Emily Henry has done it again! Sometimes the past to present trope in books is overdone BUT I really liked this one. The question I consistently asked myself while reading this book was, “Where is my happy place”? Is it a person? It is a literal place? Just good food for thought.

This book is my second favorite of hers that’s been written! Predictable as most love story are BUT a lovely novel of redemption, realize mistakes, friendship, change and forgiveness.

4.75 stars.
Oh Emily Henry, I don't think you can do any wrong. This book might be tied with People We Meet on Vacation for my favorite of hers. She captures an intimacy and honesty with her characters that is hard to come by these days. The amount of heartbreak, love, angst, and honesty that leaps out at you is truly wonderful. We tune in when Harriet and Wyn are reuniting after having broken up after a long relationship during a yearly trip. The only problem is that none of their friends know they have broken up and still think they're engaged. They plan to break the news but when one couple announces they're engaged, they don't have the heart to ruin their last vacation at the cottage.
Harriet and Wyn are deeply flawed characters and they were wonderfully well-rounded. I loved the flow of going back and forth between the beginning and evolution of their relationship to current times. The best thing about this plot is that they already have an established relationship. The build-up is already there and yet, Emily Henry still finds a way to bring in the sexual tension with Wyn and Harriet. They are clearly still so in love with each other my heart ached as the angst poured out of the pages. Their chemistry is intense and so natural. While it takes them time to communicate, it's worth the wait when they do. It's incredibly raw and so private and you just want to hug them both. There is a grief but there is also self-growth in that they finally understand what to do to make themselves happy. Harriet and Wyn may be at the top of the list of couples Emily Henry has written.
I also loved the friendship between the whole group. They have such a close dynamic with each other but you can also see how much has changed between them over the years. You'll connect with one character or another and understand the problems everybody is going through. Time changes relationships and friendships. Sometimes it evolves into something better and sometimes people grow apart. Emily Henry really captured the spirit of all that and I absolutely loved it.
This is another fantastic book by her and I will continue to read everything she writes. If you've loved her other books, I think it will be impossible not to love this one.

I love Emily Henry's stories and her characters! The main characters Harry and Wyn have such funny sarcastic banter, I laughed so many times. The story really choked me up at times and also gave me tons of anxiety but in this case that's a good thing.

Fantastic, real, emotional. Loved it.

Home 🏡 is where the heart ❤️ is!

Thinking of her “happy place” wasn’t helping Harriet (Harri) this time as the small aircraft descended into Knott’s Harbor, Maine. Because normally, time at the cottage with her best friends since college, was her “happy place” and this time she was arriving with a broken heart, and she was about to break theirs too. 💔

Harri and Wyn. Wyn and Harri.

They were the couple their friends aspired to be-and THEY were no longer. She would finally be breaking the news to them. She and Wyn had decided to alternate summers at the cottage from here on out-sharing their friends, and she was taking the first Summer. That left her as the bearer of bad news.

But, when she walks in….she sees….Wyn.

What is HE doing here??

Turns out, the cottage is being SOLD, and this will be the last Summer that the three friends, who have evolved into six couples, will be able to spend there, so Wyn, who had been “temporarily” living at home to care for his ailing “Mom” couldn’t say no.

He and Harri, head to their room to unpack. Of course, THIS would be the year that THEY have been given the suite with the one king sized bed, and the romantic open shower and tub- IN THE ROOM. They form a pact to “pretend” to still be together, so that they don’t spoil the last Summer at the cottage.

It’s just ONE week.

How hard could it be to PRETEND to still be in love with each other, in front of those who know you best?

The story alternates between chapters called “HAPPY PLACE” (the Past) and “REAL LIFE” (the Present) until the two narratives merge (or is that, COLLIDE?)

The “Happy Place” chapters give us an intimate front row seat into the rise and fall of Harri and Wyn’s romance, and the “Real Life” chapters allow us to personally get to know all of their unique and wonderful friends who have all arrived with secrets of their own, as they party for one last JOYOUS Summer together in Maine.

Could their “happy place” be a new beginning for “happily ever after”?

Of course, the always reliable Emily Henry has delivered to us yet another perfect beach bag read, just in time for our Summer. That is, IF you can wait that long!! 😉

Expected publication date: April 25, 2023. Pre-order now.

