🎧 Reviewed by LD | Rating: 3.8/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Funny Story yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
The Opening
Daphne moved to a small town in Michigan for her fiancé Peter. She built her whole life around him, adapted to his interests, made herself smaller to keep the peace. Then Peter dumped her at his own bachelor party because he realized he was in love with his lifelong best friend Petra. And just like that Daphne is stranded in a town where she knows nobody, with nowhere to live, just her job. The only other person who got blown up by this situation is Miles Nowak — Petra’s ex — and somehow that is where this story starts.
The Full Story — Spoilers Included
How It All Started
Daphne is a reserved, organized children’s librarian who moved to the picturesque town of Wading River, Michigan for her fiancé Peter. She built her entire life around him — adapted to his interests, made herself smaller, sacrificed her own needs to keep the peace. She genuinely thought this was her life.
Then Peter’s bachelor party happens. Petra admits mid-party that she is actually in love with him and Peter dumps Daphne the following morning… after not coming home from the party.. he tells her the house is in his name, so she needs to move out. Just like that she is stranded in a town where she knows nobody, with no money and no home of her own because everything was Peter’s.
Desperate for somewhere to stay while she figures out her next move, she turns to the only other person the betrayal blew up: Miles Nowak, Petra’s ex-boyfriend. Miles is laid back, chaotic, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, and the complete opposite of careful structured Daphne. They become reluctant roommates. A deep friendship forms over shared grief, late night conversations, and cheap drinks.
The Double Betrayal
Peter and Petra. Even the names are a lot. One month after what was supposed to be her wedding, Daphne (and Miles) receives a wedding invitation to Peter and Petra’s wedding. That is her breaking point. Out of desperation, and pride, she tells Peter she is dating Miles and that he is her plus one to the wedding. They both need to save face.
Miles is everything Peter is not — chaotic, laid back, Hawaiian shirt wearing, completely unbothered by structure. He and Daphne become reluctant roommates and then something closer than that, spending weekends going on adventures, posting fake romantic photos on social media to convince their exes they have moved on and are thriving.
What starts as hanging out turns into more. They are fooling around one evening when Miles’s sister Julia calls to say she is in town, surprise. They pull back and agree it was not a good idea. Miles leaves to pick up Julia.
The Fake Romance Becomes Real
Julia’s arrival turns out to be connected to Petra – Petra told Julia she was happy for Miles, which made Julia suspicious enough to show up and see for herself. The lie of them being a couple suddenly has more weight than either of them planned for.
Throughout all of this Daphne has been counting down until she can leave. She set herself a self-imposed deadline tied to a readathon she has planned at the library, and she does not want to go before it is done. The countdown is her way of keeping one foot out the door.
There is a senior prom and it’s a SENIOR prom, not a high school one — Miles had bought the tickets for him and Petra and invites Daphne without telling her what it is. When they arrive she is surprised. He tells her it could be good networking for the readathon. Then Peter and Petra walk in. They decide to stay anyway and make the best of it, which turns out to be genuinely good networking for the library. They are having fun until they run directly into Petra. Awkward conversation ensues until Miles pulls Daphne onto the dance floor. He tells her Peter has been watching her every move, staring at her the whole time. Then Miles kisses her.
She runs.
She tells Miles she cannot do the pretend thing anymore. She knows she started it but the kisses mean something to her and it is confusing because he said this would be a mistake. He tells her he wants to kiss her all the time. And he does.
The People Around Them
Daphne had a friend named Sadie who was a couples friend with her and Peter. When the breakup happened Sadie said she would not pick sides because she loved them both. That is a really poor move, Sadie was her friend first. Peter ripped her life apart and Sadie should have been there for her. This was not an amicable breakup, there are sides to be chosen and Peter is the one who caused the damage.
Two and a half months pass with no word from Sadie. Then Daphne is scrolling social media and sees a photo of Petra and Peter posted by Cooper, Sadie’s husband. Her life has been completely handed off to Petra. Petra moved into her home, took over her couple friends — it’s like Daphne was plucked out and Petra was simply dropped in.
Ashley is a coworker Daphne initially thought hated her but who turns out to just have a tougher personality. Freshly divorced with a kid. They become friends slowly and genuinely, which is one of the nicer relationship arcs in the book.
Daphne’s Dad
Her dad just shows up at her place one day with Starfire, his new girlfriend – actually, his new wife. He says he mentioned it in her birthday card. She had thrown it away without reading it because it rarely contains anything beyond her name and his signature.
