1⭐️1.5🌶️

I first want to say that my rating for this book might have been higher had the Title, Cover, and Blurb prepared me for the content. Ultimately, I chalk it up to a failure in marketing and not a bad book.

This story was an exploration of grief wrapped in a fake dating vacation romance package. If there was any moment that I enjoyed reading this book, it was fleeting and drowned out by how depressing the story was and how unlikable the characters were.

This book follows the story of Harriet and her group of friends, growing up and grieving their youth. It is told in both real-time and flashbacks. The story begins with Harriet arriving at her annual friends vacation where she and her ex fiance withhold the fact that they are broken up in order to avoid creating tension within the group. Rather than cute fake dating, this was PAINFUL. It wasn't flirtatious angst, it was weeping behind closed doors. Every flashback was through this lens of mourning.

Romances end with a HEA but frankly it was too little too late. The mental health and self esteem issues of the characters was "resolved" so fast that I don't trust or believe it.

All of that doesn't make a bad book. It just doesn't match what I was sold. This story is not one I would have picked up.

Thank you @berkleyromance for the free ARC. I hope my honest review can be read with an understanding that I am grateful to have received such a highly anticipated book.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Emily Henry can do no wrong.

I may not be in the majority on this but I love a romance that has a strong secondary storyline. I loved getting to know Harriet's whole friend group and the envious 'chosen family' they created as much as I loved Harriet and Wyn's relationship.

I was going through a bit myself while reading this one and I have to say Harriet's emotional arc was so spot on and whether it was Henry's intention or not, I was shedding more than a few tears...

Will happily be recommending this one through my readers' advisory work!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emily Henry. The woman, the legend, has delivered once again. If there's one thing Emily Henry knows how to do it's to write a love story that feels so much bigger than a love story. She truly is the best romance writer of our generation I swear it. Just to get it out in the open, this did not dethrone Beach Read as my number one. However, I absolutely loved this.

I think this book spends more of its time as a romance. There is the underlying current of the development and transformation of friendship over time. There's a bit of found family. There's a bit of an engagement with grief. There's a lot of engagement with the idea of purpose in life. But overall, I think this is much more romance-forward.

Unfortunately, Wyn has not taken my heart as a number one Emily Henry man (but if we're being honest who can top Gus?) I think Wyn has a beautiful simplicity to him that is partnered with a deeper, more hidden, tumultuous complex inside. He comes across as simple. This flirtatious, good-looking, happy boy from Montana who just wants to refurbish and build furniture. He doesn't think that highly of himself either. What he does do, is love Harriet like it's the only thing he's ever been built for. He was outstanding and fantastic and hilarious, god emily henry knows banter like she knows her own name. However, Wyn is not the selling point for me in this book. It's Harriet.

Harriet is... well she's me. Partially. I thought Nora was the right Emily Henry woman for me.... but oh no no no, Harriet is me. To a T. The anxious energy, the people pleasing, the constant concern with putting on a brave face and muscling through it? Holy shit. I don't even have the words for the way I fell in love with Harriet.

Additionally, the side cast of characters is equally vibrant and raw and real. I loved them. Absolutely loved them. The setting gahhhh. EMILY ! she perfectly builds this cozy small town in Maine and this extravagant fantastic cottage that holds all this friend group's most important memories. and GOD emily's writing is so beautiful and raw and just everything I want my romance novels to be. I love her. The pacing was perfect and I have 235 highlights from this book because I loved it that much. Emily henry never misses :)

I want to be a fan of Emily Henry, which is why I requested an arc for Happy Place, three times might I add...and now have read four of her novels and have consistently pushed myself to finish them even though they never got me hooked.

Though I gave this a low rating, fans of Emily Henry will love this book.

I've read some reviews saying that Happy Place is a mix of her past three novels, and I think for me, personally, that's where the problem lies. There is a formula to her stories: a female character who whines a lot but never communicates her feelings, a male character to tell her that she's amazing just the way she is and that he will love her forever and ever, an inner monologue, assumptions made instead of communication, and some trauma to be the reason why the main characters can't (but eventually) work things out.

You know how they say, "two halves don't make a whole"...well I think that perfectly describes the relationship between Harriet and Wyn.

