sweet & succinct buildup combined with heart-wrenching angst (the kind that gets you sobbing non-stop from 2-4am in the morning), it's everything you want from a second chance romance book written by emily henry.

complemented with realistic and highly relatable characters & relationship dynamics, this book deserves nothing less than 5 stars.

thank you to berkley and netgalley for providing this arc!

Honestly for my first Emily Henry book, I loved this so so so much. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of Happy Place!

If there's one trope I never knew I would eat up it would be the 'we used to date, but we're not anymore, but we're hiding it from everyone, but we still love each other' trope. I loved everything about Wyn and Harriet sneaking around and making each other jealous but still seeing the true and insanely deep love they have for one another. I also loved how this book wasn't just about romantic love it highlighted the special love that comes out of friendships and the bonds you grow up with (which really are something so so so special.) I think I really just loved the writing style in general. It was funny, fast paced, and I enjoyed the characters storylines so much. I was really happy that this turned out into a good experience for me and I will 100000% be looking into her other books now!

Harriet and Wyn's relationship fell apart months ago, but they haven't quite found the right way to break the news to their shared friend group. So when they both have to go to the same summer getaway, they're forced to pretend everything is fine. But how long can they keep up the act without real feelings getting involved?

This book didn't have quite the same whimsy and playfulness as what I've come to expect from Emily Henry's romances. Instead, it felt more grounded, realistic, and earnest. These felt like real people with real messy histories and complicated ties to each other. It's still got some laughs, of course, and it pulls on all the heartstrings as only Emily Henry can. It's immersive and full of characters that feel like hanging out with your own best friends.

As a long-time fan of Emily Henry, I was beyond excited for the chance to get my hands on this ARC. And while it did have a bit of a different feel compared to her previous works, I still enjoyed it a ton (so much so that I read it in a single sitting!). Harriet and Wyn ended their engagement and split up months ago, minor details they failed to mention to their four friends—Sabrina, Cleo, Parth, and Kimmie—before embarking on a week-long reunion in the close quarters of Sabrina’s family home in Maine. The combination of the forced proximity to her ex-fiancée combined with her desperation to keep up the appearance that she is still totally in love and engaged, thank you very much creates a perfect pressure cooker of a situation for our beloved narrator Harriet. This is further compounded (Emily, you’ve outdone yourself) by the split perspectives from which the story is told: past and present Harriet. Though the situations with Wyn in present day can be challenging to get through, especially when the reasons for their split are still unclear, it’s impossible not to fall in love with him right alongside Harriet during the flashbacks of their time together.

Happy Place has a more meditative, even melancholy, feel than most of Henry’s other works. In that sense, it strays from her typical rom-com narrative and encourages us to look at things in a more nuanced way. Harriet and Wyn are perfect for each other. Sabrina, Cleo, and Harriet are the perfect trio of friends. Unfortunately, nothing is literally ever that simple in life. It’s inevitable that these characters—like us—face obstacles of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, inevitably, they handle challenges poorly or make decisions that are just plain bad. But throughout the book Henry truly did a great job of demonstrating how truly this trio of friends knows, cares for, and supports one another. And she does an amazing job of demonstrating how deep the love runs between Harriet and Wyn: at their best, at their worst, and at their most mediocre-but-trying-to-be-best. It was a lovely rumination on how love, in all its many forms, can pull people together and hold them close through the good and the bad.

What a delight this book was! Harriet and Wyn have broken up, but their tight knit group of friends don't know that when they all go on a trip to Maine. The story flips between current day and the past, sharing little but important moments in the years Harriet, Chole, and Sabrina met in college and grew together, then apart. Yes, this is a steamy romance book but what make it stand out is the excellent way the author describes the friendships between the group. I devoured this in a day, highly recommend!

Happy Place by Emily Henry is a delightful romantic comedy that will have you laughing, crying, and rooting for the characters from beginning to end. Harriet and Wyn have been the quintessential couple since they met in college, but for reasons unknown, they broke up six months ago and haven't told their best friends. When they all gather for their yearly vacation in Maine, Harriet and Wyn find themselves sharing a room, pretending to be together and trying to resist their lingering feelings for each other.

