Emily Henry has a way of writing stories that make you feel. They’re electric with banter and full of so much emotion. Harriet and Wyn’s romance feels real—it’s not perfect in the slightest and that’s what makes it even better. Some romance books suck you in for the fantasy of it all, but Emily Henry’s books make you believe in love that’s messy and imperfect but all the better for it.

I’m going to be thinking about this book for a very, very long time.

4.5 stars!!

This book was messy, but in a good way? I hope that makes sense, but this is the first Emily Henry book that has made me cry while reading. I finished the book 2 minutes ago and I already want to reread it again. If I could I would give this book to so many people.

Full review to come closer to release date.

Happy Place is another wonderful book gifted to the world by Emily Henry. Although it is a fun and easy romantic read packed with intense sexual tension, it also has compelling and complex characters with real depth. I like romantic reads that have strong character development and that dive into real life issues.

Thank you Emily Henry for another great book, and thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#HappyPlace #NetGalley

This is by far my favourite Emily Henry book, and one of the best romances I’ve ever read. I’m a sucker for second chance romances, and Henry executed it PERFECTLY. The past and present timelines make it so you fall hard for Harriett and Wyn, and their precious and magical friend group. There’s so much heartache here, but it’s also about growing up, growing apart, navigating changing best friendships, being true to yourself and what makes you happy, and so much forgiveness and laughter. I adored every second of this novel.

Thanks to Berkeley and NetGalley for letting me read an advanced copy of this book!

I usually do not love second chance romances and actively actually avoid them. However, Emily Henry does write beautiful romance books that always dance the perfect balance between fun and cute, and deep and personal. This novel was no different. Henry did a wonderful job with this book and I think if I actively liked second chance romances it would be a five stars for me, but because they just tend not to be my favourite, I have to put it at four stars. That being said, I did absolutely adore my time with this book. Each character felt real, fleshed out, and with their own unique backstories which made me connect to the story even more. I loved how she slowly developed characters instead of expecting us to love them off the bat, she introduced us to them, let us get to know them, and before long I was in love. Harriet and Wyn? Absolutely adorable and such wonderfully built characters.

I will say, a criticism I have for a lot of romance books recently, is the need to market them with popular social media tropes. I think this has always been slightly a thing, but I feel more and more novels are built around popular tropes from social media instead of plots. I think Emily Henry did a great job of this one, as it felt entirely unique, I am just worried about novels getting repetitive (again, Emily Henry did avoid this in this novel, but this was a worry going into it).

Harriet and Wyn have just broken off their engagement. But neither have told their tight-knit friend group. When they find themselves on their traditional friend vacation, the two pretend to still be together in hopes of keeping the peace for everyone else. But there is still lingering feelings and unresolved issues that the couple and their friends need to work out.

Henry takes a romance trope that could easily turn to zaniness and infuses it with feeling while grounding it in reality. You feel the love of the friends. The love, lust, want, need between Harriet and Wyn is palpable. And the banter is top notch as always. This is what I want in a romance.

Other than quality romance, Henry also confronts many a 30-somethings’ issues, concerns, and challenges. At the heart of this one is how do friendships survive as you grow up? How do you change with other people? Henry speaks to the angst and worry of that period in life as you change from a single 20-something adult into a 30-something adult settling into a relationship, starting a career, and beginning your life. Henry is so popular because her books are so real and touch that nerve that is so universal.

*reviewed from a DRC from netgalley*

Happy Place takes you through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Harriet is a loveable narrator who is both funny and wise. She and Wyn muck through a week long vacation planned by their friends posing as a happy couple. A tale of romance and friendships that will make you laugh and cry.

A moving novel of growing up and the changing nature of friendships. Each character in Happy Place is drawn with such care and attention to detail. Readers will fall in love with the main characters, Harriet and Wyn, but will be equally invested in happy endings for their friends, Sabrina, Parth, Cleo, and Kimmy. Emily Henry excels at making readers feel deeply for characters.

