Thank you Penguin Randomhouse Audio and Berkley for my early copies of Funny Story!

Thank goodness for audiobooks because the marriage of Julia Whalen’s narrating and Emily Henry’s storytelling skills is truly a match made in heaven.

Did I love this one? Why, yes. Yes I did. It actually may be my favorite book by Henry which is not a statement I make lightly as all of her stories hold a special place in my heart. For my romance readers we have fake dating, opposites attract, found family, friends to lovers all taking place in a small coastal Michigan town. Basically all of my favorite things penned by the incomparable Emily Henry. What a time to be alive!

There is a sense of joy in Funny Story that was missing from Henry’s past two books. Seeing Daphne get her groove back while slowly falling for the sweetest man possible (I love you Miles!) made for such a lovely reading experience. Waning Bay, Michigan was the perfect setting for their adventures and wow, I think I need to already do a reread!

Funny Story is available everywhere tomorrow and honestly- do yourself a favor and grab the audio while you’re at it! This is truly the perfect warmer weather read!

I love all of Emily Henry's books but I think this one is my favorite. Two dumped people become roommates out of necessity, and then become close. I love librarian Daphne and I love Miles even more. I was giddy reading this and that never happens to me. High praise.

🅐🅡🅒 🅡🅔🅥🅘🅔🅦
🧡 𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 🧡
𝖤𝗆𝗂𝗅𝗒 𝖧𝖾𝗇𝗋𝗒
#BerkleyPartner #berkley

All bow down to the Queen that is Emily Henry. I never doubted that I would love it, but when you love an author and her books so much, there always that little bit of worry that can creep in…well Funny Story, she nailed it! I love that EmHen’s are all so different, they aren’t formulaic at all. Also this book is a love letter to libraries and librarians (which I am) so I felt so much of this to my core. My highlights are off the chart and I can’t wait to get my physical copy to re-annotate it! Miles is a totally different type of leading man and you can’t help but love him. Daphne is who she is and I loved watching her journey to finding her voice and seeing that who she is, is enough! I also can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud! The humor is spot on!

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story, that is until she discovers her fiancé Peter's true feelings for his childhood friend Petra. Starting anew in Waning Bay, Michigan, she finds solace in her dream job as a children’s librarian and an unusual living arrangement with Petra's ex, Miles. Despite their contrasting personalities, they form an unlikely friendship and devise a bit of a fake dating scheme. As they navigate their tangled emotions, Daphne wrestles with the possibility of falling for someone connected to her past heartbreak.

Read if you enjoy:
👑 Emily Henry
🚻 Roomance
📚 Libraries
💞 Friends to Lovers
🧲 Opposites Attract
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Crappy Parent Issues
🏡 Small Town
🤭 Dry Humor
🌊 Northern Michigan

Thank you to @berkleyromancec and @netgalley for the advanced eARC of this book!

After a break up she never saw coming, Daphne ends up moving in with the man who's ex is now her ex's newest love. If that wasn't complicated enough at all, Daphne uprooted her life for the man who's just left her, leaving in the lurch for the next hundred or so days. Until the Read-a-thon is completed, she must stay here and see this through. Even if that means befriended her coworker, fake dating her new roommate, and finding out precisely who she is in the meantime.

This may have been the best Emily Henry I've read yet. It was truly romantic comedy, heavy on the laughter and lightness. There was plenty of emotional depth and side characters I need to have their own books for now.

A thoroughly enjoyable romp through the roommates to lovers, fake dating, warm and fuzzy, library loving tale.

I loved this charming story set in northern Michigan - the Traverse City area on the shores of Lake Michigan. Miles and Daphne are a complete delight! I loved their friends to lovers arc, their family and mental health struggles, and the complex and wacky side characters and friends that form around them.

Funny Story of heart and warmth, and Miles couldn’t be a better book boyfriend if he tried! This is in a pretty close race with Book Lovers for my favorite Emily Henry book.

The audiobook, narrated by the brilliant Julia Whelan, makes this story all the more engaging..

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: E-book

5🌟 - I loved it!

