Happy Place

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 90,942 ratings

Price: 4.99

Last update: 11-01-2024


About this item

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

“The beach-read master hooks us again."—People

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by BuzzFeed ∙ Paste Magazine ∙ Elle ∙ Southern Living ∙ SheReads ∙ Culturess ∙ Medium ∙ Her Campus ∙ Readers Digest ∙ Zibby Mag and more!

A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
 
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
 
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
 
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts 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, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?

From the Publisher

A slow-burn romance and an ode to the chosen family, says People about HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry

Wit, charm, and heart, says The Washington Post about HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry

A dazzling, poignant love story, says Carley Fortune about HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry

The queen of romance novels, says Cosmopolitan about HAPPY PLACE by Emily Henry

Funny Story Book Lovers People We Meet on Vacation Beach Read
Price $16.20 $9.69 $7.13 $7.30
More from Emily Henry First they were heartbroken strangers. Then they were roommates. Now, their summer adventures could lead to something more… It’s a funny story. Nora and Charlie are rivals, but this summer, their carefully crafted stories might just unravel when a series of coincidences push them together. Every summer for a decade, Poppy and Alex took a week-long vacation together. Can one more trip mend their broken friendship and maybe lead to something more? Two polar opposite authors, one summer, a genre swap challenge. They'll finish their books and definitely won't fall in love...

Top reviews from the United States

Celene
5.0 out of 5 stars Another year. Another amazing Emily Henry book. My favorite yet.
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2023
"I got rid of every single piece of you, like that would make a difference, like I could cut you out of me, and instead, I just see everywhere you're supposed to be."

????Emily.???? Henry. ???? Yall. ???? I would first like to thank the author for yet another marvelous masterpiece. And dare I say it... my favorite of hers yet?? Every year around this time, I anxiously await Henry's latest book to drop. I normally hold off and read it on vacation, but hearing all the good things about this book and knowing it had all my favorite tropes...second chance, friends to lovers, AND a dual timeline...I knew I couldn't wait. And I'm so glad I didn't. I don't think I would have been able to focus on it as well if I was on the beach distracted by other things around me. This book deserved and was more appreciated by reading it in the quiet setting of my home. I was immersed in the words from page one. I zoned out and tuned out everything around me. I couldn't get enough of it.

I will say I believe Henry's covers are always a little misleading (I love them don't get me wrong! They are stunning.) But they look like they'll be superficial fluff, an easy breezy romance, but they are so much more than that, or at least this one was for me. It's her most emotional book yet. I think Emily described it best in the book: "Breathless happy-sad." That exactly how I felt while reading this book. I had butterflies. I had angst and heart break. But I also had hope. The dual timeline was the perfect execution to give us these emotions. You see what Wyn and Harriet once had and you want them to find that again with one another so bad! ????

The setting was perfect. A beach cottage in Maine. Swoon. The characters were amazing. Every one of the characters had layers and depth with struggles and emotions. You felt like you were apart of that friend group and knew them all so well. But my favorite part, which is always my favorite part of Emily Henry's books, was the witty banter. Laugh out loud funny. I even enjoyed Wyn and Harriet's sarcastic jabs towards each other, which I've seen some people didn't appreciate.

All of that to say, I loved it. I'm sad I flew through it in a day and will never have the moment I read this for the first time again and now I will be anxiously awaiting on Henry's next masterpiece this time next year. ????
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Celene
5.0 out of 5 stars Another year. Another amazing Emily Henry book. My favorite yet.
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2023
"I got rid of every single piece of you, like that would make a difference, like I could cut you out of me, and instead, I just see everywhere you're supposed to be."

????Emily.???? Henry. ???? Yall. ???? I would first like to thank the author for yet another marvelous masterpiece. And dare I say it... my favorite of hers yet?? Every year around this time, I anxiously await Henry's latest book to drop. I normally hold off and read it on vacation, but hearing all the good things about this book and knowing it had all my favorite tropes...second chance, friends to lovers, AND a dual timeline...I knew I couldn't wait. And I'm so glad I didn't. I don't think I would have been able to focus on it as well if I was on the beach distracted by other things around me. This book deserved and was more appreciated by reading it in the quiet setting of my home. I was immersed in the words from page one. I zoned out and tuned out everything around me. I couldn't get enough of it.

