Happy Place by Emily Henry
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 4
I was delighted to see that another Emily Henry book became available for me to read, since I have enjoyed the last two so much. This time we have Happy Place, which was published in 2024 and became a New York Times Bestseller as well as an Amazon Editor's Pick for best romance. It's not my favorite trope, but I was willing to give it a chance. This book deals with mental illness, grief, the death of a parent, and pregnancy.
Harriet Kilpatrick has known what she's wanted to be for her whole life: a surgeon. Her entire life has been leading her to there and she always knew that she would have to take a residency at whatever hospital matched with her. Which is how she landed in San Francisco; far away from her friends and family. But for this week at least, she gets to travel to her happy place - a vacation home in Maine owned by her best friend's dad. For one week, she gets to spend time with her best friends from college (both of whom live on the East Coast) as they reconnect with each other after a year apart. But before she can relax and bask in the Maine sun and the love of her friends, she needs to break the news to them that she and her fiancé Wyn have broken up after eight years together - news that both she and Wyn have avoided telling them for months. So when Harriet walks into the cabin and finds Wyn waiting for her, putting his arm around her and acting like their still together, she is confused to say the least. They decide that for this week, to avoid breaking their friend group apart, they will pretend to be together again. How hard can it be?
Emily Henry knocked it out of the park yet again. The way that Emily Henry's characters interact and speak to each other is lovely and reminds me of my own friends. They feel very real. Most of the characters in Happy Place are well developed with a back story of their own that feeds into their likes and dislikes and shapes their character. Each person felt unique and well rounded, except for maybe Parth, who could have used a little more personality of his own. The story takes place around the six quirky and immensely loveable characters, it took me no time at all to become invested in Harriet and her friendships. While I don't think I'd ever find myself in Harriet's position, hiding my break up after months, I could understand how it happened and empathize with both sides as the story was laid out. While not a common occurrence, the situation did not feel unbelievable. And while this is a story about Harriet and Wyn, and what broke them up, and what (spoiler alert) brings them back together, at its heart this book is about the different kinds of love that we feel. We learn about Harriet's love for Wyn, her love for her friends, her difficult to understand love for her parents and sister, and the love that she had for Wyn's family.
I'm giving Happy Place by Emily Henry 4.5 stars out of 5. The spice level was a 1, nothing particularly exciting. It did not dethrone Funny Story as my favorite by her so far, but I did like it more than Great Big Beautiful Life and I thought it was a wonderful showcase of all the different relationships a person has and how they change as the years go by, no matter how hard that is to deal with. I can't wait to read more from Emily Henry. I do have one question for the author though, who wears clove scented deodorant?
For more from the author, see her website at https://www.emilyhenrybooks.com/
Pairs well with blueberry ice cream and knowing for a fact that corn is not a nut.
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