Happy Place by Emily Henry is a "second chance" romance between Wyn and Harriet, but also is a story of friendship. Harriet has found a "second family" with her college roommates, Cleo and Sabrina. Junior year, a law student named Parth joins their group, bringing his friend and roommate, Wyn Connor. Harriet and Wyn are instantly attracted to one another, and try to hold off on their feelings to keep their friendship group intact. When the group travels to Maine to Sabrina's father's cottage, the sparks fly and then ignite for Wyn and Harriet, making them a couple for the remainder of college, Harriet's medical school, and then her residency. When Wyn breaks their engagement, Harriet is devastated. Soon after, Sabrina issues their annual vacation invitation to the Maine cottage, and has placed Harriet and Wyn in the same room. Sabrina and Parth have announced that they will be getting married at the end of the week, and all they want is their small group of friends to celebrate with them. When Harriet and Wyn here this, they realize they must keep their own break-up secret, and they pretend to still be a couple until after their friend's ceremony.
What could go wrong?
What I liked: the friend group, and eventually the realization that life changes, needs change, and friendships adapt.
What I did not like: The ridiculous amount of drama that ensued due to total lack of communication, both with the friends group, and Harriet and Wyn. The ending was a bit unrealistic to me as well, but I am an admitted cynic. It could also be I read this when the weather was unseasonably cold and rainy, so I wasn't in the mood for a vacation read.
If you are an Emily Henry fan, you will probably enjoy this. I still like Book Lovers the best. Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.

Happy Place is the newest rom-com written by Emily Henry. This novel is set in Maine and follows the friendship between six people who met in college a decade prior. Every year they've met for a week of fun and relaxation at a family waterfront home. That home is now being sold so the friends must come to terms with this being their last get-together at the location. However, the friends soon realize that they haven't been completely honest with each other and secrets are about to be revealed. I finished reading this book with a smile on my face! Read and enjoy!

Second chance romance from America's next contemporary romance sweetheart. Always a good time, but not my favorite tropes to sit and steep in this go around. I found the characters and attitude of the book came together well, however. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with the title.

My favorite Emily Henry book to date! I really enjoyed this one on audio. I found myself emotional in parts which always ups my feelings for romance books. I loved Wyn and think he was a superb book boyfriend.

This book was perfect! I loved how it made me feel so many emotions at once. I fell in love with this friend group, with Maine and with Emily Henry all over again.

Another book by Emily Henry that fans have been waiting for and just in time for the summer reading season.

How successful will a previously engaged couple pretending to still be in love and engaged desire ending their engagement without telling anyone?
If you are looking for a light read this summer with romance and tension then look no further- this will be your summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯!

She did it again, another fantastic read from Emily Henry, so I’m going to keep this short. You need to read this book! Loved every page.

𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 by @emilyhenrywrites released April 25, 2023.

Thank you to Berkley, PRH Audio, LibroFM and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: family tensions, sick parent (Parkinson's), death of parent (on page, past), grief, depression, anxiety, claustrophobia (on page),

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-second chance
-found family
-only one bed
-forced proximity
-growing up is rough
-fake engagement
-dual timeline
-mutual pining

I just love the way Emily Henry writes, just tossing you into the story, the vivid descriptions. This book was just so much about adulting being hard and I found it so relatable. Harriet has a high pressure job becoming a doctor and has been looking forward to this vacation with her very best friends for a long time. Except when she shows up who else is there but her ex-fiance that no one else knows is her ex.

This book is second chance angst at its very finest. I loved the use of the dual timelines to see Harriet and Wyn's relationship and just the trajectory of all of the friendships in the group, how their lives intertwined, and how they got to now. Harriet was so type A, just not wanting to ruffle any feathers, just be there for her friends and family and not let anyone down. To the point where she stopped sharing things about herself with the people she loved.

I adored the tension between Wyn and Harriet. Their relationship gave just as many funny moments as it did angsty ones. And the comparison between their growth and changes with the friend groups and how your friendships change and grow as you et older. Your relationships with your parents, and just your expectations with yourself. Another beautifully written book that gave me so many feels. Highly recommend this one on audio, it truly added to the experience.

