This book is going to be the death of all of the Emily Henry girlies. I'm not sure what kind of drug Henry injects into her books, but she upped the ante on this one.

I will say, I've read two of Henry's previous books and liked them. But I <i>loved</i> this one. Maybe its the time of year that I read this (the abyss between Christmas and New Years) or maybe it just spoke to something in my soul, but I haven't cried while reading a book in a long time. And there were several separate points that I cried while reading this.

What makes this book, dare I say, BETTER, than the previous books I've read, is that while, yes it is a love story between Harriet and her ex-fiance, Wyn, its also a love story between friends. And Henry really places a premium on that kind of familial love in this novel. There's no real conceit here, except for a little bit of "fake dating" in order to get through a vacation without their friends knowing they've broken up. There's no enemies to lovers or opposites attract. The love story has already happened, and through this week of vacation, and a brilliantly laid out plot device, learning how we got here.

Again, the love here isn't just romantic. I'd argue that this book is on the less spicy side than what Henry has written in the past. The love here is between this core group of friends. Its about understanding that people grow up and change, but that doesn't mean you're losing them. Its about understanding that YOU deserve to be happy, simply because something makes you happy.

There is a lot of ancillary stories in this book about examples of love, of examples of working relationships, how we're taught how to love and fight and forgive from the people who raised us. And that those examples are not always the best examples, or the healthiest. And that's okay. This book poses the question of what if you take those experiences and learn from them and then forge your own path with the knowledge you've gained from the folks that went before?

I think readers will see a lot of themselves in this book, probably pieces in each of the characters, in many of the situations. Its a book that also creates a very nostalgic feel since part of how we meet and get to know our core characters is through the forced intimacy of college. but its a nice pain, that nostalgia.

I read Book Lovers earlier this year and quite liked it. I ready Beach Read last year and laughed and cried my way through it (though not like with this book) and both I would relegate to my mental shelf of easy breezy beach reads. But this book hits something different. Its still a breeze to read, but it hits something a little deeper. And I wouldnt' read it in public because you never know when the tears are just going to start falling. Seriously.

I love all of Emily Henry's books, I never delved into the Rom Com genre of books before Beach Read, since I read Beach Read I've read all of Emily Henry's forthcoming books as well as a smattering of other Rom Coms. Nothing has ever come close to the enjoyment of an Emily Henry novel. Happy Place is no exception although it gave a few surprises that were very welcome.

Happy Place is first and foremost about growing up, it really resonated for me and my experiences between late 20's and early 30's. When your career is growing, relationships are changing, and you have to do a lot of self-discovery to understand where you fit into your life and the people who are important to you. Do you abandon relationships that feel like they have changed and cling to nostalgia, or do you accept change and hold love for the old and the new?

The rom-com trope is exes getting back together, I've found that I prefer the trope of enemies to lovers or at least new/fresh relationships, or some kind of gameplay. The story of Wyn and our main protagonist Harriet was good, I got the game-play aspect but the best part of this whole book was the relationships between long-time friends and the dynamics between family members. I related to Harriet so much it was uncanny when she talked about her family, how she seeks validation through education/career success, and her kind of anxious/avoidant attachment style. I think MANY millennials will connect to Harriet, the book was therapeutic in that I have never read a character that was so similar to how I am and how I am processing the many relationships in my own life. (Also, I don't like getting touched by strangers either even though a massage would probably help with a lot of tension! lol). Within her family and friend group - nothing very dramatic happened but the description of perceptions of expectations and how much that can interfere with relationships was dead on and so realistic.

Highly recommend and I kind of love how Emily Henry seems to rotate the tropes. I wouldn't mind another enemies to lovers or similar next time!

