Happy Place by Emily Henry is fantastic! I have enjoyed all of Henry’s books but I think this might be my favourite. Harriet and Wyn have joined their closest friends for one last holiday at their friend Sabrina’s cottage before her father sells it. This is their happy place, well it usually is but Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago and they’ve not told their friends. They now have to pretend to be in love for a week when they haven’t spoken in months.
I think this book is perfect for this time of year, the holiday vibe is so good when we are all starting to think about summer and the days are warming up. It was one of my favourite aspects of the book, Henry really captures that nostalgic feel of long days spent in the sun with your favourite people.
Harriet and Wyn are both great characters and the tension between them is brilliant. I loved how Henry keeps us guessing about their relationship, just giving you the odd bit of information and leaving you wanting more. The other characters are great too and they keep the pace going as they each have their own separate story line.
I feel like Emily Henry has her own little genre going on, I can’t think of anyone I would compare her to. She is so good at really getting deep with her characters whilst still keeping the romance and humour whilst avoiding the many cliches that could be included. I would highly recommend this one, it would be a great holiday or long weekend read.

This is one you do not want to miss!
Perfectly crafted, multi layered characters and a plot line worthy of a mini series. I love the way Emily Henry writes, she draws you in and makes you feel part of the story.

Having adored Book Lovers, I’ve been looking forward to reading Emily Henry’s newest delightful release, Happy Place.

“Think of your happy place, the cool voice in my ear instructs….Sunlight, everywhere. Not just on my bare shoulders or the crown of my head, but inside me too, the irresistible warmth that comes only from being in the exact right place with the exact right people.”

Harriet is excited to be joining her best friends, Sabrina and Cleo in her ‘happy place’. Every year, since they met in college, the trio have gathered at a vacation home owned by Sabrina’s father in Maine, joined in time by their respective partners, Wyn, Parth and Kimmy. Now that the three friends all live in different cities the tradition is more important than ever to Harriet, but she’s been keeping a secret that she worries could ruin it all.
Six months ago, she and Wyn ended their ten year relationship but haven’t yet told anyone. Harriet plans to break the news when she arrives sans Wyn, who has agreed to make his excuses, but Sabrina has a surprise or two for Harriet of her own. Reluctant to spoil the occasion Harriet and Wyn agree to pretend they are still a couple, a tortuous proposition for Harriet who was crushed by their break-up, but she’s willing to do anything to stay in her happy place.

I really enjoyed Harriet and Wyn as a couple, there is plenty of chemistry between them in the present, despite the awkwardness of their reunion. A series of flashbacks reveal the history of their relationship, from their first meeting to the moment it ended. I was invested in understanding why they broke up, and felt for them both as those reasons, including insecurity, miscommunication, family expectations, and depression, became apparent. There are several recognisable romantic tropes at play such as second-chance romance, forced proximity, and fake dating but they are well executed.

The portrayal of the friendship group is a real delight, even as the week progresses and some strain begins to show. The dynamic of the relationship between Harriet, Sabrina and Cleo became as important to me as the feature romance. I particularly liked that Henry addressed how friendship changes over time, and how important it is to let it.

A joy to read, though both romantic and funny, Happy Place is also a heartfelt story exploring friendship, family, self-determination, and love.

Emily Henry never misses! I am in awe with the way she writes her characters (not just the main ones but side characters as well!), the way they’re trying to navigate through life feels incredibly realistic.

“Happy Place” is where a close knit group of friends became three couples and where one couple spring a surprise wedding, another couple hide their breakup and the final couple hide their secret.
I loved Emily’s style of writing, she made the reader feel part of the story and feel the emotional disruption. The structure of the story meant that we understood the the background history of the friendships through flashbacks and gradual reveals. we are continually hit with the uncertainty of the direction the couples will take..should they recouple to find their Happy Place, should they marry to keep their Happy Place, should one couple return home to their Happy Place?
I became so involved in this book that I became an emotional wreck, urging everyone to find their Happy Place.; not many books have had that effect!
A wonderful story not to be missed.

Ugh, this beautiful, beautiful book. Emily Henry really knows how to weave stunning tales full of heart and hope and love, and leave me wanting more.

Second-chance romance is not often a trope I gravitate towards; however, when I discovered Emily Henry's next book was going to be focused on previously engaged Harriet and Wyn, I knew I needed it. These characters were so relatable and realistic. I truly felt everything that Harriet goes through and spent the entire book reminiscing over her happy place and wishing she could return to that feeling.

