Nothing I say about this book will do it justice. Happy Place ripped my soul apart whilst simultaneously putting it back together. Whilst I was reading the last third (at least), I was crying. For a good hour and a half I cried over this book and even just talking about it or writing this review is making me incredibly emotional because this book hit deep and I know I’m going to be in such a slump now.

This book is told from two timelines, pre-breakup and post-break up. The flashbacks were hard hitting and over the course of the novel, we’re left wondering why they broke up as it’s so clear they are so in love with each other. The main storyline takes place at an annual getaway with their best friends who still believe they are together as neither Harriet nor Wyn has been able to tell their friends they’re no longer together.

The more I read this book, the more my heart broke, like don’t get me wrong I love this book with everything I have and will reread and reread it, but why did it have to hurt like that? Harriet and Wyn have undeniable chemistry and after a while, they both struggle to keep up pretenses as their fake romance is hitting a little close to home as neither appear to have gotten over the breakup. The romance was beautiful and I’m so glad Emily Henry gave these characters what they deserve because they have been through it.

Happy Place was so much more than a second-chance romance, and I think that was why it affected me so much. This book is about grief. It’s about the end of an era, and I believe this might be what did it for me. This is the groups final trip to their getaway house as it’s being sold in a month so they can no longer use it, and Sabrina, one of their friends, is determined to have the best last trip. I think I related with her a lot as she was so afraid that this trip was going to be the end of their friendship group as everyone was growing up and making big life changing decisions, so a lot goes down in this book.

I absolutely loved this book even if it destroyed me, and I couldn’t recommend it more.

Oh this was delish!

Wyn and Harriet go to their annual meet up/holiday with their friends......but no one knows they have broken up.....and it's......awkward!

But what it also is, is glorious! I ate this book up in 1 sitting because I couldn't put it down!

This book has it all, unbreakable friendships, happiness, angst, personal growth and, of course, a true love that's a bit broken.

If you are a romance lover then this book is for you!

One thing about me is that I love a reread. I fell in love with this author and now Happy Place is my reread happy place!

cw: bereavement, grief, anxiety, depression 

As Harriet Kilpatrick returns to her best friends' luxurious cottage in Maine for a week with her best friends one final time before it's sold, she's keeping a huge secret. Once part of a seemingly golden couple, she and Wyn Connor split months earlier. She knows she has to tell Sabrina, Cleo, Parth, and Kimmy, who are more family than friends. But somehow, saying it aloud to them will make it real, incontrovertible. Still, the last person she expects to see at the cottage is Wyn. Both are determined to keep their secret until the end of the week, but with so much history (and unresolved questions), will they be able to keep up the charade?

I was ecstatic to be asked to review an early eARC of this book, and fair warning: stock up on tissues and rehydration drinks before its release in April 2023 because this book ripped out my heart, and stamped on it several times. It took me almost a week to read because so much was emotionally painful that I had to take a moment (or ten hours) to compose myself because I couldn't see the pages. 

There were so many aspects of Harriet that I empathised with, and the details of her childhood were so hard at times to read, but so well written. Wyn was so very clearly besotted with Harriet from the moment they met, but I knew how his mind was working, and it was heartbreaking to discover how they came to break up. Chapter 29 utterly wrecked me. As in, I had to abandon my Kindle in a different room until I could stop the gutwrenching sobs. There are several themes explored throughout the book: friendship; love; both family and found family; bereavement; grief; loneliness; expectation; lack of self-worth; mental health; and heartbreak. Each one is sensitively explored and doesn't feel shoehorned. Every supporting character felt authentic and integral to the story, and I really loved Cleo and Kimmy. I also empathised with Sabrina as the one trying to keep a friend group together. But this is really Wyn and Harriet's story, told in a mixture of flashbacks and the present day. You really FEEL the love between them through the pages, which is why it's so painful at times and adorably charming at others. I am already certain this will be one of my top books of 2023. Exceptional and highly recommended.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥
Emotional Rating: 😬💔😂🙈💔😢💔😢💔😂🥰💔😭😍🥰

*Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

A quintessential holiday read full of likeable characters, believable relationships and a wonderful coastal setting. At its centre are a fake relationship and the potential for a second chance which the reader invests in as they relive Harriet and Wyn's romantic past. The close group of friends have their secrets too, which are revealed during the holiday.

