Where do I even start?! Last summer I binged 3 of Emily Henry’s books and absolutely fell in love with her work. Needless to say, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and Emily Henry delivered! Miles quickly became one of my favorite book boyfriends, Daphne was so relatable - she had me in tears multiple times throughout the book, and together, these two opposites had great chemistry. Heartfelt and humorous, this is one you don’t want to miss when it releases April 23! 4.5⭐️

There is nothing quite like an Emily Henry book (in my opinion). She's not doing much that's different from other romance writers, but Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers, Henry makes you feel like you know her characters.

I loved the town of Waning Bay and it's inhabitants (well, except Peter & Petra). I really loved Ashleigh, Harvey, & the rest of the library crew. The Nowaks were a fun sibling pair, and of course, the romance between Miles & Daphne was sweet.

My only hang up with this one was how self-deprecating Daphne could be, especially towards the end of the book. OBVIOUSLY, I understand why... but it was a bit much for me. Not my favorite EH book, but it was a sweet summer story for me.

Thank you @berkleypub @PRHAudio @NetGalley for the free books! #PRHAudioPartner #BerkleyPartner #berkleypub #netgalley

After her fiancé falls for his childhood friend, Petra, Daphne moves in with Petra's ex, Miles. Opposites in every way, they fabricate adventures together, blurring reality. But as their charade deepens, Daphne questions if her heart might lead her to the one person she never expected to fall for.

I love how EmHen can turn the classic romance villain into the most relatable QUEEN. She does it in Book Lovers with Nora, the big city Hallmark reject, and again in Funny Story with Daphne, the fiancé dumped for the childhood best friend. Miles is the self-deprecating, easy-going, charm-magnet every girl wants for consoling. These characters have been dealt the worst romantic circumstances and yet there’s no whining, they simple share their thoughts and grow. If you’re looking shimmering dialogue of authentic personalities with a thoughtful connection, look no further than these opposite characters.

Perfect for you if you like:
Sharp writing with witty dialogue
Love after heartbreak for both MCs
Self-discovery with romance
Reversed tropes (she’s the girl a guy dumped for his childhood best friend)

Similar to:
Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
In the Weeds by B.K. Borison
Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

⛔️chapters 13, 19, 28 & 29 contain explicit romance scenes (open door, low explicit)
⚠️explicit language, heartbreak, recreational drug use, strained family relationships

i feel like before i can say anything about this book, i just have to let you all know that i was born and raised in michigan (and started this goodreads account in michigan), even though i moved out west after college. but it is also important to know that michigan people love other michigan people! lol like, i am giggling while typing this, but it is also very true and i have never seen another state have this kind of instant comradery before. my family still lives about three hours away from the traverse city area, but i’ve been there so many times, especially during the summer. and this very long prologue of a review is just to say that emily henry really captured the magic of what is a michigan summer and it was absolutely perfect in my opinion. i’m also not sure a book has ever made me miss home as much as the setting of this book, and i just really wanted to emphasize how phenomenally done it was to me, and i would bet a lot of money she has lived there at some point in her life.

okay the actual review - i think i can make a dot here: this book is, ironically enough, a story about one person trying to convince another person to build a home and life in a sleepy little michigan city. but let me not forget to type that these two people’s lives have crossed because both of their significant others have decided to leave them for each other! and our main character, after being dumped the morning after her fiance's bachelor party, has nowhere to go because she picked up her life and moved it to where she thought she would finally set up roots. so she moves in with her ex’s new girlfriend’s ex (this feels so hard to type out lol), and each chapter starts with a countdown of how many days until a fundraiser at her work, at a local library, happens and then she will be able to leave. but maybe she can actually still set up those roots after the fundraiser, but in an even healthy and happier way (filled with some good healing along the way).

