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Darling readers, I can’t decide if we’ve chosen impeccably well so far this month, or in excess.  You know we read a lot of romance novels, but it is not often that we get two that wreck us so thoroughly in such close proximity to each other.  UGH.  I might have needed two palate cleanser novels after this before I was willing to start our last review book for the month.  All that said, Emily Henry’s season pass on her adult novels stands, I just wasn’t appropriately prepared for this one.

Happy Place is a second chance, friends to lovers to (sort of) enemies to lovers romance.  The main story takes place when six friends return to their “happy place” for their annual vacation.  These friends, or at least the three at the core of the group, have been friends since their dorm room days, and take an annual trip to one friend’s family beach house in Maine, even years after graduation.  Throughout the years, new roommates were added, significant others joined the group, and the friends turned into a throuple of couples. Which is why our central figures, Harriet and Wyn broke up months ago, but haven’t told anyone.  

If you’re wondering if this is the perfect setup for a second chance romance, it’s definitely on a top five list somewhere, or needs to be.  Take a group with loads of history who have grown apart (geographically and otherwise), insert a huge secret (or two, or more??), and throw them back together again.  Predictable things happen, unpredictable things happen, we flash back to see exactly how our couple got together and what their relationship looked like over the years (as well as how the friend group grew together).  We even get to tag along via flashback, when each meets the other’s family, and wow is that a couple of adventures, one which sounded delightful and the other all too familiar.  Here’s where Happy Place got me.  Our characters have issues, Harriet has some significant family of origin struggles, some of which were a giant mirror for me.  Wyn has an amazing family, but grew up in the shadows of his genius sisters and has the scars to show for it.  When a book has me sobbing at 65%, it’s a whole thing, and when it’s not even because of the big breakup that comes before the grand gesture, it’s even more of a thing.  

I know some readers have a struggle with miscommunication tropes because a conversation can just fix it, however, if this is you and you like what you’ve read so far, please give Happy Place a try.  I’m generally rolling my eyes at this trope, but y’all, this could be a “how to redeem miscommunication” example.  I want to say more (and I will in DM if you need more convincing), but I don’t want to reveal the details of Harriet and Wyn’s breakup because it’s a tale gloriously told and I don’t want to spoil the experience of it.  Y’all, the struggle is huge, and I get it.  Truly.  

I’m giving Happy Place five solid stars with a side of eyeroll for that big, dumb mirror I didn’t want in my face.  The ensemble is amazing and I want to go to Maine with them (although my liver is also old and is glad not to).  The dialogue is snappy and real and the scenes are picturesque.  The events make sense in context and feel very familiar.  And unlike many novels, this feels mostly very possible in real life.  Aside from the Maine beach house and all the fanciness that implies, I could see this happening, or having happened, to people I know in real life.  While I enjoy things that couldn’t reasonably happen to real people, it’s (mostly) nice to see something that could on occasion too.  

What’s a title that gutted you, and you still thoroughly enjoyed?

~Nikki

As Nikki mentioned above, Emily Henry is a season-pass author. We hosted a Virtual Book Club in June 2021 with her bestselling title Beach Read, then did a double feature review with her bestselling titles People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers. It’s obvious that her adult romance titles bring a certain vibe. A Summer-y, read on the beach with a big hat and sunglasses vibe. Besides these four practically perfect ‘cartoon cover’ romances when you include today’s title Happy Place, Henry has authored three young adult titles. Funny Story, a fifth Romance!, is scheduled to arrive on shelves in April 2024. She lives and writes in Cincinnati, Ohio, and we highly recommend you follow her on Instagram for the best updates – like movie adaptation news! – @EmilyHenryWrites.

To be fair, I was warned that things would get real in my reading life at approximately 65% in this book. And I trusted my book buddy, I really did. But, that trust didn’t come with enough preparation for the absolute emotional roller coaster that I would embark upon with this novel, mostly centered around family of origin stories. It didn’t prepare me to stay up until close to (or after?) 3am one night reading basically the entire ding dang book. It didn’t prepare me to literally have tears dropping from my eyeballs for the final 35% of the novel. I wish I were exaggerating. I am not filling this review with hyperbole. I even messaged my sister to tell her how wrecked this book made me. It was very intense. The intensity was balanced by so much wit and sarcasm that there was also internal giggling, but that didn’t stop the tears. For the record, I am not a ‘major weeper.’ It takes a lot to get my tear ducts to activate, as my sister knows, so real human tears are a sign of big big BIG feelings. My big feelings might have even started in chapter one with this quote from Harriet about how her friend-group came to be: “The most important friendships in my life all came down to a decision made by strangers, chance.” Do college housing administrators even know how important their job is to every student’s life? Probably, but maybe not. 

I really can’t say more about this book without giving away major plot points that would possibly lessen your enjoyment or your ferris wheel of feelings, whichever makes you cry real human tears. It’s an easy five star review for Happy Place and I’m torn to say that this is my favorite  Emily Henry romance. Book Lovers was just so good for me last year, but Happy Place just hit in a different way. Like parents tell their children, I love them the same but different. I love how this book looks at how even though lives change, one’s formative relationships just grow to meet you on the path you’re on.

Not to spoil anything, but what activity do you do that centers your soul to where you find yourself in it no matter what else is going on? Like Harriet admits near the end of the book?

~Ashley

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