Funny Story by Emily Henry

Other books by Emily Henry:

People We Meet on Vacation (4.5/5 stars)
Beach Read (3.5/5 stars)
Book Lovers (4/5 stars)

Happy Place (3/5 stars)

Emily Henry is hit or miss for me. She can be counted on for super Michigan references and I really appreciate that. But I was going to skip out on Funny Story until I read somewhere that the meet cute had to with a hat and then I basically had to read it. 

Miles and Daphne (I just read Expiration Dates with a female lead named Daphne and I gotta admit to all you that I've never met a Daphne IRL and think it's just a book/Scooby Doo name) become roommates when their significant others end up with each other. Miles is handsome, but lacks ambition, listens to sad music loudly, and tokes up a lot. Daphne is a librarian who moved to this small town in Michigan to be with her ex-fiancé, so she doesn't have a lot of friends or things to do.

Interesting characters: Ugh. So much drinking and drug use. I'm too much of a prude for this world. 

They're fine. Miles seems a bit too perfect, to be honest. He's emotionally available, patient, is really into Daphne. I'd have liked the book a bit more if he'd made an actual mistake and not the fake mistake she writes in the last five chapters. Daphne is a sad sack, but I am also a sad sack right now, so that's fine. Right? 

Believable conflict: I mean, sure, at first. They're basically fake dating to get back at their exes. And that leads to some confusing "is this kiss real?" or not moments. But then the ending conflict pissed me off because THEY LIVE TOGETHER AND DIDN'T JUST WRITE A NOTE. I am not someone who writes off all bad communication tropes as lazy, but this one was SO LAZY. How can Henry write such funny dialogue and allow her plot to be absolute garbage?

Emotional tension: Okay, here's the deal. Miles keeps saying he's into her. And saying it again. There's NO tension in this book. Sure, Daphne's got daddy issues, but it doesn't seem like Miles holds that against her and you never doubt that these two idiots will get together.

Happily ever after: No. Look, these two should NOT be together. This is a rebound relationship and it's NEVER GOING TO LAST. Daphne should have taken the job and gone somewhere else and Miles should work on himself and getting his shit together with a job that can support him year round. And stop smoking pot for heaven's sake. 

A couple of additional notes. The meet cute was an interesting twist because it was actually how Daphne met her ex-fiancé, not how she met Miles. And, yes, there was a hat blowing off Daphne's head and clumsiness, and I could relate to both of those things.

The Michigan stuff. I loved it so much. Mackinac, fudge, Petosky (the place and the stones), the top secret beach only local know about, fudgies/trolls. I love all of the Michigan references and honestly just wish someone with a better handle on plot was in charge of them. 3/5 stars

Lines of note:

For Bri, who picked me up from the airport the night we first met and drove me through a snowstrom without ever looking back. I struck gold with you. (dedication page)

I found this adorable. Female friendship is the best. 

I made a sport of figuring out the absolute least amount of things I needed. (page 17)

NUMBER OF THINGS. NUMBER. For heaven's sake, doesn't anyone copyedit anymore?

"Should we switch to wine?"

I look over at hm. "I didn't have you pegged for a wine guy."

He stares at me.

"What?"
His tipsy-squinting eyes narrow further. "Can't tell if you're kidding."

"No?" I say.

"I work at a winery, Daphne," he says. (page 26)

Imagine not knowing where your roommate works. IMAGINE.

There's being bad at small talk, and then there's being so reticent that your coworkers assume you've recently testified against a mob boss, and I never knew how thin the line between the two was. (page 56)

Daphne is so special, isn't she?

Hat mentions (why hats?):

And I was wearing a floppy-brimmed hat...(page 2)

....a warm breeze caught the hat's brim. (page 2)

...when he bent to retrieve the hat...(page 2)

My hat landed atop...(page 2)

...when the wind swept the hat from my head. (page 8)

When I told him the hat was a gift from my mother...(page 8)

...I could move at the drop of a hat. (page 18)

...I got you this bright yellow sun hat. (page 265)

"You were obsessed with that hat." (page 266)

...if he conflated with the hat from this memory. (page 266)