⭐⭐⭐⭐ 3.5/5 Stars – Really enjoyed this but with some niggles. It lost a star for very frustrating miscommunication based conflict!
Format: Audiobook (Spotify)
Read: September 2024
Emily Henry has been either big hit (Book Lovers, Beach Read) or big DNF miss (You and Me On Vacation) so with this new book I decided to leave it for a while for enough reviews to come in to suss out where it might sit on the scale of romance tropes I can stomach.
When I saw it was available on Spotify last week I thought it might just be the ticket to get me out of my reading slump after the failure of The City We Became. Happily it was, and I flew through it in a couple of days! I couldn’t wait to listen and went on more walks and got more jobs done than I have in weeks, including stripping the peeling paint off our bathroom ceiling!
I will say that I don’t usually listen to rom-com audiobooks, and I don’t love the “husky male” voices that the female narrators do (it’s pretty cringe) – also conversely I hate most of the feminine voices male narrators do – but this story was good enough I could get past that.
Anyway, overall I enjoyed this a lot, and I will probably buy a copy for a future comfort re-read, but it is not perfect and it loses half a star for a couple of things.
The worst part is that, as is usually the case in these books, the conflict in the third act relies on miscommunication. I hate miscommunication but sometimes it works if it’s well justified enough, and it doesn’t drag too much (Beach Read has quite a bit but it managed to walk the line for me). Funny Story used this trope to pull the rug out from under Daphne quite brutally and it didn’t quite make sense to me for the characters.
For one, it’s well established Daphne loves a calendar so I don’t really buy her forgetting to put an important event on it, especially something that marked a kind of personal milestone. Secondly, Miles could have called or sent a text and it doesn’t make sense to me why he wouldn’t especially when they live together, and especially mid grand romantic gesture…
Generally the flaw in this book is that I don’t really understand what Miles specific issues are, to why he has any time for Petra, when he is at all other times The Perfect Boyfriend.
Otherwise I did like both Daphne and Miles. I could have done with less description of his gingery, woodsmoke smell but sure, it’s a romance book I guess. It seemed to me more like he’d more likely smell of weed, which I hate the stench of (it smells like rotten cabbage to me, disgusting). That aside he’s easy going, thoughtful and supportive which is exactly what I love in a man.
Daphne is a character I really enjoyed for her reserved personality, I could empathise with her struggles making friends and feeling like she fit in. The Librarian stuff made me eyeroll a lot, but probably being a Librarian is different in the USA… It’s a world away from my experience in the UK! (Do not become a Librarian because you “love stories”).
I will say that this book is not “funny” so don’t let the title lead you to expect a laugh out loud comedy! It is more serious in tone, more like Beach Read than Book Lovers which I did actually find amusing at times.
It’s solid though, and if you’ve liked Emily Henry other books you’ll probably like this. Of the ones I’ve read my ranking is –
1. Book Lovers
2. Beach Read
3. Funny Story
4. You and Me On Vacation (hated with a passion, DNF!).
REVIEW SUMMARY
I LIKED
- I related to Daphne’s more reserved personality and struggles feeling like she belonged.
- I enjoyed the friendship with Ashley.
- Miles is one of the better romantic heroes.
I DIDN’T LIKE
- I didn’t understand Miles specific issues.
- Miscommunication conflict in the third act didn’t work for me and immediately knocked a star off.
