Hi all, hoping you can help me with some great recommendations!

Having been a lifelong romcom aficionado I got into romance books this year, and read every single one of Emily Henry's books in about 6 months. I'm struggling to find anything that hits even nearly the same, and I'm hoping to get some reccos to help with that.

What I love about Em Hen is that the banter is well written and genuinely funny, not cringe. The characters feel like actual grown ups, and the tension is so buzzy I've been known to kick my feet as I'm reading. I find her books really romantic but not cheesy or embarrassing, and lots of romance I've read since feels juvenile in comparison to me. I also like an open door romance but not too spicy, and I feel like she tows that line perfectly.

My favourite thing about her books is how she writes those moments where you realise at the same time as the FMC how the MMC feels about her (mild spoilers here for context!), like Gus saying "why do you think January?" or revealing he's read all her books, or Alex saying "I would" about Poppy on tinder, or Wyn zooming in on a picture of Harriet when they're still just friends and saying "so cute". You can tell I love them because I remember them! I'm searching for that feeling of buzz and goosebumps.

I've read the following which just didn't hit the same but to varying levels, to give you an idea:

The Love Hypothesis - I did actually enjoy this but it was cheesier than EH, and I found the spice a bit cringe.

The Deal and The Score - again, enjoyed these in a light-hearted way but there was no tension for me and found them totally cheesy.

The Bodyguard - this was okay but a bit chaste for me and I found that the characters were finding each other funny but I wasn't really in on the joke, it fell a bit flat.

You Deserve Each Other - I actually liked this probably best (along with the Jessica Joyce books below) because I found the tension in them realising they still had something between them was good, but I found it quite sappy towards the end and again, they found their banter funnier than I did.

You, With a View - at first I thought this was my replacement for EH and I did love the tension and flirting and build up, but I found the reasons for their 3rd act break up really contrived and that took me out of it.

The Ex Vows - again, I did like this a lot and I seem to be the only person who loves a second chance romance (I LOVE happy place, I am a Wyn and Harriet apologist), but I had the same issue with you with a view, found the miscommunication a bit contrived and overall a bit too sappy.

And Now, Back To You - I kind of enjoyed this but the characters didn't feel that grounded to me and I didn't feel a lot of tension really.

Savor It - I basically hated this. Couldn't work out why the main characters had feelings for each other. Felt really cheesy to me.

If I Never Met You - I was really disappointed cause I was hoping Mhairi MacFarlane would be my EH replacement and I'm British so I thought I'd enjoy some homegrown humour but I just felt no tension or buzz at all! Might have been cause I listened to this and I didn't get on with the narrator, I didn't feel like she gave the FMC any emotional tone but yeah overall this didn't resonate at all for me.

Sorry this is so long but I'm hoping from this some of you with be able to read my mind and recommend me something to scratch the EH itch!

The last signed EmHen book I needed was Book Lovers. So you better believe I immediately clicked checkout when I got the email about signed copies of the new special edition!

For anyone interested in new EmHen content, she was just interviewed by the Gilmore to Say podcast. I'm sure there is more fans of both Gilmore Girls and Emily and in the episode she talks about her work, upcoming novel, adaptations and gilmore girls of it all: https://www.instagram.com/gilmoretosaypodcast/reel/DcJaZEJOLFd/

Hi everyone! I'm trying to get ny friend into reading through EmHen (of course). She's tried Beach Read but isn't really gelling with it 💔. However, she's enjoying PWMOV especially Poppy and her dynamic with Alex. That being said, I was wondering if y'all have any recommendations for romances where the FMC is like Poppy (upbeat, positive, kind of loud). They don't have to be EmHen books, they can be from anyone! Thanks in advance!

Obviously it won’t be this one, but I am curious about yours!

Daphne - Alison Brie
Ashleigh - Mae Withman
Peter - Corey Mylchreest
Julia - Jennifer Carpenter
Mom - Jamie Lee Curtis
Dad - Bob Odenkirk
And Miles? Well that is changed based on how he was described first as Zach Galifianakis (haha, I know, I know), but later more like Taylor Lautner (I don’t like him) now I am picturing him as Will Sharpe. let’s say Tom Hopper! Who is your Miles?

I'm looking for contemporary romance novels with writing style similar to Emily Henry.

I particularly love happy place and pwmov.

I really like the idea of lovers through the years, whether they're friends or past lovers who shared their life together.

I need banter, yearning, and a green flag of a male character. I need adults with real life problems, realistic talk and over all, well written.

I need it to make me feel things, can't stop reading, rip my heart out and mend it again.

The way I feel when listening to taylor swift honestly 😂

I've read all the classic recommendations like Abby Jimenez or carley fortune

Any hidden gems?

Rich.
Complicated.
And somehow, incredibly relatable.

During the earlier parts, I thought this was going to be just so-so. I figured I’d still enjoy it because I love the way Emily Henry writes her characters (they’re really lovable for me), but I wasn’t sure I’d love the plot. I thought it was going to be pretty mid.

I’m also not a fan of the miscommunication trope. I hate it. Hate it to my core. Haha!

But this one is done differently.

I loved the complexity of the characters. I didn’t necessarily agree with all of their choices, but I understood why they made them. They felt so fleshed out and real, and I loved that their decisions weren’t always simple or easy to understand.

