I love Emily Henry but this was not my fave.
This really didn’t hit the same way that happy place and book lovers did. I wanted more from Miles but it never seemed to deliver beyond a surface level deep. By no means a bad book at all, it was juicy and funny and everything I have come to love about Emily Henry’s writing but this really fell flat. I loved the parallels between telling the story that open and close the book. I think I wanted more drama from the fake relationship and the ‘other couple’ which was not the direction the book was going in, and the last 50 or so pages felt so flat in comparison to the beginning. That said, I will be reading everything she reads as soon as she writes it.

My entire thanks to NetGalley and the pubs for the proof.

firstly THANK YOU to team em hen for putting this in my inbox on the bluest day of the year! the loveliest surprise and i feel incredibly lucky to read this early 🥹

something about this one didn’t connect with me for some reason. don’t get me wrong it is very well done as all ms henry books are, but the plot of this just wasn’t my cup of tea. i do think it might’ve been how different the characters life stage (aka im 22 and they’re in their 30s/40s) is to my own so they didn’t resonate in a way her characters typically do.

daphne is definitely an interesting protagonist and i do really enjoy how well she articulates her feelings. she doesn’t make
decisions for the sake of them - she’s great at rationalising everything which is SO REAL! the last quarter however i did want to bonk her on the head a little bit but she did it all by herself without intervention. her new friendships were one of my favourite parts of the book and definitely something i think a lot of people will connect with - because truly when you leave school HOW do you make friends 💀 so true daph. speaking of which, her relationship with her dad was obviously a huge theme in this one but something about it left a sour taste in my mouth, particularly because i too have a dad that sucks.

anyways. the romance. it was gooooood. very good very nice actually. miles is textbook sunshine who is adored by everyone and can charm the trousers off a donkey. he is really lovely and i think a lot of people will love him. i don’t even think it’s golden retriever energy because as much as he is this excitable puppy, there’s something so cat about him (no relevance i just felt this was important to know). they were great and lovely and very cute together very very big fan of how their relationship unfolded.

defo worth the read though !!!! i don’t think emily henry has it in her to write a bad book so you might as well just read everything she puts out at this point <3

I had such a fun time reading Funny Story by Emily Henry, thanks so much to netgalley and @VikingBooksUK for the arc!

Funny Story is about how two people who've recently been broken up with end up moving in together and start sort of accidentally fake dating to get back at their ex's - who are now together!

This book was a true romcom (the last quarter is a bit stressful though - the emotions are high 😅), with Emily Henry's signature banter (though I feel like it was toned down a bit from her other books) and relatable characters, as well as heartwarming/heartbreaking moments and a few moments where I laughed out loud.

Daphne is a children's librarian and I really enjoyed all the references to books she's read (and how they were slipped into the narration), like reading Dune to get to know a friend better, or saying that something she sees reminds her of Station Eleven.
Miles is also another great Emily Henry lead, the friendliest guy you'll ever meet, who works at a winery, and shows Daphne around the town he's come to love.

One of my favourite things in romances is the main characters actually spending their time together, and I really enjoyed all the classic fake dating scenes, and Daphne and Miles' weekend adventures, as well as the conversations between them as their friendship grew deeper.

I also really loved Daphne's scenes with Ashleigh, a coworker from the library who she becomes friends with, as well as the friendship that grew with Julia, Miles' sister, and the little found family they formed!

I got sent an ARC of Funny Story on ‘blue Monday’ so that quickly turned into best Monday ever as I instantly dropped everything to start reading it. Listen, I don’t think any other Emily Henry book will ever topple Book Lovers off its throne as my favourite but Funny Story came very close. Daphne is a recently jilted librarian who only moved to the town she lives in to be with the ex-fiancee. She finds herself homeless trying to rebuild her life. As they are both in shock, she ends up moving in with Miles who has also been dumped…by the girl Daphne’s ex-fiancee is now with. When they both get a wedding invite to their ex’s nuptials, they decide to pose as a couple and as we can all guess, it soon gets complicated. In less talented hands, this could become a trite, boring, predictable romance. In Henry’s capable hands, it is genuine, funny, hot and full of insane chemistry between Daphne and Miles. I was welling up when Daphne is organising her readathon for the library at the end. If you love Emily Henry’s novels or sizzling, banter filled romance stories, this one is for you. We need at least a book a year from Emily Henry for the foreseeable and lots of Netflix adaptations on a Bridgerton budget please!