Reuniting with her college best friends in Maine each year is Harriet's happy place; far away from the hospital where she's a surgical resident and the stress of trying to live up to her parents' expectations. This year though her happiness is short lived when she arrives at the house to find Wyn, her ex-fiance who broke her heart 5 months prior. The catch is that neither have told their group of friends they broke up and with the announcement of both the house being put up for sale and a surprise wedding, they know they have to keep up appearances for one last time. Certainly they can fake being in love for 1 week for the sake of their best friends, right?

Emily Henry is magic; as someone who does not usually gravitate towards romance I will make sure to promptly read anything that Henry writes. Happy Place is one of my favorites of hers as the angst of the will they/won't they between Harriet and Wyn is just so good. I have read her being described as cinematic and honestly am surprised we have not gotten a slew of her books in movie form yet becaues it is spot on. Her characters do feel like movie versions of real people, in a good way. They make you fall in love with them and all their quirkiness and sparkle, while still being grounded in reality.

My only critique would be that the secondary characters do not all feel complete. Sabrina, wealthy daughter of the house's owner, and her fiance are a little too shiny and don't truly feel like real people until the very end of the book. Kimmy, the girlfriend of the third college roommate, does not seem to have much of a personality beyond being the "fun one". These characters are all part of the backdrop though to Harriet and Wyn, so it takes away little from the actual book.

Henry once again takes a romance trope and makes it feel fresh, creating characters you'll fall in love with and a story you don't want to put down.

Emily Henry knows how to move my heart! The friendships, the pain of loving so hard, grief and loneliness, the New England backdrop! She makes it look so flawless in building such real characters that feel like old friends you’re having a new refreshing adventure with! And the little Easter eggs into her very own literary universe is a sneaky little cherry on top!

My gosh, this was such a beautiful read. Emily Henry has quickly become one of my favorite authors! I adore a good second chance love story and this one really filled my heart. I loved how understanding and emotionally intelligent all of the characters were. I felt genuinely involved with each character's storyline and connected so much with the book.

Love Emily Henry. This one had a slower build, more tension, overall not as much romance but five stars all the same.

Another wonderful romance read from Emily Henry. I own and love Emily Henry’s other works, so I was extremely excited to get an arc of Happy Place.

This was a second-chance romance and personally, I loved the characters. They felt very real and relatable to me. I am an undergrad but these characters were mostly in graduate school and revisiting a place they grew up in for one of their friends wedding before the place is sold.

The relationship between Wyn and Harriet (being the star of the show) was a very nice one. I think the occupation of Harriet being a surgeon in residency is a little overdone in fiction but nonetheless, it was done in a good manner. The other characters were hard for me to distinguish at first, but as the novel continued, they became more “human-like.”

Overall, this was wonderful! Just as good as Emily’s other books!

Another absolutely phenomenal book by Emily Henry! I loved this book so much, I would even venture to say it may be my favorite by her so far, which is saying a lot because I have also really loved all of her others. I really enjoyed that the relationship between the friends was a big part of this book and that it meant so much to them. Emily Henry always writes such charming characters and this entire friend group is no exception.

Tysm to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the #gifted copy of @emilyhenrywrites newest book! I had no chill and needed to start it immediately!

In case you’re new here, I’m a HUGE Emily Henry fan! She is one of my favorite authors, and pretty much anything she writes is going to be a hit with me.

No surprise here, I LOVED this! It’s my new favorite by her and one of my favorite books I’ve read this year!

This is my seventh book by her (I have one more YA book, The Love That Split the World), and this by far is her best work to date in my opinion. It almost felt mature while remaining light and funny and still handling some heavier topics alongside the romance.

It has nostalgia, a fake engagement, second-chance romance, top-tier banter, dual timeline, and just all the warm and fuzzies a EH novel leaves me.

The friend group was everything! I fell in love with them immediately, and especially loved the female friendships between Harry, Cleo, and Sabrina.

