A review by unawake0442
Happy Place by Emily Henry

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I wonder if the Second Chance trope just isn’t for me. In reality, Emily Henry was doing everything I could have needed or wanted from her. The story was great, the writing impeccable, and the characters delightful as always. But I think I just couldn’t connect fully with the idea of a couple who broke up, unfortunately.

It’s not even that I think couples can’t get back together in real life, but in exploring the dynamic in the book (don’t worry no spoilers), we see the cracks in the relationship, and that’s hard to swallow in a romance.

My favorite parts of Happy Place really came from the focus on friendship. Henry does a fantastic job of exploring a re-coming-of-age dynamic. How can these friends who came of age together in college figure out how to still be close as they change and grow and get pulled in different directions? Happy Place certainly isn’t the first book to explore the idea, and it won’t be the last by a long shot. But it’s so often universal, which is why we see it time and again. And Henry’s addition to these bodies of works shines so much when it allows this aspect to take focus. Ultimately, Happy Place made me desperately want an adult contemporary fiction book from Henry outside of the pure romance genre. I say that as a testament to Henry’s writing rather than a critique of her romances, which I will always love.

Happy Place still gets an easy 4 stars from me. I still greatly enjoyed it, but it didn’t hold the same place in my heart that People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers did. Now, I’m just excited to dive into Funny Story and Beach Read. I’ve been saving the latter because so many love it and I love having this to look forward to.

So despite my realization that a Second Chance romance might not be totally for me, Emily Henry still has my literary heart.