Henry’s new novel is a slow-burn romance and an ode to the chosen family we need when everything gets too complicated…The beach-read master hooks us again.” His love is steady, constant. Easier than breathing, because breathing is something you can overthink, to the point that you forget how your lungs work and get yourself into a panic. I could never forget how to love Wyn.” preface: i rated this book on a completely different scale from emily henry’s other books or romance books in general. the reason why i loved this book so much, was not the romance but harriet’s introspection and character. its tones were much more subtle and nuanced, much reminiscent of a lit fic in some parts. Social media, cause tell me why I thought of wyn the second I saw someone selling their tables on tinder?? I decided to give Emily Henry another chance after Beach Read, which I did not finish because it was bad in my opinion. So, I said "Why not? Maybe this one turns out to be pretty good!" and now that I finished it, I've realized (after a long night of overthinking and self-loathing. Yeah, I know, it wasn't my best night, lol) that maybe romance as a main plot isn't my genre.

Happy Place by Emily Henry - Penguin Books New Zealand Happy Place by Emily Henry - Penguin Books New Zealand

Every year, they take a holiday from their lives to drink far too much wine with their favourite people in the world. The irony of it all strikes me then: working so hard to earn their love and pride, and it’s brought me no closer to them. If anything, I think maybe it’s kept them at a distance." harriet is so me coded “he’s a golden boy. i’m a girl whose life has been drawn in shades of gray.” GORL IM CRYING

We’re all ears

I considered giving this 3/5 at one point but the more I think about it the more it makes me rage. I'll have to split this into parts cause I had an issue with almost everything and anything !!! this is the last EH book I'll ever read so if u see me reading any of her new releases, ill fly out to the UK so u can beat the shit out me 🫶🏻 Basically, Happy Place is about a second chance romance, between Harriet and Wyn (I swear I've never heard the name Wyndham until the day I started this book), who broke up five months ago and reunite for a trip with their best friends. They have to act like they're still together and pretend happiness and such just to not causing chaos. like that exact situation happened at least 3 times. that’s not a lot, but it’s strange it’s happened thrice. and wyn omg this sweetheart !! his kindness and selflessness is so precious and infectious. “i will always love you, that’s the point, harriet. it’s the only thing that’s ever come naturally to me.” GAHHHD i need him !!

Happy Place by Emily Henry: 9780593441275 Happy Place by Emily Henry: 9780593441275

Maybe I need to know that he remembers that he hasn't totally forgotten what it feels like to love me, while I'm trapped with him buried onto my heart, my, brain, my lungs, my skin." the ending felt extremely rushed. once we had the full reason for the breakup, i don’t think it was explored enough. things felt so patchy at the end. i think this book had a lot of potential, but i’m not the biggest fan of the way it was executed—hence my conflicting feelings. Harriet is invited to her Happy Place, where she has spent her most meaningful, unforgettable, sentimental moments with her best friends Sabrina, a hotshot lawyer, and Cleo, an aspiring farmer. Sabrina started dating their long-time friend and party boy Parth, and Cleo is happily farming and dating her hyperactive, extrovert lover Kimmie. Normally, their group turns into a party of five! this book is for the girls who worry and worry, worry if they’re good enough, worry if they’ve achieved enough, worry if they’re enough. worry if they love people too much, worry if they love people too little. worry if they’re a catalyst for something bad that happens. worry if they’re too temporary or maybe too permanent. who have nostalgic happy moments on a loop in their heads. who feel the loneliness more with people around them than when they’re alone. i love how she creates stories differently with different plots and that the characters are all different and not carbon copies of each other.But how can you pretend to be in love - and get away with it - in front of the people who know you best? Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college, they go together like peanut butter and jelly, honey and tea, but now for reasons they won't discuss, they don't belong together anymore. Harriet and Wyn were newly weds, but never had a formal wedding. Fast forward a little bit, Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago and still haven't told their best friends. Harriet and Wyn decide to make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual week long vacation with their best friends at the cottage in Maine that has been their happy place for so long. Harriet didn't expect to see Wyn at the cottage, but they later learn the cottage they have gone to for years is going up for sale, so Harriet and Wyn decide to lie through their teeth for the best friend's sake of having one last happy week at their happy place. Despite lying, Harriet and Wyn are trying not to notice how desperately they still want one another. Happy Place is told in a past tense and a now timeline. We get a glimpse of Harriet and Wyn when they first met, and how this group of best friends grew up together. He's a golden boy. I'm a girl whose life has been drawn in shades of gray. I try not to love him. I really try." For us to go on this journey together, you won’t need to go anywhere near a wind chime. You need nothing more than an open mind and a little curiosity. The side characters had no personality whatsoever. They felt very flat and boring. Sabrina was controlling and kind of bitchy. Parth had zero personality. Cleo and Kimmy were okay, until I felt like they were not a lesbian couple, but a heterosexual couple where one of them is a guy with a girl's name. Don't come at me for this, I just felt it like that. I did enjoy when Sabrina was called out. I get that they were in that trip mourning their youth and trying to have a good time, but goddamn it was painful. I just could not stand them. Trust me, I'm good at mourning my wasted and non existent youth, but this was pure hell.

Happy Place - Penguin Books UK

I have to admit that this book is the sexiest, steamiest novel the author has written. The main reason is that the couple in the story has already known each other for ten years, and even though they broke up, the flame is still there. They are obviously soulmates! But what happened between Harriet and Wyn? They dated for nearly a decade, staying as fiancées for eight years. Why did Wyn end things with a four-minute-long phone call? Was it only long distance, did one of them cheat, or is there any crucial, life-changing reason that tore them apart? Every touch, every word had its own importance in the way their relationship flourished and tarnished. Their love had an elegiac tone in how Harriet was describing the "lose" of the love of her life in the present chapters and an eternal essence in how their love seemed unbreakable in the past chapters.

Retailers:

the past chapters are shown to be harriet’s “ happy place” which is when her time is spent at a cottage in maine — an annual trip she takes with her boyfriend and best friends. Real Life’ felt as good as only real life can feel: not enough, bleak, where you find yourself drowning without even realising it, not knowing how you got there and with just enough happy moments felt in between to keep going. I’ve memorized the rhythm of his breathing when he sleeps and the smell of his skin when he’s been out in the sun, and I know when he’s afraid."