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Happy Place

Emily Henry

Start date: July 1, 2023

Finish date: July 30, 2024

Discussion: BOTM 2023

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BOTM 2023

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What Members Thought

Sep 25, 2023 fleurette rated it liked it

Shelves: romance-contemporary

Happy Place is, in my opinion, Emily Henry’s weakest book to date, which is a real shame considering the potential that this story had. While I appreciated the concept, I found the execution lacking, making it the first book by this author to disappoint me.

One of the biggest issues I had with this book was the heavy use of flashbacks and retrospectives. Personally, I dislike extensive flashbacks in my books, especially in romance novels, so the overall structure of this story did not sit well wi Happy Place is, in my opinion, Emily Henry’s weakest book to date, which is a real shame considering the potential that this story had. While I appreciated the concept, I found the execution lacking, making it the first book by this author to disappoint me.

One of the biggest issues I had with this book was the heavy use of flashbacks and retrospectives. Personally, I dislike extensive flashbacks in my books, especially in romance novels, so the overall structure of this story did not sit well with me. There were simply too many chapters delving into the past. What’s even worst, I believe that the central conflict between the main characters, Harriet and Wyn, could have been resolved with a single, mature conversation, and that's not something I enjoy in my books.

Another problem I met was struggling to understand the characters' emotions, above all those of Harriet and Wyn. Seriously, why exactly couldn't they be together? I won't even pretend that I fully understood it. The emotions of the main characters seemed to change so rapidly that at times, I couldn't fathom where they were coming from. They would shift from "Oh, I love him so much" to "We can't be together. It's all over" in the blink of an eye. These sudden transitions felt abrupt and confusing.

It's truly unfortunate because this story had potential. I genuinely enjoyed the deep friendship that connected all the characters, both the three women and their partners. It was something that was really nice to read about, and it was heart-warming to see that the main characters shared more than just romantic feelings. However, the more I couldn't grasp what went wrong in their relationship.

In the long run, this is a story about miscommunication in various relationships, among the three main friends and between the main characters, Harriet and Wyn. It's not a theme that resonates with me, and it didn't particularly work for me in this book either. However, if you enjoy stories centred around miscommunication, you might find this book more appealing than I did.

I sincerely hope that Emily Henry's future books will resonate with me more than this one did. This one had potential, but its execution left much to be desired. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t bring me joy that I usually find in the books from this author. ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Dec 21, 2023 Faith (spiralskull) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, dnf

DNF 25% I didn't like the feels in this one. The FMC and MMC were broken up, but forced to pretend they're not for some friends' wedding. This made the tension and feelings of discomfort unbearable.

"Normally, I’d rather roll down a mountainside covered in broken glass and sticky traps than create conflict, but the longer this goes on, the harder it’s going to be to get out of our lie."

How I feel about DNF'ing this book. ...more

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Jan 22, 2024 Brittany rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, read-2024, contemporary, romance, 2023-release

3.5 stars?
I liked this one, but it isn't my favourite of hers. The hopeless feeling of growing apart from the one you love and the difficulties of telling shared friends and family and all of that is something I understand and felt the pain of from the story. But the lack of communications gets so damn annoying. The Break-Up, really? Its a hard to believe level of lack of communication and its such a huge part of the story. The book is told in a past and present kind of way with Harriet as our M ...more

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Jun 15, 2023 Elle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-reads

Emily Henry is always a slump buster for me. Her writing feels so effortless and yet conveys so much. Her characters are always great and the stories she creates feel like something new every time. I loved Harriet as a character. She was very real to me and there were a lot of things in her that I could align with myself. Emily Henry just has a way of creating characters who make me feel seen. The ending does feel a bit rushed and a longer, more thorough epilogue would have been helpful in makin ...more

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Mar 22, 2025 Luisa rated it liked it

Shelves: tbr2024, non-fantasy, tbr-completed

Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either.

Happy place had everything it needed to be a great story: a nice vacation home setting, good side characters and a very well done mix of past and present chapters.

However, the love interest (MMC) was just fully annoying. I'm used to FMC's being very insecure but the MMC being like that is new to me and I just wasn't into it at all. Wyn spends the entire book putting himself down and feeling like he isn't worthy , even though he's been in a relationship f ...more

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