Funny Story
Ratings393
Average rating4.2
Most of this book I loved, but funny enough not for the romance descriptions, although that was good too! Miles was so sweet to Daphne and it was obvious how much he cared for her. I loved the descriptions of the town and how Daphne was introduced to many aspects of it through Miles. Daphne's love for reading and her job at the library was so incredible to read, I could really see myself through her. Similarly, her relationship with her mom was beautiful and reminded me so much of my mom I was crying at parts. This book was as much as finding your place and discovering yourself as it was about the romance, and I really loved the character growth and development. Some parts dragged a little in the middle for me, so it's not a perfect read, but the beginning and ending of this were perfect!
3.85 ⭐️ I liked this one waaayyyy more than Happy Place. The romance was cute and the characters were tolerable, dare I say I was rooting for them. However, this was not a funny story. I was kinda expecting a romcom type situation but no, pretty normal Emily Henry romance. I also kinda thought it was little too long and dragged a bit in the middle. Overall though, my second favourite Emily Henry book 2 out of 4 ain't bad
DNF... I tried this because I wanted to see what all the cute romance books with colorful covers were all about. I don't think I'm really the audience for this, I was pretty unimpressed with the writing style, characters and story. To be fair, I didn't get too far before I quit, so maybe it improves later on.
Henry has this hyperbolic way of writing where everyone is as extreme as possible. It just seems lazy and produces flat characters. For instance, Peter: he has a huge house! his family is wealthy! he eats extremely healthy! etc etc. Do we ever really know what motivates Peter? Can we see someone we know in him? I don't think so, and that's just bad writing.
The story was cute but the actual reading was a slog.
Not my typical read, but I am oh so glad I did. This contemporary romance contains little gems of wisdom throughout. Daphne and Peter met “cute” and were on their way to matrimony until Peter’s best friend, Petra, proclaimed her love for him. What ensues is a story of heartache, determination, chance taking with many funny and poignant moments in between. If ever there was a life is what happens to you while you are making other plans, this is it. The setting for the story is Michigan in current times.
Contains spoilers
Interestingly enough (for me) this was only the second or third ever romance book I read in my entire life (not counting one book I DNFed). Kinda crazy.
I really, really enjoyed Funny Story. I wasn't sure I'd like it, or I thought I would like it okay, at best. But I loved it. The characters are interesting and relatively well-fleshed out, the story has a good pacing, and the writing is good.
I was initially unsure about Miles because of his apparently always chill nature, but that was actually explained and explored in reasonable depth. Also not a fan of the whole "everyone adores Miles" thing but oh well. I kind of wish there was a bit more exploration of his tendency to panic and run, rather than just one occurrence. Daphne was explored more, which makes sense, and I think the author did a good job showing the gradual establishing of connections, finding a community in a new place and growing to call it "home" over the course of several months. Her decision to stay felt well motivated and not just because of a guy.
The communication between characters was pretty good, except for that one part, I guess. I'm still wondering why the heck Miles didn't tell her what he actually went to do instead of just mentioning Petra and letting Daphne fill in the blanks, in the wrong way. That was indeed a bit frustrating but communication isn't always perfect, so I guess it's fine and thankfully it wasn't dragged out endlessly.
I loved Ashleigh and her friendship with Daphne - I appreciated how it wasn't perfect at all, but very honest and genuine.
Also, Peter is the absolute worst.
An emotional romance that explores the complications of losing your identity in a relationship and underlying childhood trauma regarding fear of abandonment and emotional manipulation. How two people must overcome these emotional and mental obstacles to find their way to each other
This popular Emily Henry novel, a blend of romance and chick-lit, starts off hilariously and I was hopeful this would be more enjoyable than the other two books I've read of hers.
And it is better. There is only so much I can expect from a book that bills itself as a romance and is exactly that. The best ones have great characters and relationship building that really take us on a journey. This one does some of that - not every romance can be “When Harry Met Sally.”
The side characters, especially the sister and parents, were great. The work friend, not as much.
This is really the story of two people on the rebound and everything is sparkling and new. Most of us have been there and know what the chances of success are. And we also know (or have been) people who glom on to a new relationship and spend tons of time with them to the exclusion of friends and family. To re-experience that with Mikes and Daphne is a bit tedious. But, at the end, there's some redemption from the insta-love arc and I ended up not feeling like I'd just wasted several hours of my life.
Couple of bones to pick:
1. Librarians are wonderful, woefully-underpaid people and cannot afford to go out for as many meals and paid activities as Daphne does.