Steam: 3

This book was an emotional journey. I felt like I went on this story with Harriet throughout the entire book.

The book is mostly told in the "Real Life" with brief interludes to tell you about her "Happy Place" that get less and less throughout the story. We see long term friendships change and evolve. relationships fall apart (but no one else knows), and touchstone places in their lives begin to go away.

I felt so many emotions while reading this book. I felt for the moments of changing friendships and how it feels like you can't get back to the way things were before and how you stop telling people your moments. This book was really beautiful in a way that I wasn't expecting this romance to be. While I cared about the romance, there was so much more in this book I cared about more.

Ex-fiancés pretend to be together during their annual vacation with their best friends—in Emily Henry’s HAPPY PLACE.

Ever since they met in college, Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple—until recently, when Wyn dumped Harriet for reasons she stills struggles to understand. With fears the news will forever alter their group dynamic, they’ve kept it secret for months. Harriet is determined to break the news during their annual vacation to Maine—her happy place brimming with memories of times past. But when she arrives, Wyn is there too, and other surprises upend everything she’d planned.

What’s clear is that Harriet and Wyn can’t say a word, even if they must share a bedroom and pretend to be together. The dynamic between friends feels fraught with fragility, heavy with words unsaid, and emotions kept hidden from each other. It’s more important than ever that this week together be perfect, despite how painful it is for Harriet to be with the man she still loves.

As days tick by, that fragility buckles under the weight of intensifying uncomfortable moments, revealing just how estranged they’ve all become, and just how much they’ve all been keeping from each other. Harriet and Wyn can’t help but be drawn to each other, rousing more questions on the reasons for their breakup, and more importantly their future.

HAPPY PLACE imparts a heartwarming and relatable story about friends and lovers, and the growing pains that challenge the longevity of those relationships. Rich with whip-smart banter, emotion, and nostalgia, Emily Henry once again delivers an unputdownable story told in her brilliantly singular way. It’s wonderful.

Emily Henry books are like a warm hug

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since college, engaged and on their way to happily ever after. At least, that’s what their friends think. In reality, they’ve been broken up for six months and haven’t told any of their friends or family yet. When the two of them are reunited on their annual trip with their friends, they must fake still being together again until they can figure out how to break the news to their friends.

I think Emily Henry has really grown as an author: I wasn’t the biggest fan of her book Beach Read, but I’ve loved all her books since. My favorite thing about her books is the attention she pays to her characters and their personal growth. In Happy Place especially, it was two people who loved each other, dearly, but who needed to overcome their personal issues first (even issues they didn’t already realize they had).

There is definitely less of a focus on romance in this book, but that really didn’t bother me. I loved seeing the pieces of the relationship, how it all fell apart and then Harriet and Wyn do their best to see how they fit together again. I felt the friends were a wee bit of an afterthought, at times their interactions felt too far spaced and at times random. But overall I loved it, devoured it. I had thought I could no longer read in print form (I usually only listen to audiobooks now) but this book proved that my brain could still devour a book and it made me really happy.

Is it therapy or is it Emily Henry? Answer: Yes. I stayed up until 2am to finish this book and I cried my way through to the end. She's become an instant read for me.

Words cannot express how much I loved this book! I saw so much of myself in Harriet and how she deals with issues. I felt this book in my very soul and I cannot wait to recommend it to everyone I come across. Beautiful characters, beautiful message about found family and friendship. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and of course, Emily Henry for providing me with an eARC of this novel. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This was too cute. I have yet to dislike a single book of hers that I've read, and this was no exception. I loved it from beginning to end. I loved the characters, the friendships, and the little bubble they created on their summer trips. I loved the idea of doing everything they'd done prior years, their favorite things, or just part of their routine as a little found family.