No surprise here, I LOVED IT! Em Hen's writing is like coming home, and her books are the perfect blend of nostalgia and quintessential summer vibes that leave her romances at GOD-TIER for me. Her writing just HITS DIFFERENT, and there is no other way to explain it 🥹.

Her take on roommates x fake dating was just 🤌. I wanted to stretch and savor this one because it is PERFECT. Her banter is just top-notch, and I found myself giggling and kicking my feet while reading! This felt like one of her more realistic/relatable characters! They were just two people with broken hearts who found each other, and their love is so beautiful! In addition to their story I loved her cast of side characters from Ashleigh and Julia and the other people from town!

5🌟 across the board for all her romances 🫶 My current ranking of her romances (subject to change):
1. Beach Read
2. Happy Place
3. Funny Story
4. Book Lovers
5. People We Meet on Vacation

Prepare to laugh and swoon, because Em Hen always kills it 👏.

THIS BOOK. Emily Henry has done it again! We started off in Funny Story with absolute gut-wrenching heartbreak for both our main characters and I was so concerned about how that was going to play out. But fear not with Emily Henry! She will show you an funny, amazing, silly time while also having you ask yourself "what is love actually?" Per usual, this story was teeming with vulnerability, intimacy, and also amazing character growth. I love the way we get to explore Daphne's journey to "I" after being a part of a perpetual "we". This felt like a such important thing to explore as so many of us find ourselves adrift either in partnerships or freshly out of them.

And Miles! At first he worried me. A seemingly carefree and untethered soul, I was worried with how that would reconcile with Daphne's buttoned up librarian persona. But they worked SO well together. Their chemistry was off the charts. They had unbelievably witty and silly banter that made me feel like I was interrupting something just by reading. The way they understood each other and supported each was also so beautiful. True soulmate potential.

Ultimately, I think this was Emily's funniest work yet and also her most sensual. I breezed through this book in one singular day and I have been thinking about it ever since.

Thank you so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!

Honestly, how do you even begin to review an Emily Henry book aside from *pterodactyl screeching noises* and *unintelligible fluttery hand gestures* to properly convey how much you love it? Just when I thought I couldn’t love her romcoms more, she goes and writes Funny Story.

Since 2021, I have not managed to find a single romance novel to top my obsession with People We Meet on Vacation–and I have read several hundred romances. How Emily managed to beat her own book is absolutely beyond me. Funny Story now takes first place in my favorites list.

As I was reading my eARC (thank you, THANK YOU, Berkley) I decided to highlight everything that stood out to me. Three paragraphs into the first chapter and I was already highlighting a quote that had me snorting with laughter. The rest of the book made me feel precisely as giddy as those first few lines and I managed to highlight nearly 40 quotes and added countless notes.

Something that constantly impresses me with Emily’s writing style is that while she maintains a classic romcom formula (meaning that the book is equally as funny as it is romantic), she doesn’t skimp on depth and emotion. I have cried nearly as many times as I have laughed while reading each of her novels and Funny Story was no different. It dealt with themes like emotionally abusive family members and toxic romantic relationships. But it doesn’t just glaze over them or make them feel unimportant. They’re an integral part of the story and handled with so much grace.

This book also gave me an element I never knew I needed (?) in an EmHen novel: found family. It may have manifested in an untraditional sense, but it was absolutely part of the narrative and I really loved how it was cultivated and nurtured throughout the story. By the end of the book, I felt as though Ashleigh’s friendship with Daphne was just as important as the romantic relationship with Miles.

If you’re looking for something feel-good that will make you laugh so hard you nearly pee yourself, cry a little, and just fall in love with love all over again, you need to pick up Funny Story. I had the best time ever reading this book and I can’t wait to pick it up whenever I’m craving some extra comfort. All the stars for this fantastic romcom!

**Unrelated and semi-unimportant but fun fact time: A truly delightful part of this for me was that the Richmond they reference time and again is Richmond, Virginia… which just happens to be where I was born and raised and lived until 2021. Seeing it mentioned over and over made me really happy. Now, if only I could convince Emily to do more tour stops there…

[CW: (Major) Cursing, (Moderate) Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Sexual content, (Minor) Vomit]

Few authors dominate the romance genre quite like Emily Henry; new releases are capital-M Major events (& I’m sure there’s something to be said about a new EmHen just days after a new TS album. The book girlies are fighting for their lives this week, hope y’all are okay 😮‍💨)

FUNNY STORY’s premise was just too good to pass up: after his bachelor party, Peter calls off the wedding and breaks up with Daphne. Petra, his best friend since childhood and the girl he swore was like a cousin has confessed she is in love with him. With nowhere else to go, Daphne calls Petra’s ex Miles, obviously he’s now got an extra room at his place.

