Book Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

Book Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

by | Jul 13, 2025 | Book Review

Funny (Witty, Heart-felt, Endearing) Story.

Its a snicker, not a laugh. Adjust your expectations to enjoy this to it’s fullest. Let’s be clear: Funny Story isn’t going to have you snorting wine through your nose. It’s more of a “soft smile, internal chuckle” kind of funny. But if you’re in the mood for a warm-hearted, emotionally smart rom-com with subtle charm and a librarian FMC who accidentally wins your heart (even if she never fully grabs it), then yep— Funny Story might be for you.

Hype Report
With a 4.21 stars average rating on Goodreads and a nod as readers choice romance book of the year 2024, I expected more. Over-hyped.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Aesthetic

The Dustjacket

The simple, illustrative style evokes the light-hearted rom-com vibes, and I’m here for it. The soft blue violet ground makes the oranges and yellows in the illustration pop! The posture struck by the characters demonstrates their shared state of mind. The use of the lemonade pattern from the front cover as decoration for the spine is a fun detail. The hand-drawn quality of the blocky sans serif font fits seamlessly with the illustration. Filling in the white space with “a novel” brings balance between the author’s name and the book title. This book cover immediately drew my eye amongst the other front-facing titles in the bookstore where I encountered it. The back cover takes elements from the front and shows them rearranged in a shelf at the bottom of the “praise for” section. This carries the personality of the book through the entirety of the cover experience. The inner flaps are nicely justified to avoid rivers. My only critique is that there are four dots in the ellipsis and that maybe it would have looked better if the “It’s a funny story…” were left aligned? Love that the background of the author’s photo is the same color as the accent text on the cover. This is such great attention to detail. Also, the croc shoe graphic on the inner back cover acts as a delightful little wink at the audience. I think this is overall very appealing and well thought through.

Cover to Cover Review Funny Story and image of book cover
Interior

Font selections for the title page and chapter headings is consistent. The tone is maintained through the design elements. The three word all caps lead ins to each chapter are a nice touch. I like that the cover and interior seem to have been planned together and have a nice unity. The whole thing is striking the right tone and not trying too hard.

Did the design affect whether I bought the book?

I want to say no, but I think that it did. I had browsed through the store, looking at many options. I still had the Goodreads Readers Choice winners pinging around in my brain, so when I saw a couple of them in one location in the store, I stopped to peruse more deeply. I re-read the inner flaps and the back covers. Picked up and put down at least 3 books before “taking a lap” and coming back and buying this book – and only this book. I still want to read the others that I saw that day. So I can only surmise that the cover influenced my decision. I am a mood reader, and this was speaking to my mood.

Summary

In Short

Jilted by their exes, Daphne & Miles find their way to happiness with help from each other and their community.

From the Publisher

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of *course,* because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex . . . right?

Character Analysis

​The main characters in Funny Story were pretty well developed and likable. I admire the way that Henry managed to make these “opposites” of sorts not so disparate that their finding harmony together seemed forced. One thing that I noted was that while I liked the main characters, I didn’t love them. I wanted to be excited about them, but they were just “almost”. The antagonists were painted like real-life people, so while I felt angry at them for being jerks, I didn’t hate them. I understand that people can be selfish and so caught up in their heads that they don’t see how their choices affect the people around them. That’s how the “dumpers” read to me. That in itself is refreshing. I’ve read lots of romance books in which the antagonists are so villainized that both the reader and main characters wonder, “What was I thinking?” This seemed more realistic.

The side characters shine. They are colorful and fun, offer comic relief, help the main characters build toward their resolution. However, I just wanted a little bit more. I wanted to love them, but fell just a hair short into likable.

“Cookie Money?” I repeat. “Like he knocked over a Girls Scouts truck and started a black market operation?”

Writing Style

The writing seemed effortless. The story made sense from beginning to end and was descriptive without being boring. There were plenty of details to draw complete mental pictures. The writing was very approachable. Henry treats her readers like they are intelligent (much appreciated) and allows her characters to make intelligent references, be quick-witted, and sassy. The dialogue is well developed and helps to give you a sense of each character’s personality and background.

Themes

Themes of finding yourself, found family, overcoming childhood hangups, and place-making were prominent throughout. I was excited about the place-making theme as it isn’t something I’ve encountered a lot in romance novels. As Daphne feels disconnected from a place that she had moved for her ex, Miles helps introduce her to new aspects of her current location. Meanwhile, Daphne is already making her place at the library where she works and doesn’t even realize her impact until she starts to engage socially with her coworkers. The drive for someone to put down roots was vs to run away from their problems was threaded through multiple character arcs.

