Book Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry
Title & Author: Happy Place by Emily Henry
Genre: Romance
Rating: ★★★★★(5 / 5) [my book rating scale]
Summary: Happy Place is about Harriet and Wyn, an engaged couple on their yearly beach trip to Maine with their closest friends. Problem is: they aren’t engaged anymore. Since none of their friends know about their recent split, Harriet and Wyn pretend to be together while unresolved aspects of their breakup bubble beneath their facade. On their summer trip, their relationships with their friends are also put to the test as everyone in the group tries to figure out if their friendship can withstand the ups and downs of their ever-changing lives.
Review: There is a reason why everyone loves Emily Henry books. She takes the traditional romance novel and marries it beautifully with general fiction. Like the rest of her books, Happy Place isn’t just a romance. It’s also a book about friendship, growing up, finding oneself, and the coexistence of stability and change.
Happy Place is one of my favorite books and I am very aware that it’s largely due to the ways in which I could relate to one of the characters. While I know not everyone who picks up this book will have the same experience as me in that sense, I imagine most will at least be able to appreciate the way it explores the highs and the lows of relationships and love, both romantic and not.
When I read Happy Place, I felt seen. I picked up the book because I wanted to understand what the hype was about. I couldn’t put the book down because fragments of thoughts and feelings that had only ever existed in my heart now somehow also existed on the pages in front of me.
I read a story about people feeling my pain, feeling my joy, feeling my heartbreak. I laughed with them, I cried with them, and I wanted to know that they all ended up ok in the end. Because if they ultimately found joy and success, I would too, right? There’s something to be said about how invested you become in a book when it feels like you’re reading about whether or not you will end up ok in the end.
Happy Place is a book that has happy endings and broken hearts. It reminds you that for every up there’s a down, for every beginning there’s an end, and for every sad moment there is one filled with laughter and loved ones who will hold your hand through it all. And if you’re like me, it might also remind you that maybe your Happy Place isn’t a beach house in Maine. Maybe your Happy Place is a person. Maybe your Happy Place is a book.
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