Emily Henry is my happy place. Her books are always a highlight of my reading year. Happy Place is about a group of friends from university that go to their friend's cottage in Maine for their regular yearly trip, but this will sadly be their last trip as the cottage is being sold. This book took me a little longer to get into than her other books, as it was more about friendship and group dynamic than about a romance, which I wasn't expecting. But I did end up really enjoying that the main focus was more on the friends than romances, and the romance did not disappoint. I truly had no idea what was going to happen. I only gave 4 stars as opposed to 5 because it took me a little longer to get into it and because some of the relationship communication issues seemed a little too far fetched for me, but overall really enjoyed the story.

📖 BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: Happy Place
AUTHOR: Emily Henry
FORMAT: eBook
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
DID I CRY: Yup
PUB DATE: 4/25
RATING: 10/10
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @berkleyromance @berkleypub @netgalley for my #gifted advanced copy🫶🏼

MY THOUGHTS

Words will never be enough to convey my feelings for this book. I’ll be the first to admit, I was in a MAJOR slump when I picked this up & it took me until about 40% in to love it. I had questions that needed answers in order to form opinions on characters & relationships, and once I got them I was ALL in.

This book is pure magic. The setting — we KNOW how much I love a beach house in a coastal town in New England. The writing — @emilyhenrywrites is a master. The dialogue, the detail, the wit, the banter, you name it — it’s perfect. The characters in this book are unlike any she’s ever written IMO. They are real, raw, honest & flawed. They have relatable challenges & personalities that I saw a lot of myself and the people in my life in. They make this book what it is. Not just the MCs either, I’m talking every single character. The tropes are different, and seeing EmHen’s twist on second chance/fake dating with a sprinkle of enemies to lovers and forced proximity was blissful.

What’s really special about this book for me were the themes. There are a lot of sensitive topics covered in such a delicate way. There’s loss and grief, mental illness/mental health, LGBTQIA+, friendship, family, career, secrecy and honesty, authenticity, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD when I tell you to pick this book up I MEAN IT. The last 25-30% of this book were some of my favorite pages I’ve ever read in any book. Truly. This book is a love story not only between two lovers, but between friends that become your family, and a reminder to love yourself first and prioritize your happiness no matter what.

This book is something special & I will hold it in my heart for a very long time❤️‍🩹

Emily Henry's best work to date. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want it to end. The banter was insanely delicious. The characters loved hard- you could feel it through the words written on the page. It's a book that will stay with me for a long time.

i don’t know how Emily Henry does it. BOOK LOVERS had exceeded every one of my expectations so i truly had the highest of hopes for HAPPY PLACE. and once again, @emilyhenrywrites has completely outdone herself.

i loved the way that HAPPY PLACE was written through different lenses: Harriet’s “happy place”, real life, and, at times, the “dark place”. we get to see the big moments and the small things, and the times when she meets her favorite people.

the thing i love most about Emily’s books is how they make me feel. they capture real life moments that are so relatable and the reading experience is so beautifully cathartic. this one made me think of my friends, who truly are my happy place. we live in different places and are in completely different stages of life but at the end of the day, we always have each other.

don’t let the title fool you… this book is EMO. it’s got happy and beautiful moments but there is loneliness and heartbreak. if you’re a swiftie, you need this book.

i cannot wait for a physical copy of this book so i can go back and annotate all my favorite quotes. i hope this book touches your heart the same way it touched mine.

Emily Henry is a master at telling a perfect romance story. Every book she writes is somehow better than the last. I loved this book with its group of friends, messy complications, and highly relatable feelings of not being enough. I cannot recommend this more highly. A perfect novel

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, Emily Henry, and NetGalley for this digital ARC.

We find Harriet and Wyn - a couple who broke up months ago - have yet to tell their friends. This causes them to be stuck on a yearly friends vacation with their best friends who have no idea they ended their engagement. Awkward to say the least, Wyn and Harriet try their best to find the perfect time to break the news - but it is obvious they still have deep feelings for each other.

A wonderful story by a great author!

ooooh wee mama. emily henry writes the kind of love stories i really feel like i lived. no joke i woke up being like wait where's wyn. i love my mother em hen

Witty banter, believable premise, winning characters, and surprising depth. Classic Emily Henry. (After four homerun adult novels, surely we can say "classic" already?)

Wow.
Happy Place had all of the charm that we come to expect from Emily Henry, while also feeling fresh and new.
Straight up, it broke my heart. It did. But when I was made whole again, it was the most wonderful feeling. Loved it. Loved It.

