Thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for the review copy of this book. I was thrilled to get this book because I have really enjoyed her previous books and this was no exception. Worthy of exclamation marks!! I think it’s her best so far. Very moving, poignant and filled with characters struggling with real life issues.

Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago, but now, at their favourite place in the world with their favourite people, they have to pretend they’re still together for the Christmas. It’s only a short stay, but in those days, so much is realized about their past and their future that the seemingly short stay filled with fond reminiscences unravels. Their friends, their own lives, that seemed so unshakeable are revealed as something completely different than what they expected and the bonds of friendship shift and mature. And for Harriet and Wyn new realisations form along with understandings of what they truly lost. So heartfelt and moving, and up to the very end the reader wonders if these two will find a way to be together again. Highly recommended.

This book solidifies why Emily Henry is one of my all time favourite romance writers! I read it in one go and I just can’t wait for her next book already!

Emily Henry can do no wrong!

I absolutely loved this second chance romance following Harriet and Wyn as they pretend to still be a couple for one last week away with their friends.

As always with Henry’s novels I was hooked from the start and loved the alternate chapters. I would highly recommend.

Emily Henry is an autobuy author for me, and this novel is no exception. I actually think this is the best yet of her books. I loved everything about this - from the setting, to the friendships, to the feeling that you need to protect your friends from the truth. All the characters have such depth that you feel as though they're people who really exist, who you might be friends with in another life. The exploration of how as adults you come to realise your parents just may not be able (or willing) to give you what you need was also so well drawn. I loved everything about this book.

For starters, I did not expect a book called "Happy Place" to make me cry as much as it did.
I suspect Emily Henry is a deeply empathetic person. She is just so so *so* good at hitting just the right note and stomping me right in the feels. She knows how to describe feelings that everyone has, but no one knows how to put into words.
I loved the idea of the book, of two exes in forced proximity, the book is brimming with longing and making the readers asking themselves: "but WHY?"
I am also very impressed with how each character had a distinctive personality, they were all fleshed out perfectly. Moreover, I think most people recognize a lot of themselves or of their friends in one or more of these characters.
At around 50%, the book started to lag a little bit, but thankfully it quickly gained speed again and the last half was a mix of me crying, swooning and laughing at everything Henry threw at me.

Da ich alle Bücher von Emily Henry verschlungen habe, hatte ich mich schon sehr auf den neuen Titel gefreut.
"Happy Place" war dann aber eine kleine Enttäuschung. Die Story wirkte zu aufgesetzt, Wyn hat meiner Meinung nach recht irrational gehandelt.
Die Protagonisten waren ein bisschen unympatisch und wie aus einem Katalog bestellt.
Die Story zu konstruiert.
Nett zu lesen aber nicht mehr.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so surprised and excited to be approved for an e-arc! I truly loved Book Lovers so much and was one of my top reads last year and had been dying to get my hands on Happy Place. Especially as she had previously said it was for ‘mirrorball girlies’, which I am!

I was really intrigued by the description of second chance romance and I think Emily definitely did it justice! I enjoyed the storyline, plot and characters - definitely a book I will be recommending to others.

I liked seeing how Harriet and Wyn's relationship had started through flashbacks was adorable and the mystery of what led them to break up (although I sometimes felt it was a bit too close to crossing the line of miscommunication?). Although I did enjoy their relationship dynamic and seeing how they interacted when stuck together at the cottage, I think I prefer Charlie and Nora's relationship in Book Lovers - but that's just a personal preference of more of a light relationship at the start compared to Harriet and Wyn who have been together for 8 years - which explains why I loved the flashbacks!

I enjoyed the other characters in this book too and the focus on friends and having those connections, although I did find it a bit disappointing that there wasn't too much interaction with the friends (individually with Harriet) at the cottage (as intended and explained at the end) as I think that would have been lovely to see.

I think my favourite part of this book (especially compared to her previous books I read) was the prose and inner monologues for Harriet - I found those quite relatable and thought they were really beautifully written and captured a lot of those emotions perfectly.