“That's what happens when your life partner leaves you for the nicest, sunniest, prettiest woman in the state of Michigan.”
everyone is going to talk about this book on all platforms, so instead of me telling you more about this book, let me tell you some things i really loved about this story with some bullet points (besides the michigan bias, obviously):

➛ there is a very big difference between niceness and kindness and this book really shows that throughout.

➛ as you get older, making new friends can be way harder! and friendship breakups can be just as devastating as romantic breakups! but also, it can be really worth it to let people in, even after you’ve been hurt by doing so with others - maybe especially after that.

“You can't untell someone your secrets. You can't unsay those delicate truths once you learn you can't trust the person you handed them to.”

➛ this book also talks about some parental abuse that i honestly do not think i’ve ever read about before, and i know it is going to mean a lot to a lot of people. also the way that miles handles that trauma in the present day was something that really made me feel seen and meant more to me than i have words to put in a review here.

“I need it to be okay. Because I need to be okay. As a kid, I just felt so fucking scared and powerless, all the time, and now, I just need to be okay.”

➛ and this is also just such a book about community, and carving out space and safety and love with the people who you trust and want to build a home with. especially when you’ve lived a life of not really having much stability, and the thought of it being taken away makes you scared to start to build it.

➛ libraries will always be the heart of cities, with some of the most powerful tools we have to amplify voices and create change. i am actually typing this up during national library week here, and i just can't emphasize enough how important these buildings, these safe spaces filled with heart, and these librarians are. i would get so emotional when daphne would talk about the kids at her branch, and the books she’d pick because of them. ahhhh, a reminder to just show up for your local library, do donations if you are able (time, books, and money), make sure your library card is updated, just show your appreciation in every way you’re able to.

“To me, libraries have always represented the best of humanity. The way we all share knowledge and space, and... and how we find ways to look after each other. It's not a perfect system, but it's powerful.”

overall, this just had so much to love. actually, as i am typing this i am considering making this a five star. I’m just not sure if i loved this as much as beach read, but it is for sure a new favorite emily henry of mine. but miles is for sure the best love interest she, or maybe any other contemporary author, has ever written. and i absolutely cannot wait to watch you all fall with both him, and daphne, and their amazing funny story.

trigger + content warnings: drinking, smoking, a joke about suicide, brief mention of fetishization (to a side character and in a negative light), parental abandonment and neglect and and instability in past, child abuse in past, mention of loss of parents in past (side character), one sentence mention of cancer (side characters parent), anxiety depiction, and just a story about people going through a really hard break up that has a little bit of infidelity vibes (even though no cheating did occur to them)

I would give this book a million stars if I could. I haven’t devoured a book like this in a hot minute. Daphne and Miles are every single thing my heart needed

WOW this might be Emily's best yet? The first chapter made me a little nervous but once I settled in, I was IN IT. Great chemistry, loved the character growth, and all of the supporting characters. I do find myself liking romance novels where the characters are together romantically for more of the book than not, but I still really enjoyed this one.

This book is classic Emily Henry: plenty of banter, delicious tension, and wonderful character growth!
I love seeing characters find their grit, dig deep, and pick up the pieces after life falls apart and Funny Story is full of this. I don't feel like this book is a rom-com. Despite it's name, it's really not very funny, but far more dramatic than I expected.
This book is a romance, but it is also about carving out your place in a community and making your life what you want it to be.

Thank you to Berkley Pub and Netgalley for my complimentary e-arc. All opinions here are my own.

*Multiple open door (2+)
*Strong language throughout including f-words
*Mentions of recreational drug use, parental abandonment and neglect (in the past), child abuse and neglect (in the past), a really hard break up with some infidelity-ish.

Daphne’s life takes an unexpected twist when her fiancé Peter dumps her for his childhood bestie, Petra, turning Daphne’s dreamy love story into a solo journey in scenic Waning Bay, Michigan. Job-wise, she landed her dream role as a children’s librarian, but financially, it’s a tight squeeze. In a cruel twist of fate, she ends up sharing a roof with Petra’s former boyfriend, Miles Nowak—a man whose life playlist is a mix of heartache anthems and who’s as far from Daphne’s orderly life as can be. Despite their differences, they hatch a plan fuelled by fake summer flings plastered over social media—purely for show, of course. Or so Daphne thought, until her heart hints she might just be scripting a new love story with the most unexpected co-star: her ex’s ex’s ex.