Thank You to Berkley for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Emily Henry's best yet, Happy Place is a coming of age novel for adults who still haven't figured it out. We have the most relatable narrator in Harriet and the sweetest love interest in Wyn. The friend group is so well-balanced and real. I especially loved the character of Cleo and her struggles in feeling like her friend group didn't like her anymore when she stopped drinking, a problem that I and other people in their late 20s/30s have. I loved the message of the book and all the love–familial, friendship, romantic. It was just perfect.

EMILY HENRY DOES IT AGAIN AND GIVES US ANOTHER COMING-OF-AGE MASTERPIECE!!! The love, the passion, the pining... I couldn't let this book go. At the top of the book, Henry introduces us to Harry and Wyn who have so much chemistry and clearly a deep history but for some reason they are not together. On our quest to find out what happened to them and how they'll find their way back to each other in a beautiful town in Maine, Emily Henry killed me over and over again to finally resurrect me.

Book Lovers, who? This one is my new favorite Emily Henry book. ❤️

6 friends, a Maine cottage right on the coast, an annual weeklong vacation. Sounds completely cliche, right? Maybe, but there’s a reason why we watch those types of movies over and over. I’ve seen this movie before but I can’t stop watching it.

The friendships in this book make you long to be a part of their group. For me, the heart of this story is Harriet, Sabrina and Cleo. 💕 The scenes with those three are just so beautiful and touching. I confess that I cried like an idiot and was just glad no one was around to see. ☺️ Harriet’s relationships with her sister and parents are so relatable! The couple of steamy scenes were a bit eye rolling and I’m not sure why they were included but maybe others will enjoy them. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Can I just stay in Murder She Read, sipping tea? I don’t want to leave. I gobbled up the first 90% of the book in 24 hours. But I didn’t want to leave their world, so I slowly spread the ending chapters over a few days.

I have to admit feeling a bit embarrassed at how much I loved it. My librarian colleagues will razz me relentlessly, but I really needed this book at this moment in my life.

This one comes out in April so pre-order it now!

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

I've read this book three times in the last two weeks. I'm a big Emily Henry fan, and I was not let down. I think what worked best for me were the two main characters, Harriet and Wyn. I felt such a strong connection to them, both as individuals and as a couple. I could really feel how much they cared for each other; their relationship felt so real and that made me root from them so much harder. I think the balance between Harriet's relationship with Wyn and with her other friends was well done, too. I'm looking forward to getting a physical copy of it in May - I'll probably read it another three times then, too!

No one is writing about lovers, friends, and family with as much intelligence and heart as Emily Henry. I can't believe her work just keeps getting better.

I could not put this book down! I admit I figured out what would probably happen in the end( well I hoped), but it kept me reading. Emily has a style that draws the reader in.

Welp, I'm simply weeping right now, but that's par for the course with an Emily Henry book.

Regardless of the romance unfolding in any of Henry's novels, I'm always stunned by the beauty of her writing. As a fellow writer, I know how hard it is to create sentences that flow so easily and make the tiniest details fall into place so flawlessly. She really has a gift, and I love her work simply for the craft of it. I'm always in awe.

If Book Lovers reads almost like a follow-up story in tone and setup to Beach Read, I'd say Happy Place reminds me a lot of People We Meet on Vacation. There's a much more melancholy core to it, and it really hammers home the idea that the romance isn't necessarily the point; it's about who we have to become individually and internally to truly feel deserving of love and able to seize it when it comes to us.

In complete frankness, I'm not sure if Harriet and Wyn's love story is my favorite of Emily Henry's, but it was sweet and lovely and optimistic. There's something poignant about creating a tale that really makes you hope and yearn.

This was my least favorite of the four books I’ve read by Emily Henry. Maybe it was that the tone felt so forced or that I didn’t actually like any of the characters. Either way, I finished it and I’m glad I did, but I was underwhelmed.

