Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Happy Place

As a semi-recovered people pleaser who loves a found family trope, this book hit me right in the heart. I saw bits of myself in Harriet, Sabrina, and Cleo and as much as this book is a romance, it was the friendship that made me want to reach out to my own friend group and let everyone know how much I love them.

Frankly the only thing preventing it from being a full 5 ⭐️ read for me was the level of miscommunication happening for a solid 90% of the book. I get that it was the foundation the book was built on, but at times it made me want to scream.

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underscoresyd's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.25

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cielosiluminado's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.5

“No,” he says quietly. “In every universe, it's you for me. Even if it's not me for you.”

despite this being a second chance romance centered around miscommunication, i actually loved this??

the entire time i was rooting for wyn and harriet. they were so endearing and i wanted to protect them at all costs. their banter and sarcasm was so entertaining and had me giggling nonstop. very early on you could feel the connection between them and you could see how they were made for each other. soulmates.

throughout the entire book, you could see how much they ached and yearned for each other despite being incredibly different but similar in so many ways? it was beautiful to read. i really loved how they didn’t rush back into being together and instead focused on their own self-growth and healing. and in the end, i loved how we saw them go through their own separate self-discovery journeys and then finding their way back to each other. it was so impactful, and i really liked how none of their journeys was downplayed by the other and was encouraged and supported.

this isn’t only a romance book, it’s also about friendships, found families, and aging. despite the friendships in this book being so strong in the beginning, it demonstrated how friendships evolve over time as once you’re an adult, friendships can become so difficult to maintain as everyone is in different stages in their life and have different priorities, time restrictions, etc. seeing this (once) tight-knit and dysfunctional group navigate through adulthood made me crave for friendships like it. a conclusion i have drawn from it is that friendships can also be platonic love stories. and those might be some of the most beautiful relationships one can have in their life.

despite how much i loved the book overall, the ending was honestly rushed and sort of out of character? i understand how big and impactful harriet’s self-discovery journey was supposed to be but the decision she made shocked me because it felt unrealistic, especially in this economy. in a perfect wold where one doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, the ending would’ve been perfect. but for me, it was just an unrealistic, silly, rom-com HEA.

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chronic_listener's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

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sandysmith's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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

3.5

I enjoyed this book, although it was not what I was expecting. It's about Harriet (Harry) and Wyn, their breakup, and spoiker alert makeup. Their breakup being secrets and miscommunication. Harriet is a people pleaser and has come from a family with parents that are still together but shouldn't be. Wyn comes from in her view a perfect loving family. The book is written with flash backs of how they fell in love and Harry's devastation when the relationship ends. The supporting characters all have secrets and are reunited for a week for a couple in the groups wedding. So it's about friendships, growing apart, grief and grieving, love and loss, relationships, and miscommunication, all beautifully written. I was not so keen on the batter of the head reference to safe sex, how many times the word condom is used and the ending of the book was too neat. But overall, a great fall in and out of love book. It's not smut driven, but there is some sexual content, so if smut is your thing then perhaps go elsewhere. A good read.

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juliaaaaaa's review against another edition

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fast-paced

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

4.0

Adults that act like adults instead of acting like teenagers?? and all of the characters have personalities?? love

the pottery seemed kinda weird tho, why couldn't she just find a similar job next to wyn? ok she doesn't like it.. but why do writers have to make women working in stem quit?

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kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Look, nothing I say here will be groundbreaking or revolutionary with the 47 gazillion other reviews already out there. But I finished this last night and I'm actually writing a review for it, so applaud me, please.

Happy Place is a second chance romance between Harriet and Wyn, who broke up five months ago, but no one knows. One of their best friends, Sabrina, organizes their annual friend vacation, so Harriet and Wyn are playing pretend for the week.

I hate the miscommunication trope. Despise it. And this book is full of it. Miscommunication, or rather, lack of communication at all, led to their downfall and they're clearly still in love with each other and STILL holding back.

That being said... I somehow still really enjoyed this book? Wyn and Harriet's banter was hilarious and exquisite. All of the friends' adult problems felt real and relatable. The writing was lovely without being overly flowery or pretentious. And despite being a little too long, it's a quick read.

I originally gave it 4, but some things did bug me, so maybe it's more like a 3.5. Do with that what you will. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Book Lovers is still my favorite EH so far! (Have not read Beach Read or Funny Story yet.)

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