It's Emily Henry - she is seasoned enough to know what we want, and she gave that to us yet again. A great beach read!

Emily Henry wrote a book about a librarian? Say less. I LOVED this! I think it's gotten pretty mixed reviews, but it really holds a special place in my heart. I am a librarian and it was so amazing reading about one who really loves her job and has allll the best voices during story time. I loved the dynamic between the love interests. They had great banter and really heartfelt moments together. Highly recommend reading this!

Thank you to penguin publishing for allowing me to access this arc through Netgalley.! The way I screamed when I saw this in my inbox. :)

Emily Henry does it again! I cannot express how much I love her writing. Theres just something about the vibes that feel like a warm hug.
I like how the plot seems realistic and the characters are well thought out. I always feel very connected to the characters and their emotions.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought the story was fun and really cute. I loved the small town vibes! I feel like her books always touch a sensitive issue but in such a mature way. The characters really work through their problems and I feel like I can connect more to them this way.
The romance was so cute! I loved the little adventures the characters went on and the friendships that were developed.
This was another 5 star read for me! I highly recommend if you love character development and cute small town romance. I mean the main character works in a library, what more could you need to be convinced to read this book!!

I think this is my favorite Emily Henry book! She did such a good job creating characters I love and wanted to be happy (Daphne and Miles) and characters I wanted to punch (Peter). I maybe related a little too much to Daphne which made me just love her character even more. The tension, flirting and banter in this book was delicious and I eat up every minute of it. This book was also like a beautiful love letter to libraries and that made it so special and beautiful. Seeing Daphne and Miles grow, heal and trust each other was just heartwarming.

Rating: 4/5
Rating: difficult family dynamics, familial neglect,

Thank you to Berkley, PRH Audio and Netgalley for access to these advanced copies...all opinions are my own.

It really was a funny story...in classic Emily Henry form. The premise was straight out of a 00s RomCom. Julia Whelan can indeed do no wrong and manages to always be my favorite narrator. I think I can say I'm firmly in the really like camp for EH. I love that EH writes to the book lover world, the bookstagrammer in me found so much joy in Daphne's love of books. Something she does well is character development and this book was no exception. I loved the foodie moments and found family.

I don't know what it is for me but I am never in love with them or at least I'm not after thinking about it a bit critically. It's an immediate 5 stars because the ending was so good and then I think about it a bit more and the first 2/3 bring be back down. All this to say, I am always going to read her books.

→3.5 stars

this book just proves to me that I need to befriend someone who works at a winery.

it felt like a warm summer breeze, the ocean on a calm evening, the feeling of the first hints of summer. one thing about Emily Henry is she knows how to make you feel like you're right there alongside the characters. she can so acutely insert you into the story by her writing style and I will always give her credit for that. she is a fantastic writer.

with that being said, something about this book fell flat for me. I wasn't really invested in the story til about 60% in and even then the main conflict felt meh. Miles' character needed to be more developed I think; he just wasn't pining in the way other EH mmc's did. the plot felt very forgettable and doing too much at the same time. this was a melting pot of tropes with roommates, forced proximity, fake dating, tour guide dates, etc. It just felt like we were jumping around too much and it would have been better if we stuck to one or two of these. I'm still not convinced of their romance, if anything they were super horny roommates who ended up buying a house together. I could be holding this to too high of a standard though because Happy Place literally made me convulsively sob but I was just not super impressed with this one. I did love the librarian representation though, whoop whoop! her patron interactions hit a little too close to reality for me!

of course, I will still read anything this woman writes so I'll be anxiously waiting for her next book!

Came for diabolical vengeance and steam but got a boring, watered down therapy session

The local librarian, Daphne Vincent, is happily engaged to Peter Collins. Until the eve of his bachelor night when Petey unceremoniously dumps Daphne for his bestie, Petra. Also, heartbroken is Miles, Petra’s boyfriend. Daphne now needs a place to stay, and Miles just so happens to have a slot available. To get back at Peter and Petra, the two decide to “fake date.”

Funny Story had potential for some Jerry Springer like drama. Do not dump librarians. They read lots of stories and have plenty of material to work with.

Take, for example, our villain, Peter. He is a software person, and say he has a keylogger program on Daphne’s computer. Daphne creates some very interesting stories, googles “pregnancy” and “STD testing” and tells Miles how much “better” he is than Peter. Perhaps Daphne gets drunk, googles “hottest people on GoodReads” and wakes up with a few more bookish friends. Or she walks by Peter’s gym, licking an ice cream cone, only she’s too enthusiastic and the ice cream falls to the concrete sidewalk. She smiles and laughs genuinely while Peter runs over, offering to buy her another cone, but Daphne lowers her voice and says in a sultry tone, “No need. I get all the ice cream I need for free,” as she walks away.

