Bestselling author Emily Henry on why she loves Cincinnati

As a young girl growing up in Cincinnati's suburbs, Emily Henry dreamed of becoming an author and living in New York City.

And Henry did live there for a time after graduating from college. But it turns out the dream city for the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of "Funny Story" is actually Cincinnati.

With five bestselling romance novels and three young adult novels, Henry lives in Cincinnati's College Hill neighborhood. She eats local favorite Graeter's Ice Cream and draws inspiration from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

Henry, 33, spoke to The Enquirer's "That So Cincinnati" podcast this week where she shared her path to success, talked about how books become a movie (more than one of hers is in that process) and said why she loves Cincinnati so much.

The interview came on the heels of news that Henry's fifth adult romance novel, "Funny Story," shot to No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list.

When she was 5, Henry's family moved from the West Coast to Northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Her family moved north of Cincinnati to Liberty Township when she was 14, and she went to Lakota East High School. She went on to Hope College in Michigan, and then worked briefly in New York.

Henry, who is married, decided to return to Cincinnati while she paid off student loan debt.

"There was definitely a time when I got back to Cincinnati that I really thought I was going to go back to New York, and I would end up there," Henry said. "It just seemed like a natural progression of where I was going. And then I got back here and settled back into my rhythms and built new rhythms. I fell in love with the city for the first time."

Home before had been the suburbs, where her parents and friends lived. Now, she chooses to live in the city.

"It's really nice to be in a place where when you go on a trip, at the end of it, you're excited to get home," Henry said. "And that's how I feel about Cincinnati. I love the pace of the city. You just don't have to hustle as hard as you do elsewhere. No matter where you are in the city, every place you want to go is just 20 minutes from where you are. And you can have a yard."

Henry spends a lot of time reading and named Joseph-Beth Booksellers as one of her favorite places. She has written five adult romance novels, one a year since 2020.

Miss last week's episode? No problem. Listen here. Follow Cincinnati.com editor Beryl Love on X @beryllove and City Hall reporter Sharon Coolidge @SharonCoolidge.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Where does Emily Henry live?