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Book Review:: Funny Story | Emily Henry

Let’s talk about the new Emily Henry book —

Daphne’s fiancé came back from his bachelor party weekend with a declaration of love on his lips. Unfortunately, it was for his childhood friend Petra, not her. She had packed up her entire life and moved to Michigan for the guy. She lived in the house he bought for them. And now? Now the only thing she has is her dream job as a children’s librarian…in the one place on earth she no longer wants to be. She has nowhere to go. Then Miles, Petra’s beau, shows up after he gets the NOTE she left him, ending their years long relationship. He wants answers, but they’re already long gone. Instead, he picks up a new roommate. Daphne & Miles are practical strangers, both mourning the death of relationships they’d put everything on the line for. In a bout of revenge, they decide to pretend they’ve found new love in each other. We know how the rest of the story goes, right? They grow closer, become true friends, help each other navigate the troubles in their lives, and the pesky little spark between them, once struck, refuses to die out.

The banter is top tier. Daphne and Miles get each other. The bond of friendship that anchors them is so genuine. They’re not just grieving together, they’re grieving the exact same thing. And when one of them is going through something rough, the other is there with immense support.

Although it is firmly inside romantic comedy territory, it has authentic depth that pulls the ol’ heartstrings. As Daphne sifts through the wreckage of her life to figure out what she even wants out of life, she has to really examine all the pieces of it. Would moving back ‘home’ solve any of her problems? Or is she just trying to run away…again?

In conclusion – drumroll please – I loved it. As far as Emily Henry goes, this ranks for me just under my favorite she’s written (Beach Read) for a solid runner-up. I loved Miles. I loved how he was revealed in layers, just a little bit at a time. I related so hard to Daphne in many ways. The difficulty of adult friendships, her self-doubt. Very little of this book felt tedious to get through (unlike Book Lovers, honestly). Although there were some things that bothered me, too.

The third act conflict was confusing and needlessly stressful (in my opinion). It stretched the bounds of my belief, but it wasn’t enough to ruin it for me.
The title. It’s explained in the opening anecdote, but other than that, it doesn’t feel like it applies in any meaningful way to the actual story. Not the only Emily Henry book to which this gripe applies though. Titles are hard. Hers are catchy. I get it.

It’s hard to go wrong with an Emily Henry book. She’s a sharp-witted writer with a modern style that is easy to read and lose yourself in. Her characters have so much complicated depth, and the narrative works long and hard to resolve their long-standing issues realistically. They’re more spunky than fluffy, and give you plenty of fodder to ruminate over long after the last pages are turned. I’d say of the four Henry’s I’ve read so far, for me this is a solid runner-up behind Beach Read (Happy Place settled at the rear).

Details

Title:: Funny Story
Author:: Emily Henry
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 395 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 23m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: April 23rd, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello
Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood

Book Review:: Not in Love | Ali Hazelwood

I’ve read a few Ali Hazelwood books. Love, Theoretically, Love on the Brain, The Love Hypothesis, Check & Mate — I was expecting Not in Love to be in a similar vein, but unlike the others, which are all romances and usually contain a pretty awkward sex scene or two, this book needs to come with a disclaimer:: This Book is Pure Porn. That being said, the underlying story between the orgasms is a decent story of revenge, personal growth, and lots of obsession.

Rue Seibert works in food security science for a pioneer woman in the field who founded her own company, Kline, so the university she worked for wouldn’t own her patent. Now Rue is on the cusp of needing her own patent, just when a finance company swoops in a buys up Kline’s loan. Rue’s hero believes they’ve come in to destroy everything she’s ever worked for, so they are enemy number one. But when Rue recognizes one of the finance guys from a recent hookup, and she learns more about her boss’ history with them, the lines of her allegiance start to blur.

So let’s just jump into it and talk about the sex. This is by far the sexiest (as in literally so much sex) Hazelwood story I’ve read so far – but I haven’t read them all, so can’t say for certain it has the most. Please, enlighten me in the comments. There’s a lot of it. I know I already said that like eight different ways, but really, you need to prepare yourself. If you took away the explicit sex scenes, there may be nothing more than a novella length story in front of you. This is erotica territory.

I couldn’t help but feel bad for the two main characters, who pretty much treat sex as a biological urge and nothing more. They use a sex app (not a dating app) to find others who just want to use each other’s bodies for pleasure. They are both so detached from their feelings that that’s all they think they want or can offer someone else. I guess it did leave room for them to grow, but it was an ick for me. Sex is more than just a physical connection. Or maybe I should say sex should be more than just a physical connection. But maybe that’s my age showing? It was uncomfortable to read so much of it, and the way Eli was obsessed with Rue kind of gave me creepy-sex guy vibes. Sorry, not sorry.

One of the things Rue and Eli exchanged (other than copious amounts of bodily fluids) were all the dark pieces of themselves. Truths they’ve never told anyone before because of the shame it brings them. Similar to Hate Mail by Donna Marchetti (solid 5-Star book), I loved it. They spoke, and the other listened, and there was acceptance. The acknowledgement of their regrets and flaws and imperfect choices – it makes the connection they forge feel genuine. They’re not falling for an image of the other person they’ve built up in their own mind – they’re falling for the whole person. The real person. In that way, I found it very romantic. Then again, the same could happen in a platonic friendship, but since they’re fucking, like, all the time, let’s call it romance.

