Emily Henry – Anna Bushi

Can I tell you a Funny story?

I love reading Emily Henry novels, and I liked Funny Story a tad better than Happy Place, my last Emily Henry read.

Emily Henry created two wonderful, flawed characters in Daphne and Miles. Her writing makes us fall in love, along with her protagonists. Michigan comes to life in this book, and I want to visit the lakefront beach on a beautiful summer day and dip my toes in the cold water.

Recommend it for contemporary romance readers.

Favorite quotes

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

So many decisions I made were based on the fear of what could go wrong, instead of my hopes for what might go right.

My Happy Place

My happy place is when I am reading a book. I love Emily Henry’s ability to make us feel her character’s joy and pain. Her language is pure poetry.

The best second-chance romance novel, in my opinion, is Persuasion. Written two centuries ago, we still connect with Anne Elliot and Captain. Wentworth. Their motivations make sense, and their love for each other seeps through the pages.

In Happy Place, while Harriet and Wyn’s love for each other is apparent, their reason for breaking up does not quite make sense. I also did not understand Harriet’s reason for abandoning her dreams after all these years of hard work. So, for the last part of the novel, I was yelling at Harriet (in my head) for making the wrong decision.

In a historical romance, the kind I write, it is easy to come up with reasons why the couple cannot be together. Society and culture put up many barriers. In the modern day, the reasons depend on the individuals themselves, so I wish we got more of why Harriet let Wyn go after eight years of being together.

Still, a wonderful and warm novel for a cold winter day.

Perfect book for a cold winter night

Book Review – The Love That Split the World

Reading Emily Henry’s book is like drinking hot chai on a cold rainy day. It warms your insides. Her debut novel is full of tenderness and warmth.

This book is about a teenager with an abandonment crisis. To be young and to feel so deeply is a gift. One we don’t recognize till our senses have dulled. You can feel Nat’s emotions like a tide swell.

I did not pay much attention to all the multi-verse and parallel universes. I love Sci-Fi, but that is not why I read Emily Henry. I read her books for the emotional punch. I loved all the Native American tales in this book. I can easily imagine a grandmother narrating them under the night sky, sitting in front of a mellow fire.

If you want to experience life through the eyes of a teenager where every problem is earth-shattering, and every pleasure is a god’s gift, this is your book.

Books I read and loved

While the world outside feels chaotic, we readers find refuge in books. Here are some books that I have read recently and would recommend:

People We Meet on Vacation – Warm, buttery, sweet, and perfect for romance lovers. This is a book one can read again and again.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft: If you read one book on writing, make it this. An authentic voice is such an elusive thing. Stephen King does it so effortlessly. To imagine him facing near-death halfway through the text and still producing such a great book speaks to his skills as an author. I learned a lot from this book and highly recommend it to all my author friends.

A Game of Fear (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #24): To say I have a soft spot for the shell-shocked inspector is an understatement. I have read all the books in this series. This novel was better than the last book. That is saying something because this is book 24. Recommend for mystery lovers and lovers of the foggy, grey English countryside.

The Last Wish (The Witcher, #0.5): Surprised by this book. In a good way. Short stories compiled cleverly into a novel. Sprinkling of old fairy tales retold in clever ways. Recommend for fantasy readers. I am off reading the next book in this series.

Of course, if you have not read my books, start reading with Heir to Malla.