It’s always a glorious day when rom com author Emily Henry releases a book! Henry is one of my go-to authors for rom com, and I adore her writing! The set-up for FUNNY STORY is crazypants- a fake romantic relationship with an ex-fiancé’s fiancé’s ex-boyfriend. At his bachelor party, Daphne’s ex-fiancé Peter dumps Daphne for his best friend since childhood, Petra. Daphne gets kicked out of Peter’s house, so she moves into the apartment of Miles, who is Petra’s ex-fiancé. When Daphne and Miles get wedding invitations to their exes wedding. Daphne blurts out the lie that she is coming with a date, the bride’s ex!
The characters in this awesome screwball romance are positively delightful. Daphne is an introverted children’s librarian who has major trust issues from her childhood. She manages to find her dream job of being a children’s librarian in the little northern Michigan town where Peter dragged her to them dumped her in. Daphne decides to run an all-night Read-A-Thon for the kids at her library, based on a childhood event she attended. Daphne is determined to stay for this special library event that she’s slaved over, but is resolved to leave Waning Bay shortly after to escape the shadow of her failed relationship.
Miles, Daphne’s reluctant new roommate, is an easygoing-appearing sort of dude whose placid exterior shields his inner turmoil. I love how Henry reveals his inner anguish as the story progresses, making him such a sympathetic character. Miles has such a big heart, and he doesn’t even realize it. He does such a great grovel, and the relationship between Miles and Daphne is just oh-so-swoony. Both Daphne and Miles grow in emotional maturity in FUNNY STORY, making each other better people. And that’s truly yummy.
Henry manages to expertly weave comedy, tears, and a dreamy romance into a captivating story that will instantly capture the reader and pull them gleefully in. FUNNY STORY is a spritely tale of roommates in a fake romance who discover that they really are meant for each other- a fresh and lively tale of true love found in an unexpected place.
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.
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?