This Advanced Readers Copy of Happy Place by Emily Henry was provided to me by Berkley Publishing Group via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion. Here is what I think of this novel:

Happy Place takes place in all sorts of different places at different times. It's gloriously told in chapters of "Happy Place," "Dark Place," and the "Real Life" perspectives of our main gal, Harriet. Harriet who has impressed everyone with her genius and her life goal of becoming a brain surgeon. She meets Wyn, loveable, adorable, golden retriever-vibes Wyn, who steals her heart from the moment they meet at the airport in Maine. Through college, summer trips to Maine, and many apartments split with their group of best friends, they finally admit defeat and fall in love. But difficult and different circumstances lead them to one last summer in Maine, as an engaged couple on the surface, but two broken and hurting hearts on the inside. Will they be able to pull one over on their friends and come off as the touchy-feelie lovebirds they know, or will their last week turn sour when their friends realize they've actually ended their engagement and broke up?

This romance is epic, it's a burn the entire time. Not slow, not fast, just a solid burn. I absolutely loved the chapter perspectives, they felt completely original, very creative, and very, very well placed. Past memories can be messy in a novel, but Henry kept the sequence in place as she filled in pieces of the love story between Wyn and Harriet. It flowed beautifully, with writing that made me take may notes for my journal! I fell in love with the Maine aesthetic, as well as the group of tight knit friends surrounding Wyn and Harriet. In a way this is not just a romance novel, it's a quarter-life coming of age story about friendships and relationships. It was gorgeous and I loved every minute of it.

Happy Place was a complete joy to read. Our main characters have been together for many years, having got together while in a friend group during their college years, which is still very close present day. The friend group travels for a week long vacation every year in picturesque Maine where they enjoy each other's company and complete traditional fun activities. The only catch this year is that the main characters have split up about 5 months prior to the annual trip and they haven't brought it up with the rest of the group, not wanting to damper the mood for the last vacation at their mutual happy place. After this trip, the house is being sold and they will have to find a new place to make memories. When Harriet arrives in Maine at their beloved cottage, she is shocked to see Wyn, after not hearing a peep from him for the past 5 months. She's even more shocked by the way she responds to him and can't seem to get one though out of her head - she has never fallen out of love with Wyn. And since the rest of the group doesn't know about their split, Harriet and Wyn agree to fake it for the week, knowing full well how difficult that will be. Fake it until you make it, right? The story is delightful and I never wanted it to end. The atmospheric descriptions of place, the local bookstore, the fun activities, delicious food, and so much more. And the romance was so well done - the perfect amount of steam and heartwarming.

Review will be published on April 20th on my site and socials**

4.5 stars

RELATABLE.

I didn’t know how I was going to feel about this one. I do think it’s Henry’s heaviest book and that you should definitely be aware going in! Not in a lengthy list of trigger warnings way, just the real life can bring you down way. The happy place ideal is oddly ironic for this book and by the end I liked how it was all portrayed.

The romance is a little more at the forefront than Book Lover (but not as much as BR/PWMOV). I liked seeing more of it and watching Harriet and Wyn’s story unfold. There was just the right amount of flashback chapters to add to the plot without feeling like everything was stuck in the past. Harriet and Wyn had some great banter, truly tender moments and I was loving the raw communication and anger that came out in the end.

Friendships are another main focus and, at times, over shadowed Harriet’s journey. The last 20% really hit me in the feels though with the many sentiments expressed. Life is hard, feelings are hard, and the parents you have truly play a part on how you view your future self and relationships. I am satisfied with how all of the friendships worked out too though. It’s something special to have that type of bond with others.

An impactful read that had me thinking and reflecting a lot. Do I still wish the romance was even more at the front? Yes. And there were a few scenes here and there that I thought slowed down progression. A glory days atmosphere I could have been cool without.

I loved the core of the story and the messages it left me with. And I thought Harriet really came into her own in the end and I LOVED that journey for her.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: one full open; medium explicit + some almost scenes and fade to black
- Trigger/Content Warnings: losing a parent, grief depression and anxiety depictions, use of recreational drugs, alcohol use

Henry’s new book is as much a friendship story as it is a romance. How do we maintain friendships as we age and grow and move to new places? For Harriet (Harry to her friends) her happy place has always been with her favorite people - college besties Sabrina and Cleo, Parth and Wyn. But, since she and Wyn broke up (and the others don’t know) Harry hasn’t been connecting with any of them. Thrown together for Sabrina and Parth’s surprise wedding, Harry and Wyn agree to pretend to still be a couple to keep the peace. What makes this book better than the average romance is that Harry and Wyn’s isn’t the only relationship the reader will care about. Happy Place has the banter and sensuality I’ve come to expect from Emily Henry, but with a bit more bittersweetness. Relationships (of all types) take work and commitment, we have to decide if we are up to the challenge.

