Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary – ☆☆☆
I love reading a friends-to-lovers story, but this one seemed to have something missing from the start.

Sam was a comedian who was not good with relationships except the one he had with Bree, his best friend.

Bree is a successful young woman who has loved Sam for many years. She has finally seen that Sam will not love her back when he proposed to the pop singer. When they break up, Sam runs to Bree. She can't handle much more so she decides to change jobs and move away from the city.

When Sam finally realizes that Bree is the love he has been looking for, he seems to be struggling with what to do next.

I liked Bree to a point, she was hung up on her love for Sam (I can totally relate) and all but stopped her life until she finally said to herself, no more. Sam needed to let his past go (I know, not that easy) so he can move on and live.

I found the story to be good but there weren't many funny parts that I would call it a funny romance. It was an okay story for me.

This was an interesting concept. He is a comedian but also I don't think people find him that funny??? This was an ok read for me, I actually did not feel their chemistry throughout reading this book. Although, I like the idea of a comedian falling in love hard.

This was my first book by this author and
I found it to be a quick easy read. The characters were hard for me to relate too but it was still a good book and you should definitely give it a try .

Sam can’t escape the smash hit “Lost Boy” because, well, he is the lost boy. His pop-singer ex immortalized him in a song about his childish ways, and now his comedy career is on the line.

At least he still has Bree, his best friend and confidante. Bree has always been there for Sam, but she’s never revealed her biggest secret: she’s in love with him. To help herself move on, Bree applies for her dream job across the country―and doesn’t say a thing to Sam.

But as Sam tries to resuscitate his career, he turns to Bree for support―and maybe more. In the confines of her tiny apartment, they share a different dynamic. A charged dynamic. But she’s his friend. He can’t be falling for her.

Except he is.

Are his feelings for Bree just funny business? Or is their smoldering attraction the real deal?

This is an angsty, freinds-to-lovers romance. I loved the characters so much. It was really fun to follow the story of Sam and Bree.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Barry writes with such sensitivity and care for her characters. It is apparent from the start that she sees her heroine and hero as full people with complex, rich, inner lives and she delivers their story with nuance.
The heartbreak of loving someone who you know can't love you in return (or at least not yet) is beautifully portrayed in this book.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Bree and Sam. They have known each other all their lifes. They are now in New York. They are best friends. Bree work in urban development and Sam is a comedian. Bree has been in love with Sam for a long time but he doesn’t know it. She has decided it is time to leave New York for a different job. She gets a job offer from a company in Michigan. She lands up getting the job but she doesn’t tell Sam till the last minute. He is mad he doesn’t want her leave. They both apologize and fall in love.

Sam and Bree have been inseparable since childhood, supporting each other through tough times. While they both lead successful lives in NYC - Bree as an urban planner and Sam as a popular comedian - Bree secretly harbors deep feelings for Sam. Her love remains hidden until a song by Sam's ex forces him to seek solace in Bree's company, changing their dynamics. "Funny Guy" is a touching friends-to-lovers tale that delves into the complexities of unrequited love and self-discovery. Both characters are well-developed, with Bree being self-aware and Sam being more impulsive. The narrative is compelling as readers witness Sam's journey to recognize his true feelings and the blossoming romance between the duo.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish! Definitely recommend giving it a read. The storyline is great, the character development is spot on and the writing is fantastic.

Funny Guy is so good! Sam and Bree are both complicated, best friends forever and have such a sweet but also weird co-dependent relationship that I couldnt get enough of. I loved that Bree was just a normal girl in a normal apartment with a normal job, she wasnt trying to be something she isnt and she didnt let her friendship with Sam change her. I loved the two of them together and their friendship and I loved the people around them. Sure it wasnt that unique and it wasnt that surprising, but if you want a predictable romance with heart and the right level of chemistry, this is a good one.

I found this book to be a s0-s0 read. May not have been my cup of tea since the plot just did not click for me. The characters were unrelatable.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book.

THIS BOOK!!!! The yearning is just a chefs kiss, I loved this book so much. This is such an incredible book and I will be rereading.

I loved chick magnet, like couldn’t get enough. This unfortunately was completely different. I could not get past the whiney characters. They were toxic and definitely didn’t read as friends to lovers when there was multiple choices. I do love the career choices unique and fun. I think the heroine was too wrapped up in how her choices would affect the hero to have any real development.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting read . I found that I was able to read quickly and enjoyed the pacing and premise of the book. I would recommend to others.

This is a friends to lovers trope book that features a Sam and Bree. Besties since teenagers and pining for one another for years. Sam's introduction in the book was painful (no one wants to be the source material for a hit song). And Bree is always there whenever Sam needs her. The relationship almost seems one sided but as the book goes on you realize he's in just as much.

Funny Guy was my foray into the funny girl that is Emma Barry and I loved it! For fans of friends-to-lovers romcoms, this book delivers the mutual pining I've come to adore from the trope along with a fresh and exciting premise with Sam's comedian gig. Bree has been in love with her best friend since they were kids but both of them are jaded by their difficult pasts. While Bree just landed her dream job, Sam's career is on the line after his last breakup's public scandal which puts their long-standing friendship to the test. While Bree was the sweetest urban planner ever, Sam was a harder egg to crack. While his obliviousness was frustrating, he really was a good friend to Bree and seeing him slowly recognize his true feelings for the girl that had always been in front of him was everything I could hope for! Barry has me sold with Funny Guy and now I'm excited to check out her other popular novel, Chick Magnet, next!

