Easiest 4 stars I've given. ❤️

I would boldly say that this is my favourite Emily Henry book. I first read "People We Meet On Vacation", then "Book Lovers" and now "Happy Place" and I've liked each one better than the last. (Which also begs the question what to do with "Beach Read", now that I have this streak going.)

"Happy Place" is a lovely book about friendship, happiness and nostalgia. The main character, Harriet, has had a group of friends since she went to university and 10 years later she still loves them deeply. The group has grown since the initial three friends and now also contains their partners, though some of those were also just friends at the beginning. The friends make an annual visit to a house on the coast of Maine where they spend their best week of the year, which is also why this is Harriet's happy place. Harriet has been with Wyn for the last 8 years and they even got engaged, however, they are no longer together, which now threatens the very existence of their group, which, in turn, is the reason Harriet and Wyn have not told anyone and must pretend to be together for 1 more week while they are in the happy place.

If you're expecting a funny romance, you'll be wrecked. The book was super emotional, it made me happy, it made me sad, it made me feel the anguish of Harriet over her broken relationship and hear fears for her relationship with her friends. There was a lot of longing, not a little bit of suspense and a lot of chemistry between Harriet and Wyn.

Honestly, up until about 80% of the book, I had no idea how the whole situation would work out and that's a testament to Emily Henry's skill in portraying difficult relationships, romantic and otherwise, because they were so well written that, as much as the "negative" potential outcome pained me to imagine, I could see how it would make sense under the described circumstances. I still rooted for my characters, but had the book ended in any other way, I would have been sad, definitely, but also, I would have respected the decision because of how realistic it might be.

If I have any issues with the book, those would be that I would have liked to get a bit more from Sabrina's perspective, because she was a main moving force in the friends group, but her actions were largely seen through the lense of her friends' opinions of her motives, and also, the ending seemed kind of abrupt and much was left to the imagination, which I would have liked to see on page.

Regardless, the book was great and, as it has not yet been published, storm the bookstores when it's out!

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! 😍

This was a wonderful, uplifting, sad and everything in between read. It made me want to look for beach houses with pools to enjoy with friends. It was a past and present timeline , expertly written and a real joy to read.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?

OK so I dont even know where to start with this book!?!??!?!
"the feeling of being so grateful to have something worth missing." I've come to expect a certain writing style from Emily Henry's contemporary romances, but this one felt different. it was less of a rom com, I LOVED IT. I didnt enjoy People We Meet On Vacation or Beach Read, yet I LOVED Booklovers, so i really didnt know what to expect from Happy Place. It gave me everything I needed from a romance book. I've never read an ex-to-lovers trope and I am a huge fan of close proximity tropes - so this was a huge hit for me!

i think this is the first romance book i read where i could palpably feel how much and how desperately they love each other—not in an angsty or sexual way, but just in how overwhelmingly they care. I have to admit this book is sexiest, steamiest novel the author has written. this is inspirational novel about self growth, friendship, growing up, changing, grief, mental illness! I returned back to read some chapters over and over again! Harriet and Wyn are up there with my favourite romance couples!

I'd rate it 4/5 - the missing point would be the miscommunication trope ... i feel like in this day and age things can be really easily sorted with communication and the fact she just blocked his number and didnt receive any of his texts is just like ???? unrealistic? but apart from that - i looooved this book!

I think this is her best yet! Emily Henry is a brilliant author and j was looking forward to this book. From the outset I was hooked. The main character is so relatable.

The book is about a group of friends having their last trip to their happy place. It is a tale of love, loss, identity, growing up, growing apart and family.

Harriet is looking forward to a trip with her friends, until she is faced with an unexpected guest!

I adored all the characters, such a mix, and I loved the realness of the book. Everyone has their own insecurities and is dealing differently with the changes in their lives and their friendships.

I love how Harriet learns to fight! I love the contrast between those characters who knew how to do this safely already and those for whom it is terrifying.

A wonderful book but boy do you have to go through an emotional rollercoaster to get to the end! Absolutely brilliant, I adored it start to finish.

Emily Henry is magic. I don't even know how to begin writing this review, as everything about this novel was exceptional.

The book is an exquisite exploration of romantic and platonic love, what it means to give and receive in return, to fight and lose. I have not read such an impactful and fulfilling novel in a while.

It has all the qualities found in a good book:
1. Diverse, fully-fleshed-out characters, with the romantic duo of Harriet and Wyn being excellent protagonists.
2. A clear and captivating exploration of human emotions, how we process things and what holds us back (I found this to be the main focus of the book, more so than the romance).
3. Great setting and plot.
4. Well-written dialogue, at times devastating, at times hilarious.