I'm embarrassingly bad at writing reviews for Emily Henry novels because I love them so much. This one was no exception. I loved it, I loved Miles and Daphne, it had me laughing out loud and it completely turned around a very blue January day.

Emily Henry has such a refreshingly fun and articulate writing style, she is quickly becoming one of my favourite Authors. In terms of this book, which is amazing, I had genuine laugh out loud moments and I also felt genuine empathy for what Daphne goes through emotionally; making the story bittersweet in parts. The relationship development between Daphne and Miles is credible and feels authentic, building slowly over time. And along with lots of light-hearted moments, this story shows you a captivating journey of self reflection, acceptance, personal growth, forgiveness and understanding. The main characters are supported by a fabulous set of side characters/friends, who are also relatable and likeable and who add extra depth to the main romance story. Overall this book is a real winner for me. Thanks to Penguin Random House UK for sending me the widget and to NetGallery for making it possible to get an early copy of this book, which is out on April 23, 2024 - Funny Story is not all fun and games, but it is a great story and it’s well worth picking up a copy. Highly recommended.

Emily Henry has a real way of pulling me into her universes with minimal effort.

This is my favourite book of hers. I know I say that after every book, especially in the Book Lovers to Happy Place to Funny Story progression, but this book just made me feel seen in a way that hasn't happened in a long time. Like Daphne and Miles were pulled from my soul and put on page for me to love, showing me that those undesirable parts of me are worthy too. That's my favourite part of reading.

While there wasn't a concrete plot, there were concrete characters and story arcs and those are the most important aspects for me, there can be the best plot in the world but if the characters fall flat, so does the rest. I could never accuse Emily Henry of flat characters, they always feel like the most rounded and realistic characters I'll ever have the pleasure of reading.

Funny Story made me have physical reactions, I was nauseous and almost tearing my hair out, I was blushing and holding my kobo to my chest on the train, and I was so unbelievably in love with this little town and everyone who lived there.

The way this book landed in my inbox on Blue Monday had me gasping in delighted shock. The best surprise I could have wished for! Many thanks to Viking Books UK for the eARC!

Of course this is a "drop everything and read it" book, so that's what I did. And immediately, in the first chapter, I remembered why I love Emily Henry's writing so much. It felt like coming home.

The premisse of this story is really fun in two ways. Where a romance novel would usually follow the childhood friends to lovers couple who don't realize they're in love until his bachelor party, here we follow the people who were left behind. And Miles isn't exactly introduced in a meet cute. In the first chapter, he's described as a kind of pathetic, slightly disgusting stoner, leaving me wondering how these characters will fall for each other, and how I'll end up loving them.

But it turns out this is absolutely effortless for Emily Henry, because I was already fully in love with Miles when I reached the end of chapter 3. There's just so much heart, so much charm in this book, combined with witty dialogue, that it's impossible not to fall in love with the characters. I kept vividly picturing everything as if I was watching a romcom movie.

This is once again a perfect summer book, and it was amazing to read about all the trips Miles took Daphne on every Sunday to make her fall in love with this town. But I loved Daphne's personal journey outside of the romance equally as much. Throughout the book, she's learning how to build her own life outside of a partner, and how to make new friends, and particularly Daphne's friendship with Ashleigh was so wonderful to see.

While I absolutely adored this book, I didn't love it enough to dethrone People We Meet On Vacation as my favourite. My new Emily Henry ranking is:
1. People We Meet On Vacation
2. Happy Place
3. Funny Story
4. Book Lovers
5. Beach Read

Emily Henry really blows me away with every new release. Funny Story had me giggling, swooning, and crying. I really didn't want it to end and I know I'll re-read this over and over. Miles and Daphne formed the most beautiful friendship, and their romance felt believable and natural. I'm calling it already: this is going to my favorite read of 2024.

