Maxine Hart is a trivia buff. Her ADHD brain likes to jump from subject to subject, so learning trivia is second nature to her. It’s far better than sitting in classes and memorizing whatever the teacher is going to test on. So in her Brooklyn neighborhood, she is a regular at the pub quiz, and she’s ready to take on the champion of the Answers! game show, Teddy Ferguson.

Teddy is a college professor, highly educated. He enjoys trivia, but he is good at it because of this strong educational background. He loves to sit and study and can spend hours in the library. But the first time he met Maxine, he was a goner. She knocked him off the show after his 76 game run, and he wasn’t even all that upset.

The next time they met on the show, Teddy took Maxine down, ending her run. And then they were both invited back for a tournament of champions, up against the other big winners on Answers!, including the most winning champion, Hercules McKnight. Maxine knows that this is not a typical competition, and she can’t win without help. She has to turn to the only person who might be able to help her with the weak parts of her game. And that person is Teddy.

Maxine shows up at his doorstep and makes a deal with him—if he can help her with the holes in her education, then she can help him with the weaknesses in his game. He may know his facts, but Maxine knows how to compete, how to ring on the buzzer, and how to bet on those Daily Duplex questions. It was Maxine’s hand-eye coordination and her willingness to bet big that had kept her winning streak going as long as it had. But it was going to take more than that to beat Hercules.

Teddy can’t say no to Maxine, so when she moves all her stuff into his house—including her pet snake and her gaming setup—he is helpless to stop her. And as they start to work with each other on their weak spots, there is a spark between them that they both feel helpless to resist. But they only have weeks before they have to take down Hercules, and it will take everything they’ve got to win that battle.

Of course, if they can raise their individual games to the point where they can beat Hercules, then Maxine and Teddy are faced with the truth that only one of them can win the game show. As they stand there, putting their hearts and minds on the line for the biggest win of their lives, what will that final answer be?

What Is Love? is a rom com that goes right to the heart of Jeopardy! fans everywhere. While author Jen Comfort is quick to say that the show in the book is not Jeopardy!, it is clearly a love letter to the show and to all of its fans. This steamy love story is quite a ride, and that ultimate tournament is just one twist of many as these characters risk everything for what they love.

I bought the audio book of What Is Love?, narrated by Scarlett Everdeen and Rock Engle. I thought they did a good job with their respective characters, but I thought it was a little strange that while the characters had accents, which could be heard in dialogue and inner thoughts, the rest of the narration was told without the accents. However, when Teddy was speaking in a Maxine chapter and vice versa, both narrators did an excellent job of matching the characters’ accents. That style of narration was not something I have ever noticed before. But I also have a preference for novels in first-person, where any accent in question would be used throughout, as it’s all told by a single perspective.

I really enjoyed What Is Love? I wouldn’t recommend it for teenagers, as some of the steamy scenes are extra hot, but I did love the sensitivity Comfort showed to those with ADHD who might struggle with conventional education the way Maxine did. The game show aspect was a lot of fun, and once you got to know the characters better, there were a lot of lovely surprises hiding in their stories. I think romance readers and game show fans will enjoy this book, and that is my final answer.

Egalleys for What Is Love? were provided by Montlake through NetGalley, but I liked it so much I bought the audio book myself.

Here's what I didn't love: the FMC's "I'm going to do it for the ADHD kids!" motivations, which seemed to come up a lot, didn't quite hit with me. Like, she has won already, so winning more isn't going to significantly move the needle. Eventually it felt a bit like the Classic Hollywood "let's put on a show to save the [insert whatever needs saving]." As someone with ADHD, the enthusiasm and even the half-bakedness feel real, but I'd have liked to see more facets of Maxine's drive.

Here's what worked: the story. Damn, this was a great read, even if I was doing some head-scratching about why everyone is here and doing these things. Fun and hot: there are worse things to be.

Devastatingly witty, and completely hot for all the nerdy reasons to open up a book and dream about a hot professor in your vicinity, I had a blast reading this — and even more adding Jen as an author to continuously lookout for.

This is a okay read for me. It isa a cute and sweet romcom. I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks to netgalley for this arc

I enjoyed this book, I preferred the first half to the second half much more. I just sort of felt like the second half was more lustful and quite rushed. I wouldn't call this an enemies to lovers but is definitely an insta love. This is the first time I actually did not dnf an insta love book and I think part of that was because the first half was well structured for me in that we got more plot than romance. I actually wanted more plot than romance in this book because although I knew it was a romance book, the plot was really interesting therefore the end just felt rushed and fell off for me.

