A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author 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?
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?
Title: Funny Story
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Expected Publication Date: April 23, 2024
Review:
I want to thank NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an egalley of this title to review and give my honest opinion. All the opinions expressed here are my own.
Daphne's life was all laid out: fiance, nice home, good job. Until the day it blows up and her fiance, Petere, runs off with his childhood best friend, Petra. Stranded in a town she knows nothing about, she ends up moving in with her ex-fiance's new fiance's ex. When forced into close proximity with MIles, she learns more about who she is, what she wants, and who she might want to spend time with. And she forms new friendships with those around her while realizing it's ok to have her wants come above others.
The plot puts Daphne stranded across the country from where she lived, after her fiance decides he's suddenly leaving her, after they've already bought a house and started to make a life together. What a complicated situation! She's forced to find shelter in a place she knows nothing about. She's forced to make decisions about if she's stay or go back to her old life where she lived near her mom, the only family she has. Not only is she forced into living with her ex-fiance's new fiance's ex but they each receive an invitation for the wedding between their exes! Together they decide a fake relationship will show their exes up. To complicate the situation more, Daphne has given herself a timeline to decide what she wants to do, the Summer until her read-a-thon she's organized happens. Then she believes it will be time to go back to where she grew up. But along the way, Miles suggests he gives her a tour of her new home town so she can learn about it and see if that might make her want to build a life there. She doesn't plan on being attracted to him, or falling for him.
I've really enjoyed all of Emily Henry's titles so it's no surprise this one fit that bill. This is probably my new favorite by her! Two great tropes: forced proximity, opposites attract, and friends to lovers!
Let's talk characters. I like Daphne enough. She's not my favorite Henry FMC. She was a bit whiny at times and a lot self-sabotaging. This kind of character drives me a little batty because I just want to slap them upside the head. At the same time, the whole point was her growth from this introverted girl who did what others wanted and accepted how she was treated to someone who could turn out her voice for herself. By the end, I was ok with her, and happy for her. Miles, on the other hand, is definitely my favorite Henry MMC. He's charming, funny, sexy, scruffy, kind, selfless (to a flaw), and kind. I really enjoyed how he was so easy with himself and how he gave of himself to others. Often times I wish he was more worried about himself and his happiness. But I think that was the point of his character arc: to watch him realize he doesn't have to be the caretaker of others and is allowed to feel and find the things that make him happy. And the side characters that were introduced really made me happy: Julia (Miles' sister), Ashleigh, Harvey and the poker crew, and all the others introduced along the way. They surround Daphne and help her start to understand herself and her needs.
I think my favorite thing about the relationship between Miles and Daphne is the honestly between the two. While there was some misunderstanding here and there, for the most part they let each other know what was happening. I was happy to see this as it made for less stress for me while reading. Was there a conflict, of course there was, Par for the course with a romance, but it was easily solved and didn't make the story unintentionally tense.
As for pacing, it was an easy read I really didn't want to put down. I love how Henry is able to weave each chapter with the next so you are left with wanting to know what will happen next.
This has become my new favorite Henry book (it pushed Book Lovers right out of the way). I'm so happy I had a chance to read this and I'm truly looking forward to whatever romantic antics Henry comes up with next!
Author:
Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read, as well as the forthcoming Happy Place. She lives and writes in Cincinnati and the part of Kentucky just beneath it.
Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.
Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.
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