Happy Place is Emily Henry's fourth adult romance novel. It is told in first person from Harriet's POV. The story is a second chance romance following Harriet and Wyn. They are seen as the perfect couple but really they have been broken up for six months. They haven't told their friends or family and end up pretending they are still together. They are forced to share a bedroom at the cottage that their friends go to every year. The cottage and holiday is Harriet's happy place. The cottage is for sale so Harriet and Wyn want to make it the best holiday as it is the last one. Harriet and Wyn have to pretend to be in love but it it hard to pretend in front of the people who know you best. I had a brilliant time with this romance novel. There is just something about Henry's writing that I really connect with and I do think she deserves all the hype she gets. This book had everything. It had elements of friends to lovers and mutual pining. Harriet and Wyn had so much chemistry and I just loved it. I actually got emotional towards the end because I just loved how everything came together and it was beautiful. There was also a beautiful friendship group in this. Reading this actually made me want to re read Book Lovers. I just love this book and I cannot stop thinking about it. This is definitely going to be a hit. I personally think Emily Henry is the best traditionally published romance author out there.

How to even form coherent thoughts after reading this book? Please send me a guide book because I don't know how to do it.

This book. THIS BOOK.

Emily Henry strikes again. She has managed to rip open my chest to look at all my insecurities and inner thoughts and then decided to put them on paper for the world to see. I want to say more but it hurts too much to think about.

I swear that her books are laced with crack because I just cannot get enough.

This book has favourite of all time potential and I cannot wait to reread it over and over again.

I was so excited when I found out I had the opportunity to read this book before the release date. I loved this book because it explored not only the ups and downs of romantic relationships but also friendships. I enjoyed the constant shift between the present day and the various flashbacks, and I felt that the back story was well developed. This book had me hooked from the beginning and I found myself not being able to put it down - hence me reading it in only a day. I am definitely buying this for my bookshelf when it is released!

Send help, I just finished this book and now I need a good cry.

My current ranking of Emily Henry romances:
1. People We Meet On Vacation
2. Happy Place
3. Book Lovers
4. Beach Read

There's a lot I want to say about this book that would be spoilery, and I'm not leaving a spoiler review months before release, so I won't do all that. But just know I loved this beyond reason.

First of all, Emily Henry really knows how to set a scene. All these fragmentary sentences setting the mood and describing the atmosphere had such a way of pulling me into the story, of making me feel like I was there, that I already knew this would be a 5 star read right when I started it.

I really couldn't have known the depth of it, though, because this book starts fairly surface-level, and draws you in slowly but surely, until you find yourself so emotional you don't know what to do with yourself.

It's best, I think, to go into this book without knowing too much, but what I will say is that this is a second chance romance that felt so heartbreaking at times, but also so loving, and most of all, it made them feel so real and human. I'm a huge fan of this trope if done right, and it was most certainly done right here. So many lingering feelings, so much misunderstanding, and then, finally, them figuring everything out. I related so deeply to both of these characters, and I want to give them the biggest hug, but luckily they found their way back to each other.

I also really REALLY appreciated the huge part friendship played in this book, and the depth it was given. Happy Place has such an amazing cast of characters that I never wanted to leave.

I think it's time I break it off with Emily.

I've read everything she's written and the only one I liked was You and Me on Vacation. I decided to give her another go because I did like that one and the premise of this sounded good but Happy Place just wasn't it.

I didn't connect to any characters at all, I wasn't too bothered by the protagonists' story or love life and none of the side characters were memorable. I just find them hard to believe considering these adults were putting gherkins in their mouth like a walrus, which made the characters feel ridiculous and it's like Emily's beating it over my head that they're fun and quirky. I prefer it to be a bit more subtle. The characters also felt interchangeable, particularly the side characters.

I read somewhere that this book is a mixture of all her books so that might be why I didn't get on with it. It did feel very similar to them, as if I'd read it before, which might explain a lot. It had similar slow pacing to Book Lovers.

