Emily Henry Just Announced The "Book Lovers" Movie And There Are Tears In My Eyes

Funny Story — Taylor Swift

Let's start with the newest title: Funny Story! I have to be honest and say the fact that this story starts out with Miles and Daphne planning to get revenge on their exes (who immediately get engaged to each other after dumping them) definitely reminds me of the sass in "Picture To Burn," which is one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs of all time.

But even without the revenge plot there's so much about Funny Story that feels youthful and full of life. Taylor Swift's first album might be all about high school heartbreak and teenage angst, but she writes in a way that feels relatable, no matter how old you are. Daphne and Miles mourning their relationship at the beginning of the book feels like "Teardrops on My Guitar," while goofing off in the car is totally giving "Our Song" and Daphne's struggle to fit in and find community is inseparable from "A Place in this World" in my mind.

Even in the face of major heartbreak and betrayal (the kind that is anything but juvenile), Daphne and Miles find comfort in one another, and they really bring out each other's best personality traits. In my opinion, the best kind of relationships are the ones that make us feel safe enough to act like kids, and that make us want to get as much out of life as possible.

Happy Place — Midnights

Henry herself assigned "Maroon" to her 2023 release, and that's exactly why I'm linking it to Taylor Swift's 10th album. Both Midnights and Happy Place are layered, intricate, and vulnerable looks at both love and loss.

The news of Taylor Swift's recent breakup left fans guessing whether Midnights is actually a breakup album, making it even better for this pairing. Considering Happy Place's Harriet and Wyn are trying to play it cool when it comes to their own past relationship, there is a lot of reminiscing between both artists.

Midnights and Happy Place are complicated and emotionally-charged, and they bring feelings together that almost seem contradictory. But that's what I love about both Emily Henry and Taylor Swift — they show that our experience as women is multi-faceted, as both titles magnificently marry happiness, longing, sass, and melancholy.

Book Lovers — Reputation

At first, I thought Book Lovers should be 1989. After all, leading lady Nora is a business woman at the top of her game in Manhattan. (I know the book mainly takes place in North Carolina, but I stand by the sentiment). I realized, however, that just like Nora herself, Reputation is often misunderstood. The shock we all felt as a fandom when Swift announced the controversial era — partnered with all the drama surrounding the album — kind of overshadowed its actual themes and message. As much as Reputation is sharp, cunning, and shady...the lyrics are a vulnerable look into Taylor's mind, while the upbeat production makes it feel like she's hiding.

Just like Reputation seems prickly and unfriendly (when it's really complex and emotional and loving), Nora craves love but is afraid of it at the same time. Throughout the album, Taylor talks about her anxiety that the world wants to keep her apart from her lover, and that she's afraid she'll scare him away. If you ask me, Nora would have "Delicate" and "Dress" on repeat.

People We Meet On Vacation — Speak Now

Thanks to the album insert, we all know that Taylor's intention with Speak Now is to encourage listeners to say what they need to say, and go after the things they really want. And that's exactly what Poppy and Alex need to do in People We Meet On Vacation. Plus, both the book and the album explore different kinds of emotions, between Poppy and Alex's friendships, fall-outs, and romances, and Taylor's "Sparks Fly," "Long Live," and "Never Grow Up."

Instead of nuanced, soulful romantic musings, both Speak Now and People We Meet On Vacation feel more physical, which isn't to say they're any less complex. Both titles are about learning to be honest with yourself and with the people around you, and to take risks — especially when they're scary.

Beach Read — folklore

Beach Read is my favorite of Henry's novels so far, and I think the escapist mentality of both main characters is the perfect fit for Taylor Swift's 2020 surprise album folklore. January's romanticism and Gus' realism are the exact themes woven throughout folklore. Even when both the album and the book deal with betrayal, they're done in an intentional and careful way. Not to mention the fact that (spoiler alert) Gus' difficult romantic history sounds a lot like the Betty-Augustine-James love triangle found in folklore.

Once they feel comfortable around each other, Gus and January continually push each other to be their creative bests, and to think outside the box. That perfectly encapsulates the magic of folklore because of how the music is dreamy yet grounded, fictional yet so detailed that it sounds like a diary entry. Plus, both works are just absolutely beautiful.

Is Emily Henry making a Funny Story TV show?

If you're already daydreaming about seeing Funny Story onscreen, you're not the only one — even Emily Henry herself is thinking about whether the book will turn into a TV show. She tells Variety she hopes to have details "really soon" about onscreen adaptations for her newest novel, as well as last year's Happy Place.

What is Funny Story about?

In Funny Story, Daphne and her fiancé Peter are madly in love. They've moved back to his childhood hometown, where Peter constantly tells the story of how they met. All is well...until Peter realizes he's actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Now Daphne is stranded in Waning Bay, Michigan, and even though she has no friends or family, she does have her dream job as a children’s librarian, so at least that's one point in her favor.

Now, with barely any money, there's only one potential roommate who could possibly understand what she's going through: Petra’s ex, Miles. Despite the fact that Miles happens to be Daphne's polar opposite. After they form a friendship (which may or may not involve posting misleading images of their summer together), Daphne realizes that she might have done the craziest thing of all: fallen for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex. No biggie.

Will Funny Story connect to the other Emily Henry books?

