At this point, I only believe that Emily Henry gets better and better. This story is about a group of college friends on their annual friends vacation, all of whom are couples now. Except for Wyn and Harriet, who have secretly broken up and now have to fake it through the next week with their friends. It is a great story about how friendships, and relationships change with time. There is a lot of self discovery and honesty that is explored. It makes you ask yourself: What truly makes me happy? Where is my "happy place"? I thoroughly enjoyed this story and there were some super sweet moments. The characters were all great. I can't wait to see what EH writes next.

Another charming romantic comedy from Emily Henry.

Harriet and Wyn have been together for years and planning on getting married. They spend a week each year at a friends family cottage with their best friends. This year is especially meaningful as the cottage is going to be sold after this season. It sounds like a wonderful time together with the exception of the fact that Harriet and Wyn broke up and have not yet told their friends. Now they must spend a week pretending that everything is fine. The usual problems and difficulties ensue as everyone there has something they are not sharing. Harriet and Wyn must finally confront their issues and actually talk them. A light, fun read with good characters.

Happy Place is another enjoyable read from Emily Henry. Perfect for fans of second chance and fake dating tropes, with likeable characters and some nostalgia. Emily Henry fans will not be disappointed.

If BOOK LOVERS is Emily Henry's most laugh-out-loud book, HAPPY PLACE is (ironically, given the title) her most heartbreaking. I'm a sucker for a good friends-to-lovers story, and also for stories about shifting dynamics in friend groups, and this book was full of both—throw in a creatively done dual timeline structure and a memorable setting in Maine, and I think this will hit just the right notes for so many readers!

Emily Henry is the new queen of romance novels. Wyn and Harry are on vacation with their friends, although their friends don’t know they’ve just broken up. To keep the vacation happy for one last time they pretend to still be happy and together.

Avid Emily Henry fan and this is in my top 2 after Beach Read! Her dialogue and banter is always amazing, but the setting description really stood out for me in this one. There was lots of melancholy and longing in this one!

So I have to admit that this is my first Emily Henry! What was I waiting for? I will now read her backlog! I am not the biggest fan of second chance romances, but this one was done so well. I love Henry's writing style. I'm not going to lie, I was worried about the ending (was I the only one with anxiety surrounding it all?) but the ending was perfect in my opinion. I will definitely recommend this book!

This, by far, is the best thing Emily Henry has ever done. WOW.

About the writing:

The writing in this is poetic, lyrical, beautiful, and heart wrenching. Every single relationship is dotted with random details and stupid little moments that help to build believability and love for every single character in this book. I’m in love with this little (and big) found family, and Henry captures what it means to love in such small, but ultimately incredible important terms.

Each characters choices feels rooted in who they are, and every emotional decision makes sense. Each character is tied together in ways that aren’t cliche, and each subtle detail works like magic to paint the bigger picture. The plot was fast paced and always had me wanting more, with each subsequent moment forcing me to beg for another detail.

For the readers:

Read this book. Read it again, and then read it again until you’ve memorized every word. I would say it’s my guilty pleasure, but I’m not guilty about it in the slightest. This book captures that warm, somewhat wistful feeling of a happy place so perfectly it had me tearing up from the first page. This book is an anthem to everyone who has ever loved and lost, (which is pretty much everyone) as well as to anyone who has learned to forgive themselves (or needs to). We can control nothing but our own happiness, and trusting that the people we love will be there for us through anything is the best way to finding our own little happy place.

I’d give 10 stars if I could. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin books for the E-ARC and to Emily Henry for this gift from her soul.

This was a wonderful read about friendships, relationships, and always, always, changes. It was heartwarming and hilarious and a perfect Emily Henry title!

Told in present-day and flashbacks, Happy Place centers on the relationship between Harry and Wyn, a relationship that ended six months ago unbeknownst to their closest friends. Thrown together for one last vacation in the friends' favorite vacation spot, Harry and Wyn remember how the relationship started and reckon with why it ended.

New York Times best selling author Emily Henry’s hotly awaited fourth novel will enchant fans and newcomers alike. Harriet is supposed to be in her ‘happy place’- she should be enjoying the annual trip to Maine with her beloved college friends. But instead, she’s in a funk after her fiancé Wyn broke up with her with no explanation. Since he's an integral part of the friend group, they decide to keep the news secret in order not to upset anyone. Now with news that the vacation home they always stay at is for sale -meaning this might be their last summer there together - the pressure is on to have one last perfect trip. Harriet and Wynn agree that to get through this vacation they need to pretend the breakup never happened, and afterward they can go their separate ways, but their enduring love for each other keeps finding its way to the surface. Told in alternating chapters, past and present, we get the full buildup of their love story throughout the years, making their relationship one that readers will root for. This sexy and profoundly romantic novel will satisfy fans of Henry’s thrilling trademark mix of witty banter, intensely emotional storylines, and the transformational power of love.