A lot of this book was Harriet making assumptions as to why she and Wyn broke up, how she lost him, and then never talking to him about what actually happened, questioning their break up when she was the one who called it, asking him why he didn't chase after her when she blocked him and decided to set her own boundaries. GIRL????

I liked their flirting scenes. I enjoyed and appreciated the friendship aspect of the story - how we grow up and maybe grow apart. But those were the only parts that I enjoyed.

I really did try to like Emily Henry's books, but I think I've read enough at this point.

Huge thanks to PRH International for sending me this ARC in exchange of an honest review. (Apologies if this was too honest.)

Big fan of Emily Henry and got this galley to prepare for an upcoming podcast about BookTok and the authors that users, particular young women, tend to recommend. Happy to say that this one holds up to the rest of her work– breezy, fun, romantic. A lovely little read, like a vacation for your brain.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for access to this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Harriet and Wyn broke up months ago. They're worried about ruining their mutual group of best friends, so they keep the break up a secret. Harriet plans on telling everyone on their annual group vacation, which Wyn makes an excuse not to attend... except when Harriet arrives, there he is. They quickly realize that if they don't fake their relationship for just one more week, they're going to ruin their friends' memories of their communal happy place - the cottage that's being sold so they won't be able to visit again.

I don't say this lightly at all, but this book absolutely destroyed me. I read it in two days, but I had to put it down several times for a break or a cry because it honestly could have been written for me specifically - it hit that close to home. This is another one I won't easily forget, even if it made my heart ache. The messages about family, emotional vulnerability, and happiness are all so important. I won't spoil the ending, but I would say I would have been very happy even if this had a different resolution - my one gripe with romance lately is that there often seems to be only one version of a happy ever after, and I'd just for once like to see the alternative. I loved this book regardless, it's an early 2023 favourite for me, and I can't wait until you all can get your hands on it to talk about it with me.

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: After breaking up six months prior, Harriet and Wyn, having told none of their friends or family what had happened, are forced to pretend to still be engaged during their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends on the coast of Maine.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: It has finally happened! Emily Henry has written a book I loved even more than The People We Meet On Vacation! I didn’t even think it possible, but here we are. This book is everything I want in a romance and so much more.

Let me start with the picture perfect setting used in Happy Place. Set in part in the most gorgeous town in Maine, a big part of the story involves the small town coastal traditions. As the characters revisit old haunts and relive some of their best memories, it is seeped in that atmospheric charm only New England can offer.

One of my favorite elements of Henry’s books is her character development. I always love how her characters seem so three dimensional and real as if they can exist completely off the page.
That said, these characters are among my favorite.

I was so torn while reading this book as I both wanted it to end to know how everything worked out, but also never wanted it to end. Wyn, Harriet, Chloe, Kim, Sabrina and Parth felt like family to me the more I read and I was not ready to let them go.

I often talk about emotional investment being so key especially when it comes to romance novels in which they are a dime a dozen. Henry managed to take hold of my heart and refused to let it go until the final page. Even now, days after reading it, I am in the midst of a book hangover.

While there were multiple romances in this story, the obvious focal point was on Wyn and Harry. Told in both past and present timelines, we are immediately immersed in their present day dilemma, to then be taken back to the past to see how their relationship unfolded. The emotional depth and electric charge to their scenes was so powerful and I just could not get enough.

I laughed, I cried (many times), and I found my happy place within the pages of this beautiful book. It will definitely be a book I reread many times over and is already a very strong contender for my top book of 2023.

Read if you like:
•second chance love
•found family
•new england settings
•open door romance
•dual timeline
•romance with heart

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Happy Place was one of my most anticipated spring reads! This contemporary romance novel delves into college friendships, rekindled love, self-growth, and change. The author tackles heavy subjects of mental health and grief throughout the story. I enjoyed the use of present-day and flashback chapters, which helped me understand the relationship between the main characters, Wyn and Harriet, from their first meeting to their breakup and its aftermath. The friendship group dynamic was well-done, and each character was unique and contributed to the story. The book had many memorable one-liners. However, the pacing of the story was a weak point for me. I found that the middle dragged and the ending felt rushed. Despite this, it was a solid four-star rating. I’d recommend this book to fans of Emily Henry's work.

I’ll be posting on Instagram and my blog during the week of pub day

Emily Henry is back again and here are my thoughts (beware of spoilers!!)