But instead of bad librarian, this book went into some misguided attempt to give the characters backstory with characters excruciatingly overexplaining their feelings. The book just plain didn’t bring the fun. Where is our guilty pleasure?

Just for the record, Anne Elliot is the Jane Austen character that I most relate to. To pick a character from P&P is just too pedestrian, darling.

Lacking creativity, lame, tame, and too PG. Needs a bit more May Cobb.

Oh my GOD?? I am both shocked and weirdly not surprised by how much I loved and devoured this book. The story follows Daphne and Miles, forced roommates after both being dumped by their exes who are now engaged. Sound complicated?? It is, and it was absolutely a funny story.

Daphne and Miles are complete opposites. Daphne likes her schedules, a bit of a pessimist, not the best at small talk. Miles loves people, genuinely loves talking and making connections, and is just slightly scattered. But somehow they worked perfectly together, brought out the best in each other.

And their character growth was AMAZING.
Daphne learned to trust others and miles did his best to trust HIMSELF and it was such an enjoyable read.

I cried at about the 80% mark, Daphne’s emotions were so easy to empathize with, and I found myself feeling like I WAS her and that’s just how good the writing was.

I did find myself relating to both Daphne and miles and their struggles. It was so real and raw and I CRIED. And anytime I cry that hard, it’s an automatic 5 star read

I also loved every single side character(excluding the exes!!!). Ashleigh was such a good character I want a book for her lol

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this, because I’ve both LOVED and felt indifferent to Emily books, but I’m so happy I gave this one a chance, I won’t be forgetting about it anytime soon

I thoroughly enjoyed this one! Ahhh! First thank you so much to Berkley Publishing, Netgalley, and Emily Henry for a digital ARC. Emily Henry is the reason I made a Netgalley and Bookstagram account in the first place – I read Beach Read in 2020 and it pulled me from a year-long slump, so I instantly tried to figure out how to get an early copy of People We Meet On Vacation. I had been unsuccessful in attempts for early copies of her work untillllll…FUNNY STORY! So of course I had to immediately drop everything and read it.

There’s something about Emily Henry’s writing that makes me fall in love with her characters and feel their stories in my heart. She has a great blend of funny and deep conversations and none of her books feel “formulated” despite following the general pattern of incident, meeting, fun conversations, sexual tension, third act conflict, happy ending. One thing that really worked for me was how their emotional baggage lined up with each other. It meshed so well. Her not being able to trust anyone because of her dad and then him not being able to trust himself because of his mom gave the ability for some great understanding, empathy, and character development for Daphne & Miles.

I wouldn’t categorize this as a true “fake dating” trope because that was such a small subplot of this book. It’s kind of how they started talking a bit more, but it was very much EH’s take on fake dating. She gave them such bigger personalities than focus on tropes.

Other notes: I would rate this in my top 3 EH books. I absolutely loved the natural healing relationship between Daphne and Miles and thought their banter was entertaining and adorable. They gave serious Nick Miller/Jess Day vibes from New Girl and you know I love Nick Miller. (Or maybe you don’t know, but I mean…everyone should love Nick Miller.) The found family vibes were strong with this one for the ensemble cast and I really loved the relationships Daphne made moving forward to carve her own place.

Sidenote, I’m from Indiana and now somehow want to move to Michigan.

**spoiler starts here
I absolutely adored that Daphne found her own apartment and moved out at the end of the book but they stayed together. That was one of the most realistic parts – you can’t just move in at the start of a relationship, and she truly worked on finding herself and not relying on just fitting in Miles’ life. The fast-forward epilogue was a perfect ending and I’m happy they are happy.

Peter and Petra are the worsttttt (Jean Ralphio voice).

I appreciated that she reached out to Sadie and is working on rekindling that friendship. She took the needed break and neither of them knew how to get back to each other, but that small bit made me happy – friend break-ups are hard and that slow rebuilding can be healthy after some time apart.

Loved the premise of Funny Story. Daphne is dumped by her fiancé on the night of his bachelor party, because he’s fallen for his I-swear-it’s-platonic childhood best friend. Daphne finds herself suddenly heartbroken and without a home. A children’s librarian, she needs to find a new place fast and in budget - and with ample closet space for all the unused wedding detritus. When an apartment share becomes available, she moves in to find that her new roommate is none other than Miles, the jilted ex-fiancé of her own ex’s childhood best friend. Sticky, right?

What I loved: the beginning drama, Miles starring as best book boyfriend (ever?!), and the end. The forced proximity and fake dating started off well. This was a rare case where a third act break up worked in the story’s favor.

