My Thoughts on Emily Henry Books
As someone who loves to have a “favorite” anything, it’s quite different for me that I can’t pinpoint exactly one author that is my favorite. I have authors I will read anything by, keep tabs on, or both—Gillian Flynn (girl, do something), R.F. Kuang, Jane Austen (I’m working through it, slowly), Joan Didion, Sarah J. Maas—but I’m not yet willing to hand them the title of favorite. I am admittedly pretentious about a lot of things but reading isn’t really one of them. I just don’t read a lot of high brow stuff, but I can discern between good and bad writing.
I do love Emily Henry, though. She is an auto-buy author for me and I will support all of her endeavors for the foreseeable future. I recommend her to everybody who will listen to me and I just really appreciate her work. Her books are cozy, if a bit predictable (as is the genre as a whole), and she writes metaphors like it’s nobody’s business. She’s a legitimately very good writer, which is why I think some people like to downplay the romance aspect of her books. I also find her fascinating: insanely successful yet quite elusive. She lives in Cincinnati of all places and as far as I’m aware, has only ever done one in-person event.
Every time someone asks me my Emily Henry ranking (or when I ask myself) it always changes (except #6). And so to remedy that, here is my review of Emily Henry’s adult books, in hopes that by the end of this, I will have solidified my rankings. Also, given that this is my last week to do absolutely nothing until bar prep, I decided to be hella extra and went a bit ham on Canva and Pinterest. Also spoilers ahead but most of you have read these so who cares (I will not reveal much about GBBL).
Oh one thing you should know about me. I don’t think about the couples after the book. As far as I’m concerned, their love story ends with the last page but also is eternal and love is real and everyone is happy. I’m not thinking about “oh but they would definitely break up after the book.” I literally don’t care. I’m easy to please. Every couple is happy. Every couple is in their proper place. Except for one.
I first read Beach Read in 2020 and I do feel quite smug about it. I have zero recollection of how I found Emily Henry or this book but according to my Goodreads, which I take very seriously, I started reading it on August 27, only two months after it was published. 2020 was a weird time but I find it utterly fascinating that I do not remember anything about reading it. I genuinely thought for the longest time that my first Emily Henry book was PWMOV. And according to my Libby account, I was even able to renew the book. So like no one was reading her. It seems I was just so ahead of the curve I forgot about it entirely. I mean sure summer of 2020 was weird and personally it was a very formative time but still??? Bizarre.
Anyways, atrocious memory aside, I love Beach Read. Objectively, it’s one of her best. It just feels comfortable and familiar without being generic. It was one of my first forays into this current trend of contemporary romance (I first read The Hating Game or whatever and it was bad so it turned me off the genre for about a year) so now other books have the misfortune of being compared to it.
Things I Like:
The setting. I’m quite partial, obviously, but to the haters: Lake Michigan IS large enough to have sizable beaches, and thus beach towns. -1 having Gus and January be Michigan alums though. Very Walmart Wolverine behavior of her. Tsk tsk.
I think Emily manages to walk the line of heavier themes without turning it into a non-stop trauma dump. You need to ground me in reality somehow without losing the essence of a rom-com. Discovering your dead dad has a secret love nest in a small Lake Michigan beach town and then your neighbor is your hot college rival is just that. Love it.
Gus. I love Gus. I love him enough that I don’t even mind that his name is Gus. I like that he’s a bit pretentious but also sad. But he’s also kind. And a homeowner.
January is up there as one of my favorite EH protagonists. I also like that she actually has a friend. One of Emily’s biggest downfalls is she doesn’t write friends very well. I read an interview with her once and she said she didn’t start making girl friends until college and you really can tell. Anyways, I love that January has a best friend who is present throughout the entire book. And I also love that January is a hopeless romantic because I feel like, deep down, most of us are. Or at least I am, anyways.
Things I Don’t Like:
Not really anything. I guess I like the UK ending more and find it more believable.
(I got bored of making collages)
For a while, this was ranked as #1. Like you, who always places Debut and “Tim McGraw” as #1, I am quite stubborn in that sometimes, what is first will always be best. But then I realized PWMOV actually wasn’t first and the illusion kind of shattered. I still love this book a lot, don’t get me wrong. Apparently it blew up on TikTok but I don’t think I was on TikTok at the time so I wouldn’t know. I managed to read it before it was published because it was my Book of the Month and I instantly loved it. This book really began my love affair with Emily Henry.
The premise is very fun. I like that we revisit Poppy and Alex each year on their vacation. Emily Henry does a great job with the time-jumping aspect without making it feel stale as the book goes on. Idk I have a feeling the rankings won’t reflect it but I will always hold a special place in my heart for this book.
Things I Like:
I do love friends-to-lovers. It’s not my favorite trope but I like it a lot more than what most of you expect? Maybe? Anyways, it’s a delightful set-up.