Things go from bad to worse when they each receive a wedding invitation. Several bottles of alcohol later, drunken RSVPs are made — along with the lie informing the happy couple that Daphne and Miles have blissfully found a second chance at love in each other’s arms.

The ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex-boyfriend *and* fake dating. It sounded absolutely bonkers from the start and I couldn’t wait to dive in! That I read an almost 400-page book in a sitting will come as no surprise here, I was hooked and couldn’t stop turning the pages.

However. The ✨ third act miscommunication ✨kept this in good-not-great territory. In the end, FUNNY STORY was an easy romcom that kept me glued to the page (or, rather, the screen). Miles was a great love interest as is typical for Emily Henry novels, but this isn’t a book I’ll be rereading. That said, this will absolutely be found in many beach bags this summer!

All the stars! This is the perfect definition of a rom-com. When I think of everything that I look for in a romantic comedy, this checks all of the boxes. I laughed. I cried. I had 2 incredible MCs to root for!

I was very nervous in the beginning, because the story starts off a bit on the ridiculous side. I won't go into details as it could be a spoiler, but while it sucked me in, I also wasn't sure of how it would play out. I should have never doubted my girl Emily, because I think it worked out really well. The relationship between the MC's grew organically, and I was completely sold.

Read if you enjoy:
- Forced proximity/Roommates
- Fake dating
- Friends to lovers
- Opposites attact

10/10 recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for this e-arc. All opinions are my own!

There are no words for how much I loved Funny Story. It feels that with each book Emily Henry publishes, the characters come to life off the page even more. I found myself laughing out loud many times throughout the book, at both descriptions and conversations. I LOVED Daphne and Miles' entire relationship, and they honestly might have become my favorite character's out of all of Henry's books.

If you're a first timer to Emily Henry's books, Funny Story is a great one to start with. If you're already and established fan of hers, I hope you love it as much as I did.

All the stars.
Thank you, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice level: 🌶️🌶️

Read if you like:
▫️opposites attract
▫️reverse grumpy x sunshine
▫️roommates to friends to lovers
▫️fake dating
▫️found family

Emily Henry cannot miss. I adore all of her books, and this might be my favorite one yet! It was sweet, tender, heartbreaking, and comforting all at once. It had her signature witty dialogue and well-rounded, complicated characters, and I quickly fell in love with Daphne and Miles.

Their relationship so beautiful and raw that I felt like my heart was going to burst multiple times throughout this book. It felt realistic and grounded, and their chemistry was amazing! I loved their progression from roommates, to best friends, to dating.

She really broke the mold with Miles. He’s caring, charming, selfless, easy-going, adventurous, sweet, playful, fun, friendly, and genuinely nice to every he meets. He’s basically a golden retriever in human form. And on top of that he’s hot and tattoos…none of us ever stood a chance.

I devoured this book in less than a day and want to immediately reread it. I loved every single thing about it.

Thank you to Berkley, Berkley Romance, NetGalley, and Emily Henry for the ARC. I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Emily Henry has done it again! This book is a masterpiece. I absolutely love how she intertwines women’s fiction and romance, and it was done so seamlessly in this one. I loved Daphne and Miles’ relationship, but what I adored more were their characters individually. I was so invested in their individual character development and rooting for them as characters, it made it so easy to root for them and their happily ever after. This is also some of Emily Henry’s best writing and prose, if not THE best. I related to Daphne on such a deep level and felt so seen. Can’t wait to buy a physical copy of this one.

This book is not just a love letter to book lovers but also to those that have ever felt like they aren’t enough.

I cannot state enough what an Emily Henry stan I am. I stalk her instagram for easter eggs. I love when she posts unfiltered real photos of herself. My summers are better because of her books. Up until now, Beach Read was my favorite of her stories but Funny Story now holds top spot.