What I loved:
1. The focus on the main characters' friendships- I am a sucker for found family stories! I loved how many flashbacks we got of the evolution of their friend group over the years.
2. The setting - Summer in Maine! The perfect backdrop to get me out of my winter blues. Emily Henry always does such a great job of bringing the setting to life, and this time was no exception. Catch me visiting Maine every summer for the rest of my life.
3. Wyn Connor- I will say, with a name like Wyn, the odds were against him from the start. But as always with Emily Henry's heroes, he had great banter. Plus he's a handsome, family-oriented Montana boy whose eyes never strayed from the heroine for even a second? Say less

What I didn't quite love:
1. The conflict in the relationship- I was okay with the initial conflict (the old classic miscommunication/ "i'm not good enough for them so I'll just leave forever and they'll be better off" trope) A little cliche but in the context of this story I felt like it worked. But once their true feelings were revealed to each other, they were still adamant that they couldn't be together. Why? Because they had different jobs in different states... ??? Surely if they were that obsessed with each other they could've made long distance work? And planned for Harriet to move to Montana after her residency?? Does Montana not have hospitals??? They lost me a bit with that one
2. This is a personal preference, but second chance romances just don't fully do it for me. I want the pining! The will they/won't they! The flirty beginnings! I did love the flashbacks we got of them first meeting, but there weren't enough of them to fully get me 100% invested in their relationship

Overall, I did really enjoy this story and I think it will be respectfully slotted as my #2 favorite Emily Henry book (Beach Read is still my number one!!). This will definitely be a go-to rec for me this Spring/Summer. Fingers crossed for another enemies to lovers from her down the road

I don't often read Romance, but when I do I'm always glad it is a book written by Emily Henry. In her latest novel, Happy Place, there isn't much new in the way of plot (the exes to lovers trope, a reunion of college friends) or setting (coastal Maine)...but Henry elevates her novels above others in the genre by creating more nuanced characters and writing some of the snappiest dialogue on the printed page.
Despite the title, Happy Place is definitely a more somber read than Henry's previous novel, Book Lovers.
Central character Harriet is devastated after being inexplicably dumped by her fiancé, Wyn, the golden boy she first fell in love with in college. The two have not shared the news of their breakup with their extended group of friends, who they now are forced into vacationing together with in Maine before a beloved summer home will go on the market.
Will they get back together?? No spoilers here, haha.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy of Happy Place in exchange for my review.

Oh man this was so good and I really loved it. A really great story about how friendships change and grow and nothing has to stay the same for everybody to still be there for each other and about living for yourself and not for anyone else and doing what makes you happy. Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college but they broke up 5 months ago and still haven’t told their best friends about it. Which is how they find themselves faking it on their annual trip to the beach house which is there last one since the house is being sold. They don’t want to ruin it for everyone so they can do this for a week, how hard can it be except feeling are brought back up and it is so easy to get back into sync with each other since they still love each other. It’s mostly in Harriet’s point of view and you get a glimpse in alternating chapters of how her and Wyn got together and what lead up to them breaking up. I like the growth of the whole group of friends and how they realize that change isn’t a bad thing and they are still the best of friends just with way busier lives then when they were in college. Harriet realized that she needs to stop trying to use her career as a way to prove to her parents that the careers they had to sacrifice for her and her sister was worth it since she was going to be a success and make them proud. Which shouldn’t be how you should go about trying to have a career especially in such a demanding field as medicine which you really need to love to succeed in. Everything gets resolved at the end and everyone realizes that they don’t need this happy place of the beach house that they still have that with each other.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

It's been five months since Harriet broke up with fiance and long-time member of her friend group, Wyn, but she hasn't been able to tell her best friends. Now, it's time for their last friends trip to Lobster Fest and she knows she'll have to come clean. When she arrives at the cottage, Wyn is there and they've been given the largest and most intimate guest room for the first time ever. The cottage, these friendships, her relationship with Wyn were Harriet's happy place, but now she's living in "the real world." Can she "pretend" to love Wyn? Will it break her again? Will their friends see through the facade?

I highly recommend this deep, moving, and insightful love story about trauma, grief, and chosen families.

