Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Happy Place

There has been such a hype around Happy Place, and I honestly can't believe it has already got over 200.000! ratings on Goodreads. I mean, Happy Place has only been published for two months or so... Anyhow, I can't deny that I've been looking forward to read this one, because I really enjoyed my time with her previous books. I loved the sound of the blurb with the group of friends getting together and the Main cottage setting, and I had high hopes for it. Now that I've read it, I'm not sure if those expectations were actually met though... I'm not saying that it's a bad read and I initially did love my time with this story. There was something about this close group of friends that made me want to spend time with them. The main focus is on Wyn and Harriet of course, and they have the biggest character growth as a result, but I feel that the rest of them are still quite complex as well. I wish more time would have been spent in the present though, because the many flashbacks could get a bit tedious. The miscommunication trope ended up being a bit too much for me as well, because it was just too present not only in Wyn and Harriet, but in the group in general. It distracted from the other issues and only started to make me feel frustrated by the whole situation. Especially when it was not clear why they broke up in the first place and is was way too obvious they still love each other. That said, it was the last 20% or so of Happy Place that really let me down. Not only did I find this particular outcome to be highly unbelievable, but not satisfying at all either. I just couldn't believe that Harriet would make such a big decision on the fly, after only a week in Maine and without considering all her options. A slower build up would have made her decision a bit more credible, but still... This was NOT how I hoped this story would end. I can't deny that there were parts of the story that I loved, but Happy Place also ended up having more issues for me than expected.

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braveprincess11's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

for a book called “Happy Place,” I cried a lot more than anticipated… Another brilliant book from Emily Henry

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kcarney86's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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miggyfool's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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kirareadssometimes's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is pure magic. Devastatingly emotional in both lovely and heartbreaking ways.
I cried this whole book. I’m surprised I didn’t throw up with how much I cried. Sweet moments? Cried. Funny/joyful scenes? Cried. Beautiful admissions of love, longing, and heartbreak? Cried.
Emily Henry speaks directly into the souls of every people pleaser and perfectionist with disturbing accuracy. A terrific story of found family and what is means to grow up alongside others. This book will forever live in my heart ❤️

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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Brace yourselves: I think “Happy Place” may have dethroned Beach Read as being my favorite EmHen book!! Gasp!!

I know. It took a lot for me to say that but with my whole chest I must confess that after reading this one, I think no other books need to exist. I mean, literally, that’s not true, but figuratively I mean that this right here is as good as it gets.

Somehow, each of Emily Henry’s books has found me at the exact right time I needed it. Like somehow the release date always coincides with whatever existential crisis I’m having at the time. I don’t know how she does it, how her writing answers questions I didn’t even know how to ask. How my heart and mind is so deeply ingrained in her stories that I feel like she’s stolen my identity or something.

“Happy Place” feels like your own personal love language, the characters are your very best friends, the setting is that of your daydreams without even realizing it. Goosebumps with every new jolt of affable dialogue, each new description of another word for love.

Harriet—sweet Harriet—is an over-thinker, kind and charming and brilliant, and whose destiny seems to be making others at ease before herself. Wyn—handsome, careful Wyn—is self-deprecating, afraid of his goodness, earnest and loving, better than he gives himself credit for. They are magical and beautiful and full of emotion, flawed yet puzzle-piece-perfect in their yearn for each other. They are both hard on themselves, but in different ways. For different reasons. An awareness of too much self. They are two people who so obviously still care for each other, who know each other better than themselves, trying to find their way back together. They are each other’s gravitational pull. Possibly the best depiction of the forced proximity trope I’ve come across because it is so specific and makes so much sense for the storyline, for them. God, I loved every nook and cranny of their relationship.

This book is like meeting up with a close friend you don’t see very often, similar to the characters’ situation in the book: you pick up right where you left off, everything is comfortable and feels like home but also different in a new way with the passage of time, of endings and beginnings. “Happy Place” is a lot about that. Things changing and moving, though keeping enough sweet sameness that can never be taken away from an established magic.

I adored the friend group in this book. Everyone has their own developed personalities. Every relationship has its own give and pull. I wanted to live inside that summer cottage in Maine with them, soaking in the happy, breathing in the nostalgia, aching with feeling.

I really loved how this book is about finding your own happiness, and the struggle it is to actually do that. I think for a lot of people at this age, happiness seems like it has to be this concrete thing that has to be achieved a certain way. But it’s not like that. It can’t be like that. Your happiness ultimately has to be rooted in yourself, not in what you see in others, or what others think they see for you.

“Happy Place” is witty but natural, edgy but soft, sexy but delicate. Every scene, every situation is created by Henry but doesn’t feel made up, not really. This is actually happening, people have likely experienced this in real life, everyday.

Books like this are the definition of sentimental, if a book you’ve never read before can be. I think it can—it’s happened every time I’ve read a book written by my favorite author, aka Emily Henry.

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