After I finished reading Run by Blake Crouch, I needed a bit of a palette cleanser. That was a dark book, and I needed something lighter to balance it. I am a fan of Emily Henry and hadn’t read her latest yet, so I picked up and read Funny Story.
In it, a thirty-something woman is engaged to the man of her dreams. She has moved into a house he bought for them in his home town and is enjoying being part of his circle. A few months before their wedding, he decides he is in love with his childhood best friend and breaks off the wedding. Desperate for a place to live in a town far from her own friends and family, she moves in with her ex-fiancé’s ex-boyfriend. At first they keep their distance. Then they devise a plan that may unintentionally bring them closer together.
There wasn’t anything terribly new here. As with all romances, we know how this one will end. It isn’t about the ending, though. It’s about the journey. And the journey here is emotional, funny, and enjoyable. As is my experience with Emily Henry, the characters feel true to life and the plot deals with real human problems with a level of complexity that goes deeper than I would expect for a romance. That said, this is a romance novel. It is a quick read and doesn’t get too deep. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but is wasn’t as good as some of her other stuff I’ve read.
My rating: 3.5/5
