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greatexpectations77's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Julia Whelan just does such a great job narrating, and I think this book may have bored me a bit more without her talents. I do love a slow burn romance, but this one maybe was too slow? I got a little bored in the middle, and I felt like the the "conflict" in the relationship was just as deep as one in a Hallmark movie - just lack of communication. Like, I wasn't rooting for them lol and also! Was I supposed to catch that she hated being a doctor??? That seemed out of nowhere to me! Would probs try Ms. Henry again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Bullying, Classism, Medical content, and Mental illness
kiwichill's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-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
4.0
Nice light read about love, friendship, family, belonging. Sometimes our family is people we've chosen, who understand our true selves and love us no matter what
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, Drug use, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
lee_s's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Classism, and Cursing
Minor: Sexual harassment
k_readingmorenow's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Like the other Emily Henry books I've listened to, I really enjoy the dialogue. It feels very real and the banter is wonderful. I think this books characters were way more self reflective in such a short timespan than might be possible, but the realizations and thought processes felt very real and familiar to me. It does feel pretty psychologically focused, a bit parentally determined, but it was an enjoyable read and definitely pulled at my heartstrings!
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Classism, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Dementia, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
stardustandrockets's review against another edition
5.0
I don't understand why people cried reading this book. I will say that I relate a lot to Sabrina's want to not get married because she didn't have good views on it growing up. And I relate a whole heck of a lot to Harriet and her family. My parents got pregnant with my sister before they got married and they were incredibly poor for a long time. Then my brother happened. Six years after that I came along and 3 years after that, my younger sibling. There's a 12 year age gap from oldest to youngest and all that time my dad worked two jobs just to barely make ends meet. My parents fought all the time and I used to wish they'd just get divorced. Though, as a kid, I didn't realize what that would mean for either of them. My dad would be fine (probably), but my mom would have nowhere to go and no job to fall back on. It seemed they were in a marriage of convenience with no real way out. Did they love each other? I'm not sure. I think things started out under shit circumstances and they made the best of what they had. So yeah, I relate a lot to Harriet and what she was going through. Not asking for help when she very much had several people in her corner. Wyn also hit home a bit because of his undiagnosed depression. He didn't realize anything was wrong until it was really wrong. Functioning at less than optimum your whole life, you don't realize that that's not how everyone goes through life. That was me. Being undiagnosed AuDHD and thinking I was just lazy at school work and not realizing I was actually struggling. But I didn't have the words to say "Hey, I really want to do these things, but I can't make my brain do these things."
I think it was a good thing that Harriet and Wyn called things quits for a bit. Wyn was able to find out what makes him happy on his own, Harriet discovered that she wasn't happy on her own and that her job was making her incredibly miserable. But the whole time she wanted Wyn because he was her happy place. That's how I feel about my partner. It doesn't really matter what we're doing, as long as we're together.
So while I may not understand what made people cry, I think I relate the most to this book. Even if it's still not my favorite. On a personal level, this is the one that hits home the most.
I think it was a good thing that Harriet and Wyn called things quits for a bit. Wyn was able to find out what makes him happy on his own, Harriet discovered that she wasn't happy on her own and that her job was making her incredibly miserable. But the whole time she wanted Wyn because he was her happy place. That's how I feel about my partner. It doesn't really matter what we're doing, as long as we're together.
So while I may not understand what made people cry, I think I relate the most to this book. Even if it's still not my favorite. On a personal level, this is the one that hits home the most.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Abandonment, Grief, and Chronic illness
Minor: Pregnancy, Car accident, Infidelity, and Drug use
dev921's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Classism, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Sexual content
kcarney86's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, and Abandonment
Minor: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Classism, and Gaslighting
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
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.
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
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Medical content, Drug use, and Confinement
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Car accident, Vomit, and Classism
uranaishi's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Death, Classism, Confinement, and Chronic illness
Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Vomit, and Mental illness
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