As anyone who follows my Goodreads can quickly note, I’m a sucker for author-read celebrity memoir(ish) audiobooks. My latest choice was It Takes Two: Our Story, by Jonathan and Drew Scott.
One of my guilty pleasures is watching HGTV when I’m visiting my family at home in Minnesota. I haven’t had cable in years, and getting sucked into home reno shows is one of my favorite ways to spend a cozy evening on the couch. I’m not a Drew brothers ultra-fan by any means, but I think they’re smart, entertaining guys and I definitely enjoy their shows and prankster sense of humor.
The book doesn’t disappoint on that signature Drew-brothers style. The stories of their exploits and entrepreneurship, even at a young age, are entertaining and hilarious. The brothers even started their own crafted coat-hanger business at the age of seven. Everything is in tandem, even the narration — one brother narrates a chapter, while the other sprinkles in comments.
It Takes Two kept my attention and made me laugh out loud at several points, such as when one of the brothers is providing a list of ways to make the game of Monopoly more interesting (sleeper cars on trains, anyone?). The brothers seem to be just as genuine as they appear on TV, and promise that keeping things real on their shows is one of their main priorities. Nothing is staged or fabricated, and the laughs are real.
However, the book mostly focuses on their childhood, teen, and present years, and is not an in-depth look at how they got famous. I was hoping for more details about that time in their lives, as how success of this magnitude happened would be interesting to hear about. The book timeline is also a little confusing, as it jumps around a lot. Plus, there are two people who sound the same narrating (though maybe you can use their mom’s method of telling them apart — one uses bigger words).
One surprising takeaway from the book is how crazy talented these two are. Like seriously, crazy talented. They can pretty much do anything they put their minds to and have been doing so since they were kids, such as starting their own businesses, launching a magic career, exploring professional acting, mastering martial arts, riding horses, playing sports, making videos, doing arts and crafts, and many more. They are willing to take lessons, learn new things, and roll with whatever life throws their way.
Overall, I give this one 3.5/5 stars. It’s entertaining, but didn’t give me quite what I was hoping for; i.e., a deep dive into the lives of the Scott brothers. The narration is definitely a 4 though, as the running commentary is pretty entertaining. It would be a great accompaniment to upcoming holiday road trips.
(Also, in case anyone is wondering, neither brother is single.)
