Book Review | Happy Place by Emily Henry

Happy Place

Author: Emily Henry | Release Date: April 25, 2023

★★★★★

 

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

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. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

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. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). 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?

Goodreads

---

Thank you Penguin Random House International for the gifted copy!

So blessed to have gotten the chance to read Happy Place early! I’m trying my best to articulate my feelings so hopefully this review comes out coherent. I’ve noticed that whenever I pick up an Emily Henry book I have to be in a certain mood. Mostly because I know I’m going to be going through so many emotions that will leave me feeling a certain way by the end. I’m in love with her writing, and even more in love with her stories.

This book explored so many things and in the most wonderful way. From relationships to career paths to everyday choices. Things that everyone can relate to and trust me, you’re bound to relate to something. That’s the beauty of Emily Henry’s books to me. There’s always something that speaks to you on a different level. This book felt the realist to me. How much we change as individuals as we grow older. How our friendships change and evolve. Our mental health and how it might impact our relationships. Most of all? Flawed characters. I love a book where the characters are obviously not perfect. You can see their flaws and yet the author can still bring out the best of them. You also can’t help connected to every single one in some kind of way. It’s inevitable. Emily Henry brings you a romance book that goes above and beyond it as well. A romance book that doesn’t just center on the romance, but on all other aspects of life as well. I’ve never read a second chance romance before but I loved every minute of it. Then again I seem to love anything Emily Henry does because she does it so well.

Honestly this book made my heart expand more than was possible. Emily Henry’s books just have a way of doing that to me. This left my heart feeling so full and yet strangely drained at the same time. Not that I’m complaining, because I know a book has truly impacted me when I get this feeling. A story that keeps you thinking and makes you focus on your own choices and decisions. A story that shows you how deep one persons love can go for the people they care about. I don’t even know if I have more words to describe this story. My mind is buzzing with so much but also not enough. I honestly can’t wait until you can all read this wonderful book.

---

About the Author

Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read, as well as the forthcoming Happy Place. She lives and writes in Cincinnati and the part of Kentucky just beneath it.

---

Is Happy Place on your TBR? What’s your favourite Emily Henry book?

Advertisement