Would recommend the book.

This was a cute romcom centred around a trivia based game show. I appreciated the female main character Maxine's ADHD representation and felt the author portrayed this well. Teddy was a great male lead, putting up with a lot that Maxine threw at him. This book was enjoyable with witty banter and some funny moments. I look forward to reading more by this author.

My 1st from Jen Comfort and I thought it was a real delight. Fun, sexy and edutainment for this trivia nerd. I'd happily try another from this author.

It's like this book was written just for me. This book has everything - neurodivergent and bisexual MC's, rivals to lovers romance, sexy nerds, and a heavy use of "good girl" that had me fanning myself. I forced myself to read this book slowly, to savor it, because I was so hooked that I almost read it in one go.

Both Teddy and Maxine are dangerously lovable, frustrating, and impossible not to root for. I give the author all the kudos for the tension she built between them from the very beginning, which became thicker and more wonderful over time. The banter alone had me smiling nonstop.

I'm also grateful for the sheer amount of trivia packed into this book which 1) was just delightful in itself, and 2) made the premise and characters feel authentic and not dumbed down in any way.

Jen Comfort is solidifying into position as one of my favourite writers. She has a knack for writing sharp, funny, engaging, and steamy books filled with crackling banter and heroines who are somehow equal part competent and disaster. The MMCs are always their perfect match.

I loved both Maxine and Teddy. This is an A+ second chance romance. Maxine and Teddy met while filming a Jeopardy-esque game show and are brought back together for a tournament of champions.

Teddy is a buttoned up professor with mega academic credentials and a love of low ties. Maxine dropped out of school and is fully self taught, and a love of sky diving and risk-taking in general. Their individual growth and relationship development was excellent.

This book made me want to form a bar trivia group with some friends. Recommended!

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC

As a life long Jeopardy fan (seriously, I watch it every single night and have since I was 4) and a nerd, this book appealed to all my senses. Teddy and Maxine, mortal enemies of the trivia show, with steaming hot tension and over the top banter, made this so fun to enjoy. I loved them together, especially Teddy exasperation with Maxine that he secretly loved. Add in the suspense of McKnight, and I couldn’t put this down. Plus, I learned A LOT of things I didn’t know, and probably won’t ever need to know unless I need to banter with an uptight, but excessively hot trivia player,

The premise of this book sounded so great - an enemies-to-lovers rom com based in the world of a Jeopardy-like trivia competition. Fun, right? But unfortunately, I had to DNF this one after just a couple chapters. The writing was clumsy and cringe-worthy, and I found myself disliking the main characters immediately. Upon meeting each other in the first chapter, they instantly hate each other for no apparent reason, and by the end of the chapter, they are already making out, again for no explainable reason. There is no backstory or character development at all and yet, the reader is immediately supposed to buy into these love/hate feelings they have for each other? Nope. I just couldn't imagine continuing this one when there are so many good books out there waiting to be read. Thank you to NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Heat Factor: 69 under a parachute after skydiving, and no, that’s not a euphemism

Character Chemistry: “I like you so much but I am so certain that you will tire of me that I must keep you at arms’ length to protect my heart.”

Plot: Maxine and Teddy meet as competitors on a trivia game show. Now they’re teaming up to defeat the reigning champion in the All Stars Showdown.

Overall: MAXIMUM. HEART.

Jen Comfort’s books really really work for me. I love her voice (it’s that bit of snark without a hint of smirk) and find that her books have the perfect blend of bonkers and emotion. When I closed this book, I had a huge goofy smile on my face (just as I did the last time I read a book by Comfort). So please take this as a disclaimer, because I am fully aware that this kind of narrative voice does not work for everyone (Erin didn’t love The Astronaut and the Star, which was Comfort’s debut).

Now I’m gonna gush.

So, the basic premise is that this is a Jeopardy! romance. That is, in and of itself, delightful. I wouldn’t say I love Jeopardy!, but I have fond memories of watching it when we went to Grandma’s house—she only had three channels on TV (THE HORROR). But I am kind of a giant nerd and this book is chock full of ridiculous trivia. Plus I love how the framework of reality television allows authors to create artificial situations to ratchet up the tension while still maintaining a veneer of realism. (Give me all your reality TV romance recs, please and thank you!)