It's an immersive read from the first few lines, and the humour, sadness and friendship make this a heartwarming read. Whilst the protagonists are young, the spirit and sentiment translate whatever your age. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, the family dynamic and the setting.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Harriet and Wyn are on a weeklong summer holiday with their group of friends - except the friends don’t know that they broke up five months earlier. Their group has been going to Sabrina’s dad’s cottage in Maine since they were students but now he’s decided to sell it and they’re there for a last hurrah. But neither Harry or Wyn can bring themselves to risk spoiling it by telling everyone that they’ve broken up – especially as the others have always called them the perfect couple. But as the days pass it’s clearer and clearer that they’re not OK and they're not over each other and pretending they’re still a couple is not helping any of it at all…

This is definitely at the women’s fiction end of the romance genre – yes, it follows the rules but it’s actually a lot about Harriet herself and her own personal growth as well as about her relationship with Wyn. It also made me cry more than once, so there’s that – Him Indoors got quite worried about me sniffling away at the end of the sofa – but by the end of the book it was worth it, even if I had a couple of minor quibbles along the way that mean I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Book Lovers, but that was a high bar to reach!

En bref, je n'ai jamais vraiment réussi à ressentir une étincelle entre Wyn et Harriet que ça soit dans le passé ou dans le présent puisque l'autrice alterne les périodes pour nous permettre de mieux comprendre leur relation. C'est long, très long, je n'ai pas apprécié Harriet qui m'est apparue froide et distante et je dois dire que si j'ai beaucoup aimé Wyn par contre, ça n'aura pas suffit à faire pencher la balance. J'ai failli abandonner à plusieurs reprises mais je suis quand même contente d'être allée au bout parce que la fin est vraiment chouette par contre. Mais ça ne restera pas une romance marquante pour moi...

I am typing this as my tears are drying and that’s always the best way to start a review. When I first started reading this I thought the writing was good and the story was sweet but there’s wasn’t anything wow about it. There’s a lot of travelling back in time to help you understand how they got there and the dynamics. The story follows found family and how time has changed their paths and how they keep ahold of one another. As I got further into the story the emotions really started to get intense. The story got so much better and the way it was told was beautiful. The story is told from Harriet’s perspective but through her relationship with wyn we get to see different forms of insecurity and attachment from both of them. The way childhood affected each of them in different ways and how it led them to make the decisions that they did and how they learn to grow beyond that. Learning to not only accept themselves but hold on to each other including their other friends and their own challenges. With beautiful writing and lots of tears and laughter it a 4.5 stars from me. The beginning is what pulled it down just that little bit. But otherwise another must have book from Emily Henry’s backlist. Happy reading 🥰

A group of friends on an island. A yearly summer holiday that will be the last of an era. a couple who have been broken up for a half year, but have not told their friends.

Wyn and Harriet have been the perfect couple since they have been together. However, life happened and now they broke up. They have not talked about it to each other or their friends. When they find themselves on a group holiday, there are many reasons to not tell their friends about their break-up. It is hard though, to keep pretending. Especially, since they are still definitely in love with each other. Will they be able to let go of each other, to make the other happy? And what will happen in the group diring this holiday?

I loved this book, Emily Henry captures the difficulties of life that came in between Wyn and Harriet perfectly. She kept me on the edge of my seat, wanting to keep reading until I finished the book. The characters were great and the setting was perfect. I loved all the references and inside jokes that were in the book. I wish I could just re-read this like it is the first time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for letting me read this as an ARC. #HappyPlace #NetGalley

“Everything good?” she asks. “Of course it is,” I insist, snuggling closer. “I’m in my happy place.”

I was excited to read Emily Henry’s upcoming, Happy Place thinking it would be fun, light and romantic. I am happy to report that it was that and so much more. Emily’s fourth novel where she takes on the second chance romance trope is a definite winner and for many more reasons than readers might immediately think.

‘What can you feel? Sunlight, everywhere. Not just on my bare shoulders or the crown of my head, but inside me too, the irresistible warmth that comes only from being in the exact right place with the exact right people.’

On the surface, Happy Place is the story of Harriet and Wyn who have to pretend they are still together so they don’t ruin their last holiday with their group of best friends. How this plays out will obviously prove eventful, however, dig a little deeper and there is a great deal more going on here. The tale goes between past and present but there is a real depth of emotion on both an individual, dual and group level that definitely sets this Emily Henry book apart from her earlier works.

