the sunday lit: September 2024

"sometimes i swear adulthood is staring at your phone and wondering which of your friends has enough time to deal with your latest emotional meltdown, then realizing none of them do."

Two estranged exes and a cursed wedding? What could go wrong? Apparently everything. The Ex Vows is a beautiful, realistic and riveting story of two people, Eli and Georgia, who five years after their cataclysmic breakup, are forced to work together to save the cursed wedding of their best friend, Adam. The wedding which already turns into a cursed one as fate keeps throwing unlucky accidents their way, including the place where the ceremony will take place getting burned to the ground? Is it a sign? Adam believes he is cursed as everything he has planned for the wedding goes wrong: from the DJ unable to perform to no bakery available to make the cake to the venue itself going up in flames, along with many more problems. Georgia and Eli are his only hope to save the week, and the wedding day itself.

Senior manager Georgia Woodward and TMT associate Eli Mora have been friends since they were 15. They eventually dated at 20 and after a messy breakup five years ago, Georgia and Eli, now aged 28, are suddenly thrown together again as their mutual friend Adam Kim, is getting married and wants them to be his best man and woman. He believes they are good, as that’s what they made him believe, but it has been a good while since they actually interacted and the pain they’ve been pushing down is about to spill over.

For five years, they both act like they are not affected by the breakup for the sake of their friendship group. They didn't have eye contact, barely greeted each other, tried hard not to spend time in the same space, but now Eli keeps looking at her eyes, calling her nickname "Peach," showing signs of the 15-year-old boy she fell in love with, not the workaholic, resigned man with anxiety issues she left five years ago.

The romance is mesmerising, painful and sweet, somehow deeply realistic and also dreamy. The chemistry is palpable and Eli and Georgia has the sparks even after the five years gap that we so badly want in real life. The banter and the angst was effervescently present. I loved the wedding preparation moments and they added the fun element to the story. The friendship is one of the best thing in this book. I loved each and every side character and how they brought nuances to the story with their different personalities.

Georgia has glaringly obvious people pleasing tendencies, lists for days, and is insistent on her hyper-independence. Georgia's monologues are so beautifully written, full of remarkable profundity and vulnerability that evidently shows her benevolence, devotion, compassionate and altruistic nature for the people she loves. She is dealing with her own anxiety and abandonment issues, she never felt enough for her family or friends, is always doing what others want and suppressing her own needs. It was beautiful to see how she felt free to lean on Eli for help and her needs, how he made sure she felt enough.

Eli is the man who loves unconditionally and thoroughly, but will also break your heart. His need to have a stable life, to have funds in order to support his family consumed him to his core. A childhood wound of his father losing his job and the subsequent instability of his life – the moving, his parents’ marriage breaking up – have made him focus too much on gaining financial stability. On top of it he is dealing with anxiety and that played a major role in this story. But in the present, Eli, with his newfound dedication, is putting in effort, finally pushing himself to be better; to be the Eli that Georgia fell for, the one she deserves.

These two are the prime example of why loving someone is sometime simply not enough. Their breakup was mutual and so realistic it hit me right in the heart. They made so many mistakes but they were just new adults at that time, trying to figure out their life and dreams, navigating through hard truths of adulthood, making sensible decisions, pushing each other away for the safety of the life they craved. Their first meet almost wrecked my heart. The overwhelming and complicated emotions, hurt and love they still have for each other even after five years of their breakup were heart-rending. The lingering touches and tension that's filled with longing, hurt and suppressed desires orchestrated their newfound love and passion.

As they are forced to work together with errands, Georgia and Eli’s feelings for each other resurface but old fears hold Georgia back. As they spend more time together to pull off the perfect wedding for their friends, unsaid words, harbored feelings, palpable chemistry push them to face their past. But being friends again is not enough. With a love of lists to keep her life in control, Georgia also has a list of all things not to do when she is with Eli which she is finding difficult to not break. On top of this, her job has been dissolved in San Francisco, and she is being promoted to manager in Seattle at the beginning of September, after the wedding. She is torn about what to do both with matters of work and the heart.

