Not interested in watching my video review of Funny Storu? Then look below for the major bullet points. 

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Rating: 4 out of 5

Genre: Romance

Hello friends!

In this blog, I’m reviewing Funny Story by Emily Henry. As usual, the first half of the review will be spoiler-free, and more about my overall thoughts. The second half will contain spoilers, so look away if you haven’t read the book yet. 

• Sometimes the simplest books are the best.

• I looked up all my Emily Henry reviews and I’ve given all of her books 4 stars. 

• The beginning of Funny Story was hard for me to enjoy. It took half the book before I liked the characters. But once I got into the town and the characters, the emotions took over. I couldn’t turn the page fast enough. 

• What is it with Henry giving all of her protagonists bookish jobs? There was an editor, a write, and now the obligatory librarian. I know they say to write what you know, but I need Henry to mix things up some. 

• A fun inciting incident. 

• Henry writes human books – normal people doing normal things. 

• In the vein of all romance books, there is the transition from the second to third act when the love interests part ways before the final reconciliation. In Funny Story, that moment was weird. I can see what Henry was trying to do. I can see how she was trying to explain it away. Peter and Petra were spot on, but Miles, not so much. I wanted to rill my eyes and skip past those parts. 

• The ending was sweet and cute and everything that I wanted. 

Now look away if you don’t want spoilers. 

• Simple things work and Henry has that formula locked down. All of her books are about normal people living normal lives. They’re about the beautiful moments in time. The quiet moments. She writes the type of stories that could happen in real life. We love the fantasy aspect of romance books, but I think Henry sucked her readers in because they can see themselves on the page. 

• The beginning was long-winded with a lot of unnecessary backstory. I didn’t need the back story of why Peter and Daphne broke up. I wasn’t able to get a strong picture of Miles until well into the story. 

• What a cast of characters. This might be the biggest cast Henry has juggled. The large cast might be the reason that I was able to get into the story more in the second half because that was the moment when the story became real and less of a book. 

• The disagreement was weak. Miles is a kind soul, but I don’t know if he would have really helped Petra. Was her freak out enough to pull him in? And would he really give Daphne no explanation? I needed more. Not a flip of the switch from hot to cold. Where was the damn communication (my biggest pet peeve)

• Simple things work. Clearly, Henry has discovered the perfect formula. But look at her books. What do they consist of? Normal people living normal lives. A beautiful moment. The basics in life. The type of story that could actually happen. We all love the fantasy aspect of romance books, but I think Henry has sucked in her readers because we can see ourselves in them. 

• I don’t have a lot of spoiler content because there wasn’t much for me to think about with Funny Story. It was a basic story. A light read to lessen the load between two horror books. Honestly, it came in at the library and I had enough time in my reading schedule to slide it in. 

Happy Reading!

Love,

Kait