Not my favorite of hers, still a good novel. I ran out of patience for this couple, and I thought the ending was unrealistic and dramatic just for drama's sake. I know I'm in the minority :) but this one just didn't do it for me like her previous novels.

I didn't mean to read this as fast as I did but I was desperate to know what they broke up. The "happy place" parts dragged on for me and I found myself not invested in them at all. Real Life had all the answers. I loved the angst between Harriet and Wyn but at the end of the day it was a very "meh" read for me. I didn't dislike it I just wasn't twitterpated and blown away with it.

Whenever someone pitches Emily Henry as a cartoon cover romance writer, I feel many things. First, what's wrong with a good cartoon cover romance? Nothing. Second, it is obvious this person has never read an Emily Henry book, and therefore their opinion matters very little.

Where do I start? I loved the characters, I loved the setting. I felt hope, sadness, and that deep melancholy of drifting away from my friends. Sometimes I genuinely think Emily Henry has taken snippets of my life and put them into her characters. Hitting a life crisis, not loving your career, and pivoting--Been there.
Second chance romance and exes to lovers? Not my normal thing but I'm here for it.

If witty banter is your thing you will LOVE this book!

The author excels in keeping the dialogue funny and loose. It feels exactly like how I actually talk to my friends. Harriet and Wyn are the main characters and it’s hard not to fall in love with them as a couple. This book goes from present day to jumps in the past where we see how they fell in love and what exactly tore them apart.
This story is a will they or won’t they get back together meshed with a wonderful story about friendship. Is it possible to keep your college friendships going into your 30’s as you all grow and change? Can exs truly become just friends? If you love something should you really set it free or should you fight for it? These are the questions you will ask yourself while reading this incredibly charming book.

Emily Henry has really found her audience when it comes to romance novels. To me though, Happy Place hits that middle ground I’m sure most of us haven’t been able to identify. If you’re a reader of her other works, you’ll know that some of her books tend to be extremely character-driven with little romance or vice versa yet Happy Place hits that middle ground.

Happy Place follows Harriet and Wyn who are forced together for a last vacation hurrah with friends and have to pretend they’re still happily engaged. The story does focus a lot on them dealing with that, but we also watch their first meeting, their first kiss, and eventually their breakup. Everything is all-consuming with these two and makes for a compulsively readable experience.

In the flashbacks though, we learn a lot about Harriet and Wyn as people. It's nice watching them go from young adults to adults with all the trials and tribulations that come from that. In a way, it’s painfully realistic, especially with what Wyn’s going through. He’s dealing with so much change and it’s so consuming while Harriet is trying to make the best of her situation while caring for him.

If you couldn’t tell by the title, Happy Place is about being in a happy place with friends which is what Wyn and Harriet are doing. It’s also about finding that happy place within yourself to be able to sustain taking care of yourself and nourishing a relationship. To me, there was something so realistic about watching what Wyn and Harriet went through and how it affected their relationship.

You might have guessed that this book features a deceased parent and it does, but it didn’t consume the entire story as the previous books have. I won’t give away too much about that because I felt like it’s an integral part of the story, but it did seem to reinforce what a happy place is and can be for someone.

Considering that I read this book in one sitting, I can confidently say that this is my new favorite Emily Henry book. Happy Place managed to combine everything I’ve loved in previous books of hers and made it more streamlined. I feel like this book is good if you’ve loved Emily Herny’s previous books or if you’re looking for a place to start with her catalog.

Regardless, I don’t really have much to say about this story aside from Wyn and Harriet’s friends being annoying at times. I know they meant well but I felt like Sabrina was so grating at times and I couldn’t understand why those two were so quick to forgive her. Aside from that, Happy Place is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2023 so far.

Absolutely adored everything about this. Will never be the same after, Emily Henry has wrecked me. Wyn & Harriet own me, heart & soul. Happy Place is a book that you’ll want to hug & keep close to your heart forever.

Emily Henry is an auto-read author for me and HAPPY PLACE did not disappoint! First of all, Henry needs a standing ovation for creating the most perfect setting. I told my book club that we need to book a trip to Maine immediately. Throughout the descriptions and experiences, Henry made the setting come to life. I felt like I was there, experiencing her happy place. Sometimes I feel like these types of books lack the level of character development that I typically crave, but HAPPY PLACE provided just the right amount for me. It was still a quick, easy read -- like a spicier, steamier Hallmark movie. Highly recommend and am eager to get my hands on a physical copy this April!