A sweet, funny, romantic story with such depth. A messy break up that leads to such a journey for all the characters. I loved Daphne and Miles and I loved it all! So beautiful and romantic and fun. A must read.

if you enjoyed BEACH READ, i think you’ll love this one 📖💙🌊 it’s taken time to gather my thoughts on it, and i’m sad to report this one fell flat for me.

⭐️ rating: 3.5 stars
genre: romance
#️⃣ pages: 400
✍🏼 same author of: HAPPY PLACE, BOOK LOVERS, PWMOV, BEACH READ
🎧 narrated by Julia Whelan—i highly reco this format!!
read if you like: BEACH READ, fake dating tropes, friends to lovers, Michigan, libraries

i want to preface this review with two things—1) i read a book i absolutely LOVED right before this (MY OXFORD YEAR) so that was working against me from the start and 2) once i switched to the audiobook about 60% in, i liked it waaaay more 🎧 fake dating tropes are also not my fave, but for EmHen i would read anything. she does such a great job blending love stories with interesting side plots and characters. with a lot working against me, her writing still made this an enjoyable story. but when comparing it to the likes of HAPPY PLACE and BOOK LOVERS, this falls to the back of the EmHen pack for me. sometimes the hype of an author can be a thorn in your side and that was the case a bit for me here—but i’m happy to see so many readers enjoy this story 🥰

FUNNY STORY follows Daphne and Miles who have just both gotten dumped. the plot twist? their former fiancé’s are now dating each other 😳 so what do they do? fake date to make them jealous ofc! bc there’s no way Daphne will fall for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, right 👀

after some reflection, i think the fiancé breakup happened too quickly. if we saw more of Daphne’s relationship before the breakup, i think the story would have flowed better since the main event happens so early on. i also dislike miscommunication tropes and it had some here at the end—the third act breakup was confusing and it’s frustrating when grown adults don’t just TALK. i felt like this love story was so mature until the end and it felt off!

to summarize:
💫 5 stars for the setting (Michigan in the summer >>>>), the banter and the audio format
💫 3 stars for the tropes, plot and slow burn love story
💫 averages to 3.5-4 stars, not my fave EmHen
💫 try the audiobook!

Emily Henry here again to destroy your life, and we just let her 🫠

I was worried about the “love square” described in the intro, but I’m happy to report there’s no “backsliding,” if you needed that reassurance.

I love the crazy small town antics of Waning Bay and Daphne’s public library. I loved the exploration of internalized feelings from childhood being processed.

And I really adored the nonstop banter that provides few needed comedic relief between moving or tension-filled moments.

One of her best books yet!

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance and Libro FM for an advanced copy of Funny Story. Emily Henry is one of my favorite authors, and I was so excited to dive into this book!

I listened to the majority of this book on audio, and Julia Whelan knocked it out of the park as usual! The narration was engaging and clear from the first chapter to the epilogue. I really enjoy how Julia narrates stories, and I have really come to associate her voice with authors like Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

As for the story, Emily Henry has another winner on her hands here. I completely fell in love with these characters, and I was so attached to them as individuals by the end of the story. I was rooting for them to stay together, of course, but I was also rooting for their entire journey towards healing. Both came into the friendship/situationship with baggage, but I honestly felt like their baggage was so relatable. Family issues, confidence issues, letting your own identity get tied up in your parter's identity...I think these issues all are relatable on some level for everyone. I just could not love two characters more!

And, I'm a total simp for some fake dating. Give me fake dating and a one bed trope and I am there in a heartbeat. :)

This book is wonderful, the characters are wonderful, and the story is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes from all the emotions - laughter, empathy, sadness, and ultimately, happiness.

Rating: 5⭐️

I mean, is any EmHen book less than 5 stars? She can do NO wrong! Every book she writes is amazing. Funny Story made me laugh, swoon, and want to be friends with the characters! Now I'm impatiently waiting for her to write a new book!

This was an absolutely lovely and charming Emily Henry romance!! After finishing each book I feel like it’s my favorite of hers, and this one was no different. I loved the main characters, flaws and all, and the side characters really stood out in this book. So good, and the audiobook was excellent too, as always. Listened to it in a day!