What I didn’t: the middle meandered. A lot. The fake dating trope was not well developed. Other than a couple social media posts, the expected amusement and cover-ups were glaringly absent. This is an EH book so, there were several side plots of heavy, messy emotional issues. While they could have created tension, instead the focus shifted to those and really took me out of the romance.

Overall 3.5, rounded up.
This was miles (see what I did there) better than Happy (ahem, Misery) Place, but not in the league of Book Lovers or Beach Read, for me.

Funny Story is a contemporary romance. It is my sixth book by this author.

I loved this book. I went into it completely blind. And I'm so glad that I did. I look forward to reading the author's new book every year. And I just find with romance that I prefer not to know the tropes in advance and just discover the story for myself. Funny Story is a wonderful read. And I think that the title works very well for the story.

The narrator is 33 year old children's librarian, Daphne. I loved her so much. And I adored her job so much.

This book does use some common tropes. But I sort of loved them here. And all of the characters were so great. I really liked Daphne's coworker Ashleigh. Her friendship with Daphne was one of my favorite parts of the book.

The romance was really good too. I loved Miles, I loved his sister Julia. And I was really interested in Daphne's relationship with her dad. This added a lot to the story.

The last part of the book was so good. I really enjoyed how the author included Peter in the book (Daphne's former fiancé). And I thought that there were some really fun reveals. Overall this book is amazing. Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I highly recommend it!

There is nothing Emily Henry can write that I will not enjoy! I polished off her latest novel Funny Story in one sitting. The premise of this story, our FMC moving in with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancé’s ex, I mean, COME ON!! Daphne is an underrated-ly funny and genuine person who you can’t help but empathize with, especially when her life is completely upended. And Miles, well Miles might be one of my new favorite EmHen boyfriends (#1 Charlie Lastra, you will always be famous). At first, they “play” a newly minted couple to perfection, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that Peter and Petra (those names, I mean, COME ON pt. 2) getting together was the best thing that could have happened to this duo. I don’t know how she does it, but Emily Henry managed to put a refreshing spin on this trope that could have very easily become super messy, and she does so in a way that is always delightfully sweet and heartwarming, never cheesy/corny.



With all of that said, I do think EmHen is still working on striking the perfect balance between the romantic situation occurring with her main characters and the other dimensions of their lives: complex family dynamics, new and/or strained friendships, and personal mental health, to name a few. At times, it seemed like I was struggling to keep my focus on the main conflict and that the plot was a little too unruly for a book of this length. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate how characters in Funny Story and Happy Place have more complexity to them, but it seems like there is a better balance amongst these elements that can be established.

Emily Henry has written another unforgettable story. I liked getting to know Miles and Daphne and watching their friendship grow in such a short period of time. I can highly recommend reading FUNNY STORY if you like fake dating, smiling, and laughing out loud.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley and PRH audio for the complimentary copy.

This review will be shared to my Instagram account (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

Funny Story took me by surprise in the best possible way!

When we first meet up with Daphne, she's had her heart broken by her fiance, who's already moved on with his best friend. YIKES! And that's how Daphne ends up moving in with Miles, whose ex-girlfriend is now with Daphne's ex-fiance. What. A. Mess. Miles and Daphne are complete opposites who are just trying to mend their hearts and move on. That is until one day while drowning their sorrows, they form a wild plan....

Overall, I thought this book was a really enjoyable read. I'm quite the sucker for a jilted bride and opposites attract romance. But, when you add in a fake relationship, you just know you're in for a treat. There's just something about a fake relationship that speaks to me and let me tell you, Miles and Daphne do not disappoint. I was captivated from beginning to end and had the absolute best time getting lost in Miles and Daphne's story.

I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOR

I didn't think Emily Henry could top Happy Place for me but boy did she with this one!

First of all, a children's librarian MC? Hells yes. I loved reading about Daphne's work life and being like 'oh hey, I did that two weeks ago' and 'oh dang it's not just my library where people do that?!' and also I really want to have a Read-a-Thon at my library. And just add Miles to the long, long list of my book boyfriends. I immediately loved Daphne and Miles as a couple as well. All the accidental touches and glances and 'fake' kissing- phew. Talk about tension. And the way they learned about and understood each other- chef's kiss.

The side characters were perfect as well. I loved Ashleigh and I really enjoyed seeing Ashleigh and Daphne's friendship grow. The poker group was excellent, all Miles' contacts and friends around Waning Bay were not only fun in and of themselves but they helped us see who Miles was as well. Also, obviously I love all the library patrons- the storytime crowd was adorable.

I really enjoy the way Henry writes- she knows how to balance the funny moments and the sad/angsty moments perfectly, and I think she did this exceptionally well in Funny Story.