This story is entertaining, heartfelt, swoony, angsty, funny, charming, and one I tried to stretch out for as long as I could but was only able to make last for two days. I don't reread books really but I am highly considering rereading this one because I miss it already. I really love when a story makes me feel like, “well now what do I do with my life,” and I felt that the minute I finished.

I loved the main character, Daphne. She is like most of us book readers with so much heart and a quiet bravery waiting to be seen. I love that she works in a library and the whole story is building to a readathon date. I swear I wish I could be a librarian. I also love her friend Ashley and I can’t wait for you to get to know Miles too.

Miles is… perfection. Just wait until you meet him. I am not ruining that one for you. I will say what he brings to Daphne’s life will make you smile, cheer and swoon. I also love who Daphne is when she is with him. He may be Emily Henry’s best book love interest yet.

This story has themes of self exploration, finding your voice, friendship, and what it means to be loved for exactly who you are. I devoured every second of it!

I also highly, highly recommend the audio. Juila Whelan narrates and completely immerses you in Daphne's world. I had many, many moments where I drove a little further for no reason, worked out a little longer on purpose, so that I could keep listening. It is 0 days until I may have found my favorite audio book of the year!

i adore emily henry, and i have since her magical realism days. i'd happily read her to-do lists if she released them once a year, and i'm sure even those would have more banter and loveliness and whimsy than your average full-length release just by virtue of being written by her. i'd say the same about her grocery lists, but i already do read those. (the woman writes a mean substack.)

there were a few things i didn't love about this book. it tries to fit <i>so much</I> into a few hundred pages: our protagonist, daphne, is left by her fiance weeks before her wedding, causing her to move in with miles, her fiance's new girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, realize she has no friends, and begin a quest to find herself. along the way, she makes at least two new friends, joins neighborhood activities, makes her job her dream job, solves her daddy issues (?), and falls in love with miles. all of this is happening so much.

it comes at a cost, which is that typical emily henry magic. and i don't just mean the bygone magical realism i mourn every day and never shut up about. this book is not quite as funny — jokes feel forced, sometimes to the point that you can only identify something as reaching for funny because the character "joked" or "played along" instead of "said." it is not quite as polished, with writing feeling a bit unconfident, full of words italicized for emphasis and, you know, the whole verbs that aren't said thing. and the characters have none of their usual better-version-of-reality charm. miles' nick miller archetype would never work for me personally, but my real issue with him is that his character traits fade once we're supposed to see him as a romantic prospect. our side characters, ashleigh and julia, feel like interchangeable joke-bots to the point of being vaguely threatening. (when they pop up on page in tandem i feel a sense of unease.)

and to be honest, daphne has no self awareness. because there's so much happening in this book, everything has to be incredibly simple: daphne's issue with her dad, AND daphne's issue with miles, AND daphne's friends' issue with daphne all has to be the same, which makes for some moments of ridiculousness — like how can daphne be melting down about being wronged on the same city block where she realized several hours earlier she had wronged someone in that exact same way? how could she be so unwilling to give the grace she expects for herself? and how could emily henry set scenes of this book on a cherry farm in michigan when she knew what it would do to me, specifically?!

sorry. that's the last time i'll bring up magical realism. i think.

ol' daph just has too much to figure out about herself. i think this abandonment would be so completely traumatic even if she HADN'T built her entire life around peter only to be left entirely alone, and even if it WASN'T eerily similar to her daddy issues, and even if she DIDN'T have a bunch of unresolved things going on up in ye olde memory palace, that the last thing she'd be doing is sticking around someone else's hometown flirting with her new roomie. especially since what she ends up doing is repeating the exact same cycle with no awareness at all.

and in the worst offense, miles' illiterate texting style reminded me of the himbos i used to date (date doing a lot of heavy lifting here) in my wayward youth. which should be jailable to do.

Emily Henry has done it again and wrote another 5 star book. Honestly, can Emily write anything bad?

Happy Place is still my favorite book of hers, but Funny Story is a close second. I always feel like I can relate to the characters and once again I fell head over heels for Daphne and Miles. This romance was swoonworthy and laugh out loud funny, while also getting me right in my feels.