‘He’s become my best friend, the way the others did, bit by bit, sand passing through an hourglass, so slowly it’s impossible to pin down the moment it happens. When suddenly more of my heart belongs to him than doesn’t, and I know I’ll never get a single grain back.’

Yes, this book has all the expected charm with fun and light encounters but this time around there is an added layer of real character development. There is a sense of melancholy as other reviewers have noted that makes it less rom-com with a focus more on the slow burn. With deeper understandings and revelations as characters explore their individual and collective arcs and how navigating life and love - both romantic, family and friendships - is front and centre.

‘The place I go when I feel trapped inside myself. When I’m terrified that all my happiest moments belong to the past.’

This, I found to be, one of the most appealing aspects of this book. Whether it be the individual's growth, the romantic growth and family/friendship growth - Emily Henry takes it to the next level. I found the theme of friends and family and what that looked like and how that impacted them to be just as powerful as the romantic themes - perhaps even more so.

‘Time doesn’t move the same way when we’re there. Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for each other. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was.’

Emily Henry’s Happy Place, is quite possibly her best yet as it has everything you have come to expect and so much more. Her writing is truly evolving with readers sure to love her latest offering. The romance is incredible but so too are the other themes and life lessons.

‘Everything is changing. It has to. You can’t stop time. All you can do is point yourself in a direction and hope the wind will let you get there.’










This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

🐚 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 🐚

𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: one bed, second chance, found family, fake dating, friends to lovers

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀: past miscommunication, depression, death of a parent

I had mixed feelings about this book, and for a few moments I was scared that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I have read books written by Emily Henry before, but I felt different about this book. It seems to me that Happy Place deals with a lot of suffering on the part of the female character, and I understand it, because all this was caused by a lack of communication on the part of her and her partner.

In the course of the story, there are also some scenes from the past of Harriet and Wyn so that you can better understand why they broke up. I really liked the flashbacks, and even at one point I wanted more flashbacks than the moments in the present.

Emiliy's writing style and how she portrayed the suffering of the characters was very beautiful, and the epilogue was happy and emotional.

There were also some funny moments, and the secondary characters seemed to me to be the perfect friends you can have. What I didn't really like was the fact that almost every character had something to hide, which made it a little hard to connect with them.

Overall I really liked it.

Thank you Emily Henry, Pinguin General Uk and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Emily Henry's latest amazing book. I still need some time to process this, but I can say for now that it was fun, exciting, romantic, and, in true Emily Henry style, UNPUTDOWNABLE. I will definitely add a more detailed review once the book hangover it caused will pass and I can view it a bit more objectively. 5 stars!.

Harriet and Wyn have been together since college. However, six months ago they broke up but haven't told their friends. Their friendship group has been together since college and when they are invited to stay at their friend's house they have to pretend to be together still.

My actual rating for this is 3.5 rounded up to 4. I really loved Book Lovers but sadly this one was not as good. This one started out quite slow and it took me a while to get into this story. This one is told in two timelines; past and present. I didn't particularly enjoy the flashbacks and preferred the scenes happening in the present day. I liked the friendship group but I didn't love the romance. I didn't find that I was rooting for the characters to get back together.

Overall I liked this but it is not my favourite from this author. I do think that this is going to be very popular and there are a lot of elements that people will enjoy. This one has very summery vibes.

Wow, what a read this was!
Having only read Book Lovers, which I really enjoyed, I was thrilled to be invited to read an ARC of Emily Henry's latest novel Happy Place.
This was a complete surprise. This book touched me in ways I had not experienced with Book Lovers, which to me felt a little straightforward.
Happy Place tackles friendships and life events far more than I had envisioned. The characters' relationships were put to the test in their adult life, and Henry does a superb job of keeping the characters identitities through the book.
The emotion, the understanding, the character development, are perfectly written with a plot that pulls on your heart strings with every page.
Fantastic.

Sachant que l'autrice allait être prochainement publiée en France, j'avais envie de découvrir sa plume avec son prochain titre VO. Malheureusement pour moi, je n'ai pas réussi à me plonger dans cette histoire et à m'attacher aux personnages.