Critical Evaluation

The story was well structured and believable, which in this genre can be hard to come by. While there was a little bit of the forced proximity trope, it was completely voluntary – refreshing. The fake relationship trope was well handled and believably applied. The opposites attract trope is handled with so much nuance and grace. The love story unfolded naturally. While there was attraction, the bond was more reliant on actions and words, and the consistent care and consideration of the main characters for each other. A true love story (not just a lust story).

“What in Satan’s ball sack?”

Personal Opinion

For a book called Funny Story, I expected it to be more humorous. Maybe I am just too literal. While there were a couple of situational comedic moments and a few one-liners from a side character or two, it wasn’t a laugh-out-loud kind of book. I think having this expectation going in colored my experience of the book more than I’d have wanted. This might also be due to the cover design. It communicated that there would be significant “com” in this “rom-com.” That said, this book is delightful and witty. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but…

But I didn’t identify with Daphne (FMC) as much as I feel that I do with other FMCs. Miles (Mmc) was great, but I didn’t swoon over him. I guess what I’m saying is that the characters stayed at arms length, I didn’t get sucked in. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the characters, but I just wasn’t as enchanted as I’d like to be for a book that was a Goodreads readers’ choice favorite. There goes my expectations, putting a damper on my joy. Damn them.

The FMC is a librarian, so there is a smattering of literary reference throughout. Fun side characters that I feel like could have each had their own wonderful story, again, I just wanted a little bit more than I got.

Recommendation

It’s good. Read it if you have any interest in doing so. It’s maybe not going to knock your socks off, but you won’t regret having spent the time getting to know the characters and their funny story.

Notes

Some heat but not very spicy.

Buy This Book

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Are you one of the almost one million Goodreads voters who ranked this a top Romance book? Tell me what I am missing.

Haven’t read it yet? Tell me if you plan to and if this review helped you decide!

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
Lacey Signature
Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

by | Jul 6, 2025 | Book Review

Royal blood doesn’t just run thicker than water… it’s practically a weapon.

If sibling rivalry were an Olympic sport, Three Dark Crowns would take gold, poison the silver medalist, and set the podium on fire just for fun. This YA fantasy promises a brutal coming-of-age filled with queens, elemental magic, and a whole lot of familial murder. But does it deliver on that promise… or just make you wait for the sequel to do the heavy lifting?

Hype Report

Goodreads readers ranked this title at 3.79 stars. This book was not at all on my radar, but it seems to have been rated a Kirkus Book of the Year. I am going to go with Over-Hyped.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Aesthetic

The Cover

First impressions speak to a dark, violent story that is also beautiful and fierce. Three very different crowns speak to three very different main characters; the treatment of the crowns hints at magic. The cover design is simple in a way that appears luxurious. The font choices underscore that aesthetic. The title is more hierarchically important than the author’s name, giving the impression that the book publisher believes the novel will sell better based on the title and graphics than on name recognition alone.

The praise at the top of the back cover gets too close to the top margin and looks like it was an afterthought. I appreciate the addition of the images of the covers of the other books in the series, giving the reader an idea of what kind of commitment the series is to read all the way through.

The spine is so clear and clean. It’s a lovely addition to a bookshelf. No notes.

Interior

The interior is nicely laid out, the text width is large enough to fit a good amount of content per page, and the margins are wide enough to read the entire paperback without breaking the spine. Highly legible fonts with nods to the cover in each chapter’s well-executed drop cap. The chapter titles indicate location. The chapter title treatment, adding a different icon to each location to further the reader’s understanding of place, was a delightful touch.

Not loving the execution of the first title plate with the pattern background. The gradient isn’t the same at the top and bottom of the words, and I am not 100% sure that it adds anything to the reading experience.

The map is nicely executed and really helps to set the tone for the book as well as help curious readers understand the sense of place.

I also enjoyed the rhyme referenced in the book as a stand-alone page after the title plate.

Did the design affect whether I bought the book?

No. This book was given to me by another reader who had purchased it and DNF.

Summary

In Short

Royal triplets, separated in youth, approach their 16th birthday and the beginning of the ceremonious year in which they must kill their siblings to take the throne.

From the Publisher

New York Times Bestseller * New York Public Library Best Book of 2016 * Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2016 * Kirkus Best Book of the Year

Fans of acclaimed author Kendare Blake’s Anna Dressed in Blood will devour Three Dark Crowns, the first book in a dark and inventive fantasy series about three sisters who must fight to the death to become queen.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

You can also read the summary from Epic Reads.

YouTube Trailer for Three Dark Crowns book.

