Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Happy Place

Brace yourselves: I think “Happy Place” may have dethroned Beach Read as being my favorite EmHen book!! Gasp!!

I know. It took a lot for me to say that but with my whole chest I must confess that after reading this one, I think no other books need to exist. I mean, literally, that’s not true, but figuratively I mean that this right here is as good as it gets.

Somehow, each of Emily Henry’s books has found me at the exact right time I needed it. Like somehow the release date always coincides with whatever existential crisis I’m having at the time. I don’t know how she does it, how her writing answers questions I didn’t even know how to ask. How my heart and mind is so deeply ingrained in her stories that I feel like she’s stolen my identity or something.

“Happy Place” feels like your own personal love language, the characters are your very best friends, the setting is that of your daydreams without even realizing it. Goosebumps with every new jolt of affable dialogue, each new description of another word for love.

Harriet—sweet Harriet—is an over-thinker, kind and charming and brilliant, and whose destiny seems to be making others at ease before herself. Wyn—handsome, careful Wyn—is self-deprecating, afraid of his goodness, earnest and loving, better than he gives himself credit for. They are magical and beautiful and full of emotion, flawed yet puzzle-piece-perfect in their yearn for each other. They are both hard on themselves, but in different ways. For different reasons. An awareness of too much self. They are two people who so obviously still care for each other, who know each other better than themselves, trying to find their way back together. They are each other’s gravitational pull. Possibly the best depiction of the forced proximity trope I’ve come across because it is so specific and makes so much sense for the storyline, for them. God, I loved every nook and cranny of their relationship.

This book is like meeting up with a close friend you don’t see very often, similar to the characters’ situation in the book: you pick up right where you left off, everything is comfortable and feels like home but also different in a new way with the passage of time, of endings and beginnings. “Happy Place” is a lot about that. Things changing and moving, though keeping enough sweet sameness that can never be taken away from an established magic.

I adored the friend group in this book. Everyone has their own developed personalities. Every relationship has its own give and pull. I wanted to live inside that summer cottage in Maine with them, soaking in the happy, breathing in the nostalgia, aching with feeling.

I really loved how this book is about finding your own happiness, and the struggle it is to actually do that. I think for a lot of people at this age, happiness seems like it has to be this concrete thing that has to be achieved a certain way. But it’s not like that. It can’t be like that. Your happiness ultimately has to be rooted in yourself, not in what you see in others, or what others think they see for you.

“Happy Place” is witty but natural, edgy but soft, sexy but delicate. Every scene, every situation is created by Henry but doesn’t feel made up, not really. This is actually happening, people have likely experienced this in real life, everyday.

Books like this are the definition of sentimental, if a book you’ve never read before can be. I think it can—it’s happened every time I’ve read a book written by my favorite author, aka Emily Henry.

Content Warnings

aqtbenz's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

kfmcf's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I love Emily Henry - she is the queen of loveable and immersive dialogue. She is also squarely set in a blended world of the romance and poorly-name women's lit genres. I love this about her writing...but in this book I think it muddied things a but.

I don't know what the focus of this book was. Was it Wyn & Harriet's relationship? Was it the evolution of Harriet's friend group? Was it Harriet's struggles with her family and career? I don't know. And I think each of then suffered.

Tbh - I think Harriet's problems wirh her parents and her job were superficial and bogged down the last few chapters of the book.

It didn't add to who she was as a character at that point except to I guess balance things between her and Wyn. Her leaving her job as a neurosurgeon felt completely out of left field, especially when we're never shown the part of her brain where this discontent lives. At the beginning of the book we're shown that she likes the menial tasks at work but...is that bad? I thought it was just to show her escapism through cleaning. I don't know - I was frustrated.

In regards to her friends - I wanted more from them. Why did they all fall in platonic love with each other and what made the relationship so magical? I was hoping for something like Nora and Libby's connection in Book Lovers. Yes they're sisters, but these girls always say that they're family and I feel that it is equally important to them as characters.

Finally, Harriet and Wyn. Their break up felt very based in realism as to why they called things off (cheating assumption aside that was a bit trite). But...I didnt...really feel that pull between them that I felt in PWMOV or Beach Read. Those are both characters who have known each other for many many years but with this one...I didn't really understand why Harriet loved him. It DID feel like she had outgrown who she was with him and with the amount that he said he was "happy now" - I...kind of didn't want to see them back together. This HEA felt forced in many ways and that broke my heart as much as the story did.

There was also SO much of the miscommunication trope throughout all parts of the story that I did want to grab the characters by their shoulders and shake them. I am a believer that the miscommunication trope is thrown around more than it should be - but this was true miscommunication. And it did all come to a boiling point ABOUT not talking to each other (friends AND lovers) but it was mind boggling.

All this to say - but the book was still very good. I don't need everything she writes to be PYMOV (a masterpiece imo) or be humorous or lighthearted or what have you. I think this book didn't need the dual timelines and the sprinkling of flashbacks were more effective. BUT again, I still barreled through this book in a day and it is still taking up space in my brain.

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uranaishi's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

jelavision's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What a melancholic and touching book. A lot of the book is miscommunication. How not having the ability to communication your feelings can stunt your relationships with significant others and friends. How the pressures of managing expectations of yourself and others causes people create a facade to deal with the stress. How people change over time and the effort of others to adapt to those changes. I found the book to be very poignant.

As a reader, the back and forth between the present and past was challenging at times. I felt like I was thrust into it before I was fully invested in the relationship between Harriet and Wyn. And some of the past chapters felt rushed. It tended to do a lot of telling instead of showing. I did love the banter between Harriet and Wyn. The slowburn between them keeps you invested, especially as you go on the journey of them rekindling their relationship. The tension (sexual and angst-ridden) between them? *chef's kiss*. And the tension culminates in such sweet and sexy steamy scenes between them.

While there was drama at times, I really did enjoy the friendship between all the characters. There were moments with them that made me smile, made laugh and made me cry. This is a book about the found family of Harriet, Cleo, Sabrina, Parth, Wyn and Kimmy as much as it is about Harriet and Wyn's relationship.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

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alijoy94's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I was going to say Emily Henry has done it again, bringing us another beautifully charming and emotional story, but in reality she just keeps getting better!

Happy Place follows Harriet, her college friends, and her (unbeknownst to the others) ex-fiance Wyn, through two timelines - the past, A.K.A. Harry's Happy Place, and the present, also known as Real Life, where everything seems to be falling apart. Over a week of kept secrets, forced proximity and second chances, our two timelines eventually converge to form a happy reality - though not necessarily in the way Harry expects.

This was an easy 4.5 star read for me!

Thankyou to Netgally and Penguin Random House for the digital ARC (as well as the physical copy I received through work)

Content Warnings

headinthepages's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I love Emily Henry books and this was no exception. The characters are brilliant, the dialogue is witty and just as good as her other books.
The plot itself is engaging and fast paced.
I loved it all.

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