2. Fine words when used sparingly, chortle (it felt like every fourth page) & thrum were jarringly overused.
I found this book very engaging. I loved the slow burn of it, and the side characters. I really feel like side characters can make or break a book sometimes.
As always, the EmHen banter was good and there was obvious chemistry between the two MCs. I thought the drama between the FMC and her friend was sort of blown out of proportion, but I understand why it might have been included in this manner. I enjoyed this one more than Happy Place, but I think Beach Read stays at number one for all the Emily Henry books.
Got really behind on my book list! So dating this dozen or so incorrectly as 12/31/24 and challenging myself to a sentence-long review. Maybe my 2nd favorite Emily Henry (just behind or tied with People We Meet on Vacation), with a cute premise and her extra sparkly dialogue.
my first emily henry read was a success. unfortunately the others don't sound interesting to me, but we'll see.
Funny Story had actually been on my TBR for a bit; I read it at the tail end of the year.
This revolves around Daphne, Miles and of course Petra, Peter and Julia, but really Daphne and Miles are the 2 main characters. Daphne was hopelessly in love with her fiancé, Peter, and everything about their relationship felt perfect—until one day, Peter explained to her that he is in love with his best friend. Daphne, heartbroken, eventually finds a new roommate, Miles, who is ex of his ex-fiance's new fiance's ex (Miles is ex of Peter's new fiance). Miles and Daphne agree to pretend to date each other to get back at their exes and hopefully get them to like them. I'll let you read on to see what happens at the end. It's a quick read, and if light romance is your thing, you'll likely have fun with it. Although it's certainly a contemporary romance, I found the ending a little too predictable. Emily Henry has a talent for the unexpected but I was hoping for a bit more.
I don't love all of Emily Henry's books, but I sure did love this one!
Unfortunately the name Daphne kept jarring me, why would anyone name their (fictional) child that?
Written by a millennial woman for other millennial women. I would know; references felt targeted. The writing is mildly pretentious a handful of times and the book, with the entire premise of I'm-sad-you're-sad-let's-be-sad-together, isn't really worth adapting into a movie imo.
The female lead is an early to mid (I swear an editor missed an age consistency) 30's children's librarian who dowdily looks the part and seems to never wear makeup. We also get a smattering of adorkableness, I'm-not-like-other-girls, a huge dose of negative self-esteem, along with trust, and daddy issues. What a bundle of joy she is (sarcasm). I don't know how, but somehow, she's still “sexy”.
Her male romantic love interest is again, somehow handsome through his potheaded bearded scruffiness and self-confidence issues which stem from slowly revealed family baggage and drama (not trying to give away too much here). His personality is a massive improvement from hers and at least got me to finish this.
If you're in an airport bookstore and the pickings are slim this should do for a flight. Otherwise, life is short read something else unless you're great at skimming.
Ladies and gentlemen, she does it again. (it took me a while to finish it but worth it as always)
As always, Emily Henry makes me want to believe in love and happy endings 🥹💗
Miles and Daphne have their own set of fears and the way each helps the other rediscover love <3
Though did not get as much feels as I usually do from Emily Henry's characters? Maybe it was me dragging it but didn't feel that attachment to the characters, felt like they lacked some depth, and they could've been explored more to make the Love story feel real or idk understandable?
Anyways lovedd it, Emily Henry just has something in her words which makes you want to fall in love 🫶🏼
Me ha faltado un poco más de contexto de Miles, pero Daphne es tan chula mi niña pobrecita
It's not funny at all. You'd think you've read this plot somewhere before– and yes, from the same author.
4/5
I really enjoyed it, which I was aurprised by. Emily EHnry's book are hit and miss for me so I'm glad I enjoyed it.
The first 10% broke me tbh. The exes were so fucking annoying and entitled and I HATED them. I felt so sad for Daphne and Miles! So I love that at the end, Petra and Peter split. Karma is real!
I loved the relationship between Daphne and Miles. Miles seemed to be down bad for Daphne since the beginning, and I wish we've gotten his pov as well. He seems so sweet! And he cares so much!
It had less elements of the fake relationship than what I expected, but I liked it regardless. It was a good story. Emotional and engaging.
Although I wish we didn't have the third act breakup. Seriously, Miles should have said WHY he disappeared, instead of letting Daphne assume he was with Petra. Come on, TALK! I hate a misunderstanding! So I couldn't give more than 4 stars. But I liked the story very much. And I loved how we've come a full circle: at the beginning, Daphne loved when her ex told the story of how they fell in love and got together. In the end, Miles knew how much Daphne loved telling their story instead. I loved that.