Character Analysis

There are a lot of characters in this book. As with any fantasy story, it takes some time to figure out who everyone is, their relationships with each other, and why they are important. Quite a few characters don’t contribute to the plot, so I wonder if they become more important later in the series. The main cast is well described, and you get a sense of who they are. The triplets being fifteen, I found them to be fairly self-aware for that age group and also pretty in tune with the burden their position places on them. There is an interesting range of emotions, but none of them get overly dramatic about them, except for when Mirabella is angry, which manifests in her power. Overall, the characters are well drawn and their motivations are pretty clear.

Writing Style

The writing style is appropriate for a YA novel and keeps up a decent pace, not too fast, but it doesn’t lag either. There were a couple of passages where the sentence structure was confusing, but I figured it out with context clues. The style was consistent throughout. The third-person telling leaves us a little outside of the emotional turmoil that the characters must be experiencing, but given how traumatic the subject matter is, and the age range it is meant for, this is a good thing.

“He bows only to her.”

Themes

This book is rife with “found family” themes, both in terms of the triplets being separated and fostered by other families, and in the friendships that they form with their respective communities. There are some interesting parent-child dynamics that are explored in each of the households. There is a lot of manipulation and abuse; it is, in fact, “dark.”

Critical Evaluation

The twist at the end was foreshadowed very early. I wrote a note on page 29 about the plot twist revealed in the last sentence of the book. That aside, the premise of the story is interesting and begs the question “why?” at every turn. Of course, that is probably the point: a person should not just follow along because they are told to, because that’s how it has always been done. We don’t get that lesson in this book, but I imagine that is where the story will eventually end.

Personal Opinion

Books like this are a pet peeve of mine. The second-to-last sentence in the teaser on the back of the book is: “The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.” Which leads a reader to believe that this is where the plot will more or less begin. No. The entire book leads up to the night of their sixteenth birthday and ends “with a twist.” The whole first book is backstory, and there is no resolution to the story arc, making it incomplete, and you have to read the second book to know what is promised in the first. An author should not have to rely on writing one “story” and then breaking it into multiple books…make the characters and world interesting enough that they have multiple stories. And publishers…be honest about what you are selling people — a prequel to the story.

There are many references to different plants, specifically poison plants, but also other plants and trees. It makes me feel like I don’t know enough about what is what in nature to be able to accurately imagine what those things might look like. I mostly glaze over it, but if I were trying to form a real mental picture, I would have to look stuff up.

Recommendation

I’m torn. I will likely read the next book in this series, because I am a sucker who feels like they need to read the story I was promised in the teaser, not just the prequel. However, if the next book ends on a cliffhanger with an incomplete telling of the original plot, I will not continue. The writing is good and the themes and character development are compelling. It is dark,k and more sensitive readers should be warned. (My oldest bought this book and could not finish it, which is how it came into my possession).

Buy This Book

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Notes

There is a lot of abuse of one form or another, and readers should tread carefully if they are sensitive to this kind of subject matter.

If you are an adult who reads YA, what do you love about it?

Share your faves!

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
Lacey Signature
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

by | Jun 2, 2025 | Book Review

Don’t Skip The Introduction!

There’s something about independent bookstores. They’ve got this magic that’s hard to describe. In The Bookshop, Evan Friss digs into the history of these special spots—where books come to life and time seems to stand still. It’s part history lesson, part tribute to the people who’ve poured their hearts into making these spaces feel like home. The intro? Don’t miss it. It’s the perfect way to kick off a journey into the heart of bookselling that’s way more fun than your average history book.

Hype Report

I’ve seen this book on the lists and making the reader’s choice lists. Goodreads raters are giving this 3.94 stars. Having very little experience in the genre, I am going to go with Appropriately-hyped.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Aesthetic

Front cover of the book "The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore" by Evan Friss with comments from the book review.
The Dustjacket

The imagery used evokes feelings of nostalgia for a local independent bookshop. However, the circles on the right side of the cover leave me confused. Is this emulating a bokeh effect or is it supposed to be something hanging inside the store? It’s distracting.

The font choices and styling mimic shop window lettering. I love the color variation that nods to changing light. I think the arched testimonial at the top diminishes the effect and would work better if moved below the author’s name.

Delightful use of the subtitle between the author’s name and book title on the spine. This treatment will look lovely shelved.

Another nod to the nostalgic nature of the cover is the aged paper with a page-turn effect on the bottom of the back cover. In another application, it might look dated, but here it is quite appropriate.

The typesetting on the inner front flap takes what is a very long description and makes sure that the essence is captured in bold at the start.

Interior

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the unsung hero that is the book interior designer. There are so many different types of types that need to be used in a book like this: chapters, breaks in thought, numbering, acknowledgments, end notes, and more! I appreciate how much the design of a book’s interior eases a reader’s understanding and enjoyment.

This book is beautifully typeset, and oh man, am I a sucker for a drop-cap! The clever use of drop-caps to signal a departure from one line of thought to another, even within a chapter, made it easier to follow along with the narrative when it might have gotten messy.