Overall, a novel that goes beyond just being a romance.

I would like to say a huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and review this book early!

My favourite part of the last few years as a bookseller has been Emily Henry’s new books. I was desperate to read this one, and I was right in assuming she will just continue to get better. This book about Harriet and Wyn, but also their closest family Sabrina, Cleo, Parth and Kimmy is incredibly special. The love is palpable and honest, and the story is wildly funny and brilliant. Emotional moments high on weed gummies on top of Ferris Wheels, outside secluded moss covered showers, and the true difficulty of loving your people from 20 to 30 years old and through all the changes and people you become. I’ll be looking forward to Henry’s new books and if she has one fan in the room that fan is me.

I adore Emily Henry's books and Happy Place is no exception. Although not my favourite of Henry's back-list (no writers or publishing world characters in this book!), her latest novel contains her usual blend of snappy dialogue, swoony romance and witty retorts.. The setting of this second-chance romance in coastal New England, provided a perfect escapist read, during a bleak English winter. and I will press it into the hands of any friends who need cheering up over the next few months.

Happy Place is a weird title for such a meloncholy book. This is a story of two people in love but for whom life has gone in opposide directions until it broke them. It's much more than the story of them as a couple though, it's about how relationships around you can growing up can make you form habits that aren't necessarily healthy. It's about personal sacrifice to ensure that the ship that is sinking only takes you down. It's about personally drowning and not realising that there were many people around who would have happily thrown you a liferaft if you'd only asked. About a group of six friends, growing up and growing apart as life, location and experiences stretches you. It's a great read, not necessarily happy but certainly a book that might make you examine your own behaviours.

I can't put into words how much I adored this book. I'm a serial multiple books reader but I read this in one sitting and I'm both so glad I did and so upset it's over.

Emily Henry has perfected the art of weaving together a story so that the emotions hit you in just the right way, and from the very start you could feel Harriet's heartbreak and her pain radiated from the pages. Henry's ability to make her characters so wonderfully, painfully, real is again present in this book, and you can't help but to relate and feel like you've lived through Harriet's insecurities and problems in such a devastating way (I truly think Emily Henry sees right into my soul).

I laughed and I cried with this book and I felt like I was right there with Harriet, feeling what she was feeling, the entire time. It was beautiful, and the devotion Wyn and Harriet have with each other was the perfect addiction you read Henry's novels to escape to.

Very upset that I'll have to wait another year or so until Henry's next book, they're always my favourites to read and I feel like they're in a league of their own.

I don’t even know where to start with this book other than saying I loved it so so much.
I just adored everything about it from the setting to the characters to second chance romance plot between Wyn and Harriet. The dual timeline and the great cast of characters and one of things I loved about this group of friends was that it reminded me of my own friend group: we may not see each other other but nothing changes our friendship and we always pick right back up where we left off.

It made me giddy, it made me laugh and it made me cry and I knew it was going to be 5 stars before I even started because it’s Emily Henry and I wouldn’t expect anything less but I enjoyed even more than I thought I would.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

So charming, angsty and beautiful.

Every book Emily Henry writes surpasses the last and Happy Place is no exception. I'm worried about future Henry works as she is such an intuitive, talented writer that my expectations of her are sky high.

The characters she has created here are the best so far. All six main characters have distinct personalities that make the reader sympathise with their individual plights. Harriet has been my favourite Henry heroine so far. Her anxieties and history are extremely relatable and her inability to communicate through fear of rejection was so heartbreakingly real that it was difficult to read sometimes. Wyn was my favourite Henry hero due to his complexities and kindness. He was just as relatable as Harriet but for different reasons. Together Harriet and Wyn are absolutely magical.

It took me two days to read after a suffering a horrible two month reading slump. It's so easy to read that time didn't seem to matter and responsibilities were ignored. Please bring on Emily Henry's next masterpiece.

I enjoy reading Emily Henry's books, it really feels like I can overcome any reading slump and after a bad story it gives me hope that there are story that can be good, with likeable characters like in Happy Place. I loved the characters, the story of all the characters, the love story was really cute and the idea of happy place it was interesting.

Another great book from Emily Henry. This follows a group of friends as they grow up and apart? Great characters, I loved this book and was disappointed when it ended!

Reading Happy Place was like falling in love five times a day. With each chapter, I grew more and more in love with these characters.

Clearly, Emily Henry is back to doing what she does best: creating intriguing and relatable fictional characters. With a light and charming tone, Emily writes about issues that most of us encounter in relationships, whether romantic or not.