ARC provided by NetGalley.
Absolutely fucking OBSESSED with this book. It is my first Emily Henry book and it will not be my last. I am just sitting in my local coffee shop trying not to SOB as I finish this heart warming story. This story is just so real that it makes my heart ache and as low key horrified with the similarities I see between Harriet’s parents and my own…it feels like a relief. I’m just KEOGJSKROOQQA there’s so many good things about this book.
The friendship, the love, the laughter, the sobs and those freaking lobster rolls sound amazing. I am always amazed when authors can make such authentic, hilarious characters. Situations that have my cackling out loud and wishing I was as witty as them. A story that makes me want to hold all my friends so much closer, to tell them I love them. And it’s so relieving…to see that you can change and those who love you will accept that. And it was wild seeing the similarities between me and Sab - eep (don’t worry I’m not THAT much like her…😅). Anyway I absolutely adore this novel and if anyone is interested in a heart wrenching, heartwarming, laugh out loud and shake the book in the air read…this is it!

Anything Emily Henry writes I'll read. While this book didn't seem like a traditional romance reads it feels very current and very relevant in the current work/education culture. I loved everything about this book and will recommend it to others.

Emily Henry fans will be delighted with this book. While there is a second chance romance featured, the overall story is more of an ensemble affair. A group of people who have been friends since college get together for one last time at the Maine cottage where they take their annual summer vacation. Everyone is hiding a secret in the face of being "happy" for the last memories of this cottage. The book already reads like a movie script with pithy quips and a friendship focus.

This is not my favorite of Henry's books - romance was a bit lackluster as it took a back seat to friendship drama and I felt was unnecessarily angsty. I'll still be happy to sell and recommend. Can't wait to see it on a big screen!

Emily Henry does it again! What a delightful book and an excellent follow to Book Lovers, which I still think is Henry's best work. She is a master at character development and really makes the pages come alive in Happy Place. I loved the relationship dynamics between all of the characters and felt like this was her most relatable book in terms of placing yourself in the story. I love everything Henry does, and Happy Place just reaffirmed my love for her works.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of Happy Place.

I discovered Emily Henry's novels last year and devoured all three as fast as I could, so when I saw that she had another book coming out, I couldn't wait to read it. I started 2023 with Happy Place and it was the perfect book to begin the new year.

Lifelong friends since college on an annual trip to their Happy Place, we see the 6 friends dealing with all that comes with being in your 30s. Doubt, fear, change, growing apart, feeling lost and alone. This book resonated with me on so many levels. It also made me cry several times and I still haven't forgiven her for breaking me. Henry did an amazing job of creating realistic dialogue that really made you believe these 6 friends had been through so much together- it made me miss my college friends.

I'm not normally a romcom fan but I love Henry's books- I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance but also- this book is about so much more than that. This book is about friendship and finding yourself when you are feeling lost or uninspired, which I think resonates with a lot of us after the past few years.

Emily Henry remains the gold standard and continues to surprise. A second chance romance. Ensemble cast of long time friends from college. A main character who struggles with avoidance, but finds courage. The most hard won happily ever after in the Henry-verse. The most I’ve ever cried in any of her books. A must read. A love letter to long time love whether it be romantic or friendship.

This has been my FAVORITE of her adult romance books yet, and here are some key features that I loved:

👯‍♀️ a fabulous friend group with depth- each friend feeling so individual & human
🦞 the Maine setting!
❤️‍🩹 a second chance romance with a past that made you break for the characters and root for them at the same time
⏰ dual timeline
✍🏼 Henry’s best writing yet in my personal opinion. I highlighted so much. It was rich, relatable, funny, and propulsive.

5/5!

This book has a variety of emotions throughout for me. It goes through a back and forth timeline and shows the different stages of relationships that the main character (Harriet) has gone through. She's a very likable and has a lot of depth throughout the book. The friendships and relationships forged through this timeline was enjoyable, laughable, and sometimes heartbreaking. There were some things I really didn't care for throughout the book, but then there were heart wrenching times that just really caught me off guard. You loved some of the characters in different ways, and it was fun to see the different friendships grow or be forced to grow in different ways. This wasn't a favorite, but it was a book that I enjoyed and the story left it's mark. I enjoyed the friendships, and how they fought for them, I liked the growth the characters had, and the back and forth through time was interesting and liked how the characters changed over time too. The cover art makes it seem like a much lighter read than it was for me. Overall a nice read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!