Title: Happy Place
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Publishes On: April 25, 2023
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Source: physical
Pages: 388
Synopsis:
A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends.
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 five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a 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, blissful 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?
My thoughts
(Spoiler free)
Friends, it finally happened. I found an Emily Henry book that matched my reading experience with Beach Read—a book that remains one of my all-time favorite books AND a book I mention way too much on the blog. (I’m sorry to my followers!)
As usually happens, I knew within the first few pages that Happy Place would be a book that consumed me, gave me those illusive butterflies, and would either have me speed-reading or reading extra slowly, taking my time with each page. It ended up being the second one, and my reading experience reflected the characters’ week-long vacation, with their long summer days and nights spent meandering through the town, sitting by the water, and reminiscing over old times. I didn’t want the book to end, and I’m actually quite impressed with myself for taking five days to read it. I’m still not sure how I managed that.
“It doesn’t matter how busy life’s been, how long the five of us have gone without seeing one another: meeting at the cottage is like pulling on a favorite sweatshirt, worn to perfection.
Time doesn’t move the same way when we’re there.
Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another.
Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was.
You belong here.”
In Happy Place we meet a group of friends who grew close in college and have managed to stay friends for ten years, despite all being quite different and going different directions. The entire book is from Harriet’s point of view, but I never felt like I needed anyone else’s point of view, a special talent of Henry’s. She does a wonderful job of illustrating the other characters’ thoughts through their actions. We also get chapters set in the present and the past, slowly showing us how the group came together and how things have fallen apart for our main couple, Harriet and Wyn.
Harriet and Wyn have chosen to hide that they’re broken up from their friends, and while it may seem like one of the most common plot devices in the romance genre, Henry makes it work. Their reasons for hiding their relationship status makes sense in the story, and I found myself fully supporting their reasoning.
One of the things I loved about Beach Read was the darker tone it took, which I know is one of the reasons some of you didn’t like it, but I think Henry is at her best when she doesn’t keep things light. The cover and title may be misleading, but this time I think the title is perfect for the book. It has a much deeper meaning in the story, and I enjoyed seeing how it worked for each character.
The setting of the “cottage” in Maine, which is really a mansion, may be so very unrealistic for us regular folks, but it gives the novel even more of a dreamlike quality. And it’s fun to imagine staying in such a place is attainable. Henry makes the setting come alive, and I had no problem placing the characters in each room, by the pool, or even in the quaint town of Knott’s Harbor.
While the heart of the book is the romance between Harriet and Wyn, it’s the scenes between the friends that had me teary-eyed. Henry succeeds at giving all the side characters meaningful backstories with issues that are compelling and even eye-opening. I usually learn something about myself when I read Henry’s books. So anyone who dismisses romance as fluff, I feel like just hasn’t found the right romance yet.
Happy Place is the perfect summer read, even better if you get to enjoy it over vacation. It satisfies my definition of book magic: an unforgettable setting, characters I can empathize with, and those magnificent heart flutters. It’s a book that will find a special place on my bookshelf, and I look forward to rereading it again someday!
Rating:
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.
A Song For A Book
I was very happy to discover the author mentions many artists and songs throughout the book, so I quickly started keeping a running list I could make into a playlist—which I’ve included below. It contains most of the songs mentioned, along with a few of my own additions, as well. I’ve chosen to highlight “The Archer” by Taylor Swift.
Combat, I’m ready for combat
I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?
‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies
I’ve got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you
Easy they come, easy they go
I jump from the train, I ride off alone
I never grew up, it’s getting so old
Help me hold onto you…
Have you read Happy Place? Did you add it to your tbr? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
I loved Beach Read! It was one of the first books I ever won from Goodreads and I’m so glad I own a copy of it because it’s one I’ll be rereading more than once. So, if this new one is as good as that one, I’m even more excited to read it. Love your review. 😀
Yes!! I’d also won an ARC of Beach Read, which is how I came to read it. I’m hoping to reread it this summer. I hope you get to pick up Happy Place soon. <3
That’s awesome that this one beat out Beach Read.
I wouldn’t say beat, but matched. Haha!
This story had a cloud over it from the beginning, but I think that’s why the ending had me sobbing. The story was just told in the most perfect way, and Henry did a beautiful job ramping up my emotions.
Yes!! I’m a sucker for those clouds. Especially when the payoff is good.
The payoff was incredible. *happy tears*
I can’t wait to read this! I recently read my first Emily Henry book, Book Lovers, and enjoyed it! So I’ looking forward to reading more of her work 🙂
Yay!! My faves are Beach Read, Happy Place, and People We Meet on Vacation, so those are the ones I’d recommend. 🙂
The way my jaw dropped because you have a PAPERBACK of the book and I am jealous haha! It was published in hardcover in the US and it makes me irrationally angry???
ANYWAYS. Great review and I am so happy to see you enjoyed this book as much as Beach Read! I also appreciated the darker tone and look at depression, as well as the friend group kind of struggling with the possibility of growing apart as they age. I had a rather uneven reading experience myself, but enjoyed it as well.