Happy Place

Product Information

My enjoyment of Emily Henry's novels is hardly a secret and so I was excited to receive the opportunity to read her new novel 'Happy Place', coming out April 2023. Get ready to fall for Harriet and Wyn, a couple who have been together since college, initially brought together by their shared tight knit friendship group. The narrative follows the group as they spend the week together at a holiday cottage in Maine, one last hurrah before the cottage they have loved for many years is sold. There is just one small problem with this plan - perfect couple Harriet and Wyn have actually been broken up for 6 months and neglected to tell their friends. Trust Emily Henry to take the fake dating trope to another level with the messy complex history these two share and the spiralling lies. I considered giving this 3/5 at one point but the more I think about it the more it makes me rage. I'll have to split this into parts cause I had an issue with almost everything and anything !!! this is the last EH book I'll ever read so if u see me reading any of her new releases, ill fly out to the UK so u can beat the shit out me 🫶🏻 Except this year, they are lying through their teeth, because Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago.

preface: i rated this book on a completely different scale from emily henry’s other books or romance books in general. the reason why i loved this book so much, was not the romance but harriet’s introspection and character. its tones were much more subtle and nuanced, much reminiscent of a lit fic in some parts. Tender and sexy , bittersweet with Henry's trademark warmth , this is a book that sweeps you off your feet and envelopes you with love in its many facets - it feels like hanging out with your best friends' Bolu Babalola, HONEY & SPICE The side characters had no personality whatsoever. They felt very flat and boring. Sabrina was controlling and kind of bitchy. Parth had zero personality. Cleo and Kimmy were okay, until I felt like they were not a lesbian couple, but a heterosexual couple where one of them is a guy with a girl's name. Don't come at me for this, I just felt it like that. I did enjoy when Sabrina was called out. I get that they were in that trip mourning their youth and trying to have a good time, but goddamn it was painful. I just could not stand them. Trust me, I'm good at mourning my wasted and non existent youth, but this was pure hell. to me, wyn was very absent from the book. especially in the “real life” chapters. he’s harriet’s fixation, but i don’t really feel like i know him. despite seeing how they got together, i still didn’t feel connected to his character. i wanted more from him. i enjoyed him more at the beginning when they were younger and everything was fresh between them, but this didn’t translate the whole way through. i get what he was going through at the end, but his character still felt very one dimensional to me. wyn is a sexy lamp.Both of the them where in "Dark Palces" at the end of their relationship. So how can you save a ship when both captains have already drowned? overall, this book was phenomenal and i absolutely adored it, EH writing is just *chefs kiss* if you’re looking for a romance galore book i’m sorry to say this book isn’t for you, this book explores more about a friend group and their dynamics, growing up and letting go. i will keep saying, HER BOOKS ARE 100% MORE WOMEN’S FICTION, THE ROMANCE IS JUST A PLUS!!

the setting. hear me out. emily henry has previously had wonderful settings to all her novels, very atmospheric and interesting, and this one felt dull in comparison. it was there ofc, but i’m not gonna remember it. and now that i have read this book twice and it is now out in the world, i have the following to say: in some ways i liked him. but not really anything worth mentioning. he was what this book was: meh. he's the most one-dimensional character in the book. wyn is a sexy lamp.i truly feel connected to harriet. she was such a fleshed out character. beautifully written. she is me and i am her. her love towards her friends, her thoughts about herself, her conflicting emotions towards her family, even down to her thoughts about her job made me feel so seen. A heart-tugging tale that captures the importance of found family, the pain of growing apart from those we love, and the triumph of finding them-and ourselves-once again' Ali Hazelwood, THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS does that make me miss the golden age of my life during which she was writing about both and also magic and also realism and also YA? sure. do i think that she is at her very best when she is writing for quirky teens? yeah. do i think her adult romances are often pale comparisons, in terms of their friendships and relationships and character depth and even humor and reality and emotion, to those books? for sure. EH is a master at creating relationship dynamics that make you believe in them. i have read and rated all of her adult romances 5 stars because of her ability to make me fall in love with her characters and this book is no different.

look, emily, my love, i’m sure i will adore this book and everything in it with all my heart just as i have all of your others. i would buy your grocery list. i would adore your grocery list. i would give up the first born child that i’m not planning to have for your grocery list.Without even trying, I knew exactly where he was at all times, could likely cover my eyes, get spun around, and still point to him on the first try.” Henry’s new novel is a slow-burn romance and an ode to the chosen family we need when everything gets too complicated…The beach-read master hooks us again.”