I'm not fond of books with changing timelines either, and I can't root for the romance if we're in 2 timelines with no connection in either. I need something to root for, and I needed more tension between them in the present tense POV, especially at the start. Without that tension, I found my mind wandering and realising I wasn't paying attention anymore. That spark wasn't there.

I think I just need a bit more to keep me hooked. It was a little flat for me and I think I might need to knock it on the head that I'm not the audience for her books. If this was more my humour, I'd probably enjoy it more, too. People pulling faces and falling over, being loud and quirky aren't funny to me, unfortunately.

I also found some of the sentences didn't make sense but because this is a proof, it's to be expected sometimes.

I feel harsh for saying this and I know people won't agree with me but I know a lot of people will love this. Her fans will finish the book and feel like they're in their own Happy Place but it just wasn't for me. I just needed a bit more.

Every year Emily Henry's newest release is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and this year that's Happy Place, so I had to read this book as soon as 2023 began.
Just like every other Emily Henry book, Happy Place is a romance with a lot of heavier topics throughout. Happy Place follows Harriet and Wyn who have been together for ten years but recently broke up and haven't spoken to each other for months, however no one knows they broke up so when their friends decide to have a reunion at their summer house, Harriet and Wyn have to pretend to be together for the week but end up falling back in love with each other.
I loved that this book gave us duel timelines so we got to see Harriet and Wyn fall in love for the first time in the past timeline whilst also seeing them fall back in love in the present time.
I saw myself a lot in Harriet and loved seeing her grow throughout the book and seeing her fall back in love with Wyn but also learning to love herself again.
There's just something about Emily Henry's books and her writing that I can't help but fall in love with every single time I read her newest release. I definitely think this is a new favourite book. I can't wait to reread this and all of Emily Henry's other books, as I am definitely due a reread.
I cannot wait to have a physical copy of this book on my shelf to go with my other Emily Henry books. I think this might be my favourite of her covers too.

Emily Henry is consistent in her success in providing the public with the absolute best and most realistic Romance books. These were all real people, I know them. This was a real situation, and I loved everything about it. I will always purchase and read anything published by Ms Henry, and have already pre ordered my physical copy of this book. Love you Emily.

There’s something about Emily Henry’s even numbered adult romances that, while I do still enjoy them, I find myself liking less than her odd numbered ones. It’s a strange conundrum because, ostensibly, there’s nothing about even and odd numbers that suggests this would happen. The only thing I can put it down to is superstition at this point.

But anyway, Happy Place is still a book I enjoyed a lot, it has that going for it. And, really, I can’t explain why I liked it less than some of her others. I’m not even going to try.

Happy Place does as all of Emily Henry’s adult romances have done so far, pretty much. It’s a fun read, plenty of banter between the main and her love interest, a central romance you want to root for and more going on besides simply the romance. In fact, for this one, you might even say the romance is secondary to the rest of the plot. That is, a group of friends meeting on a summer break for the final time before that house is sold.

Except everyone is keeping some sort of secret, not just Harriet and Wyn, so it becomes all the more interesting for it. This is probably an example of when I don’t mind miscommunication and Emily Henry manages it well enough that I never thought to myself, why don’t you all just sit down and talk things out.

However, bearing in mind I’m writing this one 2 months out from having read it, nothing about this book has particularly stuck with me. Much like People We Meet on Vacation (the other even-numbered book!), while I was reading it, I enjoyed it. After the fact, it didn’t really register. Beach Read and Book Lovers, whenever I think of them, I still feel just a little wild about them. These two, I don’t.

But, if you enjoyed Emily Henry’s previous books, then there’s nothing here that means you’re unlikely to enjoy this one. It’s pretty standard fare from her (I mean that in a good way), and definitely will live up to expectations.

DNF
After spending time reading and then trying to read this book, I decided it was not doing for me what her previous books had done. In part I feel like it could be hype ruining it for me after such an amazing time reading Book Lovers in 2022.
I think the reasons I didn't enjoy this was mainly down to me personally not liking the characters and the sort of forced into second chance element, when the relationship was very obviously broken. If the characters had some more maturity instead of it feeling like teens who just refused to talk, it might have read a bit differently to me.
I had no issues with the writing or setting.