The chapters are delineated with a printed “bookmark,” which while technically unnecessary, adds an element of joy to the reading experience.

Images and illustrations are accompanied by appropriate captions and spaced nicely.

Giving the 1-2 page profiles between chapters a different heading treatment made the reading experience seamless.

Did the design affect whether I bought the book?

No. In this case, I was gifted the book by a fellow book-lover. Despite my mild criticisms of the cover design, I do find this book attractive. I had added it to my Want to Read list based on its ranking in the Goodreads Readers Choice selections anyway.

Summary

In Short

A narrative approach weaving together character sketches of people and places throughout the evolution of bookselling in America that highlights the importance of passionate individuals, community building, and books in shaping culture.

From the Publisher

An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.

Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus.

The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field’s in 1944.

The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them.

Character Analysis

The Bookshop covers a wide range of (real-life) characters, some accounted in enough detail that you can picture them clearly, others just a name on the page. This is a natural consequence of mining history for descriptions of real people balanced with their importance to the narrative that Friss is weaving throughout.

Storylines of individual characters were treated with respect while offering a clear picture of the trouble in which they sometimes found themselves.

Writing Style

Friss’s writing style vacillates from nostalgic and somewhat romantic storytelling to lists of facts, people, and dates. The former is such a delight for readers, but whenever he stumbled into the latter, I got confused as to why these things were important or connected to the rest of the story. The juxtaposition of these two styles was jarring and made it harder to follow the through-line of the story in places. That might seem off-putting, but I should clarify that it didn’t happen often. There were 2-3 instances in which I was like, “who-za, what now?”

Generally, the whole book is more like a collection of anecdotes joined together by statements of fact. Drawing from such a wide array of source material, I think that Friss did a phenomenal job of making it feel cohesive and deliberate.

We are all curators….The Bookstore – its design and function- has never been a fixed entity. Bookstores reflect the cultural, intellectual, economic, and political world around them, they are also actors, institutions that cast their shadows.

Themes

The overarching theme is that bookshops in America have been and likely will continue to be driven by passionate booksellers who see that there is more to bookselling than profit.

Each of the individuals highlighted is characterized by how their relationship with books and bookselling met with their true passion. Sometimes that was books and other times it was community, activism, or lofty goals of achievement.

Friss also explores the evolution of what is considered a bookshop and who booksellers are. As well as how bookselling is influenced by and in turn influences society at large.

Critical Evaluation

Don’t be fooled by the subtitle “A History of the American Bookstore.” This book is a love letter to booksellers and their places. There were sections in which it was clear that the author wanted to include more, but held back, causing some choppy bits. Overall, this was not a difficult read for someone who is not by nature a “history” reader.

There are copious endnotes for those looking to gain an even deeper understanding of the topic.

Personal Opinion

I liked this book. The themes were accessible, and the writing style was easy to get in sync with. I will proudly display it on my bookshelf, but I am unlikely to re-read it in its entirety. However, I could see myself referencing it at times.

I do not read a great deal of history, though I do read historical fiction. That said, as a side-quest this didn’t feel too far outside the scope of my normal choices.

Loads of fodder for fans of “Fun Facts.”
The following caught my attention:

 

  • Andre Breton and Marcel Duchamp designed a window display called “Lazy Hardware” to promote Breton’s book Arcane 17 at The Gotham Book Mart in 1945.

Arcane 17 by Andre Breton

 

  • In 1976 Bookseller Burt Britton published a book of 739 self-portrait drawings done by authors and book people that he had collected over the years working at The Strand. The book is called Self-Portrait: Book People Picture Themselves.

Self Portrait: Book People Picture Themselves. From the Collection of Burt Britton.

 

  • Nancy Bass of The Strand marketed books for decor purposes “ ‘Books-by-the-foot’ buyers specified the number of feet of shelf space, the subject matter, the binding type, and the color scheme.” Buyers included some well-known celebrities and film and TV productions.

Recommendation

I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the history of American bookselling or as a gift for the book fanatic in your life. This is not something that I would recommend for hardcore fiction readers, as there is not enough action or plot continuity to likely keep your interest. If you regularly read history, this is for you.

Front cover of the book "The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore" by Evan Friss

Buy This Book

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Notes

Read Time – This book took me longer than my average read time. That is likely because of the dense nature of historical books. There is a lot to absorb and think about rather than trucking along with an engaging plot. As I noticed that I was lagging, I set aside my lunch hour each weekday to read a chapter. Having some structure was helpful for a mood reader who generally goes for fiction titles.

Shout out your favorite bookstore! If it is an independent, tell us the city and state.

May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
Lacey Signature

Table of Contents

→ Index