Book Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

July 11, 2025

“life isn’t a competition and neither is love, but I am still the loser.”

I have not been avoiding Emily Henry books per se, but I for sure have not been seeking them out because of their hype and the love of them on booktok/bookstagram. I have heard so many people rant and rave about how good these romantic novels are and I stood my ground and waited, and now I am not really sure why. As I am sure you are aware now, if you have read my blog for a moment, these last couple years have been a lot of me discovering new genres and new authors that I have really fallen in love with. Romance was a genre that used to bore me - I felt like there should be more to the story than just falling in love. Turns out, I was just reading the wrong authors. Emily Henry has me hooked. This is not going to be the last Emily Henry book I read this summer, mark my words, I am going to catch up on a lot of her books. She did such a good job of creating longing and interest, connection and friendship, guilt and forgiveness; all of her characters actually believable people with imperfections and flaws. I understand the hype now.

We follow the story of a woman named Daphne who is living in Michigan because of her fiancé, Peter, and has her dream job as a children’s librarian. She has made friends with his friends and it is nice being closer to his family, who lives in the area. They are very quickly approaching their big day, so Peter has his bachelor party, including his childhood female best friend, Petra. Daphnes party will be closer to the big day because her friends can’t afford to come in from out of town multiple times so close together, so she is home alone, working and getting things ready for the weekend. Much to Daphnes surprise, when he gets back from his trip, he confesses to her that he is, and always has been, in love with his best friend, Petra. The wedding is called off, everything is canceled and now Daphne has to find a place to live. Insert Petras ex: Miles. He now has an empty room and a broken heart ( just like her) so she moves out of the gorgeous home that she had spent so much time and effort furnishing and making feel like an oasis, to a closet of a room in a small apartment that she is sharing with her ex- fiancé’s new girlfriends ex boyfriend. When a plan blossoms to make their exes jealous, they find themselves deep in a web and not sure how to get out. What could go wrong? Or right?

Again, I finally get it. I can jump on the Emily Henry train. This book had friendship, messy relationships with parents, fighting with the worlds definition of a perfect life, unkindness, compassion, found family, guilt, heartache, and so much more. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a really sweet summer read.