Emily Henry's writing is witty, charming, and insightful, exploring the complexity of relationships, friendships, and the struggles of adulting. The story is told in alternating points of view, allowing the reader to understand the perspectives of both Harriet and Wyn. The author also does an excellent job of developing the other characters, making them feel like real people with their own quirks and flaws.

The setting of the Maine cottage is described beautifully, making you feel like you are right there with the characters, enjoying the ocean views, seafood, and wine. Happy Place is a heartwarming and uplifting novel that will leave you feeling satisfied and content. If you are looking for a romantic comedy with depth, humor, and heart, this book is definitely worth checking out.

I need to start by saying that I didn't love Beach Read or The People We Met on Vacation. I thought Book Lovers was good, and Happy Place was GREAT! Emily Henry just keeps getting better!

Happy Place is about three college friends who have traditionally spent time each summer at a family home in Maine. This is the last summer as the home is being sold. The MC gets there and is surprised that her ex-boyfriend is there even though she never told her friends they had broken up. Over the course of the vacation we see how perfect these two are for each other and learn about their struggles. It felt very real and honest.

Emily Henry has done it again! This book broke me in the best way possible. I cried, I laughed, I found myself falling for this beautifully painful love story. Harriet was such a relatable character, she's a people pleaser, a mirrorball (for my swifties), all she does is try try try while on the other hand, Wyn he just wants to be enough for someone, someone to be proud of (also ms. emily henry definitely had gold rush in mind when she wrote him). I could find myself relating to both of the MCs. I love that this story was about how two people can yearn for each other regardless of how much time has passed by, how two people will and can find their way back to each other.

My favorite quote from this book is when Harriet says "No one else's happiness is yours to grant" it really just hit home for me. We are not the makers or responsible for other people's happiness we can only work at our own.

Also CHAPTER 32 is all I can say without giving away too many spoilers.

A huge thanks to NetGalley, I received an ARC of this book from them in exchange for an honest review.

I can honestly say that this was my most anticipated book of the year. I LOVE Emily Henry's books.
Book Lovers is MY FAVORITE. But this one, will be the second favorite.

I started reading this book about a month ago and couldn't get into it. It felt...different than her others. Emily Henry is firmly in my rom/com contemporary romance category. I went into this book expecting that.

But this one is more melancholy. More angst if you will.

It's not just about the loss of a romance, but of friendship, of growing up , of growing apart, of expectations not met, of not being a disappointment.

I loved Harriot and Wyn, even though it took about 75% of the book before I understood them. And the WHY of their breakup. What was apparent, getting through all of that was how desperately these two still loved each other. The way the sexual tension was written SO SO SO GOOD.

All in all, I might have to give this 5 stars. I just might.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing group for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

When I started reading this book, I wanted another "Book Lovers" - this is not that kind of book. This book is angsty, a second chance romance with serious "500 Days of Summer" vibes. The dual time line bounces between the current moments in time & the past evolution of their relationship. Emily Henry won me over when just as I was about to pitch the book across the room for being so heart wrenching, she pulled it into a different vibe. The main character navigates growing up, finding herself, navigating friendships and grief and transitions - all things folks experience at some point. How can we grow & change and maintain friendships in the process even across distance? What if our dreams end up being misguided or not what we thought once we attain them - then what?

Heart broken & then put back together - this book won me over.

Thanks for the ARC - this review is mine & I will be handselling it this title & am excited to see how Henry does in HC.

Emily Henry has such a unique way of writing characters—every single one of them has so much heart, and they all manage to jump off the page even with so many intertwined in the story.

I love Emily Henry's writing so much. She writes characters that feel real and feel like friends. Happy Place not only follows Harriet and Wyn, but their four best friends as well. It's a story of friendship, growth, and love.

The ending left me so satisfied but there were parts in the middle that were angsty and messy. I don't know how to pinpoint it, but this felt a little less like a romance to me than her other books. It's not my favorite of hers, but I found it enjoyable and captivating. I loved the friend group and I especially loved the setting of the book.

Okay so I’ve only ever read one other Emily Henry book and it wasn’t my fave but this one did it for me! I LOVED it! I loved the dual timelines. And the relationship between Harriet and Wyn. And the story of friendship.

Happy Place is a second chance romance featuring a diverse friend group who gathers yearly in Maine in their happy place. I’m not sure why but I didn’t love Harriet and Wyn together. I found myself not caring if they got back together or not. Some of the characters were immature and not my favorite Henry characters. Overall a sweet story.

