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.
FUNNY STORY by Emily Henry
Series: n/a
Publication date: April 23, 2024
Published by: Berkley
Genre: contemporary romance
SYNOPSIS
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?
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Praise for Funny Story:
“When romance novelist Emily Henry releases a new book, it’s nothing short of a literary event. And this spring’s Funny Story — which has already been named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 by everyone from the New York Times to the Today show — is sure to be no exception... this sumptuous novel is Henry at her very best.”
—Bustle
“Bestseller Henry takes on fake-dating in this equally poignant and charming tale of love after loss… Henry perfectly balances sorrow and discord with love and humor, and romance fans will appreciate watching the growth of the characters’ relationships and of Daphne as a person. This is a heartwarming take on summer love.”
—Publishers Weekly
REVIEW
Funny Story by Emily HenryMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the best of times, it’s inadvisableto start lusting after your roommate,and we are nowhere near the best of times.
I haven't read an Emily Henry book since Beach Read, so it was well past time for me to give another one a go. I forgot how deeply she delves into the characters' minds, backstories, and emotions. She makes a well-rounded, three dimensional character with flaws that you can easily care about. I was intrigued with the premise of this story: two dumpees become roommates when their ex partners get together, use a fake relationship to get a little payback, and (inevitably) find actual love in the process.
Perhaps what I loved most about this one that it's a fake relationship trope story without actually feeling like one. I tend to stay away from the trope as it's typically not a favorite of mine. I just don't like the forced explanations for these fake relationships-they're usually some convoluted reason for putting on the "relationship act." If it's not super unbelievable, it's just a boring cliché like:
1)Athlete/actor/musician has bad reputation and needs to repair their public image.
2)In order the get the attention of a crush.
3)In order to keep someone's unwanted attention away.
Then you have the scenes where the couple is out somewhere, sees friend/family member/paparazzi, and they do their fake PDA kiss. I don't know, it all just seems so rushed from the get go and everything ends up feeling like a plot device to get them to the end result rather than the natural process of falling for each other. Luckily, this book did not fall into any of this trope's traps and in my opinion, was executed brilliantly. These two found solace in one another after getting their hearts broken, started a genuine friendship, and their feelings grew deeper as they spent quality time truly getting to know one another. Instead of the focus being on the artificial relationship act, their real connection took center stage. In their situation, there was also a possibility that their true relationship could have ended up being a rebound situation because they rushed into things too fast. Henry sidestepped that mistake as well, believably showing us that both were over their break-up and at peace with it before they left the friend zone.
Daphne was not only engaged, but nearing the date of her wedding when her life imploded with the news that her fiancé was in love with his female best friend. She feels completely blindsided, foolish, and stuck in a new town where she moved in order to fit into his life. Now that he is out of the equation, how does her life go on when her entire identity was wrapped up in him? Her friends were all his, they lived together in his home, and she didn't really have any experiences independent of him.
For three years I’ve been eating like him,exercising like him, working tirelessly tobefriend his friends and impress his family,going to his favorite breweries, and allalong I thought it was my idea, my life.
Growing up, she moved around a lot with her single mother, so she learned to never feel comfortable in any one place. Possessions were a hassle when you're always picking up and moving on to the next stop, so she owned the bare minimum. She didn't grow attached to people because she would only have to say goodbye to them in the near future. She became a pro at living in the moment rather than settling into a house and making it a home. Until Peter. Being a couple with Peter meant that she had that unattainable life that she always dreamed of-if she fought hard enough to measure up. In her mind, he was way out of her league, but she wanted them to work with every fiber of her being. When he callously left her to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, the one shining light left in her life was her job at the library. Though, even that will be lost to her, because she wants to get as far away from Peter as possible.
As a librarian, I really should’ve taken amoment to think about Mansfield Park orWuthering Heights, all those love storiesand twisted Gothics wherein two protagonists,raised side by side, reach adulthood andproclaim their undying lovefor each other. But I didn’t.
Daphne faces her broken heart with humor and bravery. Many people would fall into a long depression, but she doesn't waste much time feeling sorry for herself. Before long, she's dusting herself off and making tentative attempts to form connections with new people. She's a classic introvert, so the thought of putting herself out there is a scary one, but she's self-aware enough to know that she needs to start working on building her own independent life. Her co-worker Ashleigh was a fabulous friend and excellent secondary character. I loved to see the two of them forming their friendship because their personalities were so different, which led to some funny conversations. Ashleigh also helped hold a mirror up to Daphne's face so she could keep improving herself when she was scared to move forward.
Miles was a unique guy, and quite unlike any other romantic interest I've read in the past. On the surface, people see an unmotivated stoner with no ambition in life. He works at a winery, and he's very personable with everyone he meets. He reminded me a little of my mom who can start up a conversation with a complete stranger in a grocery store and learn their whole life story on the spot. That's him-and he can figuratively charm the pants off of you while he gets that life story. Daphne is in awe of his ability to draw people in like bees to honey. The more time she spends together with him, the more hidden depths she sees that she admires. While most see his easygoing side, his charming exterior shields self-worth issues. His mother did a lot of damage to the way he viewed himself-making him believe that he is a disappointment and unreliable to his loved ones. It was so sad to see him expect so little from himself when in reality, anyone would be lucky to have him as a brother or partner. His sister helps Daphne to see how his opinion of himself is horribly skewed, and that he needs a little help in seeing how truly wonderful he is.
Whereas he has "mommy issues," Daphne has some "daddy issues." Her dad is flighty, selfish, and completely self-centered. He was never dependable as a father, he would disappoint her regularly and never see the hurt that he was causing. As an adult, she still feels like she is not good enough for him to make top priority in his life, yet she can't kill the hope that one day things will change.
Why can’t I stop missing the dad I never had?Why is he this constant dull ache in my heart?
Daphne and Miles were so sweet together and endearing. I loved the introvert/extrovert aspect to their dynamic because their natural personalities balanced each other out very well. This was a wonderful story that explored love after a hard break-up, learning to grow after trials in life, and finding peace with the past in order to have a healthy future. I'm looking forward to catching up on Emily Henry's backlist very much!
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