This is my third Emily Henry and it is my favourite by a mile.

I loved this story so much, from the found family to the love story to finding and understanding oneself. Henry’s writing remains as charming as ever, if not more so than I’ve read so far.

At first, I didn’t really know why I was so invested in this story, until, close to the end, I realised how much Harriet resonates with me. I have never read a character who, on a deeper level, I can quietly whisper to “You’re like me”. I can’t really say more than that because the things I recognised about myself in Harriet are not things I talk about or admit for the most part - thus the reason why I bursted into tears at one point.

I will cherish this little book for a long time.

I think this book will sell well, given the success of Emily Henry's previous success.

For me personally this was a miss. The plot felt a bit weak, the intention was for these friends who had recently broken up to go on a trip with their friends and essentially have a "fake romance" storyline as they dealt with also getting over their previous romance that had just ended.

My biggest issue with the book was the secondary characters were weak to the point of non-existent. None of them stood out as memorable, I actually can't recall any of their names writing this.

The primary characters, although memorable and well written, didn't make up for the mess of their romance plot. They still loved each other even though they had just broken up and they just hadn't communicated well with each other, any book that relies on miscommunication as a driver for the plot is a miss for me

I will likely read Emily Henry in the future, I think this book wasn't for me

3.5 ☆

This is quite a difficult book to review for me. On the one hand, there was plenty that I liked about it, but on the other it didn't really work for me?

I liked the fake dating, gorced proximity, he falls first, and lovers to enemies to lovers aspects; I found the whole friendship group a bit baffling, but maybe that's on me because I don't have that sort of friendship circle myself. Very codependant anyways. Not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope, at all - so that did fall flat for me. And the whole group were lying or hiding things from each other, and themselves, which drove me insane! Doesn't seem very friendly, is all I'm saying.

I'd still recommend it to others to read, but I wouldn't read it again myself.

✑ HAPPY PLACE, by Emily Henry
rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ stars (5) obsessed!
love for EH’s books: entered a whole new level

Happy Place was one of my most expected releases of 2023, and could not have been better. Emily Henry’s new release has effortlessly topped Book Lovers for me (which I still adore) and made itself a home in my heart.

I easily loved the book's plot just by the summary: a group of friends, found family, one last trip together to their happy place, while also having a second-chance romance with two characters you can’t help but love. I could not have feared getting high expectations about it, because Henry instantly delivered. She just makes you want to be one more of that group of six right from the beginning.

I think I have already mentioned how I could see bits of myself in her other characters, I don’t think I have related to any more than I have with Harriet. In the heartache, in her fears, in her indecision. I just love how Emily Henry does not only focus on the two character’s romance but also on everything around them. What makes their love that way. What influences and shapes it.

So, I loved Harriet, and I absolutely adored Wyn. He was unlike your usual male love interest (and the fact that he isn’t JUST a male love interest), and I think I loved him more for it. For being lost, and for showing vulnerability. For loving Harriet the way he does. I simply could not get enough of him. Of them. He was also all about physical contact, and I adored it.

Harriet and Wyn’s feelings for each other surface the pages and grasp you in a way I could not have prepared myself for. It is PALPABLE how much they love each other, the longing they have for even the smallest things of the other. They made me tear up a few times throughout the book (and Wyn made me sob with his tables).

Overall, I just loved it. The setting, the bonding, the heartbreak and the healing. The love, in all shapes and ways possible. The chance of finding your happy place, or even multiple ones. Miss Emily Henry, you could not have done better. Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the chance to read this book ahead of its release. I had the absolute best time with it 💗

A rom-com told in past/present switches detailing a really long winded trip down memory lane. Sadly, it’s not my favourite Emily Henry read. I didn't connect to any characters, I found Sabrina to be particularly annoying…Parth wasn’t much better either!
An easy read but not a great read.

I love love Emily Henry's style of writng. But I must say that this one was not my favorite one, bu it is still sooo good.
This lady just knows how to write. I love the characters they are just so real.
The second chance romance is massy. It is not easy to trust someone who hurt you. And this book just describes it soo good.
For me this is a 4.5 stars read

I really love this author.

Every time I read Emily Henry, she takes me to a place I've never been before and makes me feel like I went there, came back and made a new bunch of friends who I know like the back of my hand.

Happy Place is an apt name for a book like this, as it sure does take you to one while luxuriating in it's pages. I really appreciate her plotwork and direction when she writes and the very human and flawed characters she creates - her romances feel like she's writing about actual people and I think that really resonates here once again (I felt it most when reading Book Lovers).

There's heartbreak and loss and hurt, but there is also alot of hope and humour and feeling packed in these pages that make it such a great book.

Can't wait for the next emotional rollercoaster this author takes me on, it will be one hell of a ride.

Another thoroughly enjoyable book by this very talented author. This genre is one that I’ve recently began to enjoy and is such a breath of fresh air!