Jessica weaved a story of second chances, self-discovery and healing of broken hearts with comforting moments of warmth, happiness and joy that came with reminiscing the past and exploring present amidst the madness of cursed wedding. It stirred a spectrum of emotions, giving hope and happiness amidst the messiness of Eli and Georgia's relationship.

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"the thing about people is you have to let hem drag you to places you don't want to go. let them tell you things you don't want to hear. let them break you and put you back together."

If asked how she imagined the end of her life, 27-year old recluse Delphie most certainly would not have said choking to death on a microwavable convenience store burger in her grossest nightgown while watching “The Tinder Swindler.” But that’s how it went down. She definitely wouldn’t have guessed that upon her demise she would regain consciousness in a place called Evermore, where her young, bouncy, vibrant, talkative, afterlife therapist of all things, Merritt, informs her she is in fact dead as a doornail.

While Delphie is struggling to get her head around the devastating news, she is distracted by a new arrival, a guy around her age. Delphie and the guy’s physical attraction is instantaneous, and their conversation flows naturally. Has she just met her soulmate? But unfortunately, the man of her dreams is merely in a state of deep unconsciousness, and a moment later he is gone, back among the living. During their brief conversation Delphie learned two things about him – his first name is Jonah, and he’s also from London. Just when Delphie thinks all is lost, turns out her afterlife therapist is a big romance lover and a believer in true love, so the two strike a deal – Delphie can return to Earth for ten days. If she hasn’t received a kiss from Jonah by the last day she is to die again – permanently this time. A further complication is thrown her way, Jonah doesn’t remember meeting her in Evermore as his memory was wiped clean when he returned to his life. The race is on to track Jonah T. down in time. Is a woman with few social skills and little life experience up to the task? Delphie intends to give it all she’s got.

This was so much fun. Greenwood takes you on a wildly inventive goose chase alongside Delphie looking for her soulmate, Jonah T. While this is all going on, changes and opportunities happen for Delphie through quirky new friendships, art, and her very first intimate encounters. I loved this enlightening, unusual take on romance, and adored how Greenwood cleverly writes every trope imaginable into the storyline, ultimately leading Delphie to finding her happily-ever-after.

Delphie was a wonderful main character. She was hard to like at first because I thought she was wallowing in self-pity, but then I started to get where she was coming from. I saw so much growth from her through the book and she grew on me. I loved how she and Cooper worked together to help each other out despite not being on the best of terms. Delphie grows up and opens up, she stops being scared and it opens up a whole new world for her. The way she confronted her childhood bully, the vulnerability she displayed in asking for help to track down this man that she believed was her soulmate and her ticket out of Evermore, the strength it took to finally stop putting energy into the one-way relationship with her estranged mother. It was all really inspiring, as someone who possesses some of her characteristics.

Her downstairs neighbor Cooper, is the one who actually finds her passed out in the aforementioned grosses nightgown. This is an affront to Delphie and he has never liked her and gas only been standoffish to downright rude. Who cares if he’s actually kinda hot? Not Delphie, who has never been in a relationship or had any intimate interactions with men. She doesn’t, really. But still, he is down to help her with tracking down Jonah the man she “slept with all over this town”, and never turns down any of her outlandish ideas. He even takes her to meet his family and tells her about his wonderful twin sister who passed and left a gaping hole in his life. I loved the end reveal about his sister, though I had my suspicions about mid-way through. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking, none the less.

The story was sexy, sweet, utterly satisfying, hilarious, magical, and contained several of my favourite romantic tropes. Delphie’s quest to find Jonah really brought her out of both her shell, and her comfort zone, and everyone who helped her along the way impacted and enriched her life in ways she couldn’t possibly have imagined or predicted. The novel is a romance but there are elements of realism and real-life issues – there were traumatic reasons why Delphie had chosen to hide away from the world.

The side characters were also very fun, with Mr. Yoon being my favorite, and Delphie's relationship with him really touched my heart. Delphie learns about herself through interactions with all these new and old people, and she realizes life is worth living fully and one shouldn't let past hurts get in the way of a happy ending. He realizes she could’ve had a relationship with her boss and her mother, that they were trying to befriend her the whole time – she was just too wrapped up in her habits and so sure no would actually like to spend time with her, due to her childhood wounds, that she just put up walls and wouldn’t let anyone in. It was so heartwarming seeing her happy and surrounded by her found family.