My new favorite Emily Henry!!

Daphne has spent her whole life trying to find what the meaning of home is. When she meets Peter, she falls head over heels and believes she's finally found what she's been "missing". Until a few weeks before their wedding when Peter tells her that he's in love with his best friend, Petra, and he's calling off the wedding and kicking Daphne out of their house. Daphne finds herself turning to the most unlikely person, her ex fiance's new fiancee's ex boyfriend (just by saying that line, you know a good time is ahead!). Miles needs a roommate to help with rent now that Petra has moved out and Daphne doesn't let the chance pass her by, at least until she can figure out what to do with her life now that it's in shambles. After receiving wedding invitations from Petra and Peter, Miles and Daphne decide to get back at their exes(and hopefully make them jealous) by pretending to date. Now the scene is set and Emily Henry is just beginning the wild ride that is Funny Story!

I fell in love with Daphne and Miles and characters and relationships are what Henry does best! It's not just a straightforward rom-com, Henry fleshes out all her characters so well, adding beautiful complexity and nuance. You feel like you really get to know them and their backstories of what makes them unique. You cry, laugh, swoon and ache for these fictional characters like they're real and it's what I look forward to the most when I read an Emily Henry novel! And she also makes you really want to visit Michigan and see if it's as amazing in real life as it is in her books!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to @berkleypub for this advanced copy of Funny Story. You've added so many wonderful feelings to the end of the week, so extra thanks for that. 🫶🏻

Now, to @emilyhenrywrites - how do you do this every time? How do you reach in, give my heart a bunch of squeezes, make me smile, laugh, and cry within a few pages, and then just expect me to go about by life?!

What am I supposed to tell work on Monday when I'm daydreaming about beaches and cherries and even asparagus? I don't even like asparagus!

Miles has carved out a space in my heart and I guess he'll live there forever. I'll have to figure how to explain that to my husband. Oh well!

It is the expectation that when an Emily Henry book is on the horizon, we as readers of the romance genre (limited to approximately 3 authors we enjoy because we are not actually romance readers) will love it. And guess what, Ms. Henry can do no wrong because Funny Story is a contender for my top 3 Emily Henry books – after Beach Read and Book Lovers but honestly, on par!

If you are familiar with the show New Girl, you will very quickly realize that Miles Nowak, the most recent man written by Henry is very Nick Miller coded and romance-ish girlies, unite, we are here for this!

Miles Nowak is everything. He is quite possibly my favourite of the heroes of the Emily Henry universe! And Daphne, the librarian female main character with her bookish references is all of us.

Funny Story is funny, I did laugh out loud, but it is also romantic and quirky, tender and sarcastic, and unputdownable. I loved every minute of it.

I also loved the cast of characters Henry brings to life in this story and the friendships, the attraction of opposites and above all the moments. After all, isn’t it the many moments strung together that tether us to each other?

If Beach Read has been one of your favourite romances thus far, this one is not to be missed. You will LOVE it!

I liked Funny Story, though I can’t say it’s a standout amid Henry’s other books. Still leaps and bounds better than 95% of others in the genre but for EH super fans, that’s my first thought. It felt more “standard romance”.

It had a sweeter and more adorable vibe to it even while tackling emotional issues and a traumatic beginning. A little push and pull, slow-ish burn, and a lot of great build. What stands out is the fantastic banter and convincing conversations that Henry always writes. Daphne and Miles are incredibly likeable and believably fallible while navigating some classic romance tropes.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters but I selfishly wanted even more from them. I wanted to fill out our lead characters live’s even more using their newfound friends and family and even more locations. I loved all the outings they go on, building relationships, but I definitely craved more unique chapters dedicated to all the people and places. That might just be a me thing though.

Overall, it was enjoyable, slightly impactful, if not entirely emotionally shattering like I’ve come to expect. Still a must read.

Daphne's life falls apart when her fiancé confesses that he is in love with his best friend, Petra, and gives her one week to vacate their home. Which is how she ends up becoming roommates with Petra’s ex, Miles.

On paper, Daphne and Miles are complete opposites, but soon they realize that they have more than just heartbreak in common. Childhood trauma has left deep emotional scars in both of them; scars that still affect their lives and actions as adults.

After agreeing to a fake relationship in the hopes of exacting revenge on their exes, Daphne and Miles start spending a lot of time together and develop a true friendship. They also develop a very real attraction that frightens both of them and that they desperately try to ignore.

Emily Henry’s words have once again destroyed me emotionally and no one is surprised. The slow burn, the heartbreak, the longing, the angst, the friendships, and the beautiful love story solidified Funny Story as my new favorite Emily Henry novel.