A review by cielosiluminado
Happy Place by Emily Henry

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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