🌈Queer rep: mention of a potentially nonbinary/non-gendered person, brief mention of an FF couple.

Perfection in a book. I laughed, I cried, I blushed, I screamed, I stayed up way too late reading and even DREAMT about it… needless to say, perfect 5/5 ⭐️. Dare I say, 6/5 stars?!! 😭😭😭

No one does it like Emily Henry. The way she manages to write characters that feel REAL, conversations that make you weep, and chemistry that gives you goosebumps… it’s a GIFT.

Daphne and Miles have such a special place in my heart. 💖 I honestly think this is the quickest I’ve fallen in love with an MMC, by far. My kindred spirit, Miles. I loved everything about him.

I related to him in so many ways and yet want to be more like him in so many others??? I love his easy-going-ness, his warmth, his kindness, his love for others. I love how he can have a conversation with anyone and his thoughtfulness.

And Daphne, just wow. The GROWTH. I’m so proud of her. 🥹🥹 I loved her relationship with her mom, her passion for children’s literature, how she SEES people, and I loved the self-discovery elements to her journey!

I’m still trying to decide where this sits in my EmHen ranking but I’d say in my top 2 for sure!!!!!! 🏆 this will without a doubt be in my top books of 2024!!!!

Read if you 🤍:
🏠Forced Proximity
📖 Bookish Characters
🥹 Happy Tears
👯‍♀️ Solid Friendships
💬 Great Banter
🚂 Steamy Romance
🤣 LOL moments
🌸 Found Family

**Many thanks to Berkley and Emily Henry for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley!**

The great irony of the phrase "Well, it's a funny story..." is that whenever someone says it, the story to follow is RARELY funny.

Unbelievable, wild, wacky, and rife with coincidence? Sure. But will it end with a punch line? PROBABLY not.

In the case of Daphne and Miles, however, the only kind of 'punching' they have in mind is not so comedic...and is probably a TAD more violent. You see, Daphne had the picture perfect life with fiance Peter all but locked up. After a courtship that felt akin to the greatest fairy-tale romances, complete with charming meet cute, a posh family, the perfect wedding dress, and a gorgeous home lined up, Peter returned with a bombshell ready to drop: he tells Daphne that his LONGTIME gorgeous specimen of a best friend, Petra, and he have made a life changing decision: they want to take their platonic friendship to the next level...and oh yeah, they've discovered they are IN LOVE with one another.

Nothing short of floored, Daphne doesn't know which way to turn...after all, she's lost the man she thought was her One True Love, her home, and all of her future plans in one fell swoop. Aside from her job as a children's librarian in this scenic Michigan town (while she looks for another librarian job to take her AWAY from this place), Daphne no longer has much she can call her own. But Daphne isn't the only one to be emotionally eviscerated by this revelation: Petra had a beau too: Miles Nowak. Despite his scruffy appearance, constant smell of 'herbs,' and the general awkwardness of their situation, Daphne feels that Miles is the ONLY person who can understand the level of devastation...and she decides that given the circumstances and her general lack of support system, why NOT move in together?

At first, everything seems innocuous and the two seem to coexist peacefully and independently enough (although Daphne can't help but smirk when she catches Miles watching Bridget Jones' Diary...yet again)!). They've settled in and found their 'new normal,' until the pair receives a bit of...shall we say, UNEXPECTED mail: wedding invitations to Peter and Petra's wedding. Aside from their mutual disgust for just how quickly their exes have moved on (well, RACED on) to the altar, Daphne and Miles consider the possibility of attending the wedding...but in the mean time? Let's just say the prospect of presenting some Instagram photos of the two of THEM together is just too good an opportunity to waste.

Though neither knows where it will lead, Daphne checks out the winery where Miles works and begins to embark on adventure after adventure with her new 'pal'...and despite her Type A, buttoned up MO, starts to see EXACTLY what Petra found lovable in this hippie-hottie hybrid who always smells like just a HINT of woodsmoke. But with the clock ticking on her self-imposed deadline to start a new life and the "wedding of the century" looming...will Daphne lean in to the strange coincidence that seems to be JUST what she needed? Or will lingering feelings toward BOTH exes culminate in yet ANOTHER set of breakups...and even two MORE reconciliations?!

