Happy Place is a novel by Emily Henry.
Finished on: 26.10.2024

Plot:
Harriet and Wyn have always been the perfect couple in their tight-knit friend group. And while the entire group has spread around the country, they always come back to a cottage in Maine, their happy place. This year, though, things are different. Harriet and Wyn actually separated a few months ago, but couldn’t bring themselves to share the news with their friends. And now they are all back together, and instead of disturbing the happy place, Harriet and Wyn decide to pretend that they are still together, promptung a lot of plain and reflection about their relationship.

I expected Happy Place to be a rather simple romance, the bookish equivalent to popcorn cinema. It is more thoughtful than that, though, includes some rather heavy themes and thus doesn’t quite give off beach read vibes, yet still delivers a sweet happy end that I liked.

Usually, when a romance doesn’t have fluff as its baseline (ups and downs are, of course, part of it anyway), it veers towards the angsty, and I am not a fan of angsty at all. With this book, Henry goes down a different path, though. There is a baseline of grief and loss that should feel almost at odds with a story of two people finding each other (again), but instead it feels like shedding light on a very natural aspect of relationships that often remains unexamined.

Henry’s characters are vivid, and she is obviously trying to be inclusive, too (one of Harriet’s core group of girlfriends is Black and gay, the other is dating a man of color). But most of all, the group works as a group. The tensions within the group that add up when you’ve been friends for a long time, feel true and familiar, even as it’s also clear that these people love each other and are friends for a reason.

The book also builds on miscommunication which is another trope I don’t love. But it works because there are so many reasons given why they would miscommunicate, both anchored in their personalities and in their situation (long distance generally fucks with a lot, let me tell you).

Overall, I enjoyed reading this both despite and because it was different from what I expected. I am curious to check out more of Henry’s writing, even if I didn’t fall so deeply in love with it that I am running to find it.

Summarizing: a good read.