Emily Henry is a master at writing emotionally distraught yet hilarious main characters. From the start, Harriet and Wyn's banter pulls me in and I find myself baffled at the dissolution of their relationship, hungry for their reconciliation. In the friends, we have background characters who fill-in the missing pieces about Harriet and Wyn. I love the way the past and future work to tell the full story of Harriet and Wyn's relationship and the final reveal of how they got where they are. In the end, the friends must reckon with themselves, give up their childish ways, and move into the future -- together or not.

Everyone has their happy place, and for some it ends up being a person, but not for everyone.
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Harriet and her friends are immediately likable, but not in the cliche ways where they all are the same rich kids. (They most definitely are not). They are a group drawn together based on their differences and there is something beautiful in how Henry executes that in this book. The book is full of found family, love and loss, and it’s guaranteed to make you feel all of the emotions. Then there is Wyn. From the start I was trying to see the bad guy in wyn, and uncover his dirty secret. But when you find out I couldn’t help but smile, because of course. I truly felt like I know these characters and I was right beside them living their story in Maine. Now I want to vacation to Maine during some type of lobster fest.
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The book says in such a beautiful way how life is too damn short to not do what makes you the happiest.
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Thank you for the publisher for an ARC.

This was brutal. I’ve read all of Emily’s adult romances so I am very familiar with the pain, but this book takes that to another level. It started hurting and it ended hurting. I did not had a break, but I loved it every single page.

I think this book has dethroned Beach Read as my favorite EH. I thought I couldn’t see characters having as much soulmate potential as January and Gus until I met Harriet and Wyn. The love between these two is so intense, and Emily has a gift to describe it. The dialogues made me feel like I was running and I couldn’t breathe as much oxygen as my lungs needed. The happy place moments (you’ll understand) made me lose my mind for them. This book has become my favorite second chance romance ever.

Aside from the romance, my heart was also in serious trouble when it came to the friendships. I loved the trio Sabrina, Cleo and Harriet form, and the found family they make with their partners is beautiful. I really understood Sabrina’s need of trying to save their friendship because growing up most times means growing apart, and it’s scary.

This book was a masterpiece, as expected, but it exceeded all of my expectations. Be ready to suffer, though! The pain will be worth it by the end!

This was a fantastic book! It is definitely my new favorite Emily Henry book. I loved Harriet and Wyn’s relationship. I loved the friendships and connections between the six main characters. I loved the references to Maine and summer vacations. Many parts made me laugh out loud - there was a definite humor undertone that I hadn’t noticed in other books by this author. Most importantly, I feel like the writing style really highlighted how the main characters were feeling and made it easy for the reader to feel along with them. I didn’t want the book to end. You will love it! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this delightful, early read!

"𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠."

In all honesty, I had trouble distilling my thoughts into something as simple as a star rating. And I think this is a testament to the complexity of this story–because I see so much of myself in Harriet and so much of my soon-to-be ex-husband in Wyn, and so much of our mutual heartbreak in theirs that it’s difficult to extract my feelings and hopes for my own future from any objectivity I may have otherwise had about this as a book. Don’t get me wrong–I loved it as much as I’ve loved Emily Henry’s other books, just in a very different, more personal way that is hard to articulate.

The chemistry that Harry and Wyn have sizzles off the page from their very first meeting, and the reasons for their abrupt split and the subsequent miscommunication and misery may be frustrating and confusing for some readers who haven’t experienced similar circumstances in their relationships. But Emily Henry is not known for writing fairy-tale romances… her characters and their relationships are so representative of real-life complexities. This book and the unique love story it contains are at times messy and imperfect, but always sincere and personal, and well-spoken. Perfect for fans of 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘞𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 and Carley Fortune’s 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, I’m excited for the world to read this.

• Second chance romance
• Friends to lovers
• Fake dating
• One bed
• Alternating flashback chapters

This was my first novel by Henry, and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit heavier than I expected, but also had elements of lightness and humor. I’ll definitely be going back to her previous novels!

4.75 Stars

Harriet + Wyn

Harriet found her two BFFs on her first day of college over a decade ago. Chloe and Sabrina and Harriet spent the most amazing times together - especially every summer in Sabrina's dad's mansion on the Maine coast. But now he's selling the place, so this is the last summer.
They went to Maine every year - after a while they all started bringing their better halves too. All six of them are the bestest of friends - even though they all live very far away from each other.
These summers are sacred.
Harriet and Wyn met at that place one summer. And they've been together for over eight years now.
At least everybody thinks so.
But they broke up six months ago - without telling any of their friends.
And now they have to spend the week in Maine pretending ....
That happy place might not be so happy anymore... right?

