Harriet and Wyn have been broken up for over 5 months. She is finally planning to tell her friends during their annual trip, but is thrown off course when she walks in and Wyn is there. Harriet knows she needs to get through this week without anyone knowing they broke up. Can the two having to pretend all week open their hearts to each other again?

New favorite Emily Henry book alert! I freaking loved this book! I read it in less than 24 hours and only paused my reading to get some sleep. I adored the group of friends and the memories they shared. I also really enjoyed that the story went back and forth from when Wyn and Harriet met, vs where they stand now. I seriously don’t want to say too much, but I could not put this book down and will tell you that Emily Henry blew this one out of the water. So if you haven’t pre-ordered it yet, do it now!

Read if you like
2️⃣ Second chance romance
🫂 Hug in a book
😂 lol worthy banter
🥲 beautiful writing that hits you right in the feels
👯‍♀️ Vacations that get out of the group text

This book quickly flew to the top of my list of Emily Henry books and I’m not mad at it 👏 this was a stunning second chance romance with themes of friendship, growing up, and find your happy and I never wanted it to end.

My thoughts 💭
- I adored Harriet and Wyn… separately and together and I’m happy they were able to find their happy. Their banter was top tier and they put a big smile on my face. But also made me swoon and tear up a bit 🥲
- I loved the entire friend group the dynamics were so fun and supportive but also realistic and makes you think. Kimmy has my heart also
-The setting… immaculate vibes all around tbh I wish I could vacation here but for the rest of my life
- I struggled a bit with the conflicts in PWMOV and Book Lovers but I think she nailed it in this one. It was super believable and real (maybe a little too much bc it had me thinking)

This is truly a beautiful book and I loved every second of it. Excited for the rest of you guys to go to find a piece of your happy place in this book 🫶

This book was an absolute slay and a half!!! Period. I personally really didn't enjoy Beach Read, but then I loved People We Meet on Vacation. So basically, EmHen had been pretty hit or miss for me up to this point. However, this book has solidified her status as a favorite in my opinion.

This vibes were cozy, wholesome, healing, and overall just MAGICAL.

I couldn't put it down, and when I had to, I couldn't stop thinking about it. A++++ infinity.

Overall, this is a fantastic novel about self-growth, friendship, growing up, and grief. I thought it was great and I put it up there with Beach Read and Book Lovers.

First of all… WOW! This book was SO hard to put down, I laughed, I cried, and everything in between. Emily Henry had me captivated from the very start. And I went into this book absolutely clueless! The beginning of the book had me absolutely begging for more information about Wyn and Harriet’s past. Why aren’t they together? Why do they seem to hate one another? “I thought this was a romance!” was yelled at one point. Slowly you learn their story by going between the present and the past. And let me tell you- it hurt. Being able to relate to their relationship and problems that they faced was way too easy. Emily managed to intertwine a completely relatable modern love story with the fact that many face- life changes. And those changes can alter not only yourself, but those around you and the relationships you have. This book showed friendships and a love that had to learn how to grow and change as the characters did. Beautifully written and balanced between completely humorous and serious moments. Emily Henry has written another amazing book that left me content and believing that love is true, and love is you, you, you. #NetGalley #NetGalleyARC #ARC

“And then I met you, and I didn’t feel so lost or aimless. Because even if there was nothing else for me, it felt like loving you was what I was made for.”

Harriet and Wyn. He broke her heart and she hates his guts. Now they have to pretend to still be in love and engaged for a week while on a trip with their best friends.

This book broke my heart but in a good way. It was so emotional and deep! I struggled a little bit in the beginning of the story, but the last few chapters… I simply have no words other than to make sure that you have tissues with you.

✨READ IF YOU LIKE✨:
- dual timelines: past vs present
- forced proximity
- second chance romance
- only one bed
- fake engagement: fiancés pretending to still be together
- close-knit group of friends
- witty banter
- opposites attract
- cozy mysteries & crossword puzzles & pottery
- found family
- cottage in knotts harbor, maine

cw: claustrophobia, death of loved one, grief, family dynamics, mention of parkinson’s, depression

Thank you to @berkleyromance for the free ebook! Happy Place is available on April 25, 2023!