Teddy Ferguson is on a big winning streak when he meets Maxine Hart. She takes the last powdered chocolate donut in the green room—his lucky donut!—and he acts like a complete snob. He also falls hopelessly in love. And then she beats the pants off him because, to use her words, Teddy “plays like a little bitch.” Of course, Maxine goes on to have her own winning streak where, though she plays fewer games, she wins more money.

Thus begins a rivalry.

Teddy is a classic, buttoned-up, type-A hero. His game show success rests on him knowing absurd amounts of trivia. He runs the board in an organized and predictable fashion and bets conservatively. Maxine is an agent of chaos. Of course she knows a lot of trivia (though not as much as Teddy does), but the secret to her success is her fast buzzer time and her willingness to make risky bets. Maxine has ADHD, which manifests in short bursts of hyperfocus when she’s interested in a topic—so she knows a lot about some things, but lacks the breadth of knowledge that Teddy has. As I sidenote, Maxine’s chapters talk about her ADHD a lot, especially in the first third of the book; while it’s an important part of her characterization, and is generally well done, there were a few moments where I found the references to be unnecessarily repetitive. (This was a minor niggle, not a deal-breaker.)

Now, the show is running a champions round and Teddy and Maxine are all set for a rematch…when who should walk in but the old, undefeated champion, who has both an extremely high accuracy rate AND an impressive buzzer speed. Also, he’s kind of a dick. Obviously, the only solution is for Maxine and Teddy to team up: Teddy will tutor Maxine in subjects where she has holes in her knowledge (boring things like American Vice Presidents and the Rivers of the World) and Maxine will help Teddy learn to take risks and get faster on the buzzer.

I admit here that the setup getting them to the co-tutoring situation strained my credulity a little bit. However, we can chalk it up to 1) Maxine is an agent of chaos and 2) Romance Reasons. Romance Reasons is the real winner here, because not only does Maxine get Teddy to agree to the tutoring deal, she also moves into his house so they can dedicate all their time to studying. (Teddy is a professor and therefore “has the summer off,” which, fine, he’s competing to win a multi-million dollar cash prize, I *guess* he can stop worrying about getting tenure for a few months. Maxine works jobs until she gets bored and quits.) So we’ve got some decent playing house content here.

But what you’re really in this book for is the sexy studying, and hoo boy does it get steamy. Who knew that learning the mountain ranges of Eurasia could be so erotic? Yes, indeed, Teddy does wear glasses, and yes, he does tell Maxine she’s a good girl when she gets an answer right, so. Peak Hot for Teacher vibes, without the gross Hot for Teacher power dynamic slash age gap.

This middle portion of the book is where most of the relationship-building also occurs, despite Maxine and Teddy desperately telling themselves that it’s just physical attraction and trivia in order to protect their respective hearts. It’s delightful.

The final third of the book features them back on set to film the competition. The romance slows down a bit (the drama comes not from a black moment, but from something else entirely, and hoo boy is it a doozy), but Comfort brings the full story to a satisfying conclusion.

Two final notes:

First, I must admit that Celebrity Jeopardy is one of my absolute favorite SNL bits. I might have done a spit take when Maxine called Teddy “Turd Ferguson”—and then told him, when he raised his brow, “It’s a funny name.” (Jen Comfort, enquiring minds want to know: did you give your hero his name solely so you could make this joke?)


Second, the thing that happens in the epilogue made me scream. Because I could not contain my emotions. (These emotions were not rage but rather TOO MUCH FEELING OMG.) My heart grew three sizes and I forgave the book any moments of repetition or slowness.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

Growing up, I loved watching Jeopardy! with my family. While I’ve never done trivia myself, it’s something I’ve continued to have an interest in. So when I heard about What Is Love?, I was excited to dive into a romance centered around a trivia game show called Answers!

The characters in What Is Love? are highly intelligent, each full of both common and obscure knowledge that most of us mere mortals wouldn’t be able to compete with. However, one thing I most love about this book is how it highlights different kinds of intelligence and learning styles. Teddy Ferguson comes from a more traditional learning background. He did well in school, is good at studying and memorizing facts, and thrives in classrooms as we know them. Maxine Hart, though, has ADHD and learns completely differently. She doesn’t study or train the way you’re “supposed to”; she prefers to learn with a bit more creativity and abstract thinking. Her goal on Answers! is to show other neurodivergent kids that they, too, are just as smart and capable.

Both Maxine and Teddy have their strengths as well as weakness going into this new tournament. If they team up, they can each fill in the blanks and be better prepared to take on their mutual rival, Hercules McKnight. If Teddy can find a way to teach Maxine the more boring information she needs, in spite of how her ADHD brain works, that will be a boon to her. And if she can teach him to be less cautious, he may have a chance of edging out more daring competitors like herself.