There's no better way to say it: Emily Henry's books FEEL like sunshine. I think there's good reason they often end up released right as the weather changes...because like summer itself, those first few magical moments are what we wait ALL YEAR for...and they NEVER disappoint! It is always such a relief to sink into the timbre of her writing, which is always so recognizable, charming, and familiar, it's like grabbing your favorite sweater...you know, the one that is SO cozy and threadbare, but you can't stand to let it go because it feels JUST right? That's Emily Henry's A+ banter. Even in her less engaging efforts (I'm looking at you, Happy Place) I STILL took solace in the 'groove' of her writing: her lit-obsessed characters (as in my favorite of hers, Book Lovers) and the male counterparts that have JUST enough charm to balance out their less desirable qualities.

Take Miles, the male MC of this book, for example. Now, against Daphne's snooty ex Peter....let's just say it wasn't HARD to make Miles a more desirable option, but I STILL was a bit concerned that wasn't going to happen at all based on first impressions alone. Miles is initially presented almost as a sort of overgrown stoner college kid that doesn't EXACTLY have the sort of depth that a Type A, bookish gal like Daphne is probably going to want...and this was an interesting choice on Henry's part, not to mention a bit of a gamble. Some will probably write off Daphne's attraction to him in general as a proximity rebound, and also a convenient way to stick it to BOTH exes and nothing more. It is sort of a bizarre situation for both exes to not only be open to dating but also LIVING together from jump...but it's one of those EH plot devices that you just sort of accept in order to allow the characters feelings to blossom quickly. And once you give Miles a CHANCE, there are very slight (and yet somehow deliberate) Beauty and the Beast vibes at play here: beauty is within, and the minute you realize what an incredible FRIEND Miles is to Daphne throughout, all bets are off...and you can BET I was IN!

I know some readers have tired by this point of the quirky, funny, somewhat insecure, and bookish heroines that seem to be at....well, the center of EVERY EH novel...but I'll be honest, having a bookish soul sister NEVER gets old. Daphne embodies so much of what you 'expect', but she is STILL so lovable, and her endeavors at the library will have you WISHING you'd studied library science so you could read to kids for a living. (Yes, I know librarians don't get paid well enough AND the competition is fierce...but a girl can ALWAYS dream, and you won't stop me!!) The reasons Daphne got so swept away by the "dream of Peter" initially also come to light as the story progresses...and this brings me to the final EH hallmark that graces EVERY one of her reads: complex, emotional side plots (usually involving family; in this case, parents) and how the trauma and complicated feelings of a messy upbringing ALWAYS informs our choices in adult relationships, our ability to trust, who we think we 'deserve' as a partner, and the quest to find everything we are missing in ourselves in someone else. The loss of friendships, and the life you thought you were going to have can be JUST as devastating as a romantic breakup...or in some cases, even more so.

The beauty of Emily Henry, though, is that she NEVER has to beat her readers over the heads with ANY of these themes: they are neatly woven into the narrative in such a way that will having you choking up without even realizing it. Her characters ALWAYS go on a sort of journey of self-love and self discovery, and in essence, this clarity is needed: it's easy to SAY you need to love yourself before you can truly love another, but Henry always SHOWS it. Although the declarations of love in this one in the end got a BIT long winded (and I rarely say that, but I'm pretty sure someone would have needed a cough drop or two by the end of one speech in particular!) the sun never stopped shining on these two...and I couldn't help but bask in the glow!

And if there's one way that basking in the glow of Henry's next stunner of a romance tops the ACTUAL first day of summer, which is (thankfully) right around the corner?

You can stay in it for as long as you like, with a drink and a snack in hand...and never have to think ONCE about sunburn!

4.5 stars

“...I want to be seen. I want to be loved. I want to live with the hope that things can get better, even if, in the end, they don’t.”

“Or maybe…everything worth doing comes with some risk.”