Sam is a famous comedian, famously known for being hilarious and an asshole. He and Bree have been best friends since they were kids living in a small town with bad family lives waiting to get out. They successfully did. They’ve relied on each other all their lives including when Sam becomes famous once again for his break up with the latest hot celebrity and finds himself on Bree’s couch once again.

A cute rom com, close proximity, if that’s your thing then this is for you! The relationship where they lean on each other is very sweet and after initially not liking Sam in the first couple pages, he certainly won me over by the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Publishing for this ARC!

3.5 stars

Truth: I am a HUGE Seinfeld fan, which is one of the many reasons I looked forward to Emma Barry’s Funny Guy. Another is, simply, it’s an Emma Barry romance! I was not thoroughly enamoured of Chick Magnet (because “chickens”) but it won me over. Funny Guy, on the other hand, had me from page one, thanks to “funny guy” Sam Leyland and his torch-carrying best friend Bryony “Bree” Edwards…oh Sam’s carried a torch for as long, except he’s so-not-clued-into his feelings. Another reason this romance works so well? We are privy to Bree’s tortured, often funny thoughts about her love for Sam; when Sam’s revelation comes, it’s more “road to Damascus” than slow burn. Because this isn’t only a friends-to-lovers romance, it’s an opposites-attract romance and the latter makes it more compelling than the former. But, to start, let the blurb speak for itself:

Sam can’t escape the smash hit “Lost Boy” because, well, he is the lost boy. His pop-singer ex immortalized him in a song about his childish ways, and now his comedy career is on the line.

At least he still has Bree, his best friend and confidante. Bree has always been there for Sam, but she’s never revealed her biggest secret: she’s in love with him. To help herself move on, Bree applies for her dream job across the country—and doesn’t say a thing to Sam.

But as Sam tries to resuscitate his career, he turns to Bree for support—and maybe more. In the confines of her tiny apartment, they share a different dynamic. A charged dynamic. But she’s his friend. He can’t be falling for her. Except he is. Are his feelings for Bree just funny business? Or is their smoldering attraction the real deal?

The attraction is real all right: a long, torturous awareness on Bree’s part and a smack up side the head for Sam. And how I loved them both. Sam is such a mess and Bree is calm, self-aware, and self-contained. Sam is petulant, sarcastic, rude and yet Barry manages to make him lovable. Maybe because no matter how outrageous he is with everyone else, he’s good to Bree. Sam’s Bree-lodestar helps us sympathize with him even while we’re heart-broken for Bree.

That forced proximity business suggested in the blurb? Sam doesn’t only turn to Bree because he imploded his career (he doesn’t suffer fools easily); he nurses Bree through a bad cold, with soup, meds, ginger ale (stirring the bubbles out) and cuddles…the cuddles lead poor Sam to a confusing physical awareness, a tight heart-stirring he can’t quite figure out for his best friend; after all, “Bree Edwards was the conscience Sam didn’t have.” Sam puts Bree on a not-to-be-soiled pedestal while Bree yearns, “when she’d been fourteen, she and Sam had been laughing together in the sad excuse for a park near his grandma’s house when she’d known: I will love you and only you forever.” It’s quite the entertaining dynamic.

Barry centred Bree and Sam’s identities and relationship in their background from a small, poor Ohio town and their troubled families. They brought themselves up and they brought each other up since the day they met as children on the playground. This bond goes deep and, while Bree has known she’s been in love with Sam for years, Sam never allowed himself to “go there” because Sam is a self-acknowledging mess: how can he risk losing the person who centres him by ruining another romantic relationship? The only people who don’t realize Sam loves Bree are Sam and Bree. So the reader’s smug knowingness adds to the novel’s pleasures.

Barry does something interesting: while most romance writers are content to show how their protagonists make their way to each other, Barry wants to show how they must break away from their long-running self-sculpted molds. She accomplishes this most successfully with Bree because when we first encounter her, Bree is determined to move away from Sam, to build a life away from him and find a partner. She is, however, equally motivated by her career, not in a sharky ambitious way, but an aspirational, valuable, purposeful work way.

Bree is an adult and makes adult decisions, but she’s also vulnerable because she’s watched Sam fall in love with other women over and over again while she pined. I loved Sam’s moment of realizing he’s in love with Bree, but the dark moment, when it arrives, is one in which both participate. But it’s Sam who has to make the greatest change. It works in every way. Miss Austen would love Sam and Bree. Barry’s Funny Guys offers its readers “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Emma Barry’s Funny Guy is published by Montlake. It released in mid-May. I received an e-ARC from Montlake, via Netgalley, for the purpose of writing this review. This does not impede the free expression of my opinion.

Loved the concept of this book such a fun read. Really fun characters and the story is well written. First by the author but will read more as loved the style.

I was really getting tired of the friends to lovers trope in romcoms. But Barry brought me back around 100%. Sam and Bree finally got the HEA both characters deserved given there backgrounds.

Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.

Surprisingly this book was really good. The title and cover lead you to believe it’s a “Rom-Com” it’s so not.

Funny Guy is a deep, moving, character driven story. Bree and Sam have been best friends for years, however Bree has been secretly in love with Sam for quite some time. Sam has his head so far up in his own head space he doesn’t see what’s right in front of him. It takes one of his ex girlfriends to write a song about him, which becomes a massive hit, for him to take a long hard look at himself.

Sam is a bit clueless, a tad broken, but deep down he’s incredibly sad. I enjoyed getting in his head. He was self absorbed at times and didn’t see what was right in front of him. Clearly you can see how much he cares for Bree, it just took him a bit to recognize it. Bree, I felt she didn’t have much of a backbone with him. It was like whatever Sam wanted and needed she was always there for him.
All of that being said, I did enjoy the banter and them finally getting together.

Looking forward to more from this author.