I enjoyed Maxine and Teddy’s forced proximity and teacher-student dynamic as they train for one last Answers! tournament. They have such different personalities—he’s quite formal and serious; she’s a firecracker of energy and calls things as she sees them—and yet they complement each other so well. They also make some assumptions about each other that may not be so accurate, especially in regards to their schooling and socioeconomic backgrounds. Speaking of, I appreciated Maxine’s unabashed views on capitalism and class structures!

As Maxine and Teddy spend more time together, their mutual attraction becomes harder to ignore. What Is Love? gets pretty spicy… study buddies can certainly be something more than that! But both will have to stop hiding parts of themselves for a relationship to fully blossom. I love how they get there and how it all ends.

What Is Love? is such a fun, smart, and steamy romance. It will appeal to anyone who likes trivia or game shows, neurodivergent representation, and characters that jump off the pages. This is my first time reading Jen Comfort, but I’ve had her previous book, Midnight Duet, on my TBR for the past year. I think it’s time I bump that one to the top of my list!

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had fun with this book. I liked the relationship between the two main characters especially since they were very opposite. I also liked seeing the aspects with the game show.

I did find Maxine just a tad annoying at times though. She was a bit much.

Gotta love a book with no third act breakup. (Sorry if that's a spoiler)

3.5 stars rounded down

PHEW this book was 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️!!

This is the first book I’ve read by Jen and I was thoroughly entertained. Her writing is so funny and this story had such great character voice. I loved the Jeopardy-esque competition plot and I thought there was the right amount of tension and pacing. It was clearly well-researched and that showed in the characters and in the setting, which were captivating from page one. And the cover and trivia question chapter headings are so fun! It’s very spicy, so heads-up on that! (TEDDY FERGUSON THE MAN THAT YOU ARE.)

I love how well-paired, yet vastly different Teddy and Maxine were, and how they grew together. And Jen does such a great job at representing and honoring neurodiversity. And her writing is so funny! I marked so many parts that had me cackling.

This was such a fun, spicy read with meaningful depth.

Thank you to Montlake and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. WHAT IS LOVE? Is out now!

Jen’s humor is so… suddenly we’re interested in learning about rivers? How dare and also thank you!

This book is the epitome of: I hate everything this person stands for and want to sit on their face to make them shut up.

What a ride. Jen Comfort continues to always be a pleasure read.

A great read, the story of Maxine and Teddy, both trivia buffs who meet when they compete on a TV quiz show. A year later they are back in each others lives, but who will win this time?

Well this book bewitched my mind, body, and soul. First of all, it’s funny AF. It takes a lot to get more than a polite “heh” out of me, and I laughed a lot. Out loud. Maxine Heart is just so vibrant and radiates this… energy… you can’t help but connect with. From the first pages where she faces off with record-holding, bowtie-wearing Answers! champ Teddy Ferguson, I was hooked.

After competing twice in show play, the rivals are forced back together for an all-time winner championship, facing off against an undefeated champion. Now, they have a shared goal and agree to work together to defeat the ick-inducing Hercules McKnight. They’ll help each other shore up weaknesses and try to ignore the building chemistry between them. Impossible! The tension burns hotter than magma, and when it finally erupts (and becomes lava, btw) the payoff is SO WORTH IT.

Also, I found myself taking so many informational sidequests I had to open the notes app to keep a running tab of future google searches to initiate. (One of my favorites was finding out more about the Chinese paddlefish, and I swear I’ve already told a weird number of people about this now extinct but incredibly interesting species.) If you have A(u)DHD, you’ll appreciate how stimulating the trivia pieces are. MAXINE AND TEDDY SURE DID. The way Teddy works WITH Maxine’s brain was so unbelievably sexy. (Is it weird that I brought this up in therapy because it touched me so much? It’s just so sweet and validating to have a partner that gets you!)

Finally, I was delighted to be surprised so much reading this. My pattern recognition skills are finely tuned, so to take unexpected turns more than once was such a treat! Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the arc.

ADHD representation and Trivia games 🥹
Opposite attracts and rivals to lovers 🫶🏻
The banter was immaculate and the spice spicing … a lot 😶‍🌫️

I lost interest in this book halfway through. Not being a TV watcher and not being in the USA, I found it wasn’t relevant to me, and I have put it aside in favour of another book. Sorry, just not my cup of tea.