I loved everything about the romance, but the found family of it all actually destroyed me. I’m such a sucker for a character building their community on page after being incredibly lonely for a long time. It was a bit quirky, very British, and full of shenanigans that actually made me laugh out loud. I will definitely be on the lookout for the author's next novel.

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"sometimes, a book can change your life. it’s hard to explain that to someone who doesn’t read, or who has never felt their heart bend so strongly toward a story that it might just snap in two. some books are a comfort, some a reprieve, others a vacation, a lesson, a heartbreak."

When everything in life sucks—still in pain after being dumped a week before her wedding, stuck in a job she doesn’t like, seeing everyone in her life has already found happiness, moving on with their lives while she’s living her miserable, lonely life— Eileen Merriweather took a quick escape into the fictional small town her favorite romance author created? Well, not intentionally, of course, but accidentally.

After each book club friend ditched their annual reunion, including her best friend who decided to fly to Iceland with her boyfriend for a probable wedding proposal, she decides to drive 18 hours to reach a cabin in the woods to drown her sorrows, read romances and drink wine. But her plan fails when she takes a wrong turn and finds herself in another small town, breaking her car by hitting the brakes too hard to avoid hitting the gorgeous man appearing in the middle of the road. That's how she arrives in Eloraton.

And there's no place like Eloraton. Where a rain shower comes in the early afternoon, though it clears up in minutes, the inn is always under renovation, the burgers at Gail's bar are always slightly burnt, the honey taffy is always sweet, and the starlings always make their nests in the eaves. Nothing changes, and its fictional townsfolk, created by Rachel Flowers, live the same day over and over until Elsy starts to create ripples in their universe. Things start to move. She finds herself in the middle of a romance manuscript her favorite author couldn't finish because she died two years ago, living her characters stuck in an unresolved mess.

Eileen is a English literature professor that found comfort in her favorite book series especially when she needed it the most. One day she is traveling to the cabin where she and her book club members meet up every year including her best friend, Pru. However this year none of her friends could make it so Eileen is going to be there alone. But she unexpectedly almost runs over a man and she soon figures out that she has somehow ended in the small town that her favorite romance books are set in. The way she sought peace, escapism, romance in books when in reality life isn't doing so well was written perfectly. The way she got so excited to see her favorite characters and world come to life was so exciting to read.

The man she was about to hit with her car arriving to town, the grumpy bookstore owner, Anders is the only person who sees these ripples she’s creating, and he doesn't like how Elsy has affected the townsfolk's lives. Anders is a character that takes warming up to. He does come across as a grump with a cold exterior but a total swooner at heart. I think his perception of roughness was mostly because he was sad and lonely, and his story broke my heart. He's lovely and kind and I love what he did for Eileen, how he reminded her that she was strong and important and deserving of great things. And she in turn reminded him that he was loved and that moving on with his life didn't mean letting go of that love. It stays, love always stays. I loved how passionate he ended up being when it came to showing Eileen love. He gets cute when he's jealous and does a really good job at being Eileen's book boyfriend.

Elsy realizes that Anders was not even a passing character in the books and is struggling with the complex feelings for this man who denies his own HEA. Could she help him with a sunshiny attitude to defeat his grumpiness, to save him and save herself? What if helping the Eloraton people may also help her find her own path, her own home that she needs to find? I was bothered from time to time by her meddling in the other characters’ lives, but I did understand it too. I’d probably do the same if the people I felt I knew so intimately were wandering around with no direction, stuck in a half-finished sentence. And the mystery of Anders was so interesting, I loved the way the breadcrumbs were laid out, Elsy just had to pick them up.

This is a book written by a reader for readers, because only someone who loves books so much could write such a poignant love letter to the magic of reading. Ashley created my dream world, the idea of getting lost in my favourite book is wonderful. Imagine meeting your favourite characters, talking to them, laughing with them, walking side by side with them in places you've only dreamed of? It sounds like a fairytale.