There are also storylines with themes of food scarcity, complicated family relationships, social struggles, and strong friendships. There’s some good stuff in there, you just have to wade through a lot of fornication to get there, because I’m not sure if you’ve heard yet, but there’s a lot of it.

Overall, it was a decent story. Everything that was promised had a satisfying payoff, and we get a happily ever after. If you like Hazelwood’s science-y style, you still get a bit of that, but the main course is real raunchy. It just wasn’t the one for me.

Details

Title:: Not in Love
Author:: Ali Hazelwood
Genre:: Erotic Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 55m
Audiobook Narrator:: Callie Dalton & Jason Clarke
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: June 11th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 2-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Tourist Attraction | Sarah Morgenthaler
The Unhoneymooners | Christina Lauren

Book Review:: This Summer Will Be Different | Carley Fortune

I sank into this book like a hot knife through butter. I savored the rich descriptions and sentences dripping with longing and heat. This is Carley Fortune’s third book and she’s made it abundantly clear she is a great writer. She knows how to set a tone. Her stories have this dark cloud over them, looming as a melancholic backdrop, not so subtly shouting how miserable the characters have made themselves with past choices. In theory, I love that. But for some reason with her books, it ends up leaving a sour taste in my mouth (though this one is not nearly as sour as Every Summer After, I must say. Girly MC really blew it in that one). But man, the writing. It’s undeniable. Take the first line for example::

I cupped my hands over my eyes so I could gulp down the view.

This Summer Will Be Different Carley Fortune Book Cover

Lucy and Bridget are the best of friends. They met as adults in Toronto, and quickly grew to be inseparable. On their first planned girls trip to Prince Edward Island, where Bridget is from and where her family still lives, Bridget is unexpectedly delayed, leaving Lucy alone for her first night on the island. She meets someone shucking oysters at dinner she has an instant firecracker connection with, and they share a night of passion together most only dream of.

In the morning, Lucy realizes…he’s Bridget’s brother — the one she made Lucy promise to stay away from after his heart was recently put through the grinder by a local.

Let the lies begin.

Instead of fessing up to what had happened on accident (I don’t think I can say innocently after a night like that!), both Felix and Lucy lie their faces off to both Bridget and themselves. There is a connection there that’s undeniable, and trying to pretend there isn’t never seems to work.

Flash forward several years, and we are days away from Bridget’s wedding when she calls Lucy, desperate to get her to drop everything and spend a few days on PEI. She won’t say what’s wrong, but it is out of character for her friend to make an ask like this. So she goes, despite her epic current workload, and the fact that Felix will be there too.

He held my gaze for less than a second. I saw him, and he saw me, and in that blink of time, something passed between us.

The prologue of this book is delicious: rich, satisfying, steamy, and leaves you craving more. Then the story begins, and falls a little flat for me. The longing continues to be just as magnetic and scorching, but…I mean…there’s just a lot of it. Most of the first half of the book feels quite repetitive to be honest. Lucy wants Felix but refuses to give in (again) to the temptation, and Bridget constantly refuses to bring up why she drug Lucy out to PEI, at, like, the worst possible time. Like, girl, just spill the deets, quit being so unreasonable here! It feels like scene after scene of Lucy and Felix trying to tip toe around Bridget, setting up about a billion little moments of L&F being alone together…which, come on. I get that making the same mistakes over and over is kind of the theme of this book (hello title), I just feel like it could have been a little cleaner.

After all that, when things finally start to progress, it does pick up. Turns out Bridget has a good reason to have this emergency pal pow-wow, and Lucy finally starts to make some progress in righting the things that aren’t working in her life. In the end, I did enjoy the book, it just seemed to take far too long to get to the point, you know?

For me, the part that shined was the physical tug between Lucy & Felix. Every sentence was dripping with magnetism. Very visceral, almost abstract descriptions. You could feel the tension. I think Fortune probably knew that, which is why there’s so much. But when you convey things that well, you don’t need as many words. Turns out too much of a good thing is still too much.

My favorite detail in the book were the seed packet/book exchanges between Lucy & Felix. What a simple and ‘innocent’ little routine that was just drenched in their true feelings. Loved it. And my least favorite thing? Can I say Lucy’s personality? Lol. She was so stubborn about things that felt inevitable. Open your eyes, girl, or stop being so miserable with your choices! Luckily she stopped getting in her own way…eventually.

I wasn’t lying when I said I savored this book. Even the paperback edition I pre-ordered is lovely. Lovely cover and smooth beautiful pages. I found myself flipping through it again and again just for the page feel. Where my other book nerds at? You know what I mean!

It wasn’t my favorite read of the summer, but it is certainly worth picking up! Carley Fortune is an auto-buy author for me. You can trust that the prose will wax poetic, even if the greater story might be a little flawed. Obviously I have mixed feelings, but I can’t bring myself to dole out less than four stars.

If you’ve read it, let’s talk in the comments. I want to know all your pros/cons on this one!

Details

Title:: This Summer Will Be Different
Author:: Carley Fortune
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 31m
Audiobook Narrator:: AJ Bridel & Carley Fortune
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: May 7th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars