Funny Story by Emily Henry is the story of Daphne and Miles. They were left by their partners, Peter and Petra to be with each other. This leaves Daphne in a bad housing situation, and she moves in with Miles. Soon, they enter a fake (or not-so-fake) relationship after Daphne tells Peter she’ll be attending his wedding with her new boyfriend, Miles.
Emily Henry is an auto-read author for us and also rates high for us. We were both beyond excited to read this one! We liked it, but it wasn’t our favorite of her work. The first half was fantastic, but the second half was missing something (or maybe had too much).
There was a very specific, distracting pet peeve that presented itself throughout this book… the pop-culture, brand, music, book, and other references were too much and many went over our heads. We both felt they were a distraction to the story and usually unnecessary.
We counted the references we thought fit this criteria and came back with 194 (see word bubble below). Some got a pass (like McDonald’s) but counting validated this pet peeve. Henry may have done this intentionally as part of Daphne’s character, but if that was the intent, it wasn’t obvious. The book references did make sense since she’s a librarian, but many others were all over the map and not specific to a single generation.
Favorite Quotes
Alyssa
Life’s short enough without us talking ourselves out of hope and trying to dodge every bad feeling. Sometimes you have to push through the discomfort, instead of running.
Emily Henry, Funny Story
And my runner up is, “my nipples choose that instant to stand at attention, like eager little meerkats.” Yes, I texted this to Meagan as I was reading. Texting nipple quotes just proves how strong of book buddies we are.
Meagan
Including meerkats and nipples in the same sentence is a talent, Emily Henry. For me, a laugh out loud line was, “I’m terrible at lying, except when that one unhinged demon possessed me to make up a whole-ass boyfriend.”
I want to live with the hope that things can get better, even if, in the end, they don’t.
Emily Henry, Funny Story
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
 Alyssa |  Meagan | |
|---|---|---|
Ok, first off… How did the book smell? | ||
The book smelled good, but not as good as Twisted Love. The worst part was that the ink was faded a light gray every other page for about 40 pages! | ||
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Oh wow, that’s really bad! | ||
I know! I love the book cover though. I want to paint my nails that blurple color. | ||
It is a really cute cover. Also, blurple? | ||
Yup, blurple. Or maybe neon blue? I love whatever it is! I made the mistake of reading this right after This Summer Will Be Different and I was still emotionally invested in that couple. | ||
Yeah, I get that. I’d just finished The Good Part and was still disappointed in that ending. I should have read a palette cleanser in between. | ||
Even so, the first half of the book for me was fantastic. I loved the direction it was going. | ||
Exactly! That’s how I read it in 24 hours. I love fake dating and forced proximity tropes. This one actually felt plausible. | ||
Yep, and I’m not normally big on the fake dating trope. | ||
It was fake dating that felt like it could actually happen. I loved how Miles introduced Daphne to the community and gave her a tour of the town. Everyone they came across loved him. | ||
I also loved Miles. He was the best character in the book. | ||
Same. He’s adorable. | ||
How he loves sad songs and movies. But especially how he would anticipate her needs… sliding the syrup when she reached for it. Emily Henry showed that so well early on. | ||
Right! He is presented as a stoned loser, but that’s not how he is. He is the kind of person anyone would be immediately comfortable around enough to tell him their life story. | ||
Not that I would tell a stranger my life story. LOL. But I liked how he was more than meets the eye. | ||
Meanwhile Daphne is pretty buttoned up. LOL. I loved her schedule and white boards. | ||
And she was a librarian! I loved that part of her character. How she supported Maya and getting her out of her comfort zone and socializing. | ||
Doing the character voices while reading to the kids. | ||
That was all really cute, but not something I could relate to. I don’t like public speaking. Haha. | ||
Me either, it’s the worst! LOL. There were soooo many side characters in this book. | ||
Right. I really like the addition of Ashleigh and Julia at first. But later in the book, Julia seemed too Manic Pixie Dream Girl. A little over the top. | ||
Yes, Julia was a little grating. | ||
Exactly. Not only did Julia become a bit much, the whole second half of the book seemed off from the first. | ||
It felt rushed. It was such a slow burn and then they moved from friends to making out too fast. | ||
The second half did feel rushed. | ||
Plus I didn’t need the side plot of the dad showing up with his psychic lady. Plus, the Crossfit mom. | ||
Was it too much plot? Feels like it was. | ||
Yep, I feel the same way about her family drama. And don’t forget his family drama. | ||
I’d rather the drama be that they attended Peter and Petra’s wedding and crashed it. Maybe Miles fakes proposes? That would have been hilarious. | ||
That would have been amazing. | ||
I wanted them to be petty assholes and sabotage the wedding. I was really disappointed that didn’t happen. Maybe I should talk to my therapist about that. LOL. | ||
HAHA. The worst part for me was Daphne forgetting Ashleigh’s birthday. | ||
Right. Daphne lived by her whiteboard schedules. There’s no way she would have missed that. It was too out of character. | ||
Her prioritizing that relationship seemed like the right direction and then she messed it up. Although she did try to fix it. | ||
I felt the same about Mile’s actions in the last half. Totally out of character. | ||
He would have been more focused on her and making sure she was alright. Instead he disappears and doesn’t have a good answer for it? | ||
Get rid of Julia and the dad. I would have liked more one-on-one interaction with Miles and Daphne. | ||
Yes, all the sweet ways he showed he cared were missing in the second half. | ||
And, can we not have a female lead that needs to be fixed. Daphne had no real life of her own. Even when we saw her growth it was attached to Miles. | ||
It felt like we were being hit over the head a bit with her growth. | ||
She stood up to Peter. | ||
She told her dad off. | ||
I loved the ending though. The last few lines ended it perfectly. | ||
It was sweet. What stands out to me the most was that I didn’t cry once reading this book. | ||
I didn’t either and we’re both criers. | ||
It was a really good book. I gave it 4 stars, but it was underwhelming compared to her last books. | ||
I agree. A good book, but didn’t feel like an Emily Henry book. I gave it 3.5 stars. | ||
Maybe it was just hyped up too much before we read it? | ||
Maybe. I kept seeing people say this is her best book yet, but I just didn’t love it. Maybe Miles needs to date someone else. | ||
Can I volunteer? My husband probably wouldn’t mind. I’ll go ask him… | ||
HAHAHAHA! Good luck! Let me know what he says. | ||