Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Smešna zgodba by Emily Henry

248 reviews

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

“Trust people's actions, not their words. Don't love anyone who isn't ready to love you back. Let go of the people who don't hold on to you. Don't wait on anyone who's in no rush to get to you.”

I did a buddy-read with @heypatreads and we devoured this in one week! Emily Henry is really just an amazing writer that it's so hard to not buy her book once it was out. What's even amazing was that Philippines got to have stocks on release day! We usually don't get books on release day so imagine how shocked I was when I randomly went in a bookstore just to "check books out and not buy them". Yeah, I ended up buying, of course. 

So the story is about Daphne and Miles who are ex-lovers of people who got together after Daphne's fiance's bachelor's party. This is why it's hard to have a significant other that has an opposite sex's best friend. Books and movies and other fictional stories made us believe that men and women can never be just friends. But seriously though, they can! I would be traumatized though, if what happened to Miles and Daphne happened to me. Anyways, that's the premise of the story and what a unique premise too! I don't think I have read a book that starts of like this. Me and Pat did talk about how for her, it was insta-love, but for me, it was a roommate situation so it was bound to happen especially if they are attracted to one another. But looking at it now, she did have a point - it was a little bit of insta-love. But can you actually blame me if I also did fall in love a little bit with Miles? So really, I wouldn't fault Daphne (although the drugs thing was a turn off for me oops!)

What I did love about this story is that it's FMC is a librarian - a job I don't see often in a book and that excites me so much because there's so many relatable book book quotes, events and situations! I also did love the little moments where they started being friends and slowly developed their feelings to one another - and you can see it happening! That's why it wasn't an insta-love for me immediately, because I can really see them falling in love with one another. 

I just did not love the ending as much as I would have wanted to. It's a bit predictable and the epilogue has one redeeming quality - which is the friendship. Plus points though for a found friendship - because it's so much fun seeing other aspects of the story that is not the romance.

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adventurous funny reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

“𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐮𝐩”

tw: toxic relationships, gaslighting, misogyny, bullying, suicidal thoughts, infidelity, abuse (child & emotional), abandonment, drug & alcohol use, mental illness, panic attacks, death of parent, grief 

🍋 first person
🍋 dual pov
🍋 romcom
🍋 contemporary
🍋 forced proximity
🍋 friends to best friends to lovers
🍋 fake dating
🍋 opposites attract
🍋 miscommunication (only a little bit)

daphne vincent is a children’s librarian & miles nowak is a bartender. they’re friends, but they quickly become better friends when both of their partners leave them for each other

daphne moves in with miles, since her ex moved his new boo in with him & miles now has an extra room. they begin to hang out. amid becoming best friends, they also begin to develop stronger feelings for each other


this book has all the f’s - forced proximity, friends to best friends to lovers, and fake dating. and although this book has a lot of f’s, it gets an a+ from me! 🤭

peter & petra deserved each other. i absolutely hated them

the writing is absolutely beautiful. i love the connection & tension between daphne & miles. their friendship blossomed beautifully. i love all of the friend dates that they went on. and it was immediately palpable when the connection began changing from best friends to lovers

the only thing that kept this from being a 5 star for me was the miscommunication. there were a few instances that could’ve been quickly resolved if they just paused & talked to each other!

the miscommunication between miles & his sister was also something i disliked. she felt like she was bothering him & keeping him from his full potential and he felt like he was letting her down, meanwhile they both were soooo grateful for each other 🥹

this was my first emily henry & i cannot wait to dive into more! i listened to the audiobook for this book & really enjoyed it

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Funny Story is the newest book by Emily Henry. It’s equal parts laugh out loud funny and heartbreaking. I absolutely loved it, and it’s another five star read from an auto buy author!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Update: 
 I loved this book I not only, purschaed a HARDCOVER ROMANCE, but also the German edition for my shelf( do i speak or read german? not yet.. but I will just for this bad boi) 

This was the perfect summer read for me! It was also my frist intro to Emily Henry 's writing style and I love that it really walks the line of a romacne and lit fic novel. 


The daddy issues adn people pleasing rep with anxiety mixed in did send me into a 3am crying fit which I did post only. 


Thank you to edelweiss for this ARC copy and I will definitely be buying a finsihed copy! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Emily Henry is a romance goddess— this is an established fact. When it comes to making two absolutely loveable dorks fall in love? She’s going to knock the ball out of the park everytime. Funny Story is no exception.
But, what Henry does not get enough credit for is her ability to interweave familial affairs and complicated home lives into the backstories of her characters in a way that not only makes the characters dense with characterization, but also allows the reader to be fully immersed in the story while also feeling completely seen and loved. She writes in an immensely encompassing prose that walks you through some of our toughest moments in life and encourages  a bond between the love birds that not only charms the socks off of every reader imaginable— but also feels incredibly raw and heartfelt. Daphne and Miles are no exception to Henry’s mighty pen— but they are some of the most interesting characters I have encountered in a romance in a long time. This book gutted me and starred me dead in the eye while also making me giggle and kick my feet. If you want a book that will not only take you on a rollercoaster of emotions but also absolutely devour you with love— then look no further. If I could give this book 5 million stars I would.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

One of my favorite feel-good books of the year. I adore Daphne so much,
and really love how she chose to get her own place before jumping into something real with Miles.
I don't know how to explain this, but Miles and Daphne just feel so human, as they really do exist in the same reality that I do. Emily Henry has an incredible ability to write people I want to root for no matter their characterization—yes, even Peter and Petra
because I love how absolutely messy they are as people.

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