Sexy, witty read!! This was so much more fun than I had expected from the description. Kept me reading and grinning. Emma Barry will be one for me to watch.

This book is about Sam and Bree who grew up together and have been friends for a long. Bree has been in love with Sam but is afraid to tell him how she feels since he is her best friend. This is the first book by Emma Barry that I have read, and I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more books by this author.

What I did not like about this book was that it was too short and there need to be more between the time Sam and Bree broke up and got back together. I have never read a book where the hero's career is as a comedian, and I enjoyed reading about it. While I enjoyed reading about Sam's comedy career, I wish there was more romance in the book because it takes too long for Sam and Bree to get together and then the book ends. While I wish the book was longer, I did enjoy reading it and would recommend this book to my friends and family.

Many thanks to Montlake & NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. The premise is great: the ex-fiancée of a well-known stand-up comedian writes a catchy song about how much of a child he is. Sam, the comedian in question, doesn't handle it very well and hides out with his best friend since childhood: Bree. Bree has been in love with him for a very long time but Sam has been oblivous. He's also not really in touch with his own feelings. So the first part of the book is full of pining. So much glorious pining.
Sam is an interesting character because he can actually be a bit of an asshole, and defnitely has some growing to do. By the end of the book he's taken some important steps in that direction.
Just like Sam, Bree has been damaged by the way she was brought up, but it has shaped her in a different way. Over the course of the she also finds herself more.
The relationship between Bree and Sam is founded on complete trust and love. They know each other better than they know themselves and that provides an interesting dynamic. The unconditional trust, love, friendship (or whatever you want to call it) is what makes this such a good book. I loved how they moved from friendship to lovers to a healthy longterm relationship.
The secondary characters were great as well, as was the attention to detail (including the correct, Dutch spelling of De Stijl). Fabulous book.

A sweet friends to lovers that follows the friendship of Sam (comedian, who has just had his heart broken) and Bree (his best friend, who is secretly in love with him).

Pros:
1. Friends to lovers trope - always fun waiting for them to realise they were in love with their best friend all along
2. Strong female lead
3. Single POV - I prefer these!

Cons:
1. I think Sam was loosely based on Pete Davidson - it's my own personal dislike, as I was picturing him as I read this and I'm just not a fan

All-round good book and I'd read it again on a lazy Sunday.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for this advanced copy!

Another funny, heartfelt novel from Emma Barry. I love a good friends-to-lovers story, which this delivers. Sam is adorably flawed.

This is my second book by Emma Barry, and the didn’t disappoint. I love how she can take a lighthearted story and add depth and nuance to her characters that’s relatable to the reader. One of my favorite tropes is a good friends to lovers because of the shared history , and this one was done nicely. This author wouldn’t even be on my radar without NetGalley, and I’m so glad I’ve found her books.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

Thank you netgalley for the e-arc!

I love a good friends-to-lovers story, with all the angst and the mutual pining, but with this one, I don't know, I just didn't really get that.
In the book, it is mentioned that Bree has been in love with Sam since forever, but the moment they got together, there were barely moments between them. I didn't feel their love or connection with each other; it just went flat.
I had trouble when Sam's Comedy Hour was involved; I think it was fine in moderation, but when it got a little too much, I got bored. I mostly just scan through that quickly.

This was actually very charming and emotional. Both Sam & Bree have a lot going on on their own, and there is a decent amount of growth for them. There is probably a bit more telling than I think is ideal (them each being in love with each other, and how the relationship comes together, mostly), and I was very taken aback with the third act, becuase I didn't feel the ground had fully been laid for it. That being said, very cute, very easy read, glad Emma Barry is writing more.

Bree and funny guy Sam are best friends. I love Bree’s passion for her job and inner confidence and was nicely irritated by Sam’s self destruction and idiocy. You kind of want them to settle together but also want Bree to fly, a really written, mostly comedic, tale. An excellent escape.

Oh, MAN. This book nails a bunch of things. First of all, it is one of the truest distillations of a self-loathing performer I have ever seen. Having been an actress (fun fact: I went to college with someone who went on to become an SNL writer!) and knowing quite a few of this type of person, it was by turns painful and heart-turningly tender to see it portrayed with such accuracy. "Why would anyone love a person like that?" some might ask. Well, because they're often brilliant and loyal. Are they also mercurial and difficult? Yeah. People are messy. I know why Bree was in love with Sam. And I know why it took so long for Sam to understand he was in love with Bree.