Content warnings: breakup, trust issues

Harriet and Wyn were perfect together until they weren't. They broke up 6 months ago and still haven't told their college best friends about the breakup. Harriet is thrilled when Wyn can't make their friends'/couples' trip to Maine so she won't have to explain. But Wyn shows up. Surprise!

Their relationship is so tied to their friendships with Sabrina, Parth, Kimmy, and Cleo that they are afraid to admit to their friends that their relationship is over. But as they are forced to spend more time together, it becomes unclear why they ended their relationship at all.

The novel gives the entire story of Harriet and Wyn's relationship told in a dual timeline format with their current situation in Maine and starting when they first met in college.

Recommended for fans of Emily Henry.

Representation: lesbian couple

4.5/5 stars
In true Emily Henry fashion, Happy Place is a masterpiece of a romance novel that subverts genre expectations in the best way possible. Harriet and Wynn broke off their engagement 5 months ago, but their best friends don't know that, so they end up stuck together & sharing a room for their yearly vacation in coastal Maine, their happy place. They decide to keep up their ruse for their last hurrah at their friend Sabrina's family vacation home which is about to be sold, but things inevitably get tricky. This is as much of a romance as it is a love story between a group of friends. The love between all of the characters is palpable, and all of their relationships are so well developed. I think that this is Emily Henry's most beautifully written book. The story is hopeful, sometimes melancholy, and the prose is just stunning. I'm usually not a huge fan of second chance romances, but this was executed SO well. The love between Harriet and Wyn is obvious throughout the story. Grief coupled with Harriet's people pleasing tendencies and Wyn's low self esteem drive the couple apart, but forced proximity and lots of meaningful self-reflection bring them back together. The emotional journey they go through as individuals to find each other again is really beautiful.

I loved this novel, Emily Henry doesn't miss. It's so well written, it makes you feel like you are a part of the story. The Found Family trope can be a difficult one to master and Henry does it. I would recommend this novel to any romance lover.

Happy Place? More like tears and pain place.


I have always believed that Emily Henry is very good at writing people falling in love, so with this book she gave us something new. We got to see Harriet and Wyn first falling in love, then grow apart and finally find their way to each other. This said she can write longing and yearning in a couple that’s estranged just as good as in a couple that’s falling in love for the first time.

I loved the setting and the fact that this book is also about friendship as an adult. What happens in the book felt very real to me. Growing up with your friends and part your ways for your career and life in general is always hard and never easy and I feel like she wrote a beautiful bond between Sabrina, Cleo and Harriet.

Wyn and Harriet. First time that I relate to both main characters. I had some stuff in common with Wyn and some in common with Harriet.
The best way for me to describe their relationship is through songs. I would say that the main song for them in the book is Maroon by Taylor Swift. It fits them perfectly. There are a lot of things unsaid between them and yes there is definitely miscommunication.

I always thought I was going to be a Beach Read forever but apparently Happy Place might have just dethroned it.

Another great EH read--her character set-ups always pull you right in. Six college friends are hit with two great upheavals--a beloved family beach house being sold; and impending nuptials for another couple in the group--that leave already fracturing friendships on the verge of splintering even further. Given those two bombshells, Wyn and Harriet certainly don’t want to add to it by announcing their break-up.
We go back and forth between Harriet’s “Happy Place”--her years with Wyn, where you see how they meet and how their relationship blossoms--and “Real Life”--her current world without him--seeing the long tee-up (the pacing like “People We Meet On Vacation”) to what at the start of the book looks like a bitter blow of a break-up. Before we finally learn what happened, in “real Life” we see the pining between Wyn and Harriet become so thick we can taste it.

I think we can all relate to the theme of life’s great upheavals.. Jobs, marriages, birth, death--when you see big changes coming, it’s a question of whether you dig in your heels and figure out how to keep things exactly the same (9 times out of 10 you can’t), or scramble over how to figure out a new normal. Henry illustrates with wonderful clarity and great detail these struggles. Another excellent book.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley publishing for the ARC.

