Happy Place: The must-read romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author - fake dating with a twist! Paperback – 25 April 2023

Happy Place follows Harriet, who’s living in San Francisco and training to become a doctor, but spending the next week in her favourite place, in a holiday home in Maine with her best friends. Little does she know that she’ll also be spending the week with her ex-fiancé, Wyn, and she’ll have to pretend they’re still together because neither of them told their friends they broke up. My favourite character was all of them. Harriet was a wonderful narrator but Wyn, Sabrina, Cleo, Parth, and Kimmy were also wonderful characters. My least favourite character was none of them. Emily Henry has a way of making even the worst characters seem relatable and understandable. I recommend this book because I thought it was going to be a silly little rom-com but I was so, so wrong. This was a beautiful story of love and loss and life and friendship. It was an emotional rollercoaster and I am now an emotional wreck. ‘So much of life is waiting for more of him, and even that torture is bliss.’

Emily Henry is one of my all time favourite authors so to say I was excited to read this book would be a huge understatement! I literally cried when it arrived in the mail 🥲 And it didn’t disappoint, I loved this book so much! And it is still living rent free in my mind after finishing it over a week ago 🤭I am a sucker for second chance romances and so I was hooked pretty quickly onto Harriet’s and Wyn’s story from the beginning! They’re whole backstory gave me chills and I loved how they were pretending to their friends that they were still together while pretending to each other that they didn’t care. Ahh it was just amazing!! I was tabbing and highlighting like crazy!Aside from Harriet’s and Wyn’s love story, I loved reading all the before scenes of the girls’ friendship - that clueless reference had me in stitches 🤣 and made me reminisce about my college besties. I really didn’t like Sabrina through most of the book but that changed during the church scene, I cried during that 😢 I empathised with Sabrina so much. I think that scene was so beautifully written!The airport scene! OMG!! Hands down my favourite grand gesture scene ever! I was in absolute bits!! It was really dragged out to the point where I thought there wouldn’t be a HEA! I mean it only happens on page 370!! Luckily I was wrong about that 🤣Swipe for some of my fav parts in it.I also loved how Harriet takes a closer look at what her actual happy place is. I think so many of us end up doing what we think we should do and not what makes us happy. This really resonated with me - especially since I’m going through some personal issues right now that had made me reevaluate what my happy place is. It crazy how much I needed to read this book right now in my life.Overall, this book was a masterpiece! So if you are looking for a cozy, second chance, fake dating romance where you will swoon, laugh and cry sometimes all in the one chapter - READ THIS!!

I’ve read a few of this author’s novels now and whilst this was my least favourite, it’s still a nice read.The things I really enjoyed about the story was the strong bond between Harriet and her friends that has lasted long after their school days. It’s nice to have a friendship that can carry on with people taking different paths and not seeing as much of each other. Every time they come together though it’s like they have never been apart. I also loved the Happy Place. A gorgeous cottage that is a huge part of Harriet and her friends lives where they spent time together whilst growing up and somewhere they come every year to meet up and relieve their younger years.It felt very much like when you go on holiday and you fall in love with the weather, the people, the sights and sounds. You know it can’t last and that you have to go back to reality but that time away, it can do so much for your soul and the author captured that perfectly. I’m sure we all have a happy place where the weight of the world lifts off your shoulders when there.The story focuses on Wyn and Harriet’s relationship which has hit a stumbling block. We have alternating chapters with present day and in the past when the two get together and and their relationship is at that full intensity stage. In fact their whole relationship is quite an intense one. Maybe I am just an old cynic and I know that this is a romance novel but it was slightly over the top for me. Does all consuming love really exist? I felt at times it was overpowering. Don’t get me wrong, some parts are really sweet and I did like all the characters and whilst I love a good romance, I mean who doesn’t, this was just a bit too sickly for me.Happy Place overall is a nice read which will have you reminiscing about your first love as well as friendships you had back at school. I think depending on whether you look back at that time fondly or not will depend on how much you enjoy this novel. The setting is wonderful and I could easily see why it’s so special to the characters. Everyone needs a happy place in their lives. This was definitely a bitter sweet read for me as yes it’s cute but the romance aspect was just too much which is down to personal preference and I know many others have loved it.

I absolutely loved this story! This is my second time reading one of this authors books. Why did I resist for so long? I loved everything about this book. Harriet and Wyn were perfect. So much angst. Five star read.

I finally got around to trying my first Emily Henry book. I've seen so many mixed reviews for her books so I kept putting it off. I really enjoyed this one so I will be reading more. I liked how she injected some humour into the story. It had a bit of everything, romance (which isn't my usual thing, it has to be part of a good story) friendships, sadness and humour. All those things blended together and worked perfectly for a good read. It was nice to find out more about the friends as well as the main two. The only drawback was it took me a while at the start to remember who was who because there were a few characters all brought straight in, but that didn't ruin the rest of it for me. I am looking forward to reading more from Emily HenryKim

Good book, well written