Getting this in my inbox absolutely made my day. Emily Henry writes excellent fictional boyfriends and Miles, her far more put together version of Nick.Miller is no exception.

So this is a classic love story, you know the one; boy meets girl, they fall in love, move in together, get engaged and then boy leaves girl for his childhood best friend and girl is kicked out of their shared home and has to move in with her ex’s current girlfriend's ex. Not complicated at all.
Peter dumps Daphne for Petra and Petra dumps Miles for Peter and out of sheer desperation and the need for a roof over her head, Daphne moves into Miles’ tiny spare bedroom. So the exes now live together, but they aren't each other's exes… Do you follow?

All jokes aside, I loved this.
Happy Place was hard hitting and heart wrenching in so many ways and it made me SOB but Funny Story feels much lighter and happier, even though the characters have both just been brutally heartbroken.
Honestly, Peter can go jump off a bridge and so can the friends who stand by him.

I loved Daphne so much (and not just because she's a children's librarian, a minimalist and therefore basically my twin). She's believable and strong and starts discovering herself after being freed from the hold that her ex had on her. Also she reads books about tacos and dragons at storytime and does voices (is she me?!) I loved reading about her becoming herself, more confident, more sure of who she is, making friends and being an excellent librarian too.

When we first meet Miles, he's kind of a mess. But a very lovable mess, and it becomes clear very quickly that there's more to him than Daphne realises (especially because Peter has been bad mouthing him for years). I love that Miles offers to be her tour guide and we get to discover Waning Bay with him and Daphne, kayaking at sunrise, visiting wineries and discovering secret beaches only the locals know. Their connection grows in a way that feels organic, built initially on a shared living space and circumstances but then developing in a way that feels so distinct from their two exes. The spicy scenes were well written as per usual in Emily Henry's books and there were such sweet / tense moments between the pair that made me want to push them towards each other when they were trying to deny their feelings.

The side characters were great and I adored the relationship between Miles and his sister Julia. One of the more understated elements of this novel is the commentary on how relationships and being a “we” person can impact friendships. I've never really seen it properly shown in books before and it was very insightful and refreshing. It's unavoidable that romantic relationships cause changes to friendship dynamics - especially if you're friends with single people or friends with other couples and then become single. Just a small part of the story but I enjoyed it and it made me think. Another element that Emily Henry explores is toxic parental relationships, for Miles it's his mum and for Daphne it's her dad. I think these scenes were discussed with care and consideration but they were also undeniably sad so just be aware as a TW.

Overall, highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Books UK for the eARC.

Let's start by clarifying a few things. It seems impossible, given the sheer quality Emily Henry delivers every year, but "Funny Story" is, by far, her best work yet. Also, she is the undisputed queen of banter. Really, if banter was a cake, she could have it and eat it too.

The dialogue in "Funny Story" redefines 'unputdownable' and is addictively engaging. It's not that you can't put the book down; you just won't want to. The dialogue flows through you, with each sentence gracefully carrying you to the next, as if in a dance. This is Emily Henry at her best: her finest skills, her most compelling writing, her most memorable characters - the romantic voice of a generation.

Now, let's talk about the plot. Crafting a romance that starts with two deeply heartbroken individuals, clearly hung up on their exes, is no easy feat. It sounds like a deranged plotline, but that's precisely where the magic happens. Daphne and Miles are fleshed out; they feel real because they come with intricate backstories, traumas, and conflicts. The town, the places they visit, the people they interact with—they all have "normal" everyday problems, and this proximity makes you fall in love with them bit by bit, just as Daphne is falling in love with this little town, this new life.

It's not perfect, and it's not easy. But what works is that Henry doesn't rely on everything resolving perfectly. She treats her readers with respect, guiding us through this story and showing rather than just telling. It's phenomenal, heartfelt, and captivating.

There's no other way to end this review than to say: just go buy this book already. Binge-read it, fall in love, and when you reach the last page, you'll be itching to start all over again. Miss Henry, you deserve all the hype because you simply deliver.