Tag: emily henry

Book Review | Funny Story by Emily Henry

Posted May 22, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Funny Story by Emily Henry

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.

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?

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Bookish Books Challenge
2024 Audiobook Challenge
2024 Library Love Challenge

The Reason

It’s Emily Henry, of course I had to read it! And of course I waited for the audiobook because it’s Julia Whelan narrating it!

The Quotes

“You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t.”

“It’s a library, Daphne. If you can’t be a human here, where can you?”

“I’ve been reading since I was six. I’m getting pretty good.”

“You can’t untell someone your secrets. You can’t unsay those delicate truths once you learn you can’t trust the person you handed them to.”

“I believe you should and will have everything you’ve ever wanted, if you’re not too scared to go after it.”

The Narrator

Julia Whelan. She’s the perfect narrator for this book. I loved her interpretation of it and I’m just awed by her voice acting. The inflections and emotions that went into every single scene of the book was just perfect. I felt every feeling!

My Thoughts

This might be one of my favorite Emily Henry books! I love the jokes and the chemistry between the two MCs and I literally laughed out loud several times! I read this book with my book club buddies – it wasn’t a buddy read, we all just happened to get the book at around the same time, and it was so fun to see everyone reacting to and gushing about the book.

My Feels

It was just a plethora of feelings. Julia Whelan’s narration definitely did help with making me feel like I was right there and witnessing everything Daphne was going through; the good and the bad, and all the funny parts as well. It’s just so perfect and I loved it.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Time Travel Thursday | May 9

Posted May 9, 2024 by Haze in Time Travel Thursday, Weekly Book Memes / 0 Comments

It’s Time Travel Thursday! Hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog, this is where you get to take a look back at what you were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and get to relive those bookish memories!

This time in 2023 I was reading:

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

My thoughts:

I started and stopped reading this book so many times because it was quite difficult to get into in the beginning, but I kept trying because a friend whose book recommendations I trust gushed about it so much. Once I finally got into it, I was *in* it. It was so hard to put the book down and I just needed to know what happens next. I love that there were so many interesting elements to the story, like the sentient, carnivorous trees, and the tech that is way more advanced than what we know. I found the interpersonal relationships fascinating, their beliefs and way of life, the way they learned – the tech, the intrigue, how things worked. There’s so much to this book, on so many levels! I love it!

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This time in 2022 I was reading:

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

My thoughts:

Such a fun romantic read! I like that this one is a bit different, but I also got a bit annoyed with the lack of communication about Charlie not moving back to the city and not just straight up telling Nora. Libby’s lack of communication was also very annoying. I do like the push-pull and sexual tension with Nora and Charlie. It was written so well! I’ve read a few Emily Henry books and I’ve always enjoyed them. They’re just really easy to read and fun.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This time in 2021 I was reading:

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

My thoughts:

It has been a while since I watched the movie so there are a lot of details I’ve forgotten and can’t compare with the book. However, I really enjoyed the book itself – the telling of it and the way everything unfolded. There were moments of frustration and disbelief, and definitely also fear and wonder.

There’s a lot of details about the dinosaurs that I feel like we now take for granted because Jurassic Park has been in our pop culture for quite a while now, but I can’t help but wonder, if I was reading it for the first time in the time it was written, would I be asking more questions about the characteristics of the dinosaurs? Would I be more curious and skeptical about their behaviors?

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This time in 2020 I was reading:

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book and series. Charlotte “Sherlock” Holmes is definitely not what I expected but I love her, and I love the whole concept of how Sherlock came to be because of her character needing to carve out a living for herself. I read up to book 5, if I’m not mistaken, but I haven’t read the latest books so perhaps it’s time to catch up and reacquaint myself with Charlotte.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Overall Comparisons

All 4 stars and above! I was having a great time this time in the years before. Once again, I love that they are all such different books and yet I enjoyed them all. It’s also fun to revisit because I remember really loving The Book of Koli and the other books in the series, as well as the Charlotte Holmes series.

I am currently reading The First Law series and loving it so far, so I believe it will be fun to look back on this time again next year and add another series I love to the list!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What were you reading at this time in history?