Fake dating and opposites attract? Gimme! I love opposites attract romances where the characters realise that they aren’t really that opposite to begin with—and that first impressions, much less what other people tell you about someone can be oh so wrong. Miles is charming and sweet and adorable and basically has everyone he meets wrapped around his little finger but doesn’t even realise it or tries to exploit it because he’s just that kind of an upstanding man. He’s the kind of man who would help his ex move even after she dumped him. You just don’t meet guys like that in real life.

Daphne, meanwhile, just deserves all the love. She’s a kind, smart, stubbornly amazing librarian who would go to the ends of the earth for her dream job and the kids who frequent the library. She’s turning kids into readers and gives them the safe space in libraries the way they were for her when she grew up. That storyline especially hit home for me because libraries often have this wrong connotation of being stuffy or boring but for so many kids – and adults – they can be a soft place to land.

Miles and Daphne’s love story is just so wholesome. They have incredible chemistry, their banter and especially their “join me in my wallowing because we’re literally in the same boat” moments had me in stitches sometimes. Both Daphne and Miles are struggling to move on from believing they were already with the loves of their lives only to accept that that was never what it was for either of them. But what really worked for me was just how invested they were in each other’s dreams and goals for life. Miles is so attentive when it comes to Daphne’s needs and Daphne meanwhile is so attuned to what Miles wants—for example when it comes to his relationship with his sister and his parents—that he himself doesn’t want to acknowledge. To me, these are the best kinds of romances: not just when characters are devoted to each other, but when they make each other better.

Lest you think this is just about wholesomeness though, don’t fret: Henry delivers some exceptionally steamy scenes that will have you look at your own kitchen counters with a whole new set of eyes.

Beyond the romance, Funny Story also deals with what it means to see your whole life come crashing down and having to rebuild it from the ground up. Peter and Petra are despicable and I wanted to strangle them for how they treated the people they thought they were going to spend the rest of their lives with—I would have not dealt with it as well as Miles and Daphne do (even though they also have a long journey when it comes to healing from that).

Henry has an extraordinary talent for making catastrophes feel like just another challenge we can face as long as we are strong enough to stand up again when life knocks us down. Daphne and Miles face their fair share of grief and loss over the life they thought they’d live but also see the worth and value in what they already have— great jobs, a supportive network of friends if only they’re brave enough to reach out to it and family members (well, some of them at least) that just want you to be happy.

Speaking of family members, there’s also a storyline concerning parents and neglect that had me bawling, so thanks for that, I’ll need some good therapy sessions after Daphne’s struggle with her dad and Miles’s family situation. In the end, though, it’s cathartic to speak your mind and not let the past define your future.

I’ll stop singing the praises of this book but I just want to mention that Waning Bay also proved to be the perfect setting for this story. The small-town vibes were impeccable and added a lot to the way Daphne and Miles go about their days—especially with the constant fear of running into their exes.

All in all, this is another banger by Henry. I don’t know how she keeps interweaving all these different plot strings and making them work so exceptionally well but I hope she never stops.

Lovers of small-town romances, opposites attract and the superior found family trope are sure to devour Henry’s Funny Story, a book that proves that true love often hides in the unlikeliest places.

Funny Story by Emily Henry is a contemporary romance novel. The story in Funny Story is one of starting over with a few tropes at the heart of the novel in forced proximity turning into fake dating then onto friends to lovers.

Daphne had packed up and moved to Waning Bay, Michigan with her fiance Peter beginning to plan their life together. That is until weeks before the wedding Peter decides that he’s really in love with his bestie turned new romance Petra and he wants to start a life with her instead.

