Funny Story by Emily Henry | Book Review
I always pre-order anything by Emily Henry, and Funny Story was no exception. As a swiftie, I can tell you right away that Emily Henry books are SO Taylor Swift coded, it’s not even funny. If you aren’t a swiftie (first of all, why aren’t you?) you may not notice these little references, but I see you, miss Maroon and Illicit Affair.
Funny Story is a perfect summer read, so if you haven’t bought it yet, go get it!
Plot (from the penguin random house website)
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?
Discussion
I seriously couldn’t put this book down. It was such a fun read, and got me out of a slight reading slump I’ve been feeling lately. It’s a strangers to roommates to lovers story, with enough depth and character development to keep me invested in how their love story turned out.
Daphne and Miles both had past trauma to work through, and in doing so, they ended up finding themselves, together.
One thing I love about Emily Henry is how she makes novels that feel simultaneously trendy and timeless. If you want a nice light read to take to the beach this summer, this is it.