Funny Story
Daphne has upended her life to move to her fiance, Peter's, small town in Michigan--just in time for him to leave her for his childhood best friend Petra. With obligations to fulfill at her beloved library job but nowhere to live, she proposes that she and Miles--Petra's ex--become roommates. Miles and Daphne are opposites and don't know much about one another, but they slowly become friends through their shared heartbreak. Soon they realize how easy it is to put on a show and make everyone (including their exes) think they're more than friends--and it's possible they actually might be.
One thing I love about Henry's novels is that she chooses great settings. A small lakeside town in Michigan has the perfect summer feel and provides plenty of moments for cute banter and adventures as these two get to know one another. Fake dating isn't my favorite trope, but it doesn't feel heavy-handed here, and Miles is a charming and unexpected surprise for Daphne. Charm, banter, and just enough emotional backstory are par for the course for Henry, and this is another must-read if you like her other books.
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Publisher’s Description
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?