Harriet is a surgical resident who spends her life working as a surgical resident. When she gathers with her college friends for one last time at a beloved family retreat, secrets and memories of the past will test her friendships and make her question her life plans.
An entertaining and easy read.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I was hooked from the beginning of this book.

I loved the characters, how good the story was written.

I highly recommend.

I can't say enough good things about Happy Place - it is an absolute delight to read! I loved Emily Henry's first three romance novels but this one blew me away and is my new favourite.

Let's start with the brilliant twist on the fake dating trope - with ex-fiances who pretend to still be together so as not to rock the boat in their friend group, on a reunion weekend in coastal Maine. It was such a refreshing take on the trope and Henry executes it flawlessly. Watching the two main characters, Harriet and Wyn navigate their past feelings and current situation is heartwarming, hilarious and entertaining. Their dynamic and their chemistry is electric! The witty banter and the way they interacted with each other felt so real and authentic, I couldn't help but root for them the entire time.

But it's not just the romantic relationship that shines in this book. The depiction of friendship and family is also top-notch. The supporting characters are all so well-written and fleshed out, I felt like I had stepped into their world and I loved it! Again, the dynamic between them all and their witty banter was so engaging, and there were many moments that were full of warmth and depth - especially with Wyn's family.

And speaking of Wyn - he is my favourite of Henry's leading men! He's charming, witty, sensitive, and just the right amount of flawed. I loved him!

Happy Place has humour and heart in abundance - Emily Henry has truly outdone herself. Five big love-filled stars.

My first foray into Emily Henry was definitely an experience! I feel so conflicted— I enjoyed this but simultaneously feel underwhelmed and unsatisfied upon finishing it.

I have to preface this and say, Henry’s writing style is beautiful. She has her own unique style and flair that I adore in an author. Too many books feel the same lately, a bit stilted and lifeless, cliche and rarely standing out from the crowd. So reading Happy Place was a sheer delight in that regard. The emotional gut punches within her prose were suffocating in the best way, I found myself being suddenly throat punched by some random, concise sentence that just encompasses so many emotions.

It was sensational.

However, the dual timelines setting of this story is what truly hindered my experience, unfortunately. It ruined the pacing and momentum— the current plot line was so angsty and painful, I was on the edge of my seat as I drowned in the lost love and despair of Wyn and Harriet. their close proximity while pining for one another was palpable to read, I was breathless and just so enamoured by the story. I was hanging on the precipice of Wyn and Harriet’s agonising dynamic, waiting for the angsty clash of wills, a collision, a revelation, an epiphany... but just as they were about to get into the gritty deep trauma of their breakup, we’d shift to the past and then never revisit that moment again.

It would all come to a screeching halt and it was a jarring shift in tone and pace, especially since the past chapters didn’t really have a lot of emotional depth. Not like the present timeline. The past just felt like filler content to divert my attention from the main event which was Wyn and Harriet’s painful purgatory in the present. I lost all semblance of interest with the past chapters— it was just a back and forth of me devouring the present chapters and sighing in defeat when we had to return to the past.

And because of this, all the revelations I was anxiously waiting for weren’t revealed until the very end and by that time, I was truly exhausted with the book. There’s very little action to push the plot forward so it relies heavily on the emotional undercurrent instead to maintain the pace. But having the jarring shift in tone from past to present meant the emotional pacing was unsatisfying because I didn’t get to truly EXPERIENCE the accumulation of emotion as because we were swiftly moving on to an alternate timeline.

And in turn, because we split our time between the past and present, the friendship connections and even the familial plot felt quite weak because they weren’t given the space to truly thrive. Same goes for Wyn and Harriet, to be honest. I felt like we only got to scratch the surface with them and it feels like an injustice to their beautiful relationship. The story feels half-finished, I don’t feel like I KNOW these characters despite Henry’s attempts of making this a “deep” and complex read.

So, while I enjoyed half of the story, the other half let the better half down. But it hasn’t deterred me from wanting to read more EH! Book Lovers calls to me the most for my next EH read. Can’t wait!

Happy Place is a heart wrenching and beautiful story about different kinds of love.

I’ve only read one other book by Emily Henry - Book Lovers - so that’s kinda what I expected of Happy Place as well. And although it did have similar (funny) banter and had the same predictability most romantic books have (I mean, they always end up together), this one felt different from most rom-coms.

I’m even a bit hesitant to call it a rom-com. The book has a bit of a melancholic feeling to it. At certain points it completely wrecked me, more so than any other dramatic piece of writing has ever done.

Which is also why I absolutely loved Happy Place. The dynamics between characters is beautiful. You can easily feel how much they all love each other (different kinds of love - romantic love, that between friends, found family, etc), which makes all the hurdles and problems between them even more heart wrenching.

Happy Place made me properly cry, which isn’t something I can say about a lot of books. Harriet and Wyn’s story, their feelings, personal and relational struggles, and how they find their way back to each other - it all felt very real to me. Which is the strength of Happy Place.

It isn’t your typical rom-com, but I can recommend Happy Place all the more for it.

I was looking forward to reading this book as I have read all of Emily Henry's previous books and really enjoyed them.