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"you always assume i’m being so selfless. like it hasn’t occurred to you i might want to hang out with you. so when you turn me down, i have to figure out if you just don’t feel the same way, or if you think you’re doing me some kind of favor. and i never can."

Emily Henry has once again proven herself as a master of witty, heartfelt storytelling with Funny Story, a novel that is equal parts hilarious, heartwarming, and deeply insightful. Known for her sharp humor and complex character dynamics, Henry delivers a delightful, emotionally resonant read that perfectly balances comedy with the complexities of human relationships.

Funny Story centers around the unexpected connection between two characters who are both dealing with major life upheavals. After her engagement goes up in flames, the protagonist finds herself in an unlikely living situation with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée's ex-partner. Yeah, it's a lot. The setup alone promises plenty of awkward, laugh-out-loud moments, but what follows is a surprising exploration of healing, friendship, and personal growth. While the plot seems simple at first—a woman counting down the days until she can get away from her ex's hometown—the novel digs deeper into what it means to redefine your life and your relationships when everything around you feels uncertain. The story weaves together moments of humor with more poignant reflections on moving forward, letting go, and the messiness of love in all its forms.

Emily Henry shines in creating characters who feel real, relatable, and wonderfully imperfect. The protagonist is sharp, vulnerable, and refreshingly honest about her emotional struggles. Her interactions with her ex-fiancé’s stepmother, a character that could have easily been one-dimensional, evolve into one of the novel’s greatest strengths. This unlikely pairing allows for hilarious banter but also a touching portrayal of how people who have nothing in common (on the surface) can find connection in their shared vulnerabilities. Daphne is a very put together, very organized librarian, who thrives on lists and plans. There was a plan she had and a way her life should've turned out, and when it doesn't pan out she is scrambling. Miles, on the other hand, is a scruffy, pot-smoking, seemingly irresponsible manchild, who is completely at odds with her. And yet, as they get to know each other through their ridiculous plot of pretending to date to make their exes jealous, deeper layers are revealed and, unsurprisingly, it turn out they are not what they seem on the surface. Also, unsurprisingly to everyone but them, Daphne and Miles are perfect for each other.

As always, Henry’s side characters are full of charm and wit, adding layers to the story without overshadowing the central narrative. The dynamics between these characters often serve as the emotional core of the book, making readers not just laugh, but also reflect on their own relationships and what it means to truly understand another person.

One of the most compelling aspects of Funny Story is how it handles the messy, nonlinear process of healing. The novel doesn’t offer tidy resolutions to heartbreak and emotional turmoil but instead embraces the discomfort and humor that come with rebuilding your life. Henry’s exploration of grief, love, and identity is beautifully nuanced, with moments of levity seamlessly woven into more serious reflections. The humor is sharp and perfectly timed, creating laugh-out-loud moments that feel organic to the characters’ personalities. Emily Henry has a gift for writing dialogue that feels witty without being forced, and in Funny Story, the humor acts as a lifeline for the characters, pulling them through difficult situations with grace and a bit of snark. If you’re a fan of books that make you laugh, cry, and reflect, all in the same chapter, Funny Story will resonate with you. It’s perfect for readers who enjoy emotional depth wrapped in humor, as well as those who appreciate stories that capture the complicated, beautiful mess of human relationships.

Emily Henry’s signature wit and her talent for writing characters who feel like friends make this book a standout in contemporary fiction. Fans of Henry’s previous works, like People We Meet on Vacation or Book Lovers, will find familiar themes here: relationships built on chemistry and banter, the importance of friendship, and characters who grow not just in love, but in their understanding of themselves. It is a charming, funny, and heartfelt novel that will have you laughing one minute and tearing up the next. It’s a perfect read for anyone looking to escape into a world of witty dialogue, complex characters, and a story that celebrates the unpredictability of life and love. Whether you’re going through a transition yourself or just in need of a good, comforting story, this book offers a delightful reminder that sometimes the most unexpected relationships can help us find the way back to ourselves.

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About Me

I blog from time to time about things that inspire me. Lately, I have been getting back into the habit of reading, and my posts reflect that. I'm also always trying to take pretty photos, with varying degrees of success.

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