Wyn, oh Wyn. There is something about Henry's leading males that just makes me want to sigh happily. Wyn is the charming yet insecure boy next door. He's perfectly flawed, full of witty banter, and so damn swoon-worthy.

And the group of friends? I want. This book is basically a big hug and I want to become friends with these characters.

I really don't have any more words for how much I loved this book. It's all just warm, fuzzy feelings and happy tears. As I mentioned before, this book is a big hug and I can only hope this review conveys the big return hug I want to give Emily Henry.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys Henry's other books, contemporary romances, or rom-com stories full of heart.

Another brilliant romance from Emily. She had me rooting for everyone to find their happy endings and kept me on my toes waiting to see how it would unfold. Lots smiles, laughs and heart bursting feels throughout! Will be back for more of her novels!

Nothing I say about this book will do it justice. Happy Place ripped my soul apart whilst simultaneously putting it back together. Whilst I was reading the last third (at least), I was crying. For a good hour and a half I cried over this book and even just talking about it or writing this review is making me incredibly emotional because this book hit deep and I know I’m going to be in such a slump now.

This book is told from two timelines, pre-breakup and post-break up. The flashbacks were hard hitting and over the course of the novel, we’re left wondering why they broke up as it’s so clear they are so in love with each other. The main storyline takes place at an annual getaway with their best friends who still believe they are together as neither Harriet nor Wyn has been able to tell their friends they’re no longer together.

The more I read this book, the more my heart broke, like don’t get me wrong I love this book with everything I have and will reread and reread it, but why did it have to hurt like that? Harriet and Wyn have undeniable chemistry and after a while, they both struggle to keep up pretenses as their fake romance is hitting a little close to home as neither appear to have gotten over the breakup. The romance was beautiful and I’m so glad Emily Henry gave these characters what they deserve because they have been through it.

Happy Place was so much more than a second-chance romance, and I think that was why it affected me so much. This book is about grief. It’s about the end of an era, and I believe this might be what did it for me. This is the groups final trip to their getaway house as it’s being sold in a month so they can no longer use it, and Sabrina, one of their friends, is determined to have the best last trip. I think I related with her a lot as she was so afraid that this trip was going to be the end of their friendship group as everyone was growing up and making big life changing decisions, so a lot goes down in this book.

I absolutely loved this book even if it destroyed me, and I couldn’t recommend it more.

Oh this was delish!

Wyn and Harriet go to their annual meet up/holiday with their friends......but no one knows they have broken up.....and it's......awkward!

But what it also is, is glorious! I ate this book up in 1 sitting because I couldn't put it down!

This book has it all, unbreakable friendships, happiness, angst, personal growth and, of course, a true love that's a bit broken.

If you are a romance lover then this book is for you!

One thing about me is that I love a reread. I fell in love with this author and now Happy Place is my reread happy place!

cw: bereavement, grief, anxiety, depression 

As Harriet Kilpatrick returns to her best friends' luxurious cottage in Maine for a week with her best friends one final time before it's sold, she's keeping a huge secret. Once part of a seemingly golden couple, she and Wyn Connor split months earlier. She knows she has to tell Sabrina, Cleo, Parth, and Kimmy, who are more family than friends. But somehow, saying it aloud to them will make it real, incontrovertible. Still, the last person she expects to see at the cottage is Wyn. Both are determined to keep their secret until the end of the week, but with so much history (and unresolved questions), will they be able to keep up the charade?

I was ecstatic to be asked to review an early eARC of this book, and fair warning: stock up on tissues and rehydration drinks before its release in April 2023 because this book ripped out my heart, and stamped on it several times. It took me almost a week to read because so much was emotionally painful that I had to take a moment (or ten hours) to compose myself because I couldn't see the pages. 

There were so many aspects of Harriet that I empathised with, and the details of her childhood were so hard at times to read, but so well written. Wyn was so very clearly besotted with Harriet from the moment they met, but I knew how his mind was working, and it was heartbreaking to discover how they came to break up. Chapter 29 utterly wrecked me. As in, I had to abandon my Kindle in a different room until I could stop the gutwrenching sobs. There are several themes explored throughout the book: friendship; love; both family and found family; bereavement; grief; loneliness; expectation; lack of self-worth; mental health; and heartbreak. Each one is sensitively explored and doesn't feel shoehorned. Every supporting character felt authentic and integral to the story, and I really loved Cleo and Kimmy. I also empathised with Sabrina as the one trying to keep a friend group together. But this is really Wyn and Harriet's story, told in a mixture of flashbacks and the present day. You really FEEL the love between them through the pages, which is why it's so painful at times and adorably charming at others. I am already certain this will be one of my top books of 2023. Exceptional and highly recommended.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥
Emotional Rating: 😬💔😂🙈💔😢💔😢💔😂🥰💔😭😍🥰

*Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

A quintessential holiday read full of likeable characters, believable relationships and a wonderful coastal setting. At its centre are a fake relationship and the potential for a second chance which the reader invests in as they relive Harriet and Wyn's romantic past. The close group of friends have their secrets too, which are revealed during the holiday.