Harriet Kilpatrick est notre héroïne et depuis cinq mois, elle s'est séparée de son compagnon. Elle ne l'a dit à personne et elle va se retrouver dans une situation délicate car ses amies l'ont invité pour leur ultime retrouvaille dans cette maison où elle a vécu plein de moments heureux. Après une annonce romantique et inattendue de Sabrina, elle n'aura donc pas d'autres choix que de s'enfoncer dans le mensonge et les fausses apparences. Si au départ les flashbacks nous permettent d'en savoir plus sur la naissance de leur histoire, j'ai trouvé qu'ils alourdissaient le récit et je me suis donc par moments ennuyée. Les tensions seront donc là mais toute l'alchimie n'est pas morte. On va finir par comprendre pourquoi ils se sont séparés mais même à ce moment là, je n'ai rien ressenti.

Les amies de notre héroïne sont donc Sabrina qui va épouser Parth et à qui appartenait cette maison aux superbes souvenirs. Elle est clairement le ciment entre nos trois héroïnes et j'ai vu qu'elle était souvent à l'origine des appels, des rencontres et donc de ce dernier moment ensemble. Elle est un exemple d'amour heureux et cela pourrait donc être un cinglant rappel de ce qu'elle a perdu mais jamais Sabrina n'est mesquine ou enfonce le couteau dans la plaie. Quant à Cléo, elle est en couple avec Kimmy et elle semble plus discrète. Pourtant, elle saura hausser le ton quand il le faudra.

Wyn Connor est donc le héros et on sent très vite qu'il a besoin de s'expliquer avec Harry. Ils ont laissé les choses en suspens et n'ont pas encore tourné la page. Il y aura pas mal de non dits et un manque de communication. Wyn est un héros que j'ai bien aimé mais qui n'a pas non plus été transcendant. En effet, pourquoi attendre aussi longtemps et accepter de rentrer dans le jeu de cette rencontre surprise s'il n'a pas encore des sentiments;

Bref, vous l'avez compris, j'ai lu ce livre mais il ne m'a pas emportée. Je laisserai toutefois sa chance à l'autrice en découvrant d'autres titres avant de porter un jugement définitif sur une plume qui pourrait ne pas me plaire.

I don't read a whole lot of contemporary romance, and apart from Emily Henry the only other author whose novels appeal to me from the genre is Mhairi McFarlane. So it was a no-brainer to request Henry's latest offering... but I am sad to report that it was my least favourite of her novels so far.

I loved Beach Read for its believable romance narrative and fun plot and setting. Book Lovers was probably my next favourite as I enjoyed the premise and book-themed plot. You and Me on Vacation was admittedly not the best (I almost always hate the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers plot in a novel), but I found things to enjoy in the book. So what went wrong with Happy Place?

The "cast of friends reliving their youth" narrative felt a bit tired and it was honestly flat out boring to read about a load of friends getting drunk (repeatedly) before they could be honest about their feelings. The fact that a few things in the plot (no spoilers!) were based on people lying so as not to upset other people in the friendship group felt totally contrived too. The romance arc was also just a bit dull.

It's a shame that this didn't work for me, but if you've enjoyed Henry's other recent romance offerings I'd still suggest picking it up - you might find something that works for you here. I'd still pick up her next book, but am just left feeling a bit bummed that this didn't work for me or take me to my "happy place" (sorry!).

This is a very different take on the ‘fake dating’ trope. Harry and Wyn broke up six months ago, but they haven’t told their close knit group of college friends yet. Now, they’re going on their annual trip to the cottage, where they will see their friends, and each other, for the first time since the break up. Harry intends on gathering them together and telling them, but soon after they arrive Sabrina announces that her father is selling the cottage, making this their last time staying at their ‘happy place’. She has decided that her and boyfriend Parth will get married there at the end of the week, with only their four best friends as witnesses. How can Harry and Wyn spring their devastating news on them now? They decide to stick the week out, pretending that they are still a couple, so as not to put a damper on the celebrations. It’s harder than they thought it would be though. (Pun very much intended)...

I didn’t think I’d enjoy this romance between exes, but Emily Henry has surprised me again. ‘Book Lovers’ is still superior for me. The chemistry between those characters was off the charts. This is still a great read though. There is one part that will always stick with me (and it’s not a steamy bit). Near the end of the book Wyn compares depression to asthma, and (I won’t quote it here) it was one of the best descriptions of what depression and discovering anti-depressants can feel like. I had to screenshot.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have tears in my eyes because that ending was just beautiful perfection. The whole book actually. As much as I wanted to get to the hea part I also wanted to burrow into this book and never leave. It’s apart of my soul now.

Swapping from past to present helped make things seem not so heart breaking. I loved seeing Wyn and Harriet’s love build, and how they reconcile made my heart all warm and feel the feels. They were gut wrenchingly perfect for each other.