I have read Beach Read and The People We Meet on Vacation from Emily Henry. I enjoyed both of them. Beach Read was by far my favorite.

Book Lovers was DNF for me.

I decided to give Happy Place a try and I was very excited to get approved for the early copy.

I must say this maybe my last book by this author. I was not a fan. I absolutely did not like most of the characters and the dialogues. The lack of communication these so called professionals, was so ridiculous and unbelievable. So many issues and problems could have been solved if people just talked.

I loved the friendship these characters had, and the strong bonds they have created, sadly I guess they just never learned to honestly and openly talk to one another.

I don’t usually post book reviews two months before pub day but my February was so slumpy I’ve got to talk about this gem of a book!

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 turns into anything but. This year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other.

In true Emily Henry fashion this first love/second chance/fake dating with a side of one bed romance will have you crying and laughing. Harriet and Wyn’s chemistry is palpable. I was truly invested in not only their relationship but that of their friends Parth, Sabrina, Cleo and Kimmie. The shenanigans these friends go through for each other is endearing.

I can’t recommend this book enough and I’d read the phone book if @emilyhenrywrites wrote it.

Thank you @berkleyromance for the E-ARC!

Im@currently in my Happy Place in Cancun Mexico! Where is your Happy Place?

Happy Place
by Emily Henry
Pub Date: April 25, 2023
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
A couple who broke up months ago 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 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.
tantalizing read!! I recommend it highly.
4 stars

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgallery in exchange for an honest review.

As I have only read one of Emily Henry's books, and currently own "Book Lovers," which is awaiting the moment to be read in my bookcase, I was extremely excited for a chance to read "Happy Place". This was absolutely outstanding, and I devoured it in a matter of days. It tugged at my emotions, from happy, too sad, to a little bit heartbroken, it left me complete by the end. I adored the main character, as well as Wyn. They complete each other, and for the length of the novel, you hope by the end they make their way back to one another.
From distance lovers, to friends that have grown apart, to a job that makes you miserable. It's all extremely relatable, and provides such outstanding, heartwarming, and eye opening advice. This novel makes me want to go conquer all my underlying dreams, and ignore all those basic jobs. Do something in the end that will make me happy, and pursue the passions that make me, me.

It gives you this underlying strength that you've had buried for awhile, and it's finally been awoken.
When this novel gorgeous novel comes out on April 25th, I will pick up a physical copy, just to annotate and adore it again and again. Then buy copies for my friends, because it has such a beautiful message that needs to be passed along.

"Another head rush. A belly flutter. Warning bells clanging through my nervous system."
"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."

Thank you so much for this opportunity. :)

I posted it on Goodreads, but the website is not loading unfortunately.

Emily Henry writes really compelling and complex romance books. However, this one was not totally for me. I understand why the flash backs were included, but I didn't enjoy those parts of the story as much as the present time, which was about half of the book.

This is my first Emily Henry book and while it was ok, I clearly am not a rom/con fanatic. I will purchase the book for our library and appreciate the ARC from the publisher and NetGalley

While I always enjoy Emily Henry books, I was thrilled to read this one! Besides the witty romance and repartee that I expect from Henry's novels... this included a moving story about friendship and how relationships evolve.

I would recommend Henry's books to romance lovers and readers who enjoy their romance with a bit of substance.

Thanks for letting me read this in advance.

This was definitely a more somber book from Henry, but I think it will do wonders to help readers process loss and change. I know it personally hit home with me as I'm 32 and have dealt with the fact of growing apart from friends and loved ones due to life's circumstances. I truly felt uplifted and comforted by the end, and felt like it really took the opportunity to present change as a necessary -- not evil -- but potentially enriching fact of life.

This cliche of misunderstandings and second chances in love doesn't really work for me. I got tired of the repetitive storyline. The whole book could have been a talk. It was unbelievable that people can't have conversations and refuse to just talk it out before ending everything. Initially fascinating, this quickly grew tiresome. Moreover, there's the matter of everyone's hidden agendas. Besides the cover, not much of this book really appealed to me. I continue to not get the hype with this author, but I will probably read every book by her because my friends continue to like her.


Thank you #netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy for an honest review. 2.5 rounded up.