Hey Bibliofriends!

This week’s Biblioshelf Musings are about Funny Story by Emily Henry. I don’t normally consider myself to be a ‘romance’ reader, but there is just something about Emily Henry’s books that make me laugh, cry, hope, love and gasp! I own all of the Illumicrate editions of her novels (since 2020) and I was so thrilled when this one finally landed on my doorstep. Thankfully, I had finished my previous read the night before so I was able to dive straight into Funny Story. Read on to find out more in my spoiler-free review!

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Synopsis (from Goodreads)

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?

My Musings

With a plot centred around ‘falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex’ – you just know that this is going to bring all of the fun and feels you get with every Emily Henry novel! I adored the chemistry between Daphne and Miles, they are both such endearing characters – she a children’s librarian (who always does ‘the voices’) and he, a general jack-of-all-trades, community good guy with a few skeletons hidden in his mood closet. At no point, did you feel that they shouldn’t be together, despite just coming out of long-term relationships with each other’s exes. I guess because of that, the will-they / won’t-they aspect of the story, didn’t quite have some of the same angsty tension as in other books, but I was still rooting for both characters very much!

The thing I love most about Emily’s stories, is the sense of place that she creates with her settings and characters. Even though Waning Bay, Michigan is a fictional location, I can just imagine booking a flight there, rocking up and bumping into all of these characters as if they genuinely exist in my real life universe. From BARn, to the Winery, the beaches, the library – all of it is so reminiscent and familiar that it brings this sweet sense of nostalgia when reading. Special mention for the little nod to Beach Read in there too!

There are some absolute corkers of humorous lines within this book! I was definitely chuckling out loud for the most part, again adding to the major enjoyment factor. I’m also starting to think that Emily Henry is either a foil for Taylor Swift’s secret novel-writing passions, or she is actually a little bit Swiftie as I was definitely reading some lyrics and phrases woven into these chapters and paragraphs. The plot keeps moving at the perfect pace. We begin with a countdown to Daphne making a pivotal life decision, and this time frame gradually amends itself as events within her life unfold.

I loved the friendship that she created with Ashleigh. It reminds us that we are more than just the ‘we’ people who constantly refer to themselves as a pair, and actually consider our own identities. This friendship journey that both women were on served as a reminder to those of us wrapped up in our couple-ness to treasure the girlfriends that we do have in our lives and retain some of our girlish individuality.

I constantly adore the love for books and bookish themes which seem to shine through each of Emily’s most recent novels. Be it a bookstore, a library, an author… there is always some literary-related motif which tugs on to my bookish soul. It’s probably why I do enjoy her stories so very much.

Whilst I wouldn’t class Funny Story as my favourite Emily Henry novel that I’ve read, this was definitely a ‘Funny Story’ worth reading and treasuring!

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Have you read Funny Story yet or is it on your TBR list? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

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