I loved both characters for such different reasons. I get why Sam and Bree are the way they are: their respective family situations, the opportunities and challenges life has thrown at them, their "you and me against the world" ethic - it all makes sense. And watching Sam slowly remove his head from his backside while Bree is slowly and carefully trying to extract herself from the situation was perfectly calibrated: a tango of a romance plot.

I just loved this book, okay? It made me keyboard smash and I never keyboard smash.

I am friends with the author on social media, but that does not change my thoughts about this book.

3/5 stars! This is a friends-to-lovers contemporary romance. It was ok. I enjoyed the comedy angle of the book, probably because I go to a lot of stand-up. The romance was where I struggled in this book. It felt like Sam and Bree love each other but are not in love with each other. The chemistry scenes just didn't feel real, which pulled me out of the story.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I am so glad that Emma Barry wrote this book because in other hands it would”t have had the same emotional impact. This so easily could have been a surface level my best friend is a celebrity friends to lover tale which would have been fun to read but wouldn’t have had me clutching my pillow to my heart when the heroine notices the hole in the hero’s sock. The characters were given such depth in their backstories and the history of their friendship that was so lovely to read about and gave their handling of their feelings such urgency .I loved this book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review..

3.25 ⭐️’s I started this book because I’ve read a few friends to lovers and I loved them so I thought why not start this one. I did semi enjoy this book but it didn’t have me over the moon about it. There was just something missing. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and that’s always something I look forward to when I read a book. It makes the book more enjoyable for me when the characters and I can connect. I’m not saying not to read this book because you could love it and have a totally different view of everything about it.

Enjoyable friends-to-lovers romantic comedy. He's a semi-famous comic who stars in an SNL-esque weekly comedy sketch who recently got publicly dumped by a famous pop star (literally ripped from the headlines) and his longtime BFF is always there to catch him fall but she has recently decided to move on - and literally move away. Enter climax of plot - is this the real thing? Will it last?
I felt the peak came a little too soon, and I skimmed from roughly 70-90% because the building tension was no longer there. However the chemistry is good, and the open-door intimacy scenes were decent (although personal pet peeve, I don't like it when a character utters "baby" in the heat of the moment).
Overall good writing and an enjoyable read, recommend this one.

Thank you to Montlake Publishing / NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book will be released May 2023.

“I want to feel like if I stop running for a second, I won’t die. I want to stop trying to burn down the world because I think it’s going to burn down no matter what.”

Sam and Bree have been friends their whole lives. They both grew up in less-than-stellar homes and scraped their way out of their dumpster fire lives and into careers they love.

Their friendship becomes co-dependent where neither one can truly move into a meaningful relationship with anyone else. Bree realizes this and decides to finally distance herself from Sam, but of course Sam realizes at this exact moment that he feels more than friendship for his best friend.

Funny Guy by Emma Barry will tear your heart out and make you happy about the experience. It really goes in-depth into the mind of the resident tortured funny guy who seems happy-go-lucky on the outside but is battling major demons on the inside.

At the same time, it makes you laugh until your sides hurt while you hope the two main characters get out of their own way so they can truly SEE each other.

Favorite quotes:

“Who among us hasn’t been publicly flogged by a pop star?”

"I could break everything else in the world, but not you. Never you.”

I was given an e-ARC of this book for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the opportunity!

I really enjoyed Funny Guy! This is my first book by Barry and I was immediately sold!

The premise of a comedian drew me in initially because I hoped that it would be a light hearted Rom com. It absolutely is, but Barry still manages to tackle some really tough subjects at the same time. My heart ached for Bree trying to find her place while also being in love with her best friend. My heart ached for Sam trying to find something permanent. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a fun rom com but with some emotional development!

⭑ Thank you to the publisher, Montlake, and the author, Emma Barry, for the ARC on NetGalley! #FunnyGuy #NetGalley ⭑

