Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Funny Story

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Funny Story by Emily Henry

208 reviews

stellahadz's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

I both love and hate this about Emily Henry and her books - she writes such compelling FMCs and side-character relationships (friendships, family, etc) that the romance feels almost distracting. The only book of hers that really filled this cup for me is Happy Place, which I know a lot of people didn't like, so maybe I'm more of a platonic-familial-relationship reader than a romance reader? Who knows.

I did like the setting and the premise of Funny Story, and I thought Daphne and Miles were very cute together, but I kind of wish there had been

less of the will-they-or-won't-they. If they had gotten together earlier (which I think every other character would have been fine with because most of them assumed they were already together anyway?) there would have been more space for Daphne's impressive personal growth to shine and for her relationships with her parents and her friends (particularly Sadie) to be explored in greater detail.

I will say I liked the final chapter of this book - it tied up the story nicely but didn't feel too "and then they all lived happily ever after."

Also, this is a very small complaint and didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book, but it could have used some more editing. Some of the phrasing felt awkward, and a character was referred to by the wrong last name at one point.

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brynn_books's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Emily Henry has done it again!! I love how all of her books blend friendship and family dynamics with the romance aspect. This book was so unexpected… in the best way possible.

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ktv's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

So good I love Emily Henry so much
For some reason this felt spicier than her other books? But it makes sense bc the tension between miles and Daphne was insane. I rly like how it was all written
My star rating doesn’t rly mean anything I liked it a lot but it doesn’t have the same meaning to me that pwmov does. And tbh I kinda forgot abt the minor details already

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abidavisf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.75

Ugh, Julia Whelan, the narrator you are! Funny Story is already everything I want in a book: sexy, funny, emotional, and so smart. Add Julia Whelan’s narration on top? We’ve got a winner, folks.

The Funny Story audiobook brings Miles’ quick wit to life in a far better way than I can in my head. He is cuter and more heartwrenchingly gentle than I thought possible. I felt more impassioned for Daphne while listening too - she and I have so many similarities in our anxieties, and I felt myself wanting to reach through my phone and hold her constantly.

Funny Story is perfect, and its audiobook only increases that perfection. Love. A must listen.

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elenikin's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.75

Another great story from Emily Henry (in the top 2 IMO)! I really enjoyed both MCs and seeing their relationship grow. I really related to Daphne's love of books, as well. Although I didn't necessarily relate to the trauma they experienced that shaped their perception of love, I thought that it was written very thoughtfully. The spicy parts were great too!

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idk_indigo's review against another edition

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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

2.75

Okay, so I'm ending my little hiatus on writing book reviews because I feel like there's just.. so much to say about this one.

Things I liked:

How the very ending
paralleled her relationship with Peter via telling the story of how the two met
The setting of the library; working in it, her experiences as a children's librarian, even some humorous stories
The fact that even though she
decided to stay in Waning Bay, she did end up getting her own apartment so her and Miles weren't navigating a fresh relationship while also being roommates.
Honestly a very smart decision for both of them if you ask me, and I love a knuckle-headed FMC but idk something about that I was like damn... y'all are making responsible decisions I love that

As for things I hated, I feel like there's less a specific list and more, like... just, aspects of the writing more generally.

For example, the sex scenes were... not good.

First of all, he doesn't eat her pussy, which, I mean we all know how I feel about MMC's refusing to go down on their ladies, especially when she went down on him... like... please tell me you're joking. Say it right now or else (knife emoji)
So freaking cliche, literally full of cliches. She could feel herself shatter... she could feel the pieces of herself coming (cumming) together... she rose and as she fell she wasn't sure if she would ever get back up or even if she ever wanted to. Like girl please shut up it's a freaking orgasm you're f*cking fine

I know it was supposed to be lightly spicy, and I love that, however, you can make things lightly spicy or even closed door and not have it, like literally, cringeworthy

I also just felt like the chemistry between Daphne and Miles was nonexistent... not even bad, it didn't suck, it wasn't inconsistent. It simply was not there. I feel like she's talking about how weird and nasty he is, what a weirdo loser who smokes so much weed and doesn't use a calendar (which, like, also shut up and download Google calendar bc you're really making yourself look dim-witted rn, Daph) and then I turned a page and she's staring deeply into his brightly colored orbs and feeling a twinge between her thighs. It was so rapid from "This guy sucks, can't wait to move out" to "OmG i LoVe HiM" but without any passion or chemistry or lust.
I also feel like this probably has a lot to do with the fact that the sex scenes sucked.

Okay, and the final thing I will say is that this book fully convinced me that Emily Henry is using Chat GPT because her past handful of books remind me so so much of the following exchange I've had with AI:

Me: Please recommend me a recipe to make. I have these ingredients.
AI: Here you go! Here's a recipe, it's perfect for you because it has all of the ingredients you have. You're going to love it! You will need approximately $4,000 worth of cooking equipment.
Me: Okay, actually... please recommend me a new recipe, but preferably without needing to buy any equipment.
AI: Okay great, here you go! This time, you won't need to purchase any equipment! All you'll need is the ingredients you have, plus at least 10 ingredients that you don't. Good luck!

And, like, so on and so forth until one of us gives up. I genuinely feel like this book is her last several books, but, like, slightly to the left.
It feels so uninspired. There is not enough of a personality change between all of her FMC's. As a friend pointed out, her side characters are all the same person. I feel like you can't have a set of books that highlight how important friendship is in a relationship, but then make those friends not have full lives and characteristics of their own.

I also feel like the "childhood trauma" aspect of this book just borrows way too heavily from Happy Place (the last Emily Henry book I read) along with, like, whatever book on attachment styles is popular at the moment. I get it, I love it, childhood trauma sucks for sure, you struggle with accepting love, you're 35, now let's move on. I feel like there was one scene in particular where I felt like I was reading a list of, like,
"Things Your Childhood Trauma Might Say To You (Newsflash: They're All Wrong)" and it was like:

You're not deserving of love.
Everyone is going to give up on you.
People are just waiting for the first opportunity to leave.

Okay, what is this? A middle schooler's tumblr account? LOVE! For a middle schooler. You're 35. Move on.

All that being said, EH is a very good writer, albeit I don't love her storytelling (I hope that makes sense). Idk. I enjoyed it, however, it was boring - both as a novel and as a concept.

PS. I almost forgot about my least favorite thing of the whole book! When Miles is going through

his shit with his family and Daphne just like completely changes the subject

I wanted to be like ma'am... he was talking. It pissed me off so much like she just has to be making this all about her.

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annatl4's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

cute ending but i dont know about the rest. i almost feel like nothing even happened?? i love emily henry’s writing and how i can picture the entire book, but i don’t like how there is never much of a “story”. it felt a lot like all her other books with a pessimistic character and a lot of crying about everything from every character. as always i enjoyed the side characters and the humor that they brought to an otherwise negative sounding story. i did like miles but was disappointed in the lack of detail into his own struggles. daphne was insufferable at times but had valid feelings that seemed relatable as a reader. not my favorite from emily henry and definitely took longer to read than expected.

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