I found the trajectory of their friendship to be quite believable, which is also nice. She lays the foundation well. Opposite of insta-love and you can really see how it devolves into what it becomes. And you know what? I don’t mind the Croatia reveal. Sometimes it is just the small things that ruin everything.
This book is also just really funny.
I believe this is Emily’s only female protagonist who has a stable family? Am I wrong? January has a dead dad, Nora has a dead mom, Harriet’s not close with her family, Daphne’s dad is MIA, and Alice [redacted]. It’s a nice change of pace with Poppy.
Things I Don’t Like:
Alex is blond. It really is that serious. But he’ll also get a vasectomy for you, so you win some, you lose some.
Now that we’re here, I actually think this is my favorite Emily Henry book. It would have been a slam dunk IF it weren’t for one of her most annoying characters ever put to page: the sister. I cannot. Stand. the sister. And unfortunately for me, she is pretty much the entire purpose behind the story. But I know this book well enough that I can kind of skim her scenes, tune her out, and just move on to my favorite Emily Henry couple, Nora and Charlie.
Nora and Charlie, to me, are some of Emily’s most fleshed out characters. I feel like I know them as people. I also adore the premise (girl loses boyfriends to the small town trope, goes to The small town, realizes the trope) and the central plot. Everything works. Minus the pesky sister. There was a phase back in like 2012-2015 where everyone seemed to call their sister “sissy” irl and it grinded my gears then and it grinds my gears now. Grow up.
Overall, I just find this relationship the most realistic and I like different plots going on with the book editing, working his family’s bookstore, and the bucket list. The book feels very manageable. And FWIW, I do feel like Nora and Charlie run off into the sunset and live happily forever after until the end of time.
Things I Like:
Charlie Lastra is my favorite guy. He’s lowkey kind of Jess Mariano-coded, if you really think about it. Minus the faux nonchalance. I like that Charlie knows how to dress, is very forward and self-assured, and is left-handed. I love him.
Nora is a bitch. And she’s tall. Even though I’m not tall. Nor am I blonde. But she is a career woman and as someone who is finally about to embark on her career, I admire her resolve. And the fact that she exclusively wears heels.
Their goodbye is soooo bittersweet. I loveeeee their last scene in North Carolina and then the nice ending in New York. It’s a little fantastical (everything works out too well in a way that only can in a romance novel) but still somewhat grounded in realism.
This book was marketed as enemies-to-lovers, which it is decidedly not, but the idea that you fall in love with the man you’ve been hoarding a one-sided vendetta against for no good reason is very enticing to me. (And also, it must be said. Enemies-to-lovers does not work irl. Rivals-to-lovers? Yes. Haters-to-lovers? Sublime. But publishers need to stop marketing contemporary books as enemies-to-lovers.)
Nora and Charlie both have their own issues but if I recall correctly, there’s never like one big inorganic trauma dump. Everything is weaved in pretty well and things are done and said at the proper time. One of my bigger pet peeves in romance novels is when a character lays out all his issues as a means of “character development” and then they immediately jump each others bones.
Things I Don’t Like:
The dreaded sister.
I will just say it. It’s her worst and I blame it entirely on the ending. If you haven’t read this book and want to, I’d scroll down to Funny Story. Scrolled away? Okay great.
You do NOT quit SURGICAL RESIDENCY to GO INTO POTTERY. YOU DO NOT. YOU JUST DON’T DO THAT. If Emily Henry had ONE friend who was even tangentially familiar with how med school works, she would’ve had her switch into family medicine. I HATE the ending and I’m shocked that it made it through all those rounds of edits. You just don’t write your character, WHO GRADUATED MEDICAL SCHOOL, like that, sorry.
Now that that’s out of the way.
Things I Like:
Emily swung with introducing a friend group. It was a miss—the friend group was annoying—but still. I appreciate when people try something new.
Emily swung with having her main characters not be writers or in the industry. It was also a miss—see: Harriet’s entire career trajectory—but again, she was trying something new.
But, even her worst is still not terrible. This book still has its charms. Just don’t ask me to list them right now.
Things I Don’t Like:
The friend group was annoying as fuck.
I just don’t like the second-chance trope. I have never looked at a couple irl that has broken up and been like, “Yes you should get back together.” Tbh usually I’m like how have you only just broken up now. The point is, authors have to walk the line of ensuring we have a believable reason for why they broke up the first time, and then an even more believable reason for why they should get back together.
Which brings me to, I think they were better off broken up. I would’ve been perfectly content, and probably would’ve liked it more, if they just hooked up a few times on this vacation and then parted as friends. And Harriet returns to residency.
Also being broken up 6 months wasn’t long enough for me. It would’ve made more sense if it had been at least a year. And it would’ve made the emotional beats with her friends hit harder as well.
Wyn is blond.