Funny Guy was an enjoyable, light read. We have Bree and Sam, who are childhood best friends living in NYC.
Bree is a talented architect who dreams of improving urban spaces and making them livable, and Sam is a comic who features weekly on the show Comedy Hour (think SNL but instead of Lorne Michaels, it's run by the formidable Jane Heeley). Bree has a work opportunity waiting for her in a different state, but she's reluctant to take it because she's been in love with Sam for far too long, and knows that her moving would shake up his life. However, Bree knows that the best way to move on from her unrequited crush is to move on and away－but she can't quite muster up the courage to tell him.
Sam, reeling after a breakup and release of his ex's pop song thereafter, decides to camp out at Bree's apartment to avoid the paparazzi. The romcom tropes roll out from here on out: close proximity, the one-bed trope, the jealousy, and the tension finally tips over after a heated discussion between the two leads.
Bree is such a likeable character: career-oriented, considerate, and decisive, despite the inner turmoil roiling in her with regards to her feelings for Sam. Sam is honest and unapologetic: he tells it like it is and he doesn't sugarcoat things, even when it's almost necessary to do so in an industry such as his. Sam and Bree's issues were easy to sympathize with; readers will not encounter any emotional upheavals in the course of reading this book. There's very little angst and the pining wasn't overdone.
I liked Bree's friends and Sam's friends; they served both as work friends and counsel when the two leads needed someone other than their best friend to listen. I'm a sucker for a good friends-to-lovers story and this was a light, easy read.
The romance progressed at a moderate pace, and I like how they both reflected on their own feelings before diving in to their newfound relationship. However, I found it very light on the comedy aspect, it definitely leaned more on the romantic side of romcom and focused heavily on the progression of their relationship, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The third act of the book is what I deem to be the strongest arc out of all three, not only did it tie the book together but we see the main leads making the kind of decisions they might not have made at the beginning of the book.
Overall, a light and easy read, if you're looking for some pining between childhood best friends.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I'm very much of two minds on this one, as there are several things I think the author did really well, and several that are just not my cup of tea in stories. I think Barry walked the fine line of Bree's pining that was certainly part of and informed by childhood trauma bonding and long-time friendship, but made it believable that she really did love Sam and their dynamic wasn't just habit and clinging to the past.

Bree was a good balance of grown up and a competent professional, and a solid, caring friend, but still a bit of a mess on some fronts, with trouble believing in her own competence and in that she makes a difference in the world. Even if it's something you don't personally relate to, it feels like a common issue and you probably know someone who struggles that way.

Sam I found fairly exhausting, but then, comedians are pretty often very messy people. The book does get across that for a variety of reasons, as talented and hard-working as Sam is, it's amazing his world hasn't completely crashed and burned already. It definitely sets you up to expect that; it's just a matter of when and how. Plus, as much as he loves and relies on her, Sam pretty clearly doesn't deserve Bree as a partner as he is.

A lot of angst is not really my thing in romance, and there was too much of it for me in this story, but it was well handled in showing how often people can and will just keeping walking on a broken leg, so to speak, until something happens to knock them over hard. I don't know that Sam's big gesture was quite right or enough, but that's just opinion and I'm sure others would think it's perfect.

I had trouble staying in the story when the comedy or sketches were included, because I don't think that's something that translates well to a book. I understand it kind of had to be there, but it's so contextual and such an individual experience. What's supposed to be funny never is to me; song lyrics don't sound catchy, etc. (And really, authors don't tend to be songwriters or standup comedians.) It's not unique to this book. It's something I tend to scan through quickly.

ARC REVIEW (Thanks NetGalley!)

OMG ALL THE MUTUAL PINING AND YEARNING 😩😩😩

Bree has been in love with Sam since childhood and she’s finally taking the steps to break away from him to be able to move on with her life. Sam is a dumbass and doesn’t realize it’s always been her.

While I thoroughly enjoyed book I felt it hard to connect with either Bree or Sam due to the 3rd person narrative book was written in. There was a lot of fluff involving Sam’s “comedy hour” show that I probably could’ve gone without knowing. Their conflicts seemed realistic (as realistic as could be when dating a tv comedian

For those of you that loved Meghan Quinn’s “A Long Time Coming”, this is a must read. “Funny Guy” follows lifelong best friends Bree and Sam after Sam’s pop singer ex releases a song about him that hurts his ego and brings up some old feelings he has never worked through.

Bree has known that she’s loved Sam for a long time and thinks that it’s time for her to move on, quite literally, and looks at taking a job in another state. Sam is a star on the show Comedy Hour and also kind of a jerk to people in real life, everyone except Bree.

When Bree gets sick with a simple cold and Sam takes care of her, he starts questioning his feelings and realizes maybe he’s had more than friendly ones for her all along.

Full of humor, some soul bearing, and romance, this read was engaging and hard to put down. I rooted for Bree and Sam from the start. Sam’s character was the perfect mix of masculinity with a bit of ragged edges from his childhood. Bree’s character was strong but soft in all the ways we wish to be as women.

The second book I’ve read by this author, I loved this one and think I can handle 3rd person POV now. I will definitely be recommending this book for readers who like rom-coms and friends to lovers.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake for the approval.