance but not an overly convincing one. Firstly, they have vastly different mindsets—while both are immensely talented at their crafts, Finn has a contrasting calm confidence and self-awareness that Sam is poorly lacking. Secondly, they don’t spend enough time together in the story to make their romance believable—their first intimate scene is towards the end and is quickly cut short by another major plot point. As typical in romcoms, readers will have to somewhat suspend their disbelief at the end. On the positive side, Sam does demonstrate an enormous amount of self-growth in the book, with a few pleasing epiphanies towards the end.

The story also includes some important diversity, above the typical queer romcom spectrum. There’s representation and meaningful dialogue about gender identity, disability, sexuality, race, and queer refugeeism. None of these topics come across as preachy but instead are seamlessly woven into the characters’s backstories and a few key scenes of the book. The Author’s Note at the end of the story is very intriguing and heartfelt, as William Stover provides insight into how the book evolved from a heterosexual romance into a queer romcom and how his relationship with his late mother influenced the story.

Overall, My Mother’s Ridiculous Rules for Dating is a laugh-out-loud queer romcom with memorable characters and an engaging storyline. Narrator Daniel Henning does a spectacular job vividly bringing Sam, Gloria, and all the quirky side characters to life using a wide variety of distinct accents and voices and an entertaining, exuberant tone! Readers who love stories with mother-child relationships, family drama, funny banter, and romance will enjoy this book. If you’re new to Phillip William Stover’s work, this is a great book to get a feel for his witty and engaging writing style!