Like everyone on bookstagram/booktok/book threads, I was so excited for a new Emily Henry novel! It was so comforting to be back inside one of her novels. It’s actually been a while since I last read one of her books and reading FUNNY STORY reminded me just how much I enjoy her writing.

Her latest novel has lots of good stuff: roommates to lovers, a charming small town, opposites attract. I really liked both main characters, Daphne and Miles, and felt like I got to know them well, including their personalities and insecurities. Daphne finds it difficult to open up to people and be vulnerable, and I related to that so much. That’s also why I loved the way that the friendship between Daphne and Ashleigh developed. Making friends as an adult is actually so hard and that felt really realistic.

Of course I loved that Daphne was a librarian and fellow book lover. There’s lots of library love in the book and to settle the debate, Em Henry confirms that audiobooks count as reading (thank you very much!).

I enjoyed the romance between Daphne and Miles. I also feel like this is spicier than Em Henry’s previous books?! I could be totally wrong about that, but either way, I’m not mad at it.

This book was funny, sweet, and tender. It’s about learning to trust yourself and other people again. Choosing to open yourself up to new experiences, knowing that can come with some risk, but also great reward. I loved the closing lines of this book and overall it was such an enjoyable reading experience for me.

This is not a meet-cute, it’s more like a meet-really-really-ugly. But it starts with a meet-cute. It’s just that the meet-cute is NOT between our protagonists Daphne and Miles. It’s between Daphne and her very suddenly ex-fiancé Peter. There may, or may not, have been another meet-cute between Miles and his equally suddenly ex-girlfriend Petra – but that really doesn’t matter by the time we meet all of the above.

Because of all of that VERY sudden ex-ing that happened. In the wee hours after Peter’s bachelor party, between Peter and his childhood bestie, the beautiful Petra. The woman he claimed had always been a platonic friend. Always.

At least until Petra confessed to Peter, when they were alone in the aftermath of that bachelor party, which of course Petra attended because she was, after all, his bestie, that she was in love with him and couldn’t watch him marry someone else without letting him know that.

The resulting mess – and was it ever a mess – left Daphne with one week to move out of the house that she and Peter were supposed to share, alone in the small town she’d moved to because that’s what HE wanted, with no support network because all of “their” friends were really his friends – and a job she loved and didn’t want to leave in a place she could no longer bear to stay.

Not too far away, in that same tiny little town, Petra’s ex Miles was left with an apartment he could only afford half the rent on, in a town that he felt like he’d made his own, with an utterly shattered heart.

Daphne, ever practical EXCEPT when it came to Peter, made Miles an offer he literally couldn’t afford to refuse. His need for a roommate dovetailed heartbreakingly and conveniently with her need for a place to live.

They may have agreed to be roommates out of their shared tragedy but they are definitely respectful of each other’s space and each other’s brokenness. At least until they both receive invitations to – you guessed it! – Peter and Petra’s upcoming nuptials. After a long and very drunken night of shared drinking, ranting and more than occasional sobbing, Daphne and Miles decide that living well – or at least the appearance of it – will be their revenge on their exes.

They RSVP to the wedding of the people they each once believed to be the love of their lives, together. And to back that up, they post a selfie that gives the unmistakable impression that they’ve found the new loves of their own lives – with each other.

Miles is certain that they can keep up the pretense of dating each other for the summer – just long enough to get past that dreadful wedding. Daphne isn’t nearly so sure – but she’s willing to try. She certainly expects it all to go terribly, terribly wrong long before they reach that Labor Day weekend disaster-ganza. And it very nearly does.

At least until it all starts going terribly, terribly right.

Escape Rating A: I started out listening to this one, and that’s probably what got me over the hump of the early chapters. This is one of those stories that, of necessity, has a very hard start. We meet Daphne just after very nearly the entire life she had planned crashed and burned. She’s wallowing in a whole lot of angst and regret and self-recrimination, nearly buried by the weight of her emotional baggage piling up all around her. Listening to the excellent narrator makes the listener feel like they are literally inside Daphne’s mostly despairing head and it’s a realistically well-portrayed terrible place to be.

Fortunately for the reader/listener and Daphne, it really does get better – mostly thanks to Miles – who very nearly crashes and burns it all around her again.