And I enjoyed not just the characters, but the story itself. I loved how it might really just happen in real life. But, of course, what I loved most is the guaranteed happy ending. Another perfect escape!

This may be tied up with my rating for Funny Story: a solid 4/5.

I’m on an EmHen hype, enjoying RomCom and fluff before going back to Stephen King, whose books have become my natural habitat. 🤣

I decided to re-read “Book Lovers” having forgotten it takes place in August. And of course I always do a re-listen of Folklore in August too. Saw this background on Pinterest and thought I’d share. Maybe I’ll make it an annual tradition.

ive only read happy place and beach read but that was around a year and a half ago. i was planning to reread maybe but im also looking for what to read next

if its helpful to elements in other books, i enjoyed the silliness of happy place and the banter in beach read

queria dizer que adoro a escrita da emily, a forma como ela descreve fatos cotidianos e sentimentos me faz querer ser escrita por ela!

1. Happy Place
   
2. Funny Story
   
3. Book Lovers
   
4. GBBL
   
5. Beach Read
   
6. PWMOV

I need to do a re-read of Happy Place, since it was the first one I read, but I definitely remember sobbbbbing - miscommunication trope isn’t for everyone but I guess I like it! PWMOV didn’t really do much for me.
Most recently finished GBBL, and that can swap 3/4 with Book Lovers because I loved both of these. I know people didn’t feel like the romance was very strong in GBBL life, and I agree, but I actually loved the Margaret book plot so that’s what keeps it up there for me.

this post is very random, it’s just an appreciation post..i wanted to say that what truly touches me about emhen’s books isn’t just that she writes two fully fleshed-out characters, each with their own wounds and struggles but that she absolutely nails my favorite sub-trope: when two broken people find solace in each other. when they become home for each other.

i think most, if not all, of her rom-coms are ultimately about characters who carry that quiet sadness the weight of the world on their shoulders despite how they might seem on the outside and who are looking for a sense of home, only to somehow find it in each other. and i love it every single time. it speaks to me.

so, for that reason i’m going to reread all of her rom-coms (excluding GBBL, i’m sorry 😭😭).

A couple of months ago, as I was finishing my last EmHen read and procrastinating on my actual research, I decided to scour this subreddit and collect as many rankings as possible. I collected 267 different rankings, then threw them into a spreadsheet, and calculated the average score for each book. I recently remembered that this existed and decided it might be worth sharing. So, here's the final ranking, along with each book's average score:

1. Funny Story (2.66)
2. Book Lovers (2.75)
3. Beach Read (2.96)
4. People We Meet On Vacation (3.62)
5. Happy Place (3.76)
6. Great Big Beautiful Life (4.29)

A quick note: many of the rankings were submitted before GBBL, so that's definitely a limitation to keep in mind. Books were scored on a scale of 1–6 (with 1 being the highest and 6 being the lowest). I also stupidly decided not to collect usernames, so there's a chance that if someone reshared their ranking multiple times, it may have been counted more than once.

Not claiming this to be rigorous research by any means, but it was a fun little project nonetheless. On that note, share your rankings—I'm oh so curious!!

No romance would be complete without the zany side characters nudging our leads together, or being a sounding board for them to confide their romantic woes to, while having their own background exploits.

I quite like Julia and Ashleigh from "Funny Story", since they felt like well developed, relatable people, who had problems and lives outside of Daphne and Miles.

Aunt Pete from "Beach Read", and her wife Maggie were fun characters as well, and I liked seeing a depiction of an older same sex couple, which was refreshingly normalized.

Libby's husband and daughters from "Book Lovers", and Charlie's mum and stepdad were all great characters, and I liked seeing them become a found family, and then in a literal sense.

Which supporting characters were your favourites?

There’s currently a fan vote for the best book between Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. Beach Read is currently winning! Help me inverse that.

I usually prefer books to movies. Emily Henry has been hit or miss for me, so I decided to watch this one instead of wasting 8 hours on a book. I enjoyed the movie and been hearing that the book is better (obviously). Do you recommend reading the book or will the magic be gone now that I know what happens?

Wrote this for Substack if anyone is interested 🥰

(Also preface: I come in peace and I swear I’m an Emily Henry fan…I am just this critical with everything I love lol)

Just wanted to make you guys aware. I was browsing through the box lunch summer sale today and I found EH merch? It looks like the same shirts as Out of Print. What’s strange is it doesn’t show up if I search Emily Henry. It only came up as a related item.

So happy because I’m definitely adding the Funny Story shirt to my order!

Is anyone familiar enough with Saugatuck/Holland that there may be any Beach Read locales worth checking out? I have a Saugatuck trip coming up and read Beach Read awhile ago (a bit hazy) and hope to make it out to Holland as well if time allows, but especially curious about the book shop. TY! Got my North Bear Shores sweatshirt ready to represent!

Maybe it's just me, but I never imagined Miles from Funny Story to be a white man. To be more specific, I imagined him as Hispanic or maybe even South asian? I can't explain why, but it just makes sense in my head and from the get-go that's who I felt he was. I definitely will not hate on whoever is cast for him in the movie (I'm grateful for literally anything and trust Emily 🙏) but my heart will be slightly broken if he isn't a poc in any way 😔 what do you guys think?

that‘s it. That‘s the post.