This wasn’t just about their love though but their found family’s love too. And I loved all the ups and downs and how real it was.

I loved everything about this book. I don’t know what else to say beyond that except that I’m super sad it’s over. It was everything that I never realised I needed.

A lovely beach read for me with characters you really root for. I loved the friendship here between the three main female characters. The main couple are the will they/won’t they pair, and you really want to knock their heads together. This feeling is total proof of how invested you are in a story! The setting is amazing, I would love to go to Maine and try a lobster roll.

Spring. Happy Place reminds me of Spring. Stick with me here — I’ll make the point, I promise.

You wouldn’t believe it, by looking at the date of this review, that Happy Place was my first read of the year. I read it right at the beginning of January. It has taken me four months (four!) to try and put in to my words my feelings about this book, and yet I still don’t feel I’m able to do it properly.

I love this book, wholeheartedly: from the top of my head, to the tips of my toes.

This book made me feel seen, it came at such the right time in my life when I needed it, and I think, for that, this book will always hold great meaning. I imagine, as well, as I get older this book will continue to impress me and find things for me to resonate with. Timeless.

Let’s just start off with saying: the title is deceptive. I spent most of this book not happy. But that’s not to say there isn’t happiness in this book, just that it was well earned and well placed. This book just has a wonderful mixture of banter, angst and love.

There’s also just so much yearning (clenches fist), heartbreak and grief. It’s a book about loss, about growing up and growing apart. It explores grief, all types: loss of a parent, loss of a romantic relationship, loss of a friendship, loss of a sense of self.

We find these characters in a time of their life where there is just so much change. They’re forced to confront mortality, and their futures in a way they never had to before when they were young. Forced to confront each other in ways they never had to. Because this is the reality, life hurts — it pulls and it picks at you, but in the words of the great Dr. Taylor Swift, if you never bleed you’re never going to grow.

Happy Place handles this all well — the showing of growing pains of people moving in to their next phase of their life. And this looks different to everyone: for some, it’s starting a family with children, for others it’s a marriage. Sometimes, your life may look exactly the same, but it’s you that feels totally different — out of place with yourself and those around you. It’s hard, but again, it’s so real.

I like how this book showed how friendships grow and change and snap and heal with time. How growing older can mean growing apart, people are in different parts of their lives, and that’s okay. But it’s reckoning with that, mourning that loss of how things used to be that’s hard. But this book shows that just because one thing ends, doesn’t mean it can’t be a new beginning of something else. You can still mourn and grieve for something in the past, it’s a massive change/loss, but you can look forward to the future.

I think that really captures the experience of growing up. So much changes, we change, our relationships change, the way we view them changes. And there’s also a sense of loss and grief, looking back at the “good times” and missing how things how used to be. It’s an experience many of us go through. Again, I like how this book presented that these relationships take on new life, but I appreciate how it didn’t try to solve this, or give an answer that’s like “well you just got to get over it!” If anything, this book said: feel your feelings, I’ll be right there beside you feeling them too.

This is why Happy Place reminds me so much of Spring. It’s a time where things renew, new life flourishes in the face of the old. It’s a cycle. And to me, Happy Place reflects that.

Overall, I loved this book. I loved how it was written, with the past and present narratives. I loved the characters, even — no, especially — when they annoyed me. These characters were perfect because they weren’t perfect, they were flawed and complicated and messed up and had stuff to apologise for, and a lot to not apologise for and I loved it. They were human. Every time I cried or I laughed I really felt it.

And, of course, I loved the romance. Like I said above, I loved the banter and the angst and I enjoyed how this story ended.

This is 5/5 stars, obviously. How could I give it any less?

Oh, Em... I was waiting for this book for so long and it was truly a masterpiece!

How to describe it? Simple. Fake it till make it. Harriet and Wyn broke up 6 months ago. They havent told anyone - friends and family have used to seeing them toghether despite their differences than they rather expected an engagement news than information about breaking up.

But, there is a small problem... They have invitation from their friends to spend holiday together. Sooo, they decided to just go, pretend that nothing happend and just enjoy themselves in place they both love. Sounds ridiciouls, right?

But still, I love it! I adore the spark between them, the emotions hidden deep, small rituals that keeps going no matter what they're trying to do or hide. Emotions does not disappear, they are changing, but sometimes we just need time to realise it.

I adore Emily and especially her two latest books. She's definitely heading into the right direction.