The thing that keeps the whole meet-ugly/meet-cute of the thing from going over the top is that Peter in particular may be the villain of this piece – which he definitely turns out to be – but he isn’t evil. He’s certainly awful, and he displays all of his awful bits over the course of the story – but he’s not actually, technically, evil. He’s just selfish and self-centered and more than a bit spoiled.

Daphne was willing to continue spoiling him because he represented something she’d never had – stability. Her dad was mostly absent and generally in the midst of his next big score that never materialized. Her mother was the very best in Daphne’s eyes, but they moved a LOT in pursuit of financial security and Daphne stopped bothering to make connections because she knew they’d never survive a move. Peter, his large, loving family and his wide circle of lifelong friends is a situation she wants to be adopted into wholesale so she lets herself be surrounded and subsumed into it.

Only to be confronted with the fact that it was never really hers – and neither was Peter. (Although that turns out to have been dodging a bullet she never would have seen coming.)

The fun part of this story – and it mostly is fun after that first long, deep and totally justified wallow – is watching the way that Miles courts Daphne by getting her to fall in love with tiny, slightly touristy, totally scenic, Waning Bay Michigan. He loves the town that he’s adopted and been adopted by, and does his damndest to share that love with Daphne. That he makes the town irresistible makes him irresistible and their hesitant steps toward a relationship turn this story into a marvelous kind of dance of a romance.

That, at the very same time, Daphne uses the foundation of having a job that she totally loves – even if it barely pays the bills – to put herself out there in the sense of opening herself up to the possibilities of deep and true friendship and fellowship – is what makes this story so much her journey to happiness and fulfillment. Whether or not, in the end, either of those things includes Miles, or Waning Bay, or both, or neither.

That Peter ultimately gets the shaft all the way around turned out to be merely the icing on a very tasty cake of a book – or perhaps that should be the slathering of cheese and jalapenos on a fresh, hot serving of Petoskey fries. The part that makes a good thing just that much better.

My favorite of Emily Henry’s books is still Book Lovers, but Funny Story definitely moved into the runner-up slot. I loved that Daphne was a librarian, and she definitely read like “one of us” while her Waning Bay Library read as both realistic and on the good side of places to work – except for the poor salary which was equally realistic – dammit.

I’ve read all of the author’s adult books except for People We Meet on Vacation, which I can feel climbing the virtually towering TBR pile as I type this. It looks like a perfect book to pick up later this summer – when we’re on vacation!

I’ve always said that writing reviews for books you love is challenging because it’s hard to write something coherent that’s not just a bunch of screaming about how you’ve just found your new favorite book.

Every April or May, I find myself feeling this way about Emily Henry’s latest release, because she has an uncanny ability to just freaking NAIL it every time. Case in point? FUNNY STORY, her newest romance (out today!), might just now be my second favorite of her novels (BOOK LOVERS will always be my little baby).

Daphne finds her life flipped upside down when her fiancé decides he’s actually in love with his best friend. Without a place to live, Daphne ends up turning to Miles, who —SURPRISE— is the man who was dumped after Daphne’s ex-fiancé declared his love for his best friend. When these unlikely roommates receive their invitations to the upcoming nuptials of their exes, they decide that they’ll pretend to be in love in an act of revenge. As they spend more time together (Miles is hellbent on getting Daphne to love Michigan), their fake feelings turn real.

OBSESSED doesn’t even cover it. While HAPPY PLACE felt a little more introspective and melancholy and literary, FUNNY STORY is a true return to the rom-com. While it leans on a few tropes, Emily Henry works her absolutely potent magic to make them feel fresh and fun again. And speaking of romance, I’d say this is her steamiest book yet (While it’s no Kindle Unlimited romance with shirtless men on it, it has its moments.) ALSO — it’s 100% her funniest book. HELLO! THE BANTER! THE TEXTS!

What else did I love? (Um, everything?).

⭐️ I adored Daphne’s love and passion for the library, and I thought the use of her readathon event as a way to mark time and build suspense was fantastic.