Emily Henry's books are always just the littlest bit magical--but the magic doesn't reside in fantasy but in the little joys and miracles that reside in our connections: connections to friends, family, and partners. Happy Place captures the same charm and heartbreak as her previous novels but I really loved how this book felt more introspective. I really appreciated this story's focus not only on romance, but also on navigating getting older and entering a new phase of life. The friendship of the main trio also really brought a deeper, funny, and loving side to this novel and I would've read a whole book just about them.

I cried. It’s been a while since a book left me a sobbing mess. No joke, it was like a volcano erupting and tears streaming down my face.

From the beginning, the story grabbed my heart and had its grip on it. It was a lot of “is it finally going to happen?” and “why isn’t it happening yet?!” It was an emotional rollercoaster full of longing glances and conversations that should have happened but didn’t. But when everything finally finally fell into place, it’s just made me so happy and I cried tears of joy. It was the perfect ending to this gem of a book.

This is my third 5-Star Emily Henry book... do you know how rare that is? At least for me? I am damn stingy with that last star, so to award it, again, seems like the entire review right there.

BUT I should probably say a few more words...

Everything I love about EH but with new, unique from previous, characters. Smart, deep, emotional but also entertaining and hopeful. I love the exploration of all the friends. The various relationships are amazing, and the main love (and breaking) story at it core is brilliant. But it's also a deep dive into Harriet's psyche and how a person can inadvertently harm others by not putting themself first. I cried, I laughed, I couldn't put it down.

As with all my top rated books, I don't want to say much because I don't want to spoil a thing. I just want you to read it. So go read it!

The Emily Henry formula wins again. Light and frothy enough for the beach, but with the heft of a few serious issues sprinkled to not make it a romance in the traditional style. Harriet and Wyn were a fun couple that I was rooting for the whole way through.

I fell in love by the first three chapters. The overall premise is of a fake relationship, and this is the first time I have ever read this trope and understood the character's choice to pretend to date. Usually it's a flimsy excuse, but if I were in the position the characters are I could actually see myself doing the same thing. This book is filled with good, exciting tension throughout, a lot of unexpected surprises and turns, and the best part is that all of them real and driven by the characters Henry has created. It's not forced, it's not out of nowhere, everything makes sense with satisfying payoff. This is the best thing about this books is its cast of characters. Aside from the main couple there are four others, with the six making up the cutest found family, and all of them seem to have full, rich, interesting lives of their own. I desperately want a sequel from Chloe's perspective! If you like books with characters that feel like real friends, or real people you could know, this one is a winner.

Harriet and Wyn have been together since college for ten years seeming to their intimate group of friends to be the perfect couple. They a big secret: a devastating breakup has not been shared with those same friends because neither has the courage or strength to admit their failure. To complicate matters, the last trip to a beloved Maine cottage is planned where Harriet thinks Wyn will not be there until he is sending her into a major panic.

Harriet avoids controversy at all costs because of a lot of family baggage. Wyn has his own perceived inadequacies to deal with so they have a lot to overcome in order to ever be together again. Wyn had to return to his Montana home to help out an ailing parent which helped foment their breakup five months before where Harriet has a medical residency hundreds of miles away in San Francisco.

To say that Harriet and Wyn’s reunion and forced proximity is tortuous for them both is a vast understatement. Clearly, they still love each other desperately but feel reuniting is impossible under their current circumstances. Harriet is very angry, and a whole lot other of tightly wound emotions, at Wyn for the perceived reasons for their breakup while Wyn cannot seem to stop sending mixed signals. The only thing they can agree on is not telling their friends and spoiling this last vacation in a place that is very special to them all.

In some ways, this book is one big book painfest especially since Ms. Henry’s writing is so thorough at taking this reader on an intense emotive ride. Told in two timelines, Happy Place from the past and Real Life in the present, this story is quite an emotional roller coaster ride. I think it is the most angsty and heartbreaking book from this author I have read. It is in the “smack a character with her own book” territory and suffering along with Harriet and Wyn which shows Ms. Henry’s talent in this story at torturing…er…keeping her readers interested to see how the love story plays out. As Tobias Wolfe once said, memory has its own tale to tell so looking back at the past reengages Harriet and Wyn with why they fell in love and how it all fell apart.