Hi friends, happy Monday! I recently bought Emily Henry’s new novel, “Funny Story” from Barnes & Noble, and the book inspired me to rank all of her novels. I have seen several mixed reviews and rankings of her novels, so I thought I’d add my opinion to the mix and explain my choices!
Emily Henry has quickly become one of my favorite romance novelists. She writes with humor and a creativity I could only dream of matching. Her characters feel like people you’ve met before, in the best way possible. She is the queen of creating chemistry between her characters!
So, here is my ranking from favorite to least:
- “Happy Place”
From the pink cover to the chemistry between Harriet and Wyn, this novel was an absolute dream. Even though Henry somewhat tortured readers with the emotional rollercoaster of a relationship between these two, I ate up every sweet line and image.
Wyn and Harriet met in college and dated for almost ten years. Despite very busy schedules, they’re friends plan to meet up every summer at a lake house in their favorite town.
The only issue is that Wyn and Harriet broke up a little bit before the week-long trip. They show up and ultimately decide to pretend like they are dating to keep the peace between everyone.
It is clear throughout the novel that the two still care for each other deeply, and you just want them to be together the entire time. There is so much left unsaid between them, and their relationship is very complex.
The importance of platonic friendships is also a theme within the novel. Harriet has a strained relationship with her family, so relying on her two best girl friends is important to her.
I adore this novel and will never stop recommending it!
- “Beach Read”
Even though the character names in this novel were not my favorite, (Augustus Everett and January Andrews), I enjoyed this novel! It’s the perfect book to pack in your beach bag, for sure.
January is a romance novelist, and Augustus writes very serious literary fiction. January no longer believes in love after finding out that her father created a separate life apart from her and her mother, with a new wife.
She loses motivation to write her romance stories, that is, until she meets Augustus. They decide to start a summer-long challenge in which they write in each other’s style and genre. This challenge is due to both writers experiencing extreme writer’s block.
Throughout this challenge of writing novels in an unfamiliar style, the two characters grow closer to each other and develop a new appreciation for each other. They help each other through love, grief, loss, and challenges.
- “People We Meet On Vacation”
This was my first Emily Henry read, and it made me fall in love with her writing! Poppy and Alex are friends who take annual vacations together every summer for a decade.
I loved the contrast between the two characters and how well they seemed to fit together despite being polar opposites. Poppy is wild and free-spirited, whereas Alex is quiet, reserved, and an English teacher.
One of their trips, they ruined everything for their relationship. They stop speaking and readers do not find out what happened on the last trip they took until the end of the novel.
Poppy finds herself in a rut with her life, and decides she needs to change something. She convinces Alex to take another trip with her, and to her surprise, he agrees.
They have a week to fix things, but the beginning starts out rocky. They get their connection back slowly throughout the trip, and more things about their past unfold for the readers. It did take a very long time for all of the details to come out, but the build up was worth it!
I liked this novel, but nothing about it struck me that deeply. It was just another cute romance novel.
- “Book Lovers”
This story was cute and romantic, but nothing about it stuck with me in particular. The novel follows Nora, a cutthroat and serious literary agent, and Charlie, a quiet editor from the city.
I do appreciate the fact that Emily Henry creates characters who grow so much over the course of the novel. Her characters are never flat, that’s for sure.
These two bump into each other several times, but their encounters are nothing like a meet-cute in regular romance stories. They are the classic enemies-to-lovers trope, and I like that they fell for each other despite their differences.
I think Emily Henry is incredibly talented and she creates hit after hit in my opinion! I did not include her most recent book in this ranking because I have not finished it yet, but I am loving it so far!