Funny Story by Emily Henry

5/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD

God, I just love Emily Henry so much. I read this book for the first time over a year ago and I rated it 5 stars, and here I am rating it 5 stars again. I truly love this book so much and like I mentioned in my brief review the first time I read it, it gives me so much hope for my future. I know it's silly for a book about people that aren't real living lives that are made up to make me feel like my life could be on the right path, but I'm rolling with whatever can make me feel hopeful these days. 

There's just so many fantastic life lessons to learn in this book that I think I either do, or should, apply to my everyday life. For example…

"Don't wait on anyone who's in no rush to get to you."

"You can't force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don't: Trust people's actions, not their words."

"Don't love anyone who isn't ready to love you back."

"Let go of the people who don't hold on to you."

"I don't want to be a part of the wrong we. I'd rather be on my own, even if it hurts right now."

Emily Henry just knows how to write the most relatable characters on the planet, and I definitely think there's something to be said about the fact that her main characters are in their 30's and not in their teens. As someone getting very close to 30 myself, it's really great to read about people who are just figuring themselves out on a similar timeline as me; hence the reason this book makes me feel so hopeful about my future.

The experiences her characters have are also so relatable. There's nothing insanely traumatic or unlikely to ever have actually happened in any of their backgrounds, but they've all gone through some real life shit. Not everyone's parents are going to be perfect, not every relationship is going to work out, not everyone is going to be the friend they should be all of the time, people may judge us based on outward perceptions that may not be accurate, sometimes we won't react in a healthy way because of our past trauma, and sometimes we have to realize that we were in the wrong and try to make things right because that's just the reality of being human. And it sucks sometimes, but it's going to keep happening one way or another. 

"You make everything that went wrong feel like a step in the right direction." 

That's the kind of love I want. The kind that makes every bad thing that happened in the past feel like it was worth experiencing because it got you to where you are today.

Daphne and Miles are such a fantastic couple. Their banter throughout the entire book is so endearing, and while their communication once things get more serious isn't perfect, it's healthy and realistic. They both panic over totally valid things once things move past friendship and while they don't react correctly in the moment, they realize their mistakes and actively try to communicate with one another. I've been seeing these videos of people talking about which of their favorite book couples they think stay together and who they think break up, and I can confidently say that I believe Daphne and Miles stay together forever. They're a perfect example of how easy it is to love someone but how just loving them isn't always enough; you have to work to keep a relationship going and the only way to do that is to make sure you're on the same page. 

I just know for a fact that I would fall head over heels in love with Miles. He's such a golden retriever and I love how safe and loved he makes Daphne feel. The speech he gives her at the end had me near tears, and that is how I know for a fact that he could only have been written by a woman. If a man like that is out there in real life… I damn sure haven't met him. I melted the first time he called her his best friend. To me, that's almost more romantic than being told someone is in love with you. I also love that he was just a guy working at a wine bar. No surprise that he owns the bar because it's too embarassing for him to just work there, no surprise that he has some secret other job. He lives a very slow life that he loves and that's exactly what I aspire to myself.

I related a lot to Daphne's revelations about herself throughout the book. Her feelings of not being good enough and always thinking that someone better is going to come along because of her dad and Peter abandoning her definitely resonated with me. I think anyone with some past relationship trauma can relate to the feeling of never being good enough. She and I (and probably everyone else in the book except for maybe her mom…) could probably use a little bit of therapy. Speaking of her mom, that is exactly how I see my mom being in 10 years. Just working out, going on adventures, not dating men because she doesn't want to waste her time. Honestly sounds like a fantastic life. 

I LOVE the way this book ended. I feel like in a lot of contemporary romance books I've read recently, including Emily Henry's most recent one (bummer), one or both of the main characters gives up absolutely everything that they love or have worked so hard for just to be with the other person. I hate that. I don't think that's a healthy foundation for a relationship. The balance is thrown off and someone is always going to wonder what would have happened if they had focused on themselves and built their self-worth up before jumping full force into a relationship. Daphne already making up her mind about what she wanted for herself before she spoke with Miles made me love her even more. Going and getting herself an apartment and making a conscious effort to build a life for herself that included Miles, not a life that revolved around him, is exactly how it should go. She already learned the hard way that building your life around someone and not letting yourself have a life that matters to you, leaves you with nothing if that relationship ends. It's prioritizing self-love over external-love and I think that's the only way you can truly love someone else. 

Emily Henry is definitely one of my auto-buy authors and it will stay that way forever (I hope).