LET THE FUN TIMES BEGIN ... ☺

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HARRIET + WYN?
WILL WE GET A SECOND CHANCE AT A HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT 😁

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Adorable!

That was such a sweet book!
I usually hate books that go back in time a lot. But we had to know how they all met and how things happened with Harriet and Wyn. But most of the book is set in present time Maine.
And it's all so sad! Why did they break up? They're so perfect for each other!!
I really wanted them to get that second happily ever after...
But it's not easy. There was a reason for breaking up... but we don't know what it was.
But the mood is not all sad and heartbreaky all through the book. We have an amazing time with all the friends. Lots of laughter and alcohol and sitting by the pool and talking and soo much more.
I wanted to join them in that beautiful little tourist town and eat all the lobster rolls and drink all the maple lattes!
I loved seeing those friendships and all their problems and the secrets they're keeping.
It was all so very adorable and funny and sad and ... just beautiful.

I need to see this as a movie one day!

HAPPY PLACE was such a sweet and heartbreaking second-chance love story. Full of friends and love and fun and summer and everything good! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Wyn - he'll be sold out in no time! 😍

The emotional baggage of Beach Read, the waxing and waning of a relationship in flashbacks like People We Meet on Vacation, and the banter of Book Lovers make up Happy Place.

Well written, well organized, and well plotted. You instantly become invested with Harriet and Wyn. The ease of their coupling and the heartbreak of their breakup along with feeling the sense of history with this group of college friends prompted me to reflect upon:

-Found family and what you get from them in contrast to what you don’t get from your actual family

-Expectations our family places on us; what we have to live up to or live down

-No one can make anyone else happy. It is your responsibility.

-How relationship have to change and grow over time

-Memories are not in the walls but in your heart.

A vacation house in Maine is Harriet’s happy place, but it is with Wyn that she finds home.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*Note: this is an honest spoiler free review*
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“…suddenly more of my heart belongs to him than doesn’t, and I know I’ll never get a single grain back. He’s a golden boy. I’m a girl whose life has been drawn in shades of gray. I try not to love him. I really try.”
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I have to admit, I rarely cry when I read. There’s probably only a handful of books out there that have truly made me cry (or very teary). As a very emotional and sentimental person with serious attachment issues (lol, laughing through the pain), that’s pretty surprising to me. But now, that handful has grown as I officially add "Happy Place" by Emily Henry to the list of books that have made me want to pluck my tear ducts out :D

I love to go into books blind (aside from a general preface of the tropes or plot). Therefore, I didn’t know what to expect from "Happy Place". To be honest, I thought it was going to be a happy little story with some side trauma (similar to Henry’s other books). I was wrong. It was a punch in the face. Rather than focusing on a large plot or specific trope, I felt that this book focused more on its characters (their stories, issues, etc.). I’ve always been one to believe that a book doesn’t have to have a huge plot or plot twist to be a good story or meaningful, and this is a perfect example. Henry focuses more on themes such as broken families, mental health/illness, self deprecation, growing up and apart from close friends, misunderstandings, loss, etc., amongst her characters. I cannot describe the pain that I felt as I closely related to Harriet, Sabrina, and Wyn.

With all that being said, I can talk about the other half – the romance and friendships. I absolutely adored the dynamic between the six (Harriet, Wyn, Sabrina, Parth, Cleo, and Kimmy). The truth is that friendships can fade and change over time. Friends unfortunately drift apart as life takes us different places. Their dynamic throughout the story (in the before and after) is iconic and honest. And in terms of the romance, I absolutely adored all of the couples (I don’t want to spoil so I can’t say much, but I especially loved my momma bears *wink*). Each couple had their own issues, insecurities, love, and dynamics.

There’s so much more I want to say, but I honestly don’t know how to put them all into words. Just know that I encourage everyone to get their hands on this book as soon as it drops. I cannot wait for the rest of the world to experience this story, and I hope all of you love it as much as I did.
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A huge thank you to the publisher for being so kind and gifting me an ARC!