Happy Place by Emily Henry
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Heat Level: 🔥🔥
Release Date: April 25, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
SYNOPSIS
A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to 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 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 six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest 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, blue 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.
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
REVIEW
In Happy Place you can expect to find:
-angst…so much angst and longing 🥹
-found family
-evolution of friendships
-fake relationship (kinda)
This book, ugh. I’m pretty sure I had tears in my eyes at like 10% of the book, but I wouldn’t expect anything less with Emily Henry. After being together for 8 years, Wyn and Harriet have decided to end their relationship and simultaneously call of their engagement. It’s been a hard 5 months since their breakup, but Harriet is set on moving on. Only one problem – neither Harriet or Wyn have told their core group of friends that their relationship is over. When Harriet realizes that Wyn will also be at the summer house in Maine that they vacation at every year, with their entire group of friends in the same spot, it gets super messy super fast. Wyn and Harriet decide to pretend like they’re still in their relationship for the sake of their friends. How long will these two be able to fake still being in love before they end up hurting each other again?
I LOVE a second chance romance and the angstier the better. Emily Henry definitely delivered with Happy Place 🥲. I loved the back and forth timeline with when Harriet met Wyn and their eventual pulling apart as a couple. The giddiness and butterflies you feel when a relationship first starts vs the bitterness and hurt when one ends – I felt both of these emotions so acutely 😭 I had tears streaming down my face so many times while reading this book.
I also loved the core group of friends and their relationships with one another. While they started off so carefree and fun (typically how it is in college), they got more complex as lives got busier, messier and took these friends to different parts of the country as well as different parts of their lives. This happens so often in real life – when you’re friends with someone and think you know them so well only to drift apart and think how well do I really know this person now?
Emily Henry has a way with words and so many sentences of Happy Place are highlighted on my tablet. I already can’t wait to go back and reread this lovely book 🥰
If angsty, swoony, second chance romance is your thing – add Happy Place to your tbr.
Ranking Emily Henry books (they’re all 5 stars)
1. People We Meet on Vacation
2. Book Lovers
3. Happy Place
4. Beach Read
*subject to change at any moment
Readaholic Book Reviews 