Book Review | Happy Place #20booksofsummer23

Book 13 of my summer reading challenge and I am on a roll with brilliant books.

Happy Place
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 five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing a 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, blissful 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?

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After reading Book Lovers last year I was eagerly looking forward to another Emily Henry book and thankfully a new one arrived just in time for summer reading. I think going onto this one I thought it was going to be more light-hearted and I could not be happier to be wrong, It is fun and has plenty of witty banter, but it also had a lot of emotional upheaval, this is a book that resonates.

I enjoyed the structure of the story; it is told both in the present day and by looking at the past when the friends all met and first started going to the house and slowly reveals how Harriet and Wyn fell in love. I feel like it gives you a chance to really get to know these characters and see how much they have grown together and eventually how they have grown apart.

It must be said that Emily Henry writes spectacular characters, the chemistry between Harriet and Wyn was amazing, and getting to see it develop in vastly different ways over the two timelines was fantastic. Even though we are seeing them at the best and worst part of their relationship there is a constant magnetism that draws you in. I was so invested in this journey with these characters, there were many tears shed, and I could feel the knots in my stomach as Harriet and Wyn learned some hard truths about themselves and each other. I couldn’t tear myself away because the second chance seemed tenuous even though I was hoping for it with every fibre of my being.

This also applies to the rest of the friends in the group, they are reliving the days when they had a lot less responsibility whilst also trying to navigate the changes in each other’s lives and fighting to take that friendship forward with more consideration. It felt so reminiscent of my friendship groups, and it just made me smile because I loved their dynamic. They could be disparate but they always come back together, and it doesn’t matter that they haven’t seen each other in a long time or that they are different they still love each other.

I feel like I want to say so much more but also you just need to go and read this book. It takes some well-loved tropes; found family, second chance romance, and forced proximity; and delivers them perfectly, my expectations were pretty high and Happy Place still managed to exceed them. I’m so looking forward to reading all the Emily Henry books I can find.