I don't know if it's because I identify with Harriet the most, but Wyn and Harriet are definitely my favorite couple that Emily has ever created. I can see myself returning to this novel time and time again.

The book made me smile and even shed a tear or two, but mainly, it just made me so damn happy.
I'm so grateful that Emily approaches the subject of being an adult without knowing your passion/purpose and the uncertainty of being an adult.

I love, love this group of friends! I cannot wait for you to read this book.
Warning:
While reading, you might feel a variety of emotions, such as ou exhilaration, euphoria, trembling, a racing heart and accelerated breathing, as well as anxiety, panic and feelings of despair. - What I meant to say is, prepare yourself for all the feels.

This was much more than a romance; it was a beautifully woven tale about friendship, grief, love and personal growth sprinkled with fun banter and some heart-breaking moments.

Throughout the story, I got to see people with diverse personalities and backgrounds form and develop friendships and relationships and eventually become family. Milestones in their journeys are shown through key moments and events and the characters were relatable, very entertaining and sometimes quirky.

I love a good second chance romance and this one did what it said on the tin and then some. All the emotions; the highs and lows were palpable. This book discusses some serious topics like grief and mental health but the funny moments offered some relief from the heaviness. Despite their challenges, it was obvious that Harriet and Wyn were soulmates and were meant for each other and this was confirmed in a number of heart-warming and heart-crushing scenes in the book.

This is a rich, very well written story with loveable characters. I was sucked in from the beginning and effortlessly breezed through to the end. I would highly recommend this book; it is by far my favourite Emily Henry book.

Huge thanks to author, Penguin General UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC; I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

Emily Henry really is a go-to for me for a well written romance with a solid characters and a satisfying plot. Romance is not my go-to genre and, for me, Henry's books are a category of their own, a sort of romance-cum-new adult-commercial fiction type of hybrid that hits the sweet spot. Happy Place is set in Maine, in a coastal town where three best friends - Cleo, Sabrina and Harriet - have vacationed every year single college at Sabrina's father's cottage, slowly adding best friends and partners Parth, Kimmy and Wyn to the clan. This year though there's a lot of intensity around the trip as the cottage is being sold and it's the last time the gang will be together. Throw in a few secrets, a wedding and everyone's emotions running on high and it's a recipe for a delicious mess. The action flips between the trip and Harriet's past, mostly charting her relationship and break up with Wyn. Henry is so good at structuring a novel and she knows exactly when to leave you wanting more and when to fill in the gaps. It took me a bit longer than usual with her novels to be drawn in but once I was I tore through the book at speed. I thought all six characters (and the setting) were well-drawn, although I found Sabrina and Parth a little harder to visualise and relate to than the others. Kimmy was a particular delight and Cleo probably the most intriguing character. The relationship between Harriet and Wyn was romance lovers' catnip with plenty of steamy moments, a complicated backstory and just enough miscommunication to facilitate the trademark Henry twisty-turny ending. My favourite aspect of Henry's novels is just how fun and zingy her dialogue is and this book was no exception. Although I'd say that Beach Read is still my favourite of her books, Happy Place is a great read that I'd highly recommend.

Oh wow Emily Henry does it again!
Another 5⭐️ read

This book was everything I didn’t know I needed! I don’t know how she does it but she has managed to make the characters so relatable and loveable. The personal growth of the main characters is amazing but also heartbreaking.

Henry has managed to accurately capture the changes that couples can go through and the impact growing up and graduating college and moving on with lives can be like. She doesn’t just give the character a HEA straight off the bat, she’s realistic and addresses issues that are often overlooked and I think that’s why I love her writing so much!

Parts of this book made me laugh out loud Wyn and Harriet are so quick witted and the banter between the two is like medicine for the soul. They are truly soulmates. I really wish this book didn’t have to end, I think the story and the characters will hold a special place in my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book

This title was featured in National Book Tokens' '23 books to look out for in 2023':

Happy Place by Emily Henry
Harriet and Wyn are the perfect couple. Except, they broke up six months ago. And they still haven't told anyone. Which is how they end up sharing a bedroom at the cottage that has been their yearly getaway with their best friends for the past decade. Happy Place is another feelgood romcom from the author of Book Lovers and Beach Read.

I had just decided that Book Lovers was my favourite Emily Henry book so far then Happy Place has come along and blown it out the water. I laughed and I most definitely cried! Themes of friendship, love, loss, grief are all present and it’s just a wonderful story. We follow Harriet who goes to her friends cottage for a week for a group catch up holiday. When she gets there , her ex is also there, a bombshell is dropped and now Harriet and her ex are forced to pretend they are still together . A bit spicey and a lot emotional. Loved it!