Emily Henry is a MUST read for me, I have never clicked “request” so fast! While this book was a little sadder and more emotional than her others, it was still just perfect. I don’t think I could read it over and over, but it was beautiful in all ways. The setting, the relationships, it was all just heartbreaking and amazing. I love how this book highlights the fact that not everything is a happily ever after, that even when we want things to be a certain way, sometimes it just doesn’t work out like that. And bonus! The “Found family” trope is one of my absolute favorites, and I was so happy to see how it played out here.

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Here are some reasons why Happy Place is now my new favorite Emily Henry Book (and why I personally believe it's her best work yet):

🌸 IT'S MORE THAN JUST A LOVE STORY
It follows an engaged couple who broke up months ago without their close friends knowing and they had to pretend that they’re still together for their annual weeklong vacation with them. That might scream second chance romance and fake dating, but don't get fooled! This book talks about complex themes of relationships from families to friendships, growing together and apart, and personal battles that’s told in dual timelines.

🌸 IT FELT LIKE A MOVIE IN THE MAKING
The plot, characters, and scenes were vibing together as if I’m watching a feel-good movie that breaks my heart in the middle, and trying to piece it back together at the end.

I LOVE Emily Henry and this one was definitely a great addition to everything she's written! I'll read everything she publishes, honestly.

loved the characters harriet and wyn and how they navigated their 20s together while also finding their separate paths in terms of career + the found family in the friend group was charming

I loved this entire book so much, emily henry never misses her stories are real and raw and so relatable.

Another gem by Emily Henry - though this is absolutely not a happy book and my feelings were hurt while reading it. It feels like a bit of a departure from her normal adult work, but in a way that it feels like she's grown as an author.

I had a lot of feelings about this book.

The setting is beautiful, I can picture everything about where they are.

This is not my favorite Emily Henry book, but I did love the characters. Wynn and Harriet were so sweet and flawed and I loved them together. I was so worried they wouldn’t find their way back to each other.

This book really dealt with change and how people cope with change and how relationships grow and evolve no matter how we sometimes want to stay the same.


I liked it and it’s a good read for women in their thirties, but it was slower paced at times. Still recommend and still enjoyed it

Emily's book always end up hitting me in the feels, and at this point, I will read anything that she writes. I loved everything about this book!

I’m not usually one for second chance romance, but I quickly fell in love with both Harriet and Wyn. Emily does a fantastic job of creating the chemistry between these two as well as focusing on when things fell apart by alternating between present day and the past.

One of my absolute favorite parts of this book was the found family aspect. Found family is hands down my favorite trope, and I loved the core friendship group! I really hope that this is a theme that becomes more common in Emily’s writing.

Emily Henry is the queen of banter. She has such a way with words that you are immediately invested in the lives of the characters. You are obviously sold on the swoonworthy love story between the main couple but the whole dynamic between this group of friends is sweet and genuine and real it makes reading this book feel like you know them all

This book was enjoyable but really just okay for me. I am not as big a fan of Emily Henry as most other readers. I think the characters are often a bit thinly constructed, and the choices they make less believable or relatable than characters constructed by some of her peers, like Jennifer Weiner or Taylor Jenkins Reid. That our protagonist wouldn't at some point explore - ohh, family practice or pediatrics--- when realizing surgery and hospital life wasn't for her, made the story feel absurdist to me. I enjoyed the setting and the friendships.

I didn’t like this one as much as her sassier enemies to lovers outings at first but the message about growing up and leaving your 20s behind was very poignant in the end…. And felt so real!

This is one of Emily Henry’s most emotionally charged books. It’s truly a feat because she packs in hilarious dialogue, rich friendships and a lot of childhood baggage.

This was a tough book for me - the writing and the characters are absolutely top notch. But the main emotion permeating the pages is: bitter sweetness. It just saturates the mood and plot.

That isn’t my ideal reading experience and yet I couldn’t stop reading. Thank the Lord for HEAs.

That being said, this is a beautiful and stunning read. I can’t wait to see what Emily writes next.

Came for the romance, stayed for the heartwarming friendship. My soul feels fuzzy and I have Emily Henry to thank, as always.

Book Lovers remains my favorite of heres (controversial I know) but this is a fun story that I would recommend to any rom-com reader.

It took me a year pondering on how to write this review because 1.) Emily Henry is one of my favorite romance writers, and 2.) I was sad to say I ended up feeling meh about this book.

Don't get me wrong. Happy Place still had that spark. It still made me feel nostalgic, romantic, and warm in such ways that only Henry could do. But I felt that some of the arguments could've been avoided if only miscommunication wasn't present in the majority of the plot. I also felt somehow disappointed that I didn't connect with both of the main characters hence I found myself not really rooting for their happy ending. It's one of those cases wherein the beginning kept me hooked but past the middle I was starting to feel like the pages were simply dragging me up to the end.

Would I still recommend it though? Yes. Happy Place is still a book that you will want to read especially on holidays or staycations that make you want to just abandon your real life and have the best time.

This book was definitely not what I was expecting it to be but I loved it nonetheless. Wyn and Harriet’s love story showed the true embodiment of soulmates. I did get frustrated at times with them and there were some parts that just didn’t make sense for me but I chose to ignore it because I love them too much.

Now, the found family trope in this book put the biggest smile on my face. I just really loved their dynamics and how close they all were years after they graduated college.

I will never get over Wyn & Harriet and this heartbreaking yet beautiful story. Overall I absolutely adored this book and was so sad when I finished. Might be time for a re-read???

Is it my all time favorite Emily Henry book? No, Beach Read and Book Lovers will always remain superior to me but this is right after those two.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Happy Place follows Harriet and Wyn who have been broken up for months, unbeknownst to their close friends. Their friend group is meeting in their "happy place," a cottage in Maine owned by their friend Sabrina's family. Harriet is not expecting Wyn to be there, but he is, and this brings them to the decision to act as if they haven't broken up, as to not ruin this important friends trip. This week long trip forces Harriet and Wyn to finally face their break up and figure out what each of them truly want.

This is a story about friendship, found family, and figuring out what truly makes you happy. Emily Henry's writing is always engaging and her characters are always loveable. This book bounces around to the past and the present, which allowed me to really understand Harriet, her friend group, and her relationship with Wyn. This is an enjoyable read that is perfect for the summer. It is a little long and dragged a little in places, but in the end I really enjoyed this story. This story deals with a break up, grief, and what it means to grow and find yourself in a completely new phase of life. I can always count on Emily Henry for a romance with complexity in terms of story telling and character dynamics!

This book was amazing, it had me in a chokehold the whole time. Emily Henry never misses. I’ve recommenced this book to so many people and have only heard amazing things

Another absolute winner by Emily Henry, an author who always manages to take the usual formulaic romance genre and its tropes and mine something more out of them. That's exactly what she does here, and she delivers with her usual candor and fun dialogue a satisfying read.

I thought it was okay. This is about a second chance romance between Harriet & Wyn, where they never told their friends that they broke up, but a week-long vacation forces them to interact and essentially fake-date.

Once everything started to unfold on why they broke up, I honestly thought they’d be better off as friends. The lack of communication on their problems was kinda insane lmao. Wyn & Harriet go through individual and personal problems, which take them the entire book to realize. I did think it was longer than necessary.

I did enjoy reading the friendships between everyone and the friend group. Towards the middle, it started to drag for me. Also didn’t really like how it ended.