With no where to go in an unfamiliar town Daphne turns to the one person who can probably understand her dilemma, Miles. Miles was also recently dumped by non other than Petra so of course he has a spare room for Daphne but when they both get invited to the Peter and Petra wedding party they both refuse to show their shared misery and what better way to prove this than pretend to date one another.

Funny Story is the first book I’ve read from author Emily Henry but after hearing such good things I was very hopeful going into this one. Thankfully this is one of those times I was glad to take the leap into a new author since I enjoyed every minute of reading. I’m not the biggest fan of characters jumping right into something new but on the other hand I love a little fake dating and the author sold me on Daphne and Miles quickly and I couldn’t help but root for their happy ending.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

✨Funny Story by Emily Henry✨

Genre: Romance
Pages: 395
Pub date: April 24th

📚Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads —Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

📝 This is another Emily Henry fun romance read! It has forced proximity, opposites attract, and friends to lovers tropes.

It wasn’t my absolute favorite, but it was so much fun! Daphne and Miles are forced to be roommates under the shadiest of the circumstances and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next. Also, a big plus is that Daphne is a librarian🥹

💫Thank you @netgalley @berkleyromance for my egalley #gifted 💫

this was my first Emily Henry book and oh my god I’m so obsessed with Daphne & Miles. Daphne & Miles become roommates after their exes dumped them to date each other. After getting an invitation to their wedding they come up with the plan to fake date & I’m a sucker for a fake dating book.

I saw myself a lot in Daphne. I felt for when she didn’t believe Miles wanted to be around her just because and always apologizing.

Miles baby you deserve the world and he’s simply the best human being out there.

thank you Berkley for the earc !! I appreciate you guys so much <3

THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!

After a night's deliberation, I can officially declare this my favorite Emily Henry romance. I loved every single thing about this story, these characters, this setting, and this perfect romance.

This was (as I should have realized by the title) Emily Henry's funniest book to date. The humor and banter were on point, and the funny moments made the poignant and emotional ones even more special. I loved how perfectly the humor and emotional depth were balanced.

My favorite thing about this book is that both Miles and Daphne went on deeply emotional journeys as the story progressed. We learned so much about their histories and traumas as they got to know each other, which made their relationship feel so fated and grounded and adult. This book made me unexpectedly cry a few times, and I loved it.

Overall - this book is literal perfection and I will not be accepting criticism at this time.

Emily Henry does it again. Miles and Daphne are wonderful. It starts with a Bachelor party gone horribly wrong where Daphne's fiancé Peter confesses that he made a mistake and he has been in love with childhood best friend Petra all along. Daphne who moved to Waning Bay, Michigan because of her fiancé is now on her own with no place to live and no real friends. She ends up moving in with Miles who is Petra's ex-boyfriend. It's definitely a tangled web. Daphne and Miles who have nothing else in common except their grief of being dumped eventually start bonding. Then when they are sent a wedding invite to their ex's wedding they go out, get drunk and decide to go as a couple. Their story is sweet, funny ,fun and just feels so real. I loved it. Thank you #NetGalley for my ARC. #milesanddaphne

Sigh. Emily Henry you did it again bestie. This is such was rom com in the best way possible. It was such a full circle moment and I love it so much. Anyway 5 stars ❤️

Daphne and Peter have always had a picture perfect love story. That is, until he comes home one night and tells her that he's fallen in love with his best friend, Petra, and the two of them are running away together. Unfortunately, this leaves Daphne homeless and stranded in small town Michigan without a safety net. In walks Petra's newly dumped ex-boyfriend, Miles, who offers Daphne a place to stay while they both figure out what's next. Miles is the polar opposite of buttoned-up Daphne, yet somehow the two start to rely on one another and build a friendship - and a fake romance. What better way to make Peter and Petra regret their choices than to date each other?