It's an immersive read from the first few lines, and the humour, sadness and friendship make this a heartwarming read. Whilst the protagonists are young, the spirit and sentiment translate whatever your age. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, the family dynamic and the setting.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Harriet and Wyn are on a weeklong summer holiday with their group of friends - except the friends don’t know that they broke up five months earlier. Their group has been going to Sabrina’s dad’s cottage in Maine since they were students but now he’s decided to sell it and they’re there for a last hurrah. But neither Harry or Wyn can bring themselves to risk spoiling it by telling everyone that they’ve broken up – especially as the others have always called them the perfect couple. But as the days pass it’s clearer and clearer that they’re not OK and they're not over each other and pretending they’re still a couple is not helping any of it at all…

This is definitely at the women’s fiction end of the romance genre – yes, it follows the rules but it’s actually a lot about Harriet herself and her own personal growth as well as about her relationship with Wyn. It also made me cry more than once, so there’s that – Him Indoors got quite worried about me sniffling away at the end of the sofa – but by the end of the book it was worth it, even if I had a couple of minor quibbles along the way that mean I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Book Lovers, but that was a high bar to reach!

En bref, je n'ai jamais vraiment réussi à ressentir une étincelle entre Wyn et Harriet que ça soit dans le passé ou dans le présent puisque l'autrice alterne les périodes pour nous permettre de mieux comprendre leur relation. C'est long, très long, je n'ai pas apprécié Harriet qui m'est apparue froide et distante et je dois dire que si j'ai beaucoup aimé Wyn par contre, ça n'aura pas suffit à faire pencher la balance. J'ai failli abandonner à plusieurs reprises mais je suis quand même contente d'être allée au bout parce que la fin est vraiment chouette par contre. Mais ça ne restera pas une romance marquante pour moi...

I am typing this as my tears are drying and that’s always the best way to start a review. When I first started reading this I thought the writing was good and the story was sweet but there’s wasn’t anything wow about it. There’s a lot of travelling back in time to help you understand how they got there and the dynamics. The story follows found family and how time has changed their paths and how they keep ahold of one another. As I got further into the story the emotions really started to get intense. The story got so much better and the way it was told was beautiful. The story is told from Harriet’s perspective but through her relationship with wyn we get to see different forms of insecurity and attachment from both of them. The way childhood affected each of them in different ways and how it led them to make the decisions that they did and how they learn to grow beyond that. Learning to not only accept themselves but hold on to each other including their other friends and their own challenges. With beautiful writing and lots of tears and laughter it a 4.5 stars from me. The beginning is what pulled it down just that little bit. But otherwise another must have book from Emily Henry’s backlist. Happy reading 🥰

A group of friends on an island. A yearly summer holiday that will be the last of an era. a couple who have been broken up for a half year, but have not told their friends.

Wyn and Harriet have been the perfect couple since they have been together. However, life happened and now they broke up. They have not talked about it to each other or their friends. When they find themselves on a group holiday, there are many reasons to not tell their friends about their break-up. It is hard though, to keep pretending. Especially, since they are still definitely in love with each other. Will they be able to let go of each other, to make the other happy? And what will happen in the group diring this holiday?

I loved this book, Emily Henry captures the difficulties of life that came in between Wyn and Harriet perfectly. She kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to keep reading until I finished the book. The characters were great and the setting was perfect. I loved all the references and inside jokes that were in the book. I wish I could just re-read this like it is the first time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for letting me read this as an ARC. #HappyPlace #NetGalley

“Everything good?” she asks. “Of course it is,” I insist, snuggling closer. “I’m in my happy place.”

I was excited to read Emily Henry’s upcoming, Happy Place thinking it would be fun, light and romantic. I am happy to report that it was that and so much more. Emily’s fourth novel where she takes on the second chance romance trope is a definite winner and for many more reasons than readers might immediately think.

