elle_lit_zabeth's Reviews (868)

This was NOT good. And when you read this, know that friends to lovers is my favorite trope. 

I really didn’t like that the characters were completely platonic until almost 85% of the book and then the author tried to throw down our throat that “they were in love with e/o since they were 11 years old”. NOPE, I refuse that you try to tell me and not show me. I need proof. I need emotions. I need memories and shared moments. 

The fact that the story switches from 1st POV in Laila’s chapters to 3rd POV in Cole’s chapters made me completely lose it. How can that be?? Where are the betas? I was completely lost and disconnected from the characters.

The writing style overall really didn’t do it for me. It goes like this: Laila says things like “My dress was green like a cucumber” and then 30 PAGES of some absolutely boring anecdotes about that one time she ate a cucumber to FINALLY return to what’s happening. 

Okay, I’m going to stop writing this review because I'm starting to feel angry. 

Anyway. Some moments were cute. I guess. 

Although I was the very target for this friends-to-lovers romance, I unfortunately didn’t enjoy this book at all.

I finished this book last night, and like every time I read an Emily Henry novel, I already want to do it again and I'm just thinking about it.

It's something about the way she creates these worlds, these microcosms of tenderness and friendship in which her main characters can finally grow, heal and evolve into feeling themselves. I love the way she so comfortingly conveys the message that, in the end, all's well, you are as you are with your past, your traumas and your wounds, your idiosyncrasies, your faults and your qualities, and that you can find people, friends, colleagues, loves, who will love you as you really are. That you can love yourself as you really are. There's something very soothing and tender about reading these lines, and it's undoubtedly one of the reasons (among dozens of others) why I love this author so much.

Now for the story. After Happy Place, Emily Henry chooses to return to a more traditional romance that will surely please those disappointed by her previous book (not me, I loved Happy Place). Even if the way the story of. Daphne and Miles is far from ordinary, we're plunged into a familiar pattern. 

Complicated relationships, a closeness forced on them by the fact that they find themselves collocated against their will. Their opinion of each other is blurred by their previous relationships, so it's fair to say that they don't really like each other at first.

What's certain is that, at first glance, everything seems to oppose them. And that's where the genius of Emily Henry's writing really shines. For every time you might think 'no, they're too different, they'll drive each other crazy', the opposite happens. Where one of the characters might be lacking something, he seems to find one of the missing pieces to his puzzle. A shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, a big heart to understand and love, arms to support.

Through their attraction, Miles and Daphne find a friendship like no other, which will slowly turn into more (aided by a light dose of fake dating, but without basing the entire novel on this trope either).

You've guessed it, I loved this new novel by Emily Henry, who, as usual, won me over with her style, her main couple, her perfect dialogue and all those secondary characters you learn to care about as the novel progresses.

A great read.

To say I enjoyed my trip to Haven River Ranch would be an understatement. For 300 pages, I felt like I too was on vacation deep in Montana. A very angsty vacation, but a vacation nonetheless.

Because if it's angst you're looking for, you'll find it in this story. That feeling of melancholy mixed with regret, despair and pain that I so love to feel when reading (yes, I know, I have issues) runs through almost every page of this book.

For Indya and West's relationship is not new. It begins when they're very young, in well-orchestrated flashbacks scattered throughout history, and continues today, when everything has changed for and around them.

I was worried that 300 pages wouldn't be enough to tell such a story, but I find the book perfect as it is. Would I have liked more? Yes. But as the series continues with a second book out on October 15, I'll be back with them in the fall.

Let's face it, in romance (as in most genres, I guess), the narrative pattern is often the same. A meeting (or re-meeting), characters getting to know each other, a love story born, the trials and tribulations that threaten to tear the budding couple apart, passion, tenderness, and a happy ending. And that's all you want when you open a romance, so that's fine.

But sometimes you come across a book that turns these codes on their head, and that's why I wouldn't call 'Love at a Funeral...' a romance as such.

First and foremost, it's Cassandra’s story, who is confronted with a loss she never imagined, and faces consequences she never expected. It's the story of a family destroyed by sudden grief, and how they come to terms with it (or don't). So, yes, it's a love story, since through the horror of this loss, Cass meets her childhood crush again and rekindles a very strong bond with him, but this love story is ultimately placed in the background. This novel is above all the story of Cassandra's grief and the stages she goes through to move on.

Sometimes you meet the perfect person at the wrong time, and that's very much the story of Cass & Vince, who fall in love with each other while the foundations that should allow Cassandra to stand on her own two feet have crumbled.

So that's what you'll find here: very raw, very deep emotions. A very endearing female main character who questions herself deeply and goes through hell. A magnificent love story that doesn't happen at the right time. An incredible male character who will make your heart skip a beat. A happy ending (because you can't break all the codes either). All so beautifully written, it’ll make ou cry.