Emily Henry has become one of the go-to's for contemporary romance and she exceeded all expectations with "Happy Place." The characters soared off the page and her trademark chemistry sizzled, both romantically and platonically. A gem!

I really loved Henry's other three books published before this one and had such high hopes, but I ended up being a little disappointed as I felt like this book was loosely romance but would have been better categorized as chick lit/women's fiction.

Pros:
I liked the whole going back to the past for some chapters and then fast forwarding to the present for other chapters. I think it helps reveal more about the relationship especially for a second chance romance where you're seeing the couple reconnect as opposed to falling in love for the first time.
I liked the found family trope. Some books attempt it but normally only have one or two friends, but I liked that this was a group of friends who continued to maintain their friendship.
Harriet's character growth was really great. Henry has a way of writing books that make you think and this book was no different. Harriet's character growth made me feel really introspective and the ending was done really well.
Wyn's character growth was done really well considering we didn't get his POV at all. I liked how he came to terms with what he wanted in life and was able to feel comfortable in saying "this is who I am."

Cons:
This book didn't feel like a romance. While there was an HEA, the overall tone of the book was bittersweet and I felt like I was reading more about Harriet's character growth and the relationship between the friend group and less about Harriet and Wyn's reunion. The romance read as though it was secondary to the other elements that I mentioned before which, to me, makes this book more chick lit/women's fiction and not romance.
I didn't see how these characters were going to get back together until about 80ish% into the book when Harriet's professional unhappiness became really clear. In fact, I was actively rooting against Harriet and Wyn getting back together for most of the book because it simply felt like their lives were heading in completely different directions.
I understood Harriet's people pleasing nature and why she acted how she did, but it felt like this was taken to an extreme without a backstory that would warrant how far Harriet went to make people happy. Going through medical school and picking a residency for the most difficult type of doctor to become felt so extreme and while Harriet's childhood wasn't ideal, I never got the impression that her parents ever pressured her to go into medicine. It seemed like she enjoyed science growing up and her parents encouraged that so Harriet twisted it into making up for her parents' lost dreams.
It took until the end of the book for me to warm up to Sabrina's character. I feel like this is a trend in a lot of books where if the main character has a friend group one of them is really bossy for no reason. I felt like Sabrina was being super overbearing and when the big blow up happened I felt like Sabrina was completely bonkers.

Overall, this was a good book, but because it wasn't what I expected it to be with the genre classification I gave it three stars. The writing style was done well as Henry's book typically are, and the story was intriguing, but again, this simply didn't read as a romance. The main story was really the friendship and character growth of the main and secondary characters.

Wow, I don't give 5 stars often but I could not put this book down! Right from the beginning I was enthralled will Harriot and Wyn's story. They go through ups and downs but are both mature and respectful to each other and their relationship.

Yet another wonderful book from Emily Henry. I've read all of her books and this might be my favorite one yet. Harriet and Wyn are a couple that you can't help but root for and the friends they have are well-developed and a joy to read about.

I really liked one. Would be easy to recommend if you liked her other ones or second chance romance books.

LOVED! Alternating between past and present you follow the lives of a group of friends, mainly focusing on Harriet and Wyn. It all starts in college and then transitions into navigating life as working adults. A beautiful read about friendships, reminiscing on the past, family dynamics, and love interests. As a reader, you’ll see these characters through their successes and struggles as they grow up and become the people they want to be. Lastly, Emily Henry does a wonderful job tying in humor into this read.

I was very excited to get this ARC as I absolutely loved Book Lovers and recommended it to everyone I know. Unfortunately this was more like People We Meet on Vacation. The friendships and characters were all very flushed out but the actual issues keeping the romantic interests apart were extremely predictable and not real obstacles at all.

(No spoilers!)

Emily Henry just keeps writing fantastic novels. I was immediately invested in the friend group, and wanted them to all live happily ever after.

Harriet, Sabrina, and Cleo have been best friends since college. Along the way they met Parth, and his roommate Wyn, and then later Kimmy. For a decade they’ve been friends, and more — Sabrina and Parth, Cleo and Kimmy, Harriet and Wyn.

But Harriet and Wyn split up 5 months earlier. He moved home to Montana, while Harriet continues her surgery residency in San Francisco. Their friends don’t know though, and Harriet and Wyn find themselves forced to pretend they’re still together when they all meet up in Maine for a summer vacation like they all used to do in years gone by.

Charming and poignant, Happy Place is an irresistible read! Thanks to Berkley/Netgalley for the advance copy.

I love Emily Henry, and this is her at her best. A lotttt happens at the end, which felt a little less graceful than the rest of the novel, but that's the only reason this hasn't taken the top spot in my personal favs of Emily Henry's books.

Emily Henry always delivers a fun escape, which is something I appreciate more than ever lately. Her characters are always interesting and make you want to see them in a happy ending. Book Lovers is a hard act to follow, but this was a lot of fun as well!