I will say I believe Henry's covers are always a little misleading (I love them don't get me wrong! They are stunning.) But they look like they'll be superficial fluff, an easy breezy romance, but they are so much more than that, or at least this one was for me. It's her most emotional book yet. I think Emily described it best in the book: "Breathless happy-sad." That exactly how I felt while reading this book. I had butterflies. I had angst and heart break. But I also had hope. The dual timeline was the perfect execution to give us these emotions. You see what Wyn and Harriet once had and you want them to find that again with one another so bad! ????

The setting was perfect. A beach cottage in Maine. Swoon. The characters were amazing. Every one of the characters had layers and depth with struggles and emotions. You felt like you were apart of that friend group and knew them all so well. But my favorite part, which is always my favorite part of Emily Henry's books, was the witty banter. Laugh out loud funny. I even enjoyed Wyn and Harriet's sarcastic jabs towards each other, which I've seen some people didn't appreciate.

All of that to say, I loved it. I'm sad I flew through it in a day and will never have the moment I read this for the first time again and now I will be anxiously awaiting on Henry's next masterpiece this time next year. ????
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Tiffany
4.0 out of 5 stars A Seesaw of Happy & Sad
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
Sensitivity warning: Deals with elements of grief and depression — not just grief as it relates to death, but also grief related to nostalgia and happy memories from the past that almost hurt. There is also some cursing, including f-bombs, as well as a few open door romance scenes.

I’ll start by saying that I’ve been on a roll of not finishing books lately (not that I’ll never finish them, just that I’ve been book hopping). Happy Place instantly grabbed me and kept me interested - so much so that I finished this book in two days.

At the start of this book, the story is firmly centered around Harriet & Wyn as they navigate how to act around their friend group because they’ve broken up and none of their friends know. They feel they need to keep the facade going because it’s the last vacation the friends will get to have at their special cottage. As the story goes on, you realize how much the other friendships/relationships are woven into the fabric of the story.

Harry & Wyn’s relationship is believable and is driven home by the flashbacks of their burgeoning relationship. Speaking of the flashbacks — I really enjoyed the dual timeline. Each chapter is dedicated to either a time in the past or the present. In the past, we get to see Harriet and Wyn go from friends to lovers. In the present, it’s a second chance romance. One thing I do wish is that the Happy Place chapters (those in the past) had been labeled with a year; but that’s just the detail-oriented girl in me.

Harriet and Wyn are both characters you can root for, but I also loved the friend group. Emily Henry fully sold me on how deep the characters’ bonds were, both in pieces (seeing friendships paired off in one-on-one settings or smaller groups) and as a whole when we see the dynamic that exists when the entire group is together. The relationships are flushed out and the Happy Place at the cottage truly feels like it would be a great vacation spot.

All of that being said, I feel like I read two books. The first half, which is fairly light-hearted and predominately fun, and then the second half, which could feel pretty heart wrenching at times. Harriet and Wyn deal with real problems that come up when you’ve been with someone for a length of time (disappointments, grief, stress, money troubles) — the problems are mainly shown in the flashback chapters, but the ghosts of the problems are felt in the real time chapters.

Once I got to the 60% mark, there were chapters that were brutal. We only get Harriet’s POV, so we know how Harriet feels/can tell what she truly wants, but at times it seems as though she’s alone in her feelings. The lack of communication between the two characters does make sense because of their history, but it really draws out the pain felt through Harriet’s eyes. A large part of the problem in the chapters taking place in the past is that Harriet and Wyn could both see the best in each other, but not in themselves. Additionally, because they don’t talk about why they feel how they feel or the reasons for their coping mechanisms that started in their childhoods, cracks in the relationship turn to chasms. Beyond Harriet & Wyn and their relationship turmoil, we also see that each of the character’s in the friend group have their own cracks that they’re not sharing.

This book hooked me and I did enjoy it, especially the wit and banter, but it’s not fully what I expected. It gets very deep at points in exploring the characters and their emotions. Though there’s happiness and the communication and satisfying conclusion eventually come, I felt a bit melancholy when it was over.

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