I adore how Henry writes her characters. They're not perfect and never claim to be and I love how realistic Daphne and Miles were. The plot itself was absolutely *chefs kiss* along with the slow burn, forced proximity, friends to lovers tropes.

One thing I will forever shout from the rooftops is that Henry creates the BEST side characters to ever exist (Christina Lauren does as well). The cast of characters in this book make this book so much more. I got really emotional reading this because found family was a big trope.

I don't need to explain the plot because it's Emily Henry and if you're a romance lover you have had this on your tbr for months. If you want a book full of romance, silly and sweet moments, and one that you just hold close to your heart then read Funny Story!

I mean, at this point, I feel like I'm never going to not like an Emily Henry book, so no surprises that I loved this one. It had everything I want in a romance: humor, heart, and a perfect HEA. Emily can do no wrong!

EMILY HENRY!! HOW I LOVE YOU!

This story was so sweet🥹 I binged it in a few hours!

As with all Emily Henry books, the banter was top tier, as was the romance, as were the characters.

I love Daphne. And I totally relate to feeling like the secondary character in your own story. Being a tag along and feeling like you’re no one’s favorite. And her GROWTH. Making new friends and really surrounded herself with people that love her for who she is. Made me tear up. Her seeing her own worth and standing up for herself cause she DESERVES to🥹 I also relate to having a sh** dad tbh😂

And Miles🥰 this messy man! The man who is nice to everyone he comes across and who loves his friends and sister dearly. I love you, my new book boyfriend.

And can’t not mention the secondary characters!! Who also were just amazing and such a part of the story and really pushed Daphne and Miles to be even better versions of themselves😭

The slow burn, friends to lovers, fake dating JUST UGHHHH!! I just thought the build up of their friendship and love was so natural and real! They really fell for each others hearts🥲

This was so emotional and sweet, but also sexy and swoon worthy.

With her signature blend of heartfelt emotions and a wonderful love story, I’m not alone in eagerly anticipating the newest Emily Henry novel each year! Funny Story is another genre-blending delight, centered around two people who couldn’t be more different, except for the one horrible thing they have in common…

What is Funny Story about?

Daphne used to love when her fiancé Peter would tell their story. The blustery day they met, the errant hat, the decision to move to his quaint lakeside town and begin a life together. Daphne and Peter had the perfect love story, until the day that they didn’t.

Daphne is having a quiet evening at their home when Peter is out celebrating his bachelor party. She has gotten over the weirdness of him inviting a woman who was a childhood friend of his, Petra. It makes sense for her to be there when she’s his closest friend. Until Peter comes in to tell her that he and Petra are in love (and have been) and he’s breaking off their wedding. In a show of “chivalry”, he even gives Daphne a week to move out while he and Petra are away on vacation together. He hands Daphne a list of apartments he “thoughtfully” looked up.

Daphne is reeling from the news and Peter’s abrupt departure, when the doorbell rings. It seems Petra also broke off her relationship with her boyfriend Miles at the same time, and he’s at the door to see if she’s at Peter’s house. Daphne and Miles don’t know one another very well, but they find themselves in an unfortunately similar predicament. So Daphne decides to pop the question… can she move in to Miles’ spare room?

Miles and Daphne are complete opposites. Miles is scruffy, into sad love ballads, and works a nontraditional career at a winery with odd jobs to fill in the slow seasons. Daphne is buttoned up, obsessively organized, and works at a library. Miles is charismatic, instantly charming everyone he meets. Daphne is so bad at small talk and opening up that her coworkers suspect she may be in witness protection.

Both are heartbroken and going through their own grief, but they also form a friendship and support system for each other. Searching for calmer waters, both are grateful to have someone going through the exact thing they are. Until they receive their invitations to Peter and Petra’s wedding. Drowning their sorrows in a few too many drinks at the bar, their walls come crashing down and they bond for the first time over a shared plan to post strategically misleading photos of their summer together in hopes of making Peter and Petra jealous.

The line between putting on a show and developing real feelings become more blurred as the summer goes on. And when a few unexpected family members show up, they learn more about one another. Can heartbreak eventually bring them to heal and find true love?