Every Emily Henry book is like going on an emotional journey and Happy Place is no exception. I laughed, I cried, I got excited and frustrated and in the end I walked away feeling fulfilled.

I am a long-term (and probably will be forever) lover of Henry’s work. Every single book of hers I struggle to put down, and Happy Place was no exception. Out of all of her works, You and Me On Vacation was my favourite—people coming back to one another, second chances, love prevailing, it’s my jam.
So Happy Place was perfection.
The group of friends were, as always with Emily’s work, brilliant and layered. They’re close, but they have secrets—showcasing brilliantly what hardworking, big-heart-having friends do when they’re in crisis. They hide. The way it’s explored and handled was brilliant, and super reminiscent of my own friendships.
Harry and Wyn were amazing. At times, I wanted to quickly skip through chapters to know they’d get back together. But I trusted the process, sat in my seat wishing and praying, and went along for the fun.
And the payoff was good. It was sweet and romantic, and the way I’d already begun to guess what Wyn had been struggling with hit so close to home. I related so much to him, and the description of what it felt like to get help was the best-written feeling I’ve ever read. Their dynamic was fed to us, the hurt they had and the love that remained was felt through every interaction.
And while I loved the ending, and please no one take it from me haha, I think I would have also liked an alternative too, because of how well everything had been written and shown to us.
I physically cannot wait to hold this book in my hand and read it again.

Yet again Emily Henry has given us a cute fun smart and adorable romance, with just enough joy to make me smile, but not too much to make my cynical side come out.

4.5 stars
When I found out I had gotten the chance to read this book before its release, I was ecstatic! I'd keep this for the new year, when I'd be on break and able to sink into this so I can finish it in 1-2 days...or so she said/thought... Well, I did set this as my last book started in 2022, and I crossed into 2023 reading it, so #win there
Anyway, the story... It's still not the same level as Book Lovers for me, or even Beach Read (You & Me on Vacation was from a different universe, it seems - funny, there's the multiverse mentioned in this one!) I admit I found it dragged, it lagged, it kept not answering any questions despite bringing them up at every turn (which kept me reading, as it is an Emily Henry book, and as the previous two I mentioned above worked for me, I knew we were all just building to the big reveal that will (hopefully - I had fingers crossed all through!) be well worth it. Delving between 'Real Life' aka Now in the cottage to the past was necessary to show us what happened between Harry and Wyn, but I could've done without it in wanting to get to the 'answers.'
Wyn was the most not-a-hero I could ever imagine! The bloke was infuriating, in his self-deprecating manner, his 'I'm just a plain simple good guy and people give me too much credit', the whole 'It's not you, it's me' vibe he plies Harry with throughout. I wanted to scream at him so many times...but I knew there must be a reason behind it all, behind the breakup, because, again, Book Lovers gave me that breakthrough moment in the later stages of the second half. And when you do find out what was Wyn's issue, the frustration gets deflated, though the anger is still here for how he made Harry put up with all this, when it was his cross to bear and not hers.
Sabrina was the most annoying character ever, and I'm still not okay with her, though you can see where it all comes from.
And Harry herself - her own issues which were right there but so melded into her surroundings, they just weren't noticeable at all even at fifth glance, never mind first glance.
I'm glad Emily Henry went the route of addressing all of this before the story ends. But the reason it's getting 4.5 stars instead of 5 - she took a tad too long to get to that, and then it all feels rushed. After the anticipation, the 'answers' come as a huge blowout, but the steam released just settled down too fast and too easily afterward, which left a bittersweet taste behind
It's possibly one of those books that's a better read the second time around, because you already know all that's happening/going to happen so you can just enjoy the ride and see how it all 'clicks' into place.
But overall, it's a solid Emily Henry one. If you're a fan, you'll know exactly what I mean
**ARC provided by Netgalley & Penguin General - I voluntarily reviewed, and all views expressed are mine & mine alone**