Hello readers!
I discovered I've never posted yet my Emily Henry's annual review😱, so what better time to do it after her double win at the Goodreads Choice Awards?
As always, I have to thank @prhinternational for the arc and the chance to read this beauty in advance, and to Julia Whelan because I've already re-read it in audiobook format (my first one!!) and it was an amazing experience. So, why is this story so good to win again in the romance category? After the usual information you'll find my opinion about it.
Author: Emily Henry
Publishing Date: April 23, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 384 (paperback)
Price:
Plot:
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?
Review:
Rate: 5 stars!⭐
Emily Henry never disappoints me. I've said that. I'm usually very superstitious about saying things like that because disappointment could always hit, but this author (as Mariana Zapata and very other few ones) owns my heart. It's like she knows exactly what story narrate to me and when. But, let's be honest, it's always the right time for an Emily Henry's romance, because I always find some connections with myself or my life. This book is no exception.
Funny Story is one of those novels that catch your attention from the very beginning. I adore every one of her incipit because they're crafted with a meticulous attention worthy of an artist, and that helps entering in the story like you just got inside a parallel world where those people really exist. I think that's why, for me, reading one of her works has the same feeling as coming home again. You can feel her characters breath, and you live their ups and downs beside them.
Here we meet Miles and Daphne in a very low moment: Peter and Petra, their partners respectively, left them few months before Daphne and Peter's wedding, discovering just now, after an entire life as best friends, they love each other.
So, since Peter expected that, after their romantic escape, Daphne would find another place to live, she decided to ask Miles to be his roommate, since she had no other place to go and her mother lived away.
At first they might seem too different to be even friends, but it was simply amazing to discover how easily they started to get along and really know each other, with a so natural chemistry I was swooning for them even before the 20% of the book. I liked the spontaneousness of their relationship and how they fit together as they were just meant to be. I've seen very few romance couples express this exact feeling with such a strong intensity without great acts or dramas to overcome, but Miles and Daphne are just two puzzle pieces that match together, it can't be otherwise. You can't stop smiling reading their scenes.
Another interesting point was how an almost immediate attraction became a slow burn one, held back by their both attempts to not ruin their new friendship (besides others matters). And, in addition, there's the fake relationship trope. It was fun to read how this started and how Emily used it to push them together, but at the same time turned it into an obstacle to really understand that their feeling for the other one were real and reciprocated.
I didn't expect to be so connected with Daphne. Well, we both love books, and that's always a good starting point, but I totally understood her struggle to make friends. She's a quite type of person, who opens herself only with someone she really trusts, always feeling a little bit clumsy and not very interesting for people to stick around. I totally relate with her fears to "not be enough" for others, and being easily replaceable when someone more cool appears around (same for Georgia in The Ex Vows). Plus, I also deeply understood Ashleigh's speech about Daphne being a we girl. I think it's good to be someone who does things with people we love or care about, but it's essential to still be independent of our other half, because when this "we" becomes too much, we risk to loose our identity, or personal group of friends, and it's not right. That's not how an healthy relationship works.
That's why I loved even more when Daphne took a chance to open up with Ashleigh, and her relationship with Julia. It was adorable to see her creating her place in the community, and how people included her without a second thought. She gained back herself, and the sweetest thing about that is that Miles helped her without taking control of it.
Moreover, it was (painful but) interesting to see Daphne's relationship with her father. Their versions related to past events didn't always coincide, sometimes at large measure, others with slight but significant differences, and Emily has been a master to make us notice that her father was hurt by that too. That means that sometimes people don't want to see when we failed others, and without expressing that, they wouldn't understand that what they are and were doing is wrong. Communication still remains the foundation of every relationship, and not only romantic ones. One of my favorite phrases (from Miles) is:
"Do you want to know why your dad doesn't stick around? [..] Because you see him. And he can't stand it."
Because it's also true that sometimes is easier not to think about other people and their feelings, and just following our desires, but that will mean that someone will suffer for this. I appreciate how Emily always makes us face with those overlooked realities that, actually, creates more problems, issues and hurts that others.
Let's move on to Miles. There will ever be a Emily Henry's male character I won't like? No, probably not. I super appreciated this caring, sensible man, that has empathy but at the same time is absolutely honest, without being mean. He was my hero for always being polite with Peter, even if he didn't deserve it. And he really, really didn't deserve it. Miles was steady and supportive when Daphne needed it, respecting her space, and I loved how Emily balanced it showing his own uncertainties, that made my heart ache. His complicated relationship with his parents hasn't been developed too much, but it was enough to understand his (and Julia's) emotional background.
Then, we have the "main antagonists" of this story: Peter and Petra. It was easy to not like them, considering their behaviors towards the protagonists, but at the same time it was clear they weren't completely bad people, so I couldn't despise them with all my heart. Well, at least when love was not concerned, because in that matter they clearly needed help and should start not being so selfish.
Anyway, each one of those characters has their own complexity and it was a pleasure to read about them. This is the case I would have loved the book had no end, because I didn't want to leave them. I still don't want to leave them! 😂 I hope we will see them in the future, in some mini novellas as Layover or in other books.
P.s. Is it only me, or we had a Beach Read's Easter Egg?
So, that's why I totally voted for it at the Goodreads' Choice Awards and I was so happy about Emily winning again - but there were multiple books that I equally adored, I have to say that. A pity you can pick just one.
Again, thank you, Emily, with all my heart for this beautiful book (I know she won't ever read it, but in case) 💗, and to @prhinternational for this free copy.
And what about you, readers? Have you already read it? What did you think?
Let me know!
To the next review💖
Chiara
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