Emily Henry can do no wrong when it comes to romance. Happy Place is a second chance romance about Wyn and Harriet who broke off their engagement five months ago but are forced to pretend they’re still together on their yearly vacation to Maine with friends who don’t they broke up. Emily Henry created a great cast of characters for this novel, and the balance between showing off their personalities and focusing in on just Harriet and Wyn is good. The way the chapters are written also keep readers interested; one chapter will occur in the present while the next switches to Harriet’s past “happy places.” This was a great read that readers won’t want to put down, but they’ll also want more when it’s over. Fans of Emily Henry should absolutely read this one, and fans of character- driven family drama should also read this one. This book is so much more than a romance; it’s about friendship, family, fun, and what it means to truly be happy.

This is my first read by this author and I was not disappointed. Her voice is very unique for a romance. The chemistry and relationship was very believable and there wasn’t ever this feeling of “forced drama” as often happens in romance. I did enjoy this book a lot

Emily Henry has become one of my favorite writers of all time. I just can't put down her books, and am devastated when I finish them. Each one is such a new take on romance, with just enough drama and emotion to make them so heartfelt and relatable. Happy Place was just a gem of a book. Henry knocks it out of the park once again.

as someone who finds i difficult to enjoy contemporary romance books this book blew away my expectations. i don’t know why it’s taken me so long to get on the emily henry train but if this book is like any of her others than i’m very excited to read the rest. emily was able to incorporate so many different kinds of relationships while crafting a story that made me both laugh and cry, but the friendships at the heart of the story were what made the book for me.
thank you berkley and netgalley for the arc!!

This is my first time reading any work by Emily Henry! AND I AM IN LOVE!
normally I don’t read a lot of romance because of the lack of trope but boy this book just made me feel so many million things through out. I wanted to keep dragging the read because I didn’t want it to end!
My heart was full reading the whole friendship dynamic between the group and how everything was changing as they became older! As someone who’s more on the lonely side while being in college my eyes were sweaty most of the time because it was so well written! I’d probably sell my left kidney for my own Sab and Cleo!
And most of all I tend to dislike most female main characters but Harriet just hit the spot. She was not the most perfect but her flaws made me sad and understanding rather than finding her annoying!(which I most do almost all the time) just got to give to Emily Henry writing the relationship dynamics of a couple who starts dating so young and go through all life changes so realistically because most of the moments of Harry and Wyn, I’ve been there and done that, word by word!
I think I can keep going on and on but overall I absolutely loved this and I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of her books and also staff pick this as soon as it gets released in my Indigo store!!
4.5 stars all the way!!
And thank you netgalley for providing me this amazing ARC!

Love this author. It took a while for me to get into this one, but I'll chalk that up to the holiday distraction. The characters are well drawn. The relationship between the main female and male protagonists is real and believable. The male protagonist came off as a little insecure, but the mental health reveal helped explain that to some extent. I didn't love this one like Book Lovers, but it's a strong title. Library patrons are going to like this one.

I have a bold claim. Happy Place has moved into first place on my official Emily Henry ranking. WOW!

Happy Place follows Harriet and her 5 closest friends in a dual timeline through college and early adulthood. The way they navigate these relationships as their lives ebb and flow was so deeply relatable. The bonds of friendship you form in college is unlike any thing else. Harry and her friend turned lover Wyn soon find that the real world isn't the happy place they began their relationship all those years ago.

While there is absolutely a central love story I would never classify this as a 'romance'. It's so much more. The evolution of the friendship between the three girls as they grow up is so beautiful. I think we all have those friends who defy the label of friend to become more. A sister. A limb. A lifeline.

I also really connected to Harriet's internal struggle over her career. Her academic drive that got her through college and then left her feeling lost once she left those hallowed halls is something I see time and time again amongst the most gifted and focused students. Myself included!

Even if you haven't historically been an Emily Henry fan this book might change your mind. It's for sure her most emotional book that she's ever put out. When I say I started tearing up at 6% in I'm not being hyperbolic. Have some tissues on hand!