Based on her other stories, we're not expecting Funny Story to directly tie into Happy Place, Book Lovers, People We Meet On Vacation, or Beach Read. However, she does often reference the characters from her other stories once. So don't be surprised if Daphne bumps into Nora in the grocery store or finds one of Gus' books incorrectly shelved in the library.

When is the Funny Story release date?

Funny Story will be released on April 23, 2024, almost a year after Happy Place was released!

What does the cover look like?

The covers are always one of my favorite parts of any Emily Henry book. They're always vibrant, bold, and always show just enough of the characters to both catch your eye and keep you intrigued. In the past, they've been blue, pink, orange, and yellow, with bits of other colors interspersed in the details.

After hoping for a green, deep red-orange, or lilac color (and after Emily Henry's official Instagram announcementmade me think we'd get purple), the author showed off the brand new cover for Funny Story! The vibrant deep mix between purple and blue is the perfect color against Daphne, Miles, and all of their accessories.

We already have a feel for the characters, too! Daphne's sassy head tilt, the "we're in this together" energy, the fact that Miles is wearing crocs.

Where can I preorder Funny Story?

There are a number of you can preorder Funny Story! Here are a few:

• Barnes & Noble
• Books A Million
• Target
• Amazon US
• Amazon Canada

As a Power of Women honoree, Mariska was recognized in regards to her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She took the stage and used her platform to discuss rape and assault conviction reversals, shining a light on the recent overturned ruling in Harvey Weinstein's landmark NYC case. Here's what she said:

Today I want to talk about reversing convictions, and more specifically I want to talk to you about how impossible it is to reverse mine. It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that survivors matter. It is impossible to reverse my conviction that what happens to us matters, and that our society must respond to survivors with a more a compassionate, holistically, deeper, and more nuanced understanding of what healing means.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that after a trauma, survivors can reclaim lives of hope, of possibility, of audacious risk, beautiful intimacy, and glorious, glorious abundant joy. And I stand before you as evidence of that statement.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that we must listen to survivors as experts on what justice means. It is extraordinary how little their voices are consulted, let alone incorporated, in the process of deciding how to repair harm. Justice is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that patriarchal impunity has to end. Patriarchal impunity is when a male-dominated system exempts perpetrators from punishment. Studies show that only 20% of all rape cases in the U.S. are reported to the police, and that between 5 and 0% of all rapes result in a guilty plea or a conviction. So why do 80% of victims not report? Because they're met with a system that grants impunity to perpetrators; a system that blames victims; a system that accepts only those victims who are experienced as "real" rape; a system that completely misunderstands the neurobiology of trauma, which causes behavior in women that doesn't fit the picture of how a "real victim" would act.

Is that change needed that victims should just pull themselves together? Just buck up and report anyway? No. No, it's the system that receives them that needs to change

It is impossible to reverse my conviction — and the conviction of my extraordinary team, The Joyful Heart — that the backlog of untested rape kits can be brought to zero; that the testing of all new kits must be mandated; that we need a statewide kit tracking system; and that survivors have the right to access the status of their kits.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that grammar — yes, grammar — that we use when we speak about rape must change. In the sentence, "A woman is raped," there's a crime and there's a victim, but there's no perpetrator. Where's the perpetrator? Where is he? Statistically, as we know, most likely he's walking free. He's so free that he doesn't even appear in the language about the crime that he committed. Is that not extraordinary? It's extraordinary that in the very grammar, the perpetrator goes free. Reintroducing perpetrators in the language of rape will make some very unwieldy grammar, but that's the nature of change. It's unwieldy, it's messy, it's uncomfortable, but it's necessary.

Hargitay continued on in her prolific speech to describe that rape shouldn't be considered a "crime of passion" because it's "not simply the next step in the trajectory of his passion" when a man takes a consensual hookup too far and assaults a woman against her will. She stated that it's "an exercise of power," doubling down that the language we use is important.

The speech went on to address that rape is both about power and control, as a "construct" that was "built, and assembled, and reinforced over time." She noted that there are people with these positions of power — and she specifically called out those in the entertainment industry — that could make a difference and aligned themselves to victims and survivors.

After this and some other remarks, Hargitay specifically called out the Weinstein conviction reversal. She said:

I do want to say something about the Harvey Weinstein conviction, specifically about the reason that it was overturned: too many women's voices. Too many women's voices were allowed to speak. Hallelujah! Amen! I can't imagine anything more beautiful than that. The Daily podcast episode talked about how it was so risky for the prosecution to have that many women testify. Risky to let women speak? You're damn right it is!

Too many women speaking brings change. Too many women speaking shakes the establishment. Too many women means we get listened to more, and people might actually hear what we have to say. Look what happened when women started saying just two words, right? Me too — just as an example — a tidal wave of change. Me too.

And then of course, there was the response: the Me Too Movement. The backlash. The examination of whether the changes that have come are lasting, or are even positive. Of course there's a backlash! What did they expect? For women to speak repeatedly, loudly, together, with a purpose — for there to be no backlash? The backlash is evidence of how powerful those voices were, how powerful those voices ARE.

Watch Mariska Hargitay's Full Speech Here

Turns out that your TV heroes really can be your IRL heroes after all. Long live Olivia Benson! Long live Mariska Hargitay!