Suddenly her father is being everything he never was growing up. Present, Interested in her life. He picks up the tab at dinner, gets her a birthday cake. She is struggling with it because it is hard to believe this is real and hard not to ask why Starfire is worthy of his love and attention when she never has been.
And then the following morning he and Starfire just leave without saying anything.
Saturday is Ashley’s birthday and Daphne had promised they would paint Ashley’s bedroom together. But her dad just took off without explanation and Daphne is spiraling. She completely forgets about Ashley’s plans. Miles was supposed to pick her up from work that day and he never shows. She feels instantly discarded. Like the men in her life show up just long enough to feel seen and then leave.
Still planning to leave she accepts a job interview at another library. Less than two weeks left on her self-imposed countdown and she is ready to go.
Miles does not come home that night. And then Peter shows up at the apartment. He tells her he and Petra called off the wedding, that his parents knew it was a mistake from the beginning. He says they can get their life back, that it is not too late. She tells him it actually is. As she is walking him out he mentions she can always come back to the house while she is looking for somewhere to stay. She stares at him. Peter tells her “you know they will get back together right?”. Miles has spent all day helping her move her stuff out of the house.
That is what the emergency was. That is what Miles forgot her for. Petra.
Miles Comes Back
Miles shows up as she is walking home. He tells her he freaked out but that does not mean he does not love her. She says no. She tells him about the interview, her plans to leave and gets out of the car.
And then the readathon happens. Everyone is getting sick, they are making do with less staff and less everything, and she looks at her phone and sees her dad has called three times. She calls back thinking something is wrong. He tells her nothing is wrong, he just wanted to wish her luck. And then he lets slip that Miles had come to see him — on the Monday he was supposed to pick her up from work and never showed. Miles had gone to her dad to tell him how badly he had messed up and to try to get him to come back for Daphne because she had told Miles she wanted her dad to stop always leaving. Miles missed the last ferry home and had to stay the night. Her dad genuinely thought she did not mind that he was always gone and always flaking.
Miles was with her dad trying to fix something she had told him mattered to her. She hangs up with her dada letting him think she was in fact okay with him being a giant flake.
She calls her dad back and tells him what a terrible father he has been, that he does not actually know her, and how dare he say that Miles does not know her because of course Miles knows her. He knew it would devastate her if her dad left again. She has always felt like a pit stop in his life. I felt like this was her catharsis. She finally let it all out and she needed to do that to be able to let go of all her pain and anger.
She goes back to work. Gives her speech. Hears Julia in the crowd, then others who weren’t scheduled to be there, and then she spots Miles. He came AND he brought friends.
After the readathon they talk. He woke up to Petra calling and crying, and Petra got in his head — telling him he was not equipped to have children but Daphne would want them eventually. And he needed to help her move because she had no one else. He decided he needed to go confront her dad first before anything else.
She tells him she got her own place. That even if things do not work out between them she is staying in that town. She will not build her life around a man again.
412 days later she and Miles have bought a house together. Sadie is coming for her first visit. Sadie had thought Daphne was pushing her away, which is an interesting interpretation given that Daphne was the one who needed someone and Sadie was the one who chose neutrality. I’m not sure how you can really think someone is pushing you away when you are the one who should b there for your friend. Of course she wouldn’t be reaching out after you tell her and show her that you are still going to remain friends with her shitty ex that broke her heart right before their wedding.
Best Part of This Book
Miles going to find her dad. He missed the last ferry home because of it. He was not with Petra. He was trying to fix the thing she had told him hurt her most. That detail — quietly doing something that meaningful without telling her, missing the ferry and having to stay the night — said everything about who he actually is and how much he was already paying attention.
The Steam Rating Breakdown
🔥🔥 — Low heat. This is a book about rebuilding yourself after someone dismantles your life, and the romance follows from that rather than driving it.
The Ending Explained — Satisfied or Disappointed?
Satisfied. Daphne staying in the small town she moved to for herself rather than for Miles is exactly the right ending. She built a life, made real friends, found work she cares about, and Miles is part of that life rather than the reason for it.
Would I Reread It?
Yes.
Who Is This For
Anyone who has ever had someone hand-off their life to a new person like the original version never existed. Readers who love an opposites-attract slow burn with genuine emotional stakes. Emily Henry fans who want something a little more grounded than her earlier books.
Where to find this
📖 Physical Book
Amazon | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible | Libro.fm
📱 Ebook
Amazon Kindle | Bookshop.org
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Plot Twisted. 🔥
🎧 | Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥
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