Every year, Emily Henry --- the queen of rom-coms --- releases a new novel. And every year, I preorder it, wait by the door for it to arrive, and dive in immediately. Here’s the kicker: Despite all that anticipation and excitement, every year I forget just how good Henry is, how swoonworthy and steamy she writes her romantic pairings, how quippy and clever her banter is, and, above all, how unafraid she is to explore her characters’ inner lives. She pushes them into entire worlds of growth and development while never relying on their romance to save them. If there ever was a perfect reminder of this, FUNNY STORY is it.

If you were to ask Daphne Vincent how she ended up rooming with a depressed stoner, her wedding dress stashed in a hallway closet, and her fiancé happily jetting around the world with another woman, she probably wouldn’t be ready to call it a funny story. But even she cannot ignore the absurdity of it all. Three weeks ago, Peter trudged out of their shared Victorian for his bachelor party. While he spent the first half of the night sending selfies of him and his groomsmen --- and his best friend, the effortlessly beautiful and kind Petra --- he spent the second half drunkenly confessing his love for Petra and effectively putting an end to life, love and living as Daphne knows it.

"Come for the romance, the high stakes, the humor and the sweet, hilarious vibes, but stay for Henry’s characters. They deserve the most magical, transformative romance possible, but they use that love to discover something even more meaningful: a love for and pride in themselves."

The heartbreak would be enough to level any woman, but the resulting realization is even worse. For the past several years, Daphne has been living as a we girl. She molded her hobbies, her interests, her friendships and even her diet around what Peter thought was best --- a series of decisions capped by the purchase of their house in Peter’s hometown, far from her friends and mother. Now heartbroken and broke, Daphne is stuck in Waning Bay, Michigan, where she knows no one and her only joy is her job as a children’s librarian.

But at least Daphne is not homeless. Fortunately, when Petra reciprocated Peter’s feelings, she was forced to dump her own boyfriend, Miles, leaving his apartment half-empty and his heart just as broken as Daphne’s. As Petra moved in with Peter, Daphne moved in with Miles, as if her life was some sort of “Wife Swap” episode. (It’s okay to start laughing; I warned you this was a funny story.)

Daphne is dedicated to her library, where she hosts story hour and numerous other programs for children, helps elderly folks discover technology, and recommends books to people who love them. Part of that dedication means preparing for the big Read-a-thon, which is in 108 days (not that Daphne is counting). As soon as she gets through this event and shows her young patrons why libraries are the best places on earth, she can hightail it out of Waning Bay, head somewhere closer to her mother, and finally start to heal.

Then the invitation arrives. Yes, you guessed it: Peter and Petra, barely a month into their fling, are tying the knot. Because they’re simply the nicest people known to man, they’ve invited their scorned exes. Panicked, embarrassed and desperate, Daphne RSVPs…for her and her plus-one: Miles. What starts as a lie turns into the kind of fake-dating scenario that rom-coms are made for. And since Emily Henry is behind this one, you know how good it gets.

As Daphne and Miles begin to fake their relationship, Daphne is surprised to discover that Miles isn’t the useless, uneducated stoner that Peter always made him out to be. He’s actually a compassionate, kind and dedicated man whose work as a bartender and buyer at a local winery has earned him friends all over town. And Miles learns that, despite planning to live her life in Waning Bay forever, Daphne knows close to nothing about her home and all the things that make it wonderful.

With the clock ticking on Peter and Petra’s wedding and Daphne’s imminent departure, Miles makes her a bargain: they’ll fake-date to get through the wedding, but Daphne must visit a new place in town with him every weekend until she can make an informed choice about whether or not to leave. (And if their adventures present them with even more opportunities for sickeningly sweet social media posts for Peter and Petra to see, so be it.) Leaving because of Peter, Miles advises, would be just as bad as coming here because of him. It’s time for Daphne to make her own decisions about her life.

However, failed relationships aren’t the only baggage Daphne and Miles are bringing to their fake romance. Still aching from Peter’s betrayal, Daphne can’t help but notice that her abandonment issues began when her well-meaning but flaky father continually bailed on parenting her, making up for it with consolation prizes and broken promises. Did she set herself up for something like this? Does she deserve it? Meanwhile, Miles must reckon with the fact that his kindness and openness stem from a childhood in which he was forced to bury and hide any negative feelings, leaving him unable to trust himself and his emotions. As the two explore Waning Bay, post lovey selfies for social media and open up to one another, it becomes obvious that sparks are flying.

But what these two wounded lovers need is friendship and confidence, not just romance. A lesser author would let the chemistry between them (which absolutely crackles off the page) heal them, but Henry is not that writer. Although she keeps the vibes light, she’s not willing to let her characters off that easy, either. Whether the two are addressing past traumas, building new friendships, or simply getting to know one another, Henry is always pushing them through their tragedies and into real, hard-won accomplishments --- the kind that cannot grow from love alone, but from a person learning to believe in and trust themselves for the first time.

This is the beauty of an Emily Henry rom-com: She doesn’t just understand the tropes, formulas and predictabilities that make romance so alluring, she also is unafraid to veer from them when it means pushing her characters out of their comfort zones and into real growth. For Daphne and Miles, that growth is hard-fought, deep-seated and life-changing…but it’s so very worth it.

FUNNY STORY: Come for the romance, the high stakes, the humor and the sweet, hilarious vibes, but stay for Henry’s characters. They deserve the most magical, transformative romance possible, but they use that love to discover something even more meaningful: a love for and pride in themselves.