A review by beckyyreadss
Happy Place by Emily Henry

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

I wanted to read this book because I enjoy most of Emily Henry’s work. However, with this one and the last one, I struggled with them about halfway through and had to push to finish it.  

This book follows Harriet, and she is going back to her happy place, there is just one issue this year. Her ex-fiancé is there, and they must pretend they are still together in front of their friends for one last perfect summer. Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college – they go together like salt and perry, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Expect now, they don’t, and it ended six months ago. And because they haven’t told their best friends, they are now in the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friends group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amount 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, so they’ll play their parts. 

I liked the friendship group dynamic and the idea of the annual place where everyone can act like they haven’t saw each other in a year. I liked the group having fun and talking about the memories and the things they wanted to do once the cottage had been sold. I liked the talk of the town and how the locals knew them so well and they were all happy to see each other. The vibes were great. Even though it took me a while to get into and enjoy the storyline, it didn’t feel like a workout to finish this book, and the main characters warmed up to me by the end of the book (maybe like 5 chapters from the end). Cleo and Kimmy, I adored and wanted to hug them throughout the whole book, and I wanted to be friends with them. 

Okay, Sabrina was a bitch. End of, I really didn’t like the fact that she was trying to take up most of the attention. She was just annoying, and she had no right to be pissed at everyone because they weren’t acting like she was acting, and secrets were being kept. Parth was only there when Sabrina was pissed off and there was an argument or for when the “lads” needed to do something together so Wyn could leave. Harriet drove me nuts like she should have just been honest and said I don’t want to sleep in the same room as Wyn because we are having issues and on a break. Problem solved, she wouldn’t have been in the big house or spending half of her time feeling guilty. Wyn was boring and how Harriet found him attractive I have no clue – the man barely spoke and was a hypocritic. Just like Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, I didn’t like the jumping between present and past, it was just dragging the book on, and I was getting bored halfway through.  

For this book to have been five stars to me, I would have liked less miscommunication within the book (seriously, it’s not needed, ever) and I would have liked for it to be based on the friendship group with multiple POV than just Harriet and Wyn, I would have loved the POV with Cleo and Kimmy and how pissed Cleo was getting and for us to be on the inside on why Cleo was pissed and upset.  

This book was a struggle, and it did make up for it in the end, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Cleo and Kimmy saved this book from being a three-star read.  
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