Another triumph for Emily Henry. The central relationship is deeply compelling and the main character is relatable and interesting. It made me really emotional.

This is a must-buy for public libraries. Henry's books are already so popular that it will be requested by many patrons, and it is just as good as her previous books. I'm glad so many other people like this author too!

This was my least favorite book of hers, unfortunately. I felt myself skimming it at times and was ready for it to be over. It just didn't have anything that interesting to tell, storywise. And I felt the characters weren't well developed.

I wish I could express how much I loved this book. The main character, Harriet, really connected with me. She is a people pleaser who stives to make everyone proud of her without causing any upset. I loved the message of love, found family, and change. This book was a giant hug and a cup of warm tea. Please, please read this.

THIS BOOK IS MY HAPPY PLACE!
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Yay! Another Emily Henry book that left me with all the warm feels! Happy Place did not let me down folks :).
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Henry writes romance, but what I loved about Happy Place is that there is a lot of other themes going on aside from the main romance (however, the chemistry was on point and I loved reading about Harriet & Wyn!). In Happy Place we delve through the importance of friendship, being true to yourself, the value of honesty, growing and changing as a person, and what a happy place really means. This one felt deeper than Henry's other books and I really love it. I know I will remember the characters so much more than in other romances I read.
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I also really loved the atmosphere of this novel. From a cozy house in Montana to a memory-filled cabin in Maine, I wanted to transport myself. That was another part of the book that felt more developed - the descriptions of the places. Ugh - just so good!
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If you're a fan of Emily Henry, I'm sure this is already on your list of books to read! I also rec for fans of romance, character-driven stories, and those that enjoy a good arc.
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Thank you to Berkley for the copy!

If you are already a tried-and-true fan of Emily Henry, Happy Place is another must-read. If you've never read Henry but are looking for a place to start - start at Happy Place. While perhaps not as hilariously snarky as Beach Read, or as high-profile as Book Lovers, Happy Place is an ode to the messy and complicated side of relationships. Harriet and Wyn are complicated, flawed, they have misgivings, and many, many misunderstandings - they aren't always sure how to communicate, or what to say - but they are always connected. Happy Place is about more than just a cute second-chance romance. It's about working on ourselves, acknowledging our own wants and needs and placing ourselves first, so that we can more fully love ourselves and those around us. Harriet felt like a reflection of myself in so many ways - a people pleaser, a pushover, confident when working toward a goal but unsure of herself when it came to making space for her own feelings, and I absolutely loved seeing her emotional and personal transformation over the course of the book. A lovely, atmospheric romance where you feel like you've been personally invited into this group of friends and their yearly vacation, and where you root the whole book for Harriet and Wyn's happy ending - I couldn't put it down!

Emily Henry’s writing is absolute magic, capable of capturing my attention 100% and bringing me into the world she has created. Her characters have depth and she can depict the love between them so incredibly well. I will never pass up one of her books. She continues to amaze me!

I will read anything Emily Henry writes, so it didn't even matter what Happy Place was about, really. Turns out, I got so much more than I bargained for in this sweet, yet deep, story of friendship. As usual, Emily Henry had me laughing out loud. I am continually impressed at her ability to write such snappy and hysterical dialogue.

I fell in love with this group of friends, and I cared deeply about what happened with their stories. I appreciated how the story moved from the past and present while revealing elements of the characters. This is a story I can envision reading again just to marvel at the dialogue. I will be recommending this to my friends.

2.5

I want to preface this by saying this was read in the midst of a romance reading slump which may have contributed to me not being able to get into this as much as I'd like. As such, I've rounded my star rating to compensate.

Let me start by saying I think overall, the Emily Henry stans will eat this up. It includes the charm and witty humour of a diverse cast of characters.

I did quite enjoy the friend group dynamics as a whole, but that said, I could not buy into our main protagonists relationship.

I'm not sure if the format suited the story correctly. I felt as though jumping between their happy place of the past and the present would have been fine if we had any preintroduction to these characters, but I did not find myself rooting for the main couple nor caring if they ended up together in the end. I feel like a longer introduction of their life together then falling apart THEN coming back together would have been more interesting. I felt the pacing in the actual story was off and left it dragging in places. I was also super disappointed that the "fake dating" trope was not executed very well, we didn't get to see them fake date much at all.

I did really enjoy the humour and friendships in this book. I also really liked the diversity (with culturally diverse characters and LGBT representation). I also really liked how she included mental health struggles too.

I think overall this book missed the mark for me, but it was a solid ode to friendships and new beginnings.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review ❤️