I loved watching Harriet and Wyn work through their issues throughout and the little light bulb moments for each of them when it came to the other and what had happened between them. I loved how authentic so much of this book felt, from those college friendships that you form, to really truly becoming a family that you quite literally picked. Watching that family grow and change, but still just being there for each other.

I loved all the different types of families present in this book, all the varying degrees of friendship, family, and sibling relationships. The love interests, the romantic relationships, everything felt so real and raw, and I loved that.

I absolutely loved this book, and it definitely made me tear up more than once.

Wow. Wow. Wow. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a more beautiful, crisp, moving romance than this. Harriet and Wyn are so real, so painful and raw. The writing is crisp, the characters so thoughtful and rich. The whole book is like drinking hot apple cider in the chilly fall morning. Emily Henry has created a love story filled with soul.

Happy Place is told in Harriet’s POV with chapters set in the past, her “Happy Place” showing the history of how Wyn and Harriet became friends and fell in love. It revealed just enough snippets from the past without slowing the plot. It also recounted the history of Harriet and her friends, Sabrina, Parth, Cleo, and Kimmy. The friends are very much part of the story, and they have their own mini stories within, as well. The chapters in the present, “Real Life”, showed that Harriet and Wyn are far from over each other as they spend the week in coastal Maine with the gang. The setting is gorgeous in real life, and it came through with Henry’s talented writing.

Both Harriet and Wyn went through so much in their time together, that muddled what was important. The trip helped them sift through and boil down exactly what they needed and wanted in to be happy. Their journey made me cry and filled my heart with joy!

Happy Place was the perfect second chance romance with all the longing and hurt palpable between Wyn and Harriet. Their chemistry was off the charts! I was worried it would be super melancholy and a lot of angst, but it was just the right amount balanced out with fun and humor. Emily Henry writes the best banter, clever and sharp at times and slap happy, hilarious at others.

I alternately listened to Happy Place and read an e-copy and I highly recommend both! Julia Whelan is one of my all-time favorite narrators and her match-up with Emily Henry’s writing is perfection. She hits all the range of emotions from sharp, ironic humor, gut-wrenching emotions, and light-hearted bits beautifully! I listened at 1.5x-1.75x normal speed.

This is only the second book I have read by Emily Henry but I am hooked. I will admit, I am a bit of a romance snob. But, the author has such a great way of writing and incorporating so many other feelings that her books are hard to put down.

This book focuses on a group of friends who get together every year. Unfortunately the house they always meet at is being put up for sale so it will be the last time they get together there. And for Wyn and Harriet, it is going to be one hell of a vacation...they are no longer a couple and haven't told any of their friends. While this book is still a romance book, I felt the heartache of Harriet's - she doesn't really know why Wyn broke up with her after so long and with a brief phone call. And why did he ship her things to her almost instantly?

There are so many stories within this story and I wasn't sure, but thankfully it was a HEA. Highly recommend!

loooooooooved this one!! My favorite EH story yet. Loved all of the side characters/found family aspect, the chemistry between the 2 MCs was great and I just loved this one overall - it felt very natural and authentic.

Emily Henry is the reigning sovereign of the rom-com.

From “Book Lovers” to “Beach Read,” Henry toys with common tropes, but she does so with a twist. Her fiction borders on cheesy, but it’s blissfully self-aware. In her latest novel “Happy Place,” released April 25, Henry continues to sculpt a sunny world of honest love and easy endings, but the journey to get there is much more poignant and “slow-release hot.”

“Happy Place” traces the relationship between Harriet and Wyn across multiple timelines, detailing their college romance, derailed engagement and subsequent reunion at a cottage in Maine with their longtime friends — who still don’t know they’ve broken up. The plot is classic exes-to-lovers, but the varied temporal planes strap readers in for a complex emotional journey that belies any back cover summary.

From the beginning, Harriet is an easy character to latch onto, attempting to build a new “happy place” in a life post-Wyn. But when she arrives in Maine, she is dealt two blows: Her ex is there, and this will be their last ever trip to the cottage. For the remainder of the novel, Harriet must grapple with the reality of change, as well as acknowledge that her feelings are valid.