⭐️ Most of Emily Henry’s work has one swoon-worthy dance scene to a beloved song that makes me feel obsessed with it (see BOOK LOVERS and “Carolina In My Mind). We’ve got two goodies here: CRIMSON AND CLOVER and HARVEST MOON!

⭐️ The fact that she almost became a librarian in Ocean City, Maryland. I was all 🥹.

Are we really surprised that I loved every single thing about this book? Emily Henry’s writing never fails to pull me in and her love story’s are always exactly what I need! Miles and Daphne were so endearing and I couldn’t get enough of their story. Emily Henry has her book boyfriend formula down and nails it every single time. I don’t understand how she does it! And the banter y’all, top tier as always. I loved the fact that Daphne was a librarian and loved books as much as she did. I felt so seen! The cast of characters and other friendships were amazing and made the book even more enjoyable. This is a must read and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Thank you Emily Henry and Berkley Romance for my gifted ARC!

This meet cute story is about Daphne and Miles. They become roommates after their significant others end up together, leaving Daphne and Miles left to pick up the pieces. At first, Daphne wants nothing do with Miles, but eventually she notices how kind and even cute he is. However, in an effort to convince her ex she’s moved on, she lies and says that she and Miles are dating. She comes clean to Miles and they start fake dating yo convince their exes they’re okay. Will they be able to keep things platonic as roommates and fake lovers? Or will they actually start to feel something for each other?

Overall, I loved this story. I loved Daphne, she reminded me a lot of myself. I also loved Miles. He’s not perfect, but he’s kind and caring. I also loved the Michigan setting. I also enjoyed that there was more to the story than just romance. There are side plot points about friendship and healing from family trauma. All in all this was an excellent read that I would definitely read again.

So I know that l liked this and the story truly tugged at my heart, but I feel like this was rushed at times. There just seemed like at times, I was trying to figure out how I got from one part to another- which is why this is a 3 read for me.
Also- spoiler alert and potentially an unpopular opinion....
Miles is a bit of or red flag for me. Sorry, but don't pick your ex over me, even if you're a genuinely kind person. It's called boundaries, bro!

I absolutely loved this book! It may be my favorite one yet. I loved that the main character was a children's librarian. It was also really accurate. I can't wait to read the next book she writes!

I don’t typically find myself reading romance that doesn’t have some sort of additional twist (magical realism, time loop/slip, etc) but FUNNY STORY had me giggling and kicking my feet for the entire book. I read this on my kindle and feel like I blew through it on double speed because I just couldn’t put it down.

I absolutely loved the way that Daphne’s and Miles’ relationship developed. It felt natural and I couldn’t do anything but root for them. Henry’s writing is easy to digest but never feels cheesy or awkward.

Even though I loved this book, there was one single scene with miscommunication near the end that pulled me out of the immersion because it felt very out of character. It was resolved quickly, but I wish the situation had been handled differently. This kept it from being a full five star book for me.

Here is my current stack ranking of Henry books that I’ve read:
1. Funny Story
2. Book People
3. People We Meet on Vacation

I definitely plan on reading the rest of her backlist and whatever she comes out with next!

I basically love everything by @emilyhenrywrites and I enjoyed this one! Per normal she rips your heart out {cheating trope - not by MMC} and then slowly puts it back together. I dislike miscommunication so I struggled with that but I also think both MCs had so much baggage it made sense.
I did love how Miles showed he loved Daphne with lots of little, meaningful things. It felt “real” even if it was rushed.

The way I am obsessed with this book is not okay. I'm a big fan of Emily Henry. Do I love all of her books? No. There are some I enjoyed more than others for sure. Last year's title Happy Place was good, but far from my favorite. Funny Story, however, may have finally stolen my hear away from Book Lovers.