Although there were enjoyable aspects, I didn't find myself quite as drawn into this story as I have previously been, although still a decent read.

The ending is fairly predictable but I also enjoyed the exploration and dynamics of the different friendship groups.

Perfection. This felt like a love child of all three previous EH books - it has a little of everything. I loved it.

The consistency of Emily Henry is truly remarkable, every book establishes a cast of characters that feel real and fresh and then sends you on a journey with them! I really enjoyed the reflections on their relationship, as well as the different types of relationships within the group. Henry does an amazing job with justifying the premise and making the story feel grounded and romantic.

Headlines:
Angsty tension
Everything isn't fine
People pleasing

I really like what Emily Henry did with this novel, we started with the difficult and pretty much stayed there for a lot of the book. This was one hell of an angsty read, the type where you close the book to breathe a bit and then get the courage to open it again.

The story immersed the reader in found family but that family was hitting the dysfunctional buttons pretty hard for all sorts of reasons. I feel like this bunch of friends had grown and changed but they felt the need to pretend they were still as they were a decade ago. Sabrina was a tough one to like but the others were easier to bond with.

The MCs Harriet and Wyn were truly likeable but fathoming what the heck was going on with these two was difficult. I could figuratively feel the unease in Harriet about a bunch of things, Wyn included. There was a bucket load of baggage from family, childhood and pressurised expectations. Harriet was all about the people pleasing but she lacked insight into herself.

I devoured this book over two days and there was so much substance to pick over. I love that Emily Henry doesn't write to a personal formula. This offering felt quite different to her other romances but equally as great. Don't expect ease and laughter, brace for tension and angst. Highly recommended.

"Love means constantly saying you're sorry, and then doing better."

Thank you to Viking Books for the review copy.

Emily Henry's books are the epitome of comfort. She really knows how to navigate tropes and cliches from the romance genre and make it her own. If you're a fan of her other works, you're going to love this.

“Part of me wants to pretend I have you, but another part thinks I’ll die if you don’t tell me you love me, even if it doesn’t change anything. Even if it’s just getting to hear it one more time.”

Emily Henry has done it again! Another 5-star read from this wonderfully talented author. Wyn, Harriet, and their friends completely stole our hearts in a story of love, loss, friendship, grief, and growing up as we join them for a last hoorah spending a week in their favourite holiday house before it’s sold. Knotts Harbor, Maine holds so many happy memories for these friends, however, as the week wears on they’re forced to confront the realisation of change, adulthood, and the responsibilities of life. This is especially the case for Wyn and Harriet and their relationship.

“It’s killing me hearing how happy you are, without even understanding how I – how I –“My voice quavers, my breath coming in spurts. “I don’t know what I did to make you so miserable.”

Although Happy Place is a little heavier, more ‘sadder’ than her previous books, there’s one thing this author is particularly good at, and that is knowing precisely when to inject humour into a moment, to turn the heaviness and hurt into a smile. And she did just that with Happy Place.

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

Wynn Connor (be still our beating hearts!) and Harriet Kilpatrick are the perfect couple. The ‘it’ couple who would weather any storm and be together forever…until they weren’t. After ending their near-decade relationship some six months earlier, to appease their friends, who are in the dark about their breakup, they agree to ‘fake their relationship; whilst meeting up for one week as their last hoorah at their favourite group holiday spot, to pretend they are still as happy as ever.

“Maybe I need to know that he remembers that he hasn’t totally forgotten what it felt like to love me.”

Easy, right? Wrong! With wounds unhealed, pretending everything is hunky dory proves extremely difficult and painful. But they soldier on for their friends, whilst giving their hearts a right battering. We could FEEL the pain, the loss, and the hurt between Wyn and Harriet and it killed us! However, despite the anger, resentment, and pain, one thing was paramount and that was the love between these two! Wow! It was so powerful; their love was almost a character all on its own.

“You can trust me, Harriet.” In that moment, he pierces a little deeper into my heart, opens another door, and finds an entire walled-off room I didn’t realise was there.’

Told in past/present switches in Harriet’s POV, we revelled in the beauty of their formidable love, whilst feeling the incredible pain of their months apart, as we slowly pieced together the moments that led to Wyn calling an end to their unbreakable bond. We’re not giving anything else away because the little pieces must be played out as they lead you to the highly emotive end.

‘Maybe that was part of the anger that burned in me too: disappointment that I hadn’t loved him well enough to make him happy, nor well enough to let him go.’

The love that emanated from the pages between Wyn and Harriet is palpable! We couldn’t help wondering what it was that broke them up. The build-up to the end was a slow beautiful burn, with the ending making all the heartache Henry put us through so rewarding, as she pulled this story together. The heart-warming stories, witty sense of humour, beautiful romance, and wonderful characters win us over time and time again. And a special THANK YOU for giving us, Wyn Connor!

I’m really pleased I got to read this, it was an absolute pleasure to read this book. Pretty sure I’ve recommended it to anyone that would listen!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.