The romance had the tension and honestly everything that makes a romance perfect for me.

Second chance romance fans run and preorder this one, because you’re not going to want to miss it!

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Harriet and Wyn have been together for a long time but recently ended their engagement. They haven't told their college best friends and try to hid it during their annual group vacation.

I am tired of the let's pretend we are dating while secretly falling in love genre but I did enjoy Happy Place. Great group of characters/friends. This is a wonderful book and much more than a light romance. Highly recommend.

There’s a reason why Emily Henry’s books have the highest request in the romance genre of my library. Because of masterpieces like Happy Place.
Yes, this is a story about a romance, but it’s also a story about female friendship and the struggles of maintaining it as we grow older. Something I know a lot of us can relate to. Not to mention the portrayal of found families in Happy Place is tied to the turbulent relationship between Harriet and Wyn for me.

There’s more to say about this book, but I think readers need to experience without knowing too much instead I will leave it you with this -
I read that Emily Henry strongly relates the song Maroon by Taylor Swift to Harriet and Wyn’s relationship. As a casual Taylor fan I haven’t heard of it before, so I immediately went to listen to it. One lyric stood out in particular

“The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones.
The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon.”
If this song doesn’t flawlessly describe their relationship I don’t know what will.

Emily Henry has done it again - she’s delivered one of those hit you in the feels, haunting your thoughts (in a good way) novels I’ve come to love from her. Her books a fall into what I consider the romantic drama category, and read like the equivalent of one of my much loved Taylor Swift album listens. In fact, I couldn’t help but picture this book as I was reading and it definitely brought to mind some Taylor songs for the background soundtrack (the moody track Happiness for one).

Back to the book - I loved the premise and it delivered more than I was anticipating even. Second Chance Romance, a Maine vacation getaway, reunion of old friends, found family… I felt like I was there from the descriptions and I loved the banter and connections between the characters. I really enjoyed the glimpses into the past as well. I love when a book can drive both a strong romance and have an equal focus on non romantic aspects (friendship, careers, hopes).

I found each character interesting and I wanted to know more about them. I started the book on a busy holiday, thinking I’d read one chapter - but I was so caught up I found myself finding time to sneak in more and more and finished it that same day.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Romance for the chance to read an early copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered freely.

Harriet and Wyn broke off their engagement but their tight knit friend group don’t know. They are brought together for one last week in their favorite vacation spot, but will they be able to fool their friends long enough so they don’t ruin their last perfect week? Or will unresolved feelings make their way to the surface and complicate an already complicated situation.

Emily Henry has the very unique talent of finding specific relatable moments and putting them to the page for all to process (even if it’s something you didn’t plan on processing). The way she captures relationships and friendships is so real and comforting. I enjoyed how she displayed all the relationships and how over time they change. I enjoyed the tension between Harriet and Wyn and I loved seeing how they were able to come back together. And of course the witty banter was back and top notch. Emily Henry fans (and romance fans) will not be disappointed as this is another solid book from who I would call the leading lady in romance.

Oh my feels.

True to my usual response to Emily Henry books, this one enraptured me from the onset. There's just something about the way she tells stories. Beautiful prose, the extra 'it' factor that makes her characters feel like someone you would meet tomorrow, the way she escalates and holds onto tension---gah. Masterclass in romantic storytelling.

This one held up. I was so into Harriet and Wyn from the onset, dying to know what tore them apart, how they felt now, etc. And it was the perfect set up: being forced to play like you're still engaged as not to upset your friends --- in the cabin where you fell in love.

Usually, romance novels that center around friendships alongside a main romance tend to lose me (I have a hard time keeping track with the characters and I don't usually have a reason to care). But this one - oof I was feeling every character. I felt the friendships deeply, and it somehow enhanced the romantic storyline as well.

All in all, this one was a total WYN (lol see what I did there) for me. I'd read it again. I probably will. If you liked The People We Meet on Vacation, this one is for you (and don't worry, it feels totally different and unique).