Funny Story follows main character Daphne, an emotionally distant and untrusting childrens librarian after she gets her heart ripped out by her fiance, Peter, who after years of saying, "they've just friends," has left her for his childhood best friend Petra. Now living in a city she only moved to because of Peter alone with few housing prospects because librarians are paid pennies in the Midwest, she moves in with Petra's also recently dumped ex-boyfriend Miles on a "temporary" basis. Peter and Petra determined to make sure everyone loves them even when they're giant jerks, won't just let both Daphne and Miles live in peace so as a last minute, spur of the moment decision for revenge, Daphne tells Peter she's dating Miles. More than happy to go on with the ruse, Miles agrees to the plan. The plan was originally only meant for Peter and Petra to know but they naturally can't stop yapping so the lie spirals out of control. Very quickly though, Daphne realizes this might not be a good idea seeing as how Miles might be the best guy on the entire planet and super hot????? What's real and what's for show? Can Daphne trust her own feelings so soon after a massive breakup? What's the point of confessing her feelings to Miles if she's going to move away after her end of the summer fundraiser for the library is over?

Once more, Emily Henry has set impossible standards for white heterosexual fictional men with the character of Miles. I love him and I love Daphne and their story is truly so witty and entertaining. From the banter, the sexual tension, and the slow build of their feelings, this book has it all. I could not stop reading and I dare anyone else to try.

So glad Emily Henry is back! I was worried after Happy Place.
It was a fun and sometimes lighthearted mix of forced proximity, fake dating, and friends to lovers. I love Daphne and Miles. Miles has a quiet confidence, is thoughtful and insightful, selfless, and can cook (yay!). Daphne is loyal, level-headed, and is also selfless (as is anyone who chooses to be a children's librarian). Watching (reading) their relationship ship grow from acquantances who are forced together through an uncontrollable situation to friends to lovers was the perfect pace and a pleasure to read. They really got to know each other and both pushed each other to grow and try new things.
On a personal note, I love that Henry showcased the library world!
Henry's writing continues to amaze. It's difficult yet easy to describe. Simple but complex. Light while also digging deeper into the characters. I would have liked to have had a little more depth to Miles and I was a little disappointed the wedding never happened.
All in all, I hope Henry stays on this path with her next book!

I always feel weird when I’m the Black Sheep. Everyone seems to think this is Henry’s best work, but I just don’t know how they think that when Happy Place and Beach Read exist? Whatever the case may be, I liked this one, but it wasn’t taking any spots on my favorite shelf.

The first thing that comes to mind about this book is the writing style. I got sucked into this book and couldn’t stop reading it. But even with her amazing signature writing style, I ended up counting the amount of times she used chortle. Idk what it was, but this just annoyed me lol And the way this wrapped up so freaking perfectly? I get making sure everything is tied up and there are no loose ends, but Lordt this felt too for the plotty. Like it was too perfect? I know this is a romance book, but it was too perfect. I need a bit more tension or emotion. Like I was in TEARS in Happy Place, and I wanted the same this time, but I didn’t get that emotion.

The romance was great! I think they deserved each other. I’m not going to lie, I was like “HELL YEAH!” when she said “Yeah they were dating to her terrible ass ex. (TBH I think this is part of why I said it was too much for the plotty. Because she should’ve went off on his ass. They were getting married! And the way she is so like sensitive, I just didn’t believe that she didn’t at least cuss him out in that last scene.) I do wish she had spent more time with them together. I was sad that they spent so much of this book running from each other.

I also didn’t like that I didn’t find the Easter eggs in this one. She’s said there’s two very discreet ones, and while I think I caught them, I want to make sure. So I need someone else who’s already read it to let me know. LOL This has been eating me up since I finished it.

The characters were the best thing about this book. I LOVED Daphne. As a librarian myself, I knew I would. And Idk who she modeled this after, but these are the exact tasks I completed at work before too. And no I wasn’t a fan of Miles being a p0t head. I could have done without that part. Also, I though Petra was so cringe. Whyyyyyy are you being nice to this person when you just took her man? KNOWING that she was a thing. It’s one thing to cheat when you don’t know. BUT SHE MET HER? And they were still trying to be friends? Girl hell naw.

Henry’s book always feel so freaking real. It’s like I’m watching a movie or something. And with this one, it’s even more so real for me because of her job. This one didn’t take over as my first favorite, but it DID tie for 3rd place. So now it’s as follows, Happy Place, Beach Read, Book Lovers & this. People we Meet on Vacay is still the one I wish I hadn’t read lol Idk what it is about that one lol It’s just not for me. But this one is. In fact, this one is for everybody!