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Time Travel Thursday | May 2

Posted May 2, 2024 by Haze in Time Travel Thursday, Weekly Book Memes / 1 Comment

It’s Time Travel Thursday! Hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog, this is where you get to take a look back at what you were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and get to relive those bookish memories!

This time in 2023 I was reading:

Happy Place by Emily Henry

My thoughts:

This book gave me all the feels. I love that it’s a different take on fake dating, from the other side of the relationship, which changed a lot of the dynamics. And I love the whole found family aspect of it as well. It made me laugh, it made me cry – both happy and sad tears – because it was also really bittersweet. People change and grow, sometimes they grow apart, sometimes they find a way to grow together. I love that.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This time in 2022 I was reading:

Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb

My thoughts:

This is the 3rd book in The Farseer Trilogy. I loved the author’s Liveship Traders series, and I wanted to like this series too, but there were some things that happened in this book that I couldn’t get over at the time and I DNF’d the book. I also didn’t like the protagonist very much because he’s so whiny and seems more like an anti-hero, but unlikeable protagonists don’t really bother me in general as long as they are interesting. I may possibly try this again eventually.

My rating: ⭐⭐/5

This time in 2021 I was reading:

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

My thoughts:

There was a chapter that mentioned simplifying and dumbing down the philosophies/concepts being discussed, I think it was titled Life and Death and Quantum something something, and that kind of summarizes the whole book for me.

I like the ideas behind this story, the theme of the book. It’s a story meant to comfort, motivate, inspire, and I think it would have worked very well as a fable. But as a full-length book it was boring, repetitive, preachy… and I felt like I was being talked down to. There were a lot of “wise-sounding quotes” that felt pretentious; the kinds that sound profound but say nothing.

I really wanted to like this book, and I even started out wanting to give it a 3-star rating, but the more I think about it, the less I think I like it, so I’m going with a 2-star rating.

My rating: ⭐⭐/5

This time in 2020 I was reading:

The Institute by Stephen King

My thoughts:

I listened to this one on audiobook. I love most of Stephen King’s works and I especially enjoy the really long books. This one was 19 hours on audio and apparently approx. 800 pages.

I wrote a long spoilery review on this one on Goodreads, but the gist is that there is a lot to like about it, and it’s definitely worth reading.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Overall Comparisons

It looks like I had some hits and misses at this time in the last few years. They are all also very different books with very different vibes. To be fair, the books with the good ratings were written by two of my go-to authors – Emily Henry, and Stephen King. I’ve only read one other Matt Haig book that I was lukewarm about, and while I loved Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders, I’ve only read two of her series. I am open to reading more of Robin Hobb though, and trying this one again too.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What were you reading at this time in the past?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books on My Spring 2024 TBR

Posted March 18, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 42 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books on my Spring 2024 TBR

Well, it’s time for the Spring 2024 TBR list! I only finished 4/10 of my Winter 2023-2024 TBR list, so if I was a good girl, I would’ve brought them forward to this list. But I’m not a good girl, and the heart wants what the heart wants, when the heart wants it.

Disclaimer: This Spring 2024 TBR list is non-binding and I reserve the right to change my mind and this list at any time.

I would like to finish all of these if I can because at the time of compiling this list, I assure you, I am very excited for all of them, but I am constantly distracted by new and shinier books all the time, so we’ll see how I end up doing!

Top Ten Books on my Spring 2024 TBR

  1. Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett – Because I loved the first book and want to continue with any and all sequels!
  2. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree – Same as above, and even more so because I love it so much!
  3. The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin – I’ve read two of the author’s books and loved them. I’m sure I’ll love this one too.
  4. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – It sounds so intriguing and I must know what everyone is raving about!
  5. The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed – I need this book, it sounds right up my alley. It gives me chills! In a good way.
  6. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck – I’ve been so curious ever since the TTT prompt for things you googled because of a book.
  7. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This would be a reread, but I’ve been wanting to reread the whole series.
  8. Funny Story by Emily Henry – I am very, very, impatiently waiting for this one to be released!
  9. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – My online book club seems to be having a disagreement about whether this book is good or not, and we are required to choose sides, so I have to read it before making my decision!
  10. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan – A story set in Malaysia, written by a Malaysian author. I must support my countrywoman, and besides, the book sounds really good!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What’s on your Spring 2024 TBR?

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