I didn't find this story to be a particularly Happy Place. There were too many anxious characters with too many issues and I had a hard time liking any of them. I struggled with sticking with this book but I did finish it and the ending was somewhat satisfying. I usually like Emily Henry stories (Book Lovers was fantastic) but I just couldn't really appreciate this one. Thank you Net Galley for letting me review this book.

Another delightful read by Emily Henry! As always, it was a compelling romance with lots of drama. I love how Emily Henry will slowly reveal crucial information in her works. For example, in this one, you had to keep reading to discover the origin of the relationship, why they broke up, and what the other couples are hiding. Just like her other books that I have read, it was a fun read.

I don’t know how she does it, (when every book she writes is perfection) but Emily Henry has outdone herself again!! I loved this book. Happy Place is deeply romantic, witty as hell, and full of the best relationship/character develop in this amazing group of friends. I usually shy away from “second chance” romances because I hate seeing what went wrong in a relationship, and yet, Emily Henry develops so much nuance and truth within this storyline that you feel cared for every step of the way. And when you take all of this and set it in Maine? That’s pure storytelling perfection!

I read this book in one sitting and already want to go back and read it again. Somehow Emily Henry always manages to write my favorite book of the year, and I’m so grateful for it!

3.5 stars
Look, for a multitude of my own reasons, this book was just not my cup of tea. I don’t think my review would be fair because it really is a beautifully written book. We all have our hang-ups and I guess this one touched on some of mine.

Enjoyed this rom-com. Had a lot of the clever banter we love from Henry, as well as a bit deeper exploration of what it means to commit to someone, the challenges of finding ourselves and what we truly want, and changing as we grow.

I wasn’t expecting to like this because books about broken up couples lack the same spark as books about people who become them. However, I started to get into it around chapter 3 or 4, and I had to admit it was more interesting than most rom-coms, mostly because it wasn’t funny - these people had real problems, which elevated it. Not that I’m planning on giving this an award; the grammar was awkward and there was a lot of whitewashing going on. I didn’t even realize two of the characters weren’t white until like chapter 35, and that’s only because I finally took a good look at the cover (this was digital). I’ve often said people of color need to be seen living ordinary lives in order to be put on an equal creative playing field with white people. However, that does not mean that every ounce of context and experience that goes along with being a person of color in America needs to be erased from their existences. I’ve seen this a bit in contemporary authors, particularly younger ones. It doesn’t make your book diverse to simply throw in a couple people described as nothing more than olive-skinned, or name them with a non-European name. I may catch a bunch of flack for this, because some may argue that with people like me there’s no being satisfied, but I think I can be satisfied, because I have been. Read books by people of color about people of color living ordinary lives still defined in part by their identities. They may not be overloading my personal library, but I think I know a winner when I see one. Maybe nobody’s reading this and maybe people who are wondering how I said that much and still gave it four stars. It happens.

I’ve read all of Emily Henry’s works and so of course I had high expectations going into Happy Place; this book blew all of those expectations out of the water.

Happy Place is a heartfelt, sometimes heart wrenching, novel that touches on love, loss, friendship, found family, generational trauma, and ultimately healing. It’s funny, witty, and so unexpectedly wise. I found myself laughing with the gang and feeling like they’re my friends too. I fell in love with Wyn and his family. The cozy settings began to feel like home to me. This novel felt carefully written and masterfully put together.

I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of the world to get to read this one. In the meantime make sure you pick up this author’s other novels, if you haven’t already. I’m particularly fond of Book Lovers but there are no wrong choices when it comes to Emily Henry.

Thank you to Net Galley and Berkley/Penguin Random House for choosing me for this ARC!

This was wonderfully escapist in its sense of place: in this case, a cottage on the coast of Maine. As with Emily Henry’s other novels with a clearly defined sense of place, this coastal cottage and its environs are depicted more as a Platonic ideal than realistically, but I didn’t mind. Partly because it’s a big part of the escapism of reading an Emily Henry novel, and partly because I grew up spending summers in the northernmost parts of New England myself.

