Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, and Beach Read. She lives and writes in Cincinnati and the part of Kentucky just beneath it. Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites. You can find more of my reviews of her work here.
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 not discussing—they don't. They broke up six months ago. And they still haven't told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest 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, blue 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 the 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 a week... in front of those who know you best?
The best part about Emily Henry books is how they're about so much more than the romance. In Happy Place, what stands out the most is the friend group, the large and intricately characterized cast of characters that makes this premise so believable. Each of Harriet's and Wyn's friends—Parth, Sabrina, Kim, and Cleo—may fall into some of the classic friend group tropes, but by the end of the novel you find that they're just as complex as the main characters we've spent the most time with. Each character is well-developed, to the point where the most awkward conversation that appears in the book feels like it's one you're having with your own friends (a true feat, in my opinion). The friendship dynamic between these six people is crucial to the book, for reasons that simmer to thee surface throughout. In romance, we all know that the main couple is going to get together. But what about the friends? Because of how believable these characters are, you get invested in their troubles and dynamics just as much as you do for the main couple. This means that while the romance is important, so is the narrative of platonic friendship growth and how to be an evolving family and person within a family, blood or otherwise.
What's even more fleshed out is the way they all became the friends you call family. Henry did this by utilizing flashback chapters to balance out the present day moments. In this way, we got to see how all of the friends came to be part of the group, how Harriet and Wyn fell in love, and journey through all of the places Harriet felt happiest in. I absolutely loved this structure, because it reminded me of People We Meet on Vacation, and how we as readers spend just as much time invested in the present day relationships as we do with the question of what happened previously to cause the rift between the characters now. There's an element of mystery but it doesn't ever feel too mysterious, and Henry has perfect pacing so that the second we're agonizing the strongest over what happened, she provides. The journey through all of the happy places also sets up a revolutionary growth moment for Harriet, and I already can't wait to reread to pick up on that earlier.
And of course, Emily Henry is the queen of romance. Harriet's and Wyn's romance is seen from beginning to middle to end through the flashbacks and present day chapters. While their romance can be described with a myriad of tropes (slow burn, second chance, forced proximity, there's only one bed, fake dating, the list could probably go on), it cannot be distilled to those tropes. That's because Henry doesn't just follow the guidelines for romance. She incorporates self-growth for both main characters, meaning they have more hurdles to overcome if they want to be together. But, don't get me wrong, the steaminess and slowest of burns and everything you love about romance exists within the pages. They're just made that much better by Henry giving them more to push through, more to learn about themselves, more humanity.
All in all, Emily Henry has another masterpiece out there for the biggest of romance fans to those thinking about reading more in the genre. It's not to be missed, so grab your copy soon!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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