Emily Henry's talent for the romantic comedy abounds. Both Daphne and Miles are loveable, charismatic, and thoughtful, and you're rooting for that happily ever after until the satisfying epilogue. A robust and well-developed cast of secondary characters makes this novel shine, and fans everywhere will be falling in love with Emily Henry all over again.

Why did this have to end and what do I do with my life now that it’s over?

I was not expecting this one to make me cry more than Happy Place did… but here we are ❤️‍🩹

Emily Henry’s writing holds such a special place in my heart. It feels like she writes characters for me to relate to and connect with as I read their stories. Every book of hers I have read, I have related to the main character in some way and this one was no exception. I saw SO much of myself in Daphne right down to being a children’s librarian. And the character development!! You get to see these characters grow together and separately and it was so incredible to read.

You can FEEL the love radiating through the pages (ereader, but we’ll ignore the technicality). I got butterflies so many times reading the scenes between Daphne and Miles. I was giggling, internally screaming, and kicking my feet in the air. THE TENSION BETWEEN THESE TWO 👩🏻‍🍳🤌🏻💋!!!! The vulnerability and how they opened up to each other about their pasts and family history made me want to jump through the pages and hug them both. The way they talk about and to each other makes me crave the kind of the love they have.

I love me a good found family moment and Funny Story delivered in that department with Daphne and her coworkers at the library, Miles and his sister, and everyone else we’re introduced to along the way. They’re all just one big chosen family 🫶🏻

The way Daphne talks about her job and the children she gets to work with had me thinking about my own job as a children’s librarian and of the regulars we have at work and the bonds I’ve formed with them and their parents.

This book is for the girls who want to make everyone else happy, but don’t do enough for our own happiness. This book is for the girls who would do anything for people to stay even when they know they won’t. This book is for the girls who want nothing more than to be wanted and loved by certain people despite knowing they’re eventually going to leave. This book is for the girls who avoid getting too close to people because they know it won’t last.

Everything about this book was perfect.

I am so conflicted writing this review because there is a lot I enjoyed about this book but I did lose interest when I was about 60% into the story. Hear me out, this could have been one of my top romance books if 30% of the book was left out. It just felt a little chaotic in my opinion and it works out for some books but in my opinion it just did not this time.

I´ll give it to Emily she did make me smile with the last line of the book.

I would still recommend it to everyone because like I said before there were a lot of things I enjoyed. I thought watching the FMC, Daphne, come out of her shell, grow and become confident was really fun. I also enjoyed the banter between Daphne and Miles. Additionally, I thought it was fun that they ended up fake dating to get back to their exe's because I am here for the drama.

Overall, I guess I was just expecting more but I do think a lot of people are going to love it. It just was lacking feelings for me.

Thanks you netgalley and Berkley Romance for the ARC!

Whats a girl to do when her fiancee cheats on her with his childhood best friend then to fake date said childhood best friend's now ex boyfriend. Daphne was engaged to Peter, their romance was a cute story... up until the moment he tells her he cheated on her with his childhood best friend, Petra, during his bachelor party and now is in love with her and wants to end the engagement. Not to mention the fact that Petra was also in a relationship with her boyfriend Miles and cheated on him to run off with Peter. Daphne is in a predicament, Peter essentially owns their living space and is giving her until the weekend to move out and that's when Miles, Petra's ex, offers Daphne Petra's old room and to be her new roommate. Daphne can't say no as Miles is the only person who really knows what she's going through, and what was only suppose to be quick roommates turns into something more as they begin to become friends,,, and funny story, when Peter calls Daphne she just lies and says she's dating Miles, who is all too happy to play along. Yet what started off as fake is becoming very real as Daphne and Miles begin to form a strong friendship that is becoming something more as they spend the summer adventuring together.... but they both have their own difficulties and family issues... and if they want this to be real they'll have to face their differences and see if they really can make this funny story work. This was a super cute rom com and it's my first Emily Henry book! Miles was very Nick Miller (from New Girl) coded and I adored him and Daphne together. Daphne is a librarian and Miles works at a winery, Daphne is used to having people disappoint her and Miles is use to running away from his problems... both of them have so much heart but are going through so much. I loved the fun friendship growing between them and how they really felt like a good couple. They had good banter and chemistry and I was so happy to read this book. This is definitely a fun read and I definitely see it being a good one to recommend anyone who wants a nice romcom with a bit of heart.