‘What can you feel? Sunlight, everywhere. Not just on my bare shoulders or the crown of my head, but inside me too, the irresistible warmth that comes only from being in the exact right place with the exact right people.’

On the surface, Happy Place is the story of Harriet and Wyn who have to pretend they are still together so they don’t ruin their last holiday with their group of best friends. How this plays out will obviously prove eventful, however, dig a little deeper and there is a great deal more going on here. The tale goes between past and present but there is a real depth of emotion on both an individual, dual and group level that definitely sets this Emily Henry book apart from her earlier works.

‘He’s become my best friend, the way the others did, bit by bit, sand passing through an hourglass, so slowly it’s impossible to pin down the moment it happens. When suddenly more of my heart belongs to him than doesn’t, and I know I’ll never get a single grain back.’

Yes, this book has all the expected charm with fun and light encounters but this time around there is an added layer of real character development. There is a sense of melancholy as other reviewers have noted that makes it less rom-com with a focus more on the slow burn. With deeper understandings and revelations as characters explore their individual and collective arcs and how navigating life and love - both romantic, family and friendships - is front and centre.

‘The place I go when I feel trapped inside myself. When I’m terrified that all my happiest moments belong to the past.’

This, I found to be, one of the most appealing aspects of this book. Whether it be the individual's growth, the romantic growth and family/friendship growth - Emily Henry takes it to the next level. I found the theme of friends and family and what that looked like and how that impacted them to be just as powerful as the romantic themes - perhaps even more so.

‘Time doesn’t move the same way when we’re there. Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for each other. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was.’

Emily Henry’s Happy Place, is quite possibly her best yet as it has everything you have come to expect and so much more. Her writing is truly evolving with readers sure to love her latest offering. The romance is incredible but so too are the other themes and life lessons.

‘Everything is changing. It has to. You can’t stop time. All you can do is point yourself in a direction and hope the wind will let you get there.’










This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

🐚 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 🐚

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: one bed, second chance, found family, fake dating, friends to lovers

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: past miscommunication, depression, death of a parent

I had mixed feelings about this book, and for a few moments I was scared that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I have read books written by Emily Henry before, but I felt different about this book. It seems to me that Happy Place deals with a lot of suffering on the part of the female character, and I understand it, because all this was caused by a lack of communication on the part of her and her partner.

In the course of the story, there are also some scenes from the past of Harriet and Wyn so that you can better understand why they broke up. I really liked the flashbacks, and even at one point I wanted more flashbacks than the moments in the present.

Emiliy's writing style and how she portrayed the suffering of the characters was very beautiful, and the epilogue was happy and emotional.

There were also some funny moments, and the secondary characters seemed to me to be the perfect friends you can have. What I didn't really like was the fact that almost every character had something to hide, which made it a little hard to connect with them.

Overall I really liked it.

Thank you Emily Henry, Pinguin General Uk and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Emily Henry's latest amazing book. I still need some time to process this, but I can say for now that it was fun, exciting, romantic, and, in true Emily Henry style, UNPUTDOWNABLE. I will definitely add a more detailed review once the book hangover it caused will pass and I can view it a bit more objectively. 5 stars!.

Harriet and Wyn have been together since college. However, six months ago they broke up but haven't told their friends. Their friendship group has been together since college and when they are invited to stay at their friend's house they have to pretend to be together still.

My actual rating for this is 3.5 rounded up to 4. I really loved Book Lovers but sadly this one was not as good. This one started out quite slow and it took me a while to get into this story. This one is told in two timelines; past and present. I didn't particularly enjoy the flashbacks and preferred the scenes happening in the present day. I liked the friendship group but I didn't love the romance. I didn't find that I was rooting for the characters to get back together.

Overall I liked this but it is not my favourite from this author. I do think that this is going to be very popular and there are a lot of elements that people will enjoy. This one has very summery vibes.

Wow, what a read this was!
Having only read Book Lovers, which I really enjoyed, I was thrilled to be invited to read an ARC of Emily Henry's latest novel Happy Place.
This was a complete surprise. This book touched me in ways I had not experienced with Book Lovers, which to me felt a little straightforward.
Happy Place tackles friendships and life events far more than I had envisioned. The characters' relationships were put to the test in their adult life, and Henry does a superb job of keeping the characters identitities through the book.
The emotion, the understanding, the character development, are perfectly written with a plot that pulls on your heart strings with every page.
Fantastic.