Another great novel by Emily Henry. I really enjoyed the storyline and different relationships featured. Even though the outcome was predictable I still devoured the story and appreciated it so much.

This book utterly broke me. Where Book Lovers felt right for me because of the anti-hero and the cost of her ambitions, Happy Place feels right for me because of the crushing weight that we place on ourselves to ensure other’s joy.

As soon as I heard Emily Henry was writing a second-chance romance I planned to take a day off of work to read it. HAPPY PLACE is her best work yet, truly a remarkable work of literature. This book touched my literal SOUL. The most perfect story of love and friendship, Harriet and Wyn are my forever family

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley publishers for the ARC of one of the most highly anticipated books of 2023.

OMGGGG this book was everything I could want and more. This is my new favourite Emily Henry book and I cannot wait for the publication date.

Harriet is going to meet up with her best friends at the cottage that holds some of her happiest memories. But when she get there she is surprised to see that her ex fiancé Wyn is there even though he said he wouldn’t be attending.

I found myself relating the the story line of how hard it is to reach out to your friends in your twenties as well as how family dynamics effect our relationships. If that still doesn’t have you sold there’s also some enemies to lovers, fake dating, and LOTS of forced proximity (one bed ;))!!

4.75

she did that!!!!! emily henry’s books work so well because of the emotions that run alongside the romance, and the friendships/found family in this book are beautiful. i loved every character, especially cleo and kimmy, and i liked the alternating timeline chapters. there are so many great quotes i want to put here but this was my favorite (paraphrased):

“You said [your brain] felt like a Ferris wheel. Like all your thoughts were constantly circling, and you’d reach out for one, but it was hard to stay on it for too long because they kept spinning.”
“Except with you. You’re like gravity … Everything keeps spinning, but my mind’s always got one hand on you.”

I can’t quantify the magic of Emily Henry I have tried, but that’s all I can describe it as magic. These intense feelings of joy and loss and vivid imagery and you can feel the love. it just comes off the page. I was so in love with Beach Read so in love. I remember making video chat messages to my girlfriends about it while unloading my dishwasher when we were locked down in the spring of 2020 after I read my advance readers copy. I waxed poetic about how it made me love my husband more and brought me so much joy. This is not that. Happy place is not that. I cried, almost the entire novel. The writing in the “dark place” is staccato. That is what dark places feel like and are remembered like sharp and pointy and intense. Read this book if you’re ready to examine the relationship of your parents and how it affected every relationship you’ve ever been in. Read if you’re ready to examine your relationship with your parents and how it has made and shaped you and how you view yourself. This book is not for the faint of heart but it’s worth it.

Wow.

Emily Henry’s books have made me cry before. I have found characters within her pages that I relate to on an eerily personal level. However, none as much as one Harriet Kilpatrick.

The thing about Emily’s books is that the love stories always feel deeply real. The characters are relatable. They’re awkward, charming, sarcastic, hilarious, stubborn, foolish, genuine. Wyn and Harriet were like these two people who truly found each other and melded into each other alongside their found family - an incredible (INCREDIBLE) ensemble cast of characters. I loved this group of friends. Absolutely wept over my baby girl, Cleo, and cried for Sabrina.

I didn’t know about Wyn at first - especially because Gus is like my favorite grumpy son and how could anyone ever compete or compare? But in the end, I found myself wanting to hold him. To wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe.

This book was so funny and so warm and cozy and familiar, and yet it was heartbreaking and bittersweet at the same time.

I loved it. I still have tears stinging the back of my eyes as I write this review.

THANK YOU to Netgalley and Emily Henry and Berkely/Penguin Random House for this Advanced Reader’s Copy. I am in shambles.

Emily Henry has the ability to put the entirety of the human condition in book form. While this wasn't my absolute favorite Henry book, it still was utterly delicious.
Happy Place has every emotion, piled together. Every turn of the page left me anticipating the next. The basis of this story, the start of a friendship, is something that almost anyone who went to college envies. It's rare to find friends, let alone best, in a college admissions process. But Henry weaves this tale together from the bottom up, with this friendship. The ebbs and flows, the growths and setbacks, and the fear of change.
All in all, this book did not disappoint. I will always be delighted to see where Henry takes us readers, and this book was a perfect addition to her collection.

Emily Henry is a master! This book is a really lovely book, that has a romance and is a main focal point. But I thought that the friendship between Sabrina, Harriet & Cleo was really wonderful.
Harriet and Wyn were a struggle. You can see how much they love each other and you slowly get it revealed why they broke up.
I liked the dual timelines, it gave a great look into the past.
Another great novel by Henry!
Thanks NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC!

I love Emily Henry's previous books like Book Lovers and The People We Meet on Vacation. Her books are fun and light and easy to read. I have given all her books 4 stars and Happy Place will be no different. I enjoyed meeting the characters in this friend group and loved the way she separated out the chapters. I would have loved a different ending more than the one she went with, but was thoroughly entertained all the way through. Will easily recommend this book to patrons once it is released in April. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC of this title.