*Thanks Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Emily Henry writes some of the most witty and hilarious banter. I had a huge smile on my face for so much of the book. I found myself walking my dogs for longer and longer just so I could keep listening. The set up hooked me right away and showcased the forced proximity and friends to lovers tropes very well. The book does fall more into the women’s fiction genre than romance for me though, since so much of the book focuses on Daphne’s healing and growth.

I found the discussions and commentary about adult friendships (as well as child/parent relationships) really interesting. The progression of Miles and Daphne‘s relationship worked really well for me and I loved how things unfolded between them. It’s a slow build with some starts and stops, but the steamy scenes were well worth the wait!

I wasn’t a big fan of the third act conflict, but I could understand why the characters might act and react the way that they did. I also felt that there was a bit too much ex drama and I wish Peter and Petra would have just disappeared. It just felt like too much since Miles and Daphne already had so much baggage of their own to sort through. I’m not even sure they did resolve those personal issues (or if they did it was glossed over/I missed it). While this isn’t my favorite book by Emily Henry, it was still very entertaining and heartfelt. Her writing truly is amazing!

I mainly listened to the audiobook of Funny Story and Julia Whelan is the GOAT. Her performance heightened all the emotions and feelings and truly elevated the story. I will listen to anything she narrates!

Audiobook Review
Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4 stars

CW: cheating ex, grief, parental estrangement, parental abandonment, emotionally abusive parent, panic attacks, marijuana use

*I voluntarily read and listed to an advance review copy of this book*

Thanks for the free book @berkleyromance @netgalley #berkleypartner #berkleybooks !!

I applied to be in the #berkleybookstagram influencer program because of the mere possibility that I could get an ARC of an @emilyhenrywrites book. I’ve not made it a secret that she’s one of my favorites, a must read, and I think it’s because her characters are so lovingly flawed and regular, and she writes them (and banter) so incredibly well. This story is one I was dying to read ever since I read the first synopsis, and I was not let down for even a second.

Daphne and Peter have been together for a couple of years, their lives seamlessly folding into their life as a unit, and they even move back to Peter’s Michigan hometown where he’s just gotten a new job. He buys a house, she gets a job. And now they’re engaged! All Daphne has ever wanted was stability and somebody who would choose her, with as little drama as possible.

Peter’s bachelor party enters the chat. Peter’s childhood bff Petra says, “hold my beer.” After denying there was anything romantic or sexual for years, suddenly Peter and Petra are in love. Daphne’s *entire life* is thrown into complete disarray. When Peter *kicks her out of their house* because he wants Petra to move in (cough, ASSHOLE), she crashes with Miles, Petra’s very recently made ex, too.

Miles is a mess, in a newly dumped 36 year old wine bar manager kind of way, which is to say he’s busy smoking himself into the next stratosphere to handle his feelings. Underneath all of that maladaptive coping that he quickly ditches, he’s funny and open and kind in a way Peter never was. Daphne has dealt with abandonment before, and this sitch is only for a couple of months before she can leave Michigan. What she doesn’t expect is to see Peter suddenly and announce she’s dating Miles. We love a fake dating!

Daphne doesn’t expect like Miles so much, as she opens up both to him and he shows her the life she’s been missing while with Peter.

The chemistry and sexual attraction between Miles and Daphne is INTENSE, and I was dying as they will-they-or-won’t-they’d all over this makeshift roommate situation. Read this, and join my Emily Henry support group.