This was a bit different from Emily Henry’s past romances in that the couple has already gotten together — and broken up — before the start of the book. The novel is written in two timelines: one tracking the development of Harriet and Wyn’s relationship over the course of years and one in the present day at their friend group’s last-ever week at the cottage. So it’s kind of a double romance in that you get to see Harriet and Wyn fall in love twice, working through their misunderstandings and hurt in the present timeline. As usual, though, Henry (thankfully) never lets the characters’ emotions devolve into angst. The friend group has some of their own misunderstandings and hurt to work through, too, though this is resolved much more quickly.

I was glad to see some non-white people finally make an appearance among Emily Henry’s secondary characters, and her writing was as readable as always. I am annoyed by a fairly significant plot hole, though: Harriet and Wyn haven’t spoken for months because she blocked his number… but she doesn’t have email?

Wow I am so glad I discovered Emily Henry as an author, this book had me laughing, crying and feeling like I was with friends. I can't wait to share this book with other people.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Happy Place is everything I could ever want in an second-chance romance. The tension, the longing, the *angst* UGH it was glorious. I knew Emily Henry would never let me down <3

Also, for my Swifties out there, Harriette + Wyn are such a "this is me trying" + "gold rush" duo, and if that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!

This book had me crying like *I* was the one who got broken up with by their (very hot) perfect boyfriend of eight years and had to act like "I’m fine" (when in fact I’m dying inside from the heartbreak of seeing him again). I was going to make this a concise, straight-to-the-point review but I’m experiencing too many emotions right now to not blurt them all over the place.

I haven’t been this emotionally impacted by a book in ages, there were so many gratifying themes represented that hit really deep with me. Like family relationships and how that affects you growing up. Of lifetime friends struggling to accept that things have changed between them. The fear that everyone’s going to move on, leaving you behind (REAL). The terrifying realization you wasted your life working towards a career you don’t actually want, but being too scared to admit it in case of letting others down. Realizing shoving down your feelings to protect others is only pushing them away and making them think you don’t care. That relationships fail for many reasons and not all of them are your fault, sometimes you just need to be more open with each other. The way Harriet never learned how to properly fight with someone she loved because of the way her family dealt with arguments growing up. And there’s so many more I want to mention, but I’ll refrain for the sake of spoilers <3

Basically, I cried a lot (this is a recurring theme).

Her and Wyn’s relationship throughout the book made me go from excitedly screaming + hitting my pillow in elation to bawling uncontrollably. You can tell from the first moments between them that they’re meant for each other, they’re so sweet with each other it makes my heart hurt. Not necessarily in that “honeymoon phase”, love at first sight way but in the way that only comes through loving someone for so long that their presence is automatically comforting. As they fall back into love (or “re-realize” they still love each other), they become so much more vulnerable and open. Getting to see them uncover why their break up went the way it did was healing in the most painful way (again: I shed lots of tears). But seeing them overcome it was even better, it was raw and honest and so heartwarming (the airport scene?? AHH <33).

As for the plot, I loved how seamlessly the flashbacks were intertwined with the present-day storyline. The context was provided at just the right times and the memories blended in really well. I loved how Harriette called them her “Happy Places”, I thought that was so cute and, obviously, tied into the title really well.

I also appreciated how each of their friends had a strong presence throughout the book and weren’t mildly developed, boring background characters included just for the sake of being there. They each had their own strong personalities that shone through and added so much dimension to the plot. Emily Henry really said: Oh, you feel lonely reading about my main couple? I’m going to add TWO MORE perfect side couples to make you feel even worse <3 I am going to need books on Cleo + Kimmy (sapphic couples for the win!) and Sabrina + Parth right now,

My favorite Emily Henry book to date. I related so much to Harriet. I cried so many times throughout this book, aching for her and Wyn. An absolute masterpiece.