Funny Story is a funny story in that I remember struggling to finish this book but then finishing it and loving it. I think it’s because I feel like I am both Miles and Daphne (only their best parts, of course). And also I was just in such an annoying head space last year when I read it so this book was kind of like a beautiful bright beacon.
Things I Like:
The set up is absolutely delightful. The two exes start living together after their exes have moved on together. I like that Daphne feels unfamiliar in this place so Miles elects himself to be her tour guide. It’s a really cute premise. And the beginning to their fake dating scheme is so delicious.
Also, again, the setting. I am once again biased but Michiganders are a loyal bunch.
Miles! I know if I ever came across a Nick Miller-type irl I would have to kill him, but I really enjoyed Miles as a character. Usually Emily Henry men are very tight-laced with no frills so he was a nice change.
Though she’s not my favorite character, I respect that Emily Henry was trying with Ashleigh. I just really don’t understand why her female main characters are so inept at making or having friends.
Things I Don’t Like:
Don’t advertise fake dating if it’s not fake dating!
I didn’t loveeee the dad plot or what Miles does at the end. Like at that point, it was a bit ridiculous of him to do, so I get it when people say him and Daphne aren’t entirely believable as a couple but whatever! I pretend I do not see it.
I loved this! Like instantly. Sorry. I initially was very concerned that it was going to be insta-lovey because I historically have not enjoyed books like that. HOWEVER, I think this was handled quite well. One, it’s acknowledged multiple times throughout the book (Alice says he’s a man she barely knows, Margaret talks about her own love story and mentions it was very quick, and I think Hayden also brings it up once). Two, which I am loathe to admit, but I am…comforted…by the concept of “when you know, you know” and really do like the idea that love can happen that quickly. So I really don’t mind it. In this instance.
Also! I did not find that this skimped on the romance at all? So I’m very confused by the criticisms that it’s “““80% fiction, 20% romance””” because I actually think this is one of her most romantic books. Or maybe I am just touch starved. Regardless, if I have to hear one more person say, “Emily Henry doesn’t write romance—she writes women’s fiction” I’m going to scream.
I saw a TikTok where the girl said she assigns a Taylor song to every Emily Henry book. I don’t do that (and it bothers me when Emily advertises her books like that) but she said Alice and Hayden’s song is “Treacherous” and I think I am inclined to agree. (I know I just said I don’t do that, and I’ve said this before, but Nora and Charlie are “tis the damn season.”) I haven’t thought of the other books bc I don’t really care but if you have songs for any of the rest, lmk.
Things I Like:
Hayden and Alice sorrryyyyyy. You can try to convince me they aren’t a convincing couple but I will not be listening.
Margaret’s story was delightful and I was hooked from the beginning. Her story runs parallel to Alice and Hayden’s so I didn’t mind jumping from one to the other.
The ending was fun.
The lack of side characters. I very much enjoy an Emily Henry side character but I appreciate there were less this time and the few we did have were a bit more involved. I was perfectly happy focusing mostly entirely on Alice, Hayden, and Margaret.
I like the way she writes about different relationships with the main character. Though sometimes the conflict with Alice’s mom kind of felt like a second thought, I thought their ending was really, really nice. It almost (almost) made me cry.
Things I Don’t Like:
All I really know about Hayden is he is very rigid, loves the back booth, only wears pants, never wears sandals, and thinks a bit too highly of himself. I would’ve liked a scene where somehow Alice is privy to how he conducts his interviews with Margaret so we can get some glimpse into his personality. Otherwise, all we have is a rigid, back-booth loving, pants wearing, non-sandals wearing, slightly pretentious tall dark-haired guy who loves Alice. Which is fine, but makes it difficult to write about why I love him so much because I don’t really know him at all.
The name “Hayden.” I hate any name that ends with -ayden.
Also this is slightly facetious plea: unless it is clearly Adam Driver on the cover, please stop bringing him up 😫😫😫. Especially if it is a book that I really liked 😫😫😫.
0/5 Adams.
This exercise actually did help, thank you very much. I really do feel a sense of calm now that I have an Official ranking. Emily Henry is a really good writer and I find even her worst book is not really all that terrible, at least in terms of prose. She’s kind of like Taylor in that way. Also like Taylor in that I feel like the club is getting too big. If you felt the need to describe GBBL as “women’s fiction not romance” I’m rescinding your Emily Henry card.
In terms of the main tropes, I think it has to go:
Emily kind of bodies rivals-to-lovers: Book Lovers, Beach Read, GBBL
Fake dating: Funny Story
Friends-to-lovers: PWMOV
Second-chance: Happy Place
And then for the Book Ranking:
Book Lovers
Beach Read
GBBL
PWMOV
Funny Story
[huge drop off]
Happy Place
I’m 90% sure that’s accurate but Funny Story falling that low makes me uncomfy. Because I really do love it. But 1-5 are all 5 stars to me and that’s truly what matters.