What did I think of Funny Story?

The opening sequence of Funny Story is honestly a jaw-dropper. Even though I knew that Peter was going to come home and beak off the engagement with Daphne for his best friend, I was still shocked at the audacity to do it at all, let alone how he did it (leaving to go on vacation with Petra and asking her to move out). One layer to this story was that Daphne had moved to Michigan for Peter. A big part of her story is about how she struggles to open up to people and get to know them. It made it extra shocking that she now was in a place with no real ties to anyone or anything.

I don’t think Emily Henry is capable of writing anything less than 4 stars. While this wasn’t my personal favorite Emily Henry book (I think I would give that honor to Happy Place), I did think that this book had several things in its favor that may make it top the list for many readers. The first of those is that while Funny Story is heartfelt and certainly emotional, it wasn’t as heavy as some of her other books (she loves to pull our heart strings on the way to getting her couples together). The second is that the leading man is an all-time character. I think Miles must be my favorite of her MMCs across all of her books.

One of my favorite subplots was Daphne’s developing friendship with her coworker Ashley. Even more than Miles, I felt Ashley played a large role in Daphne’s journey of self-acceptance and growth across the novel. Ashley is a single mother and works with Daphne at the library. She’s the first to directly confront Daphne with how closed off she is. When Daphne says it is because she isn’t interesting or likeable and people don’t want to get to know her, Ashley calls her on it. As their friendship develops, Ashley also shows Daphne how she has allowed herself to become lost in relationships. And that didn’t only happen with Peter (who it’s clear is the wrong match for her), but Daphne begins to repeat the pattern with Miles. Ashley is the type of friend everyone needs—the one who is unafraid to call you out and does it from a place of caring about you.

As I’ve come to love and expect with Emily Henry, she writes a fiction novel that happens to have a romance element and she blends together tropes and flips them on their head. In this book we see opposites attract and fake relationship. I normally don’t love fake relationship, but when Henry uses that trope, it’s with weight and gravitas. It delves deeply into their feelings rather than being fluffy and verging on ridiculous. Henry has said that she is proud to call herself a romance author, even though she knows her books straddle the line with fiction and often cross into it. As a teenager, Henry never read romance books because they had the reputation of being “trashy” books. Once she read one, she realized how much tension, character development, and growth they can offer their characters. Plus it can be hard to dislike a happily-ever-after ending!

Final Thoughts

Henry can do no wrong in my eyes, and this was another wonderful story with characters that you won’t be able to help loving. I did the audiobook of Funny Story narrated by Julia Whelan and it was fantastic. If you think Emily Henry can do no wrong, Julia Whelan falls into the at same exact camp. Her narration always captures emotion, relationships, character development, and dialogue expertly. She’s considered one of the best in the business for a reason! Miles is the most loveable leading man we’ve gotten from Henry yet. He’s an all-time character and is so pure of heart that the reader can’t help but fall for him right alongside Daphne. He’s a healer and an empath. While he has his own growth in the book, its much less than what we’ve seen in other books with MMCs. This is a book about Daphne’s growth and how Miles, Ashley, and a few other characters are her support to get to a place of happiness. Charming, poignant, and full of heart!

Daphne Vincent’s life appears to be on track. Engaged to Peter she has relocated to Waning Bay where they live in the lovely house Peter bought for them. Bonus, Daphne has the best job as a children’s librarian. Peter suddenly calls off their engagement saying he realizes he is in love with his childhood friend Petra.
New to Waning Bay Daphne doesn’t know many people. All her “friends” were Peter’s friends. Desperate to find a place to live Daphne ends up becoming roommates with Miles, Petra’s ex-boyfriend.
Since the good looking but scruffy Miles works most nights at a restaurant, the two roommates rarely meet. They eventually become friendlier after a night of commiserating about their broken hearts.
I loved FUNNY STORY. I think this is Emily Henry’s best novel to date. If you read enough romance novels you are familiar with the various themes. You might sense where the story is going but, it is the way it gets there that makes FUNNY STORY a great read.
Thank you to the Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for access to an advanced digital edition of FUNNY STORY.