Book Review | Funny Story #20booksofsummer24

I mean at this point it’s not summer unless I’ve read an Emily Henry book.

Funny Story
Emily Henry

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, while drowning their sorrows, 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?

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Emily Henry has done it again I don’t think there is a book that I have picked up that I haven’t loved but I have to say this is my favourite so far. I had so many laugh out loud moments with this, thankfully I was by a pool and not on my usual commute so there were few people to hear me.

When I first read the premise I thought it was a bit out there but honestly as soon as I started reading I was sold on it, I think the authors writing style makes it easy to believe in a situation that you might question at first. It is a story that is easy to devour and I liked that it wasn’t just about the romance aspect, there was a lot of time given to Daphne’s personal growth.

Of course it’s hard not to be enamoured with a character who works in a library and is so passionate about her work, but it was nice to get to see a kind of shy, unsure person come into their own. I loved the revelations that Daphne had about herself throughout the book, and that with the help of Miles and Ashleigh she got to know herself a little better and learned to be a person on her own who doesn’t need to worry about fitting into someone else’s idea of her.

I liked that Miles was also passionate about his work and that he loved where he lived and created a community for himself which he then starts to share with Daphne. I definitely had a lot of preconceived notions about Miles because of the other characters opinions and I was glad that they were all shattered as the story progressed. The chemistry between Daphne and Miles was amazing, their banter was fantastic throughout most of the story so this made their romantic entanglement even more intense.

It is worth mentioning that I also loved Daphne’s relationship with Ashleigh, she is a no nonsense kind of person and is also coming to terms with navigating a single life. They both have to try and navigate the transition from co-workers to friends and then make adjustments and do a bit of soul searching for the friendship to work.

Funny Story is a brilliant book, it explores friendship and family relationships, is full of witty banter, and has a wonderful slow burn romance. I honestly can’t wait for the next book by this author.