Will-they-won’t-they tension simmers in a nostalgic landscape as the friends attempt to hold time in stillness. Lobster dishes, late-night swims and high-flying carnival rides twist and turn between the pages, offering some semblance of the good old days, even when things seem off-kilter. As Harriet and Wyn keep up the ruse that they’re still together, their friends hold onto their own secrets. Henry reveals each one beautifully and methodically, bringing together the bigger picture one piece at a time.

Wyn is an archetypal Henry love interest — mysterious and hard to read at the beginning, honest and endearing by the end — but his character arc is still a bit more complicated. Told from Harriet’s perspective, the novel obscures readers’ impressions, keeping them guessing with each turn of the page. As Wyn and Harriet rekindle their flame, past and present storylines converge to reveal their ill-timed fate, as well as their desire to love even as the world pulls them apart.

Henry pays careful attention to each character, but that doesn’t always translate to likeability. Though Sabrina’s supposed to come across as quirky and almost overly caring, at times she can be annoying. Cleo, on the other hand, has a certain groundedness that lends to her intrigue. Meanwhile, Parth and Kimmie add fun-loving color that brightens the novel even in its sadder moments.

As always, Henry succeeds in the dialogue department, throwing in quirky quips and clever banter. Whether they’re vehemently feuding or passionately making up, Wyn and Harriet never cease to deliver a conversational zinger. Even the wedding cake featuring the words “Happy birthday, wicked pissah” maintains an air of humorous fun amid the dull pain of heartache.

Henry knows how to write a good sex scene, but it shouldn’t be dismissed as just smut. Even sultry scenes are weighted with emotion; each physical encounter punctuates a relationship arc that may very well be reaching its end. Whether they’re in the shower or the cottage’s cozy honeymoon-ish suite, Wyn and Harriet share steamy chemistry that comes to life on the page.

At times, “Happy Place” comes across a bit cheesy (“He’s a golden boy. I’m a girl whose life has been drawn in shades of gray,” Harriet muses). Especially as the novel nears its end, readers may need to suspend their disbelief in order to appreciate the conclusion. But for longtime readers, this is not only expected, but desired. In the world of Emily Henry, there are always happy places and happy endings.

For Henry, love is a staying force. It may waver and weather, but when it’s real, it’s built to last. It’s the heartbeat that runs through each novel, and it’s what keeps readers gladly grabbing for their tissues through to the very end.

Emily Henry is a masterful writer who has woven a story of friendship with a romance that is both heart-wrenching and hopeful. It begins with Harriet (the narrator), Sabrina and Cleo meeting as freshman roommates who, despite being polar opposites in appearance, background and personality, form a lifelong, if improbable, bond. Best friends Wyn and Parth eventually round out the group and, despite Parth declaring no one can date friends, the pull between Harriet and Wyn is irresistible. It’s love at first sight and for 8 years, as Harriet pursues her dream of becoming a surgeon, from medical school at Columbia to a residency in San Francisco, Wyn follows. A family tragedy pulls him back home to Montana, but Harriet is blindsided when he calls off their engagement in a 4-minute phone call. So, when the group gathers for what turns out to be a farewell week at their happy place, Sabrina’s family summer home in Maine, Harriet is shocked to find Wyn there despite their plan to continue hiding their break-up from their friends. As they’re forced to fake it for a week, they struggle to understand where it all went wrong and what part their own fears and insecurities played in driving them apart.

This isn’t a light-hearted fake relationship, forced proximity romance. In fact, it was often difficult to read, not only because love often isn’t enough but also because saying goodbye to a happy place can be as painful as the loss of a beloved person in your life. Personally, I lost my happy place (a beach house in RI) when it was sold out from under my children and me, and the lifetime of memories often bring more hurt than comfort and joy. I shed a boatload of tears reading this book, not only because of the parallels, but also because Henry keeps you guessing until the end whether Harriet and Wyn will find their way back to each other. So, grab your tissues! Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.