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emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
when I tell you I devoured this book, I mean it. bought it right when it came out at midnight, stayed up until 3 am reading it, and then finished it that same evening. This is tied with Book Lovers for me for my favourite EmHen.
Miles and Daphne were funny, sweet, and kind, and it was so fun to see them develop a friendship and then have it turn into something more. I appreciated that although miscommunication was present (it's a romance book y'all) it was pointedly cleared up ASAP by the characters. I will say I'm not really understanding why everyone is saying Miles is like Nick Miller - they're both bartenders and (initially) obsessed with someone who has not treated them kindly but that seems to be where the similarities stop.
I loved the way EmHen depicted the loneliness and difficulty of starting over somewhere, especially when it comes to developing friendships, and spoke to the complexities of friendships when there are significant others involved. I didn't love how immediately physically comfortable Miles and Daphne seemed with each other - I prefer a bit of a slower burn - but overall thought it was charming. It made me laugh out loud, it made me smile, it made me cry, it made me feel all of the things. I ended up reading it for a second time the week it came out.
If, in your EmHen rankings, you enjoy Beach Read or Book Lovers, this one will be right up your alley! For added context, my ranking is:
1. Book Lovers/Funny Story
2. Beach Read
3. Happy Place
4. People We Meet on Vacation
Miles and Daphne were funny, sweet, and kind, and it was so fun to see them develop a friendship and then have it turn into something more. I appreciated that although miscommunication was present (it's a romance book y'all) it was pointedly cleared up ASAP by the characters. I will say I'm not really understanding why everyone is saying Miles is like Nick Miller - they're both bartenders and (initially) obsessed with someone who has not treated them kindly but that seems to be where the similarities stop.
I loved the way EmHen depicted the loneliness and difficulty of starting over somewhere, especially when it comes to developing friendships, and spoke to the complexities of friendships when there are significant others involved. I didn't love how immediately physically comfortable Miles and Daphne seemed with each other - I prefer a bit of a slower burn - but overall thought it was charming. It made me laugh out loud, it made me smile, it made me cry, it made me feel all of the things. I ended up reading it for a second time the week it came out.
If, in your EmHen rankings, you enjoy Beach Read or Book Lovers, this one will be right up your alley! For added context, my ranking is:
1. Book Lovers/Funny Story
2. Beach Read
3. Happy Place
4. People We Meet on Vacation
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abandonment
Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
I feel like I say this every time an Emily Henry book drops, but I truly mean it when I say this is by far my all time favorite EH book out of all 5 of her adult romances. It had humor, just the right amount of smut, and such a beautiful found family all set in a small town in Michigan.
As always, her banter is unmatched and I always fall in love with her MMCs - Miles is no exception here, but he is the standard. I adored his sister, loved Daphne's new friends she makes at the library and all over town. Fake dating is not normally something I'm into in romance books but I was feeling so angry for both Daphne and Miles that the evil part of my brain loved watching their exes fall apart and even encouraged it.
Dammit now I have to wait for her next one...this always happens. Ugh!
As always, her banter is unmatched and I always fall in love with her MMCs - Miles is no exception here, but he is the standard. I adored his sister, loved Daphne's new friends she makes at the library and all over town. Fake dating is not normally something I'm into in romance books but I was feeling so angry for both Daphne and Miles that the evil part of my brain loved watching their exes fall apart and even encouraged it.
Dammit now I have to wait for her next one...this always happens. Ugh!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Abandonment
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol
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
My summary:
Daphne Vincent is devastated when her fiancé, Peter, breaks up with her on the morning after his bachelor party—for his longtime *platonic* best friend, Petra. In desperation of needing a place to live, Daphne ends up moving into the apartment of Petra’s ex, Miles. Her and Miles generally stay out of each other’s way for weeks until one night of wallowing leads to a fake dating lie in an attempt to make their exes jealous. As the fake dating ruse leads to friendship, the blur between which feelings are real or fake becomes more confusing.
My thoughts:
I read Funny Story in April and adored it. It is a five star read for me. The audiobook was great but I enjoyed reading it more than I did listening to it.
This is the soonest I’ve listened to an audiobook after reading the book. It’s just how my Libby hold came up. Honestly, I think I should have delayed it longer to really enjoy this as an audiobook. My favorite audiobooks are of books that I have already read and liked, but this was just a little too soon after reading it to really enjoy it for a second time.
Julia Whelan did a great job narrating this book. As a single narrator of a very long book, her performance was overall really good. But, it’s just a very long time to listen to the same narrator, even breaking it up over more than a week. I mentally checked out a bit through the last third of it.
It’s funny to me how reading a book can give you certain vibes that just aren’t there listening to the same book narrated to you. I had the same experience with reading and then listening to Bride by Ali Hazelwood. I am a mood reader and totally rate books mostly off of how they make me feel, and it’s just interesting to me in the difference I find between some books and their audiobooks. I think reading certain sentences or paragraphs can have a much different impact than listening to the same.
I think I will always prefer reading versus listening to audiobooks, and that’s is reflected here in my rating for the book (five stars!) versus the audiobook (4.25? stars). But whether you’ve already read this book or not, this is a great audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content
Minor: Abandonment
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
And just when I thought Emily Henry couldn’t do any better, she goes and blows me out of the goddamn water! I loved this newest book of hers, and she had me giggling, crying, and swooning throughout the entire thing. I look forward to rereading this amazing book for years to come. 🩷
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
If you love “New Girl” or work in a library, this is the book for you!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Infidelity, Gaslighting
Minor: Drug use
adventurous
emotional
relaxing
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol