Funny Story
By: Emily Henry
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 387
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.
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?
First Impressions
I have read two of Henry’s books previously. One of her adult novels and one of her YA novels and I have loved both. This one sounded right up my alley. I also absolutely love the color of this book so I would’ve picked it up regardless of knowing who she was or having read her previous books.
What I thought
She does it again!
Daphne moves in with her ex-fiancé’s ex-boyfriend after their respective partners leave them to get together. Within a month of the betrayal, Miles and Daphne get invited to their ex’s wedding, she accidentally lies and tells her ex Peter that she and Miles are together. Now they have to hang out and make it look like they’re together, even though they are polar opposites and don’t know much about each other at all. The more they hang out, the more they realize they have in common.
I loved the banter with Daphne and Miles. I also love how Daphne banters with her friend/coworker Ashleigh. Everything about the friendships and the romance feels so easy, even though Daphne has her struggles with building and maintaining relationships. Daphne and Miles each have their own baggage and I love how Henry handles it throughout the story.
There’s a storyline in which Miles wants to make Daphne fall in love with the town of Waning Bay, Michigan. He brings her to a bunch of different places and made me fall in love with the town too. I love when the setting of the story is just as much of a character as the characters are. Henry does a great job with this.
I know that you may be tempted to write this book off because of all the hype that Henry gets. Honestly, I was a little bit too, but this book exceeded all of my expectations. I adored Daphne and Miles. I loved all of the side characters too. Daphne works in a library and the library comes to life when she’s there. They bond over their shared breakups but they also grow and learn together.
I devoured this book. I finished it in 2 days and could not put it down. Henry is a fantastic writer. The way she writes the characters is so well done and the story flew by. I already want to pick it up and read it again. I loved Book Lovers, but I feel like that one is more appealing to book lovers. This one I feel like could be more universally loved. It starts as fake dating (but like a light fake dating) and grows into a fabulous love story. Also, the way the book begins and ends was written so beautifully!