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A review by saylaurmoon
Happy Place by Emily Henry
5.0
↠ 5 stars ⭐️
⇢ contains some spoilers
Okay, I’ve been putting off reading this one since last summer. I think I was scared I was going to be disappointed, especially with several people’s complaints of miscommunication and toxic friendships.
But I should have read this sooner because I absolutely adored this one.
As is typical of Emily's novels, this one was beautifully written. I adore Emily Henry’s writing; it's not only light-hearted and humorous with fantastic banter but also incredibly poetic, never failing to evoke strong emotions. I admire her skill in crafting complex, well-developed, and relatable characters, and Happy Place is no exception. We are introduced to a group of friends, each character possessing depth and undergoing significant development throughout the story.
Harriet is me, I am her. She puts other people's needs and feelings before her own to keep the peace. She has an inability to show her emotions to others for fear of being a burden. Her fear of navigating conflict with those she cares about hindered her ability to communicate and be vulnerable in her relationships. Many may have felt frustrated by her character for these reasons, but I saw so much of myself in her and I felt her journey of self-discovery so deeply.
I loved that the story was told in past and present timelines. We get to see how Harriet and Wyn’s relationship blossomed and then fell apart. We don’t learn the true reason until the very end, but I think that was a great move. The focus was on how their relationship grew and changed over time, rather than how or why it ended.
I also loved that this story didn’t just focus on long-term romantic relationships, but also on long-term friendship. This story demonstrates how friendships change over time, and seeing these friends navigating these changes was chaotic but also incredibly… Refreshing? Needed? Relatable? I don’t even know what word to use for it, but I know I loved it and it was something I needed lately. This friend group loved each other so deeply and had to learn to adapt to how each person has changed over time, knowing that it doesn’t mean they love each other any less than they did at the beginning.
Also—miscommunication, where? Maybe I’m looking at it differently than others, but I thought the “miscommunication” was navigated in a very realistic and relatable way. First of all, communicating your feelings can be extremely challenging, even to people you trust (see my point about me and Harriet). Plus, communication may look or feel different to different people. And I think it is these two realities that Emily was trying to showcase in this story, and I think she did a phenomenal job in doing so.
Oh, and I really enjoyed the depression/mental health representation with Wyn.
In conclusion, I loved Happy Place. It is not as happy and light-hearted as some of Emily’s other romcoms, but it houses several important themes and lessons. And I loved every bit of it.
And I fucking love Emily Henry.
₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.
Quotes
"Love means constantly saying you're sorry, and then doing better."
__
“I love you", I tell him. "In every universe.”
__
“My best friends taught me a new kind of quiet, the peaceful stillness of knowing one another so well you don’t need to fill the space. And a new kind of loud: noise as a celebration, as the overflow of joy at being alive, here, now.”
__
“Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was. You belong here.”
__
“You're like gravity. Everything keeps spinning, but my mind's always got one hand on you.”
__
“There doesn’t need to be a winner and a loser. You just have to care how the other person feels. You have to care more about them than you do about being right.”
__
“No one else’s happiness is yours to grant.”
__
“Because it makes me happy. And I don’t consider anything that does that a waste of time.”
₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.
Check out my reviews on bookstagram
⇢ contains some spoilers
Okay, I’ve been putting off reading this one since last summer. I think I was scared I was going to be disappointed, especially with several people’s complaints of miscommunication and toxic friendships.
But I should have read this sooner because I absolutely adored this one.
As is typical of Emily's novels, this one was beautifully written. I adore Emily Henry’s writing; it's not only light-hearted and humorous with fantastic banter but also incredibly poetic, never failing to evoke strong emotions. I admire her skill in crafting complex, well-developed, and relatable characters, and Happy Place is no exception. We are introduced to a group of friends, each character possessing depth and undergoing significant development throughout the story.
Harriet is me, I am her. She puts other people's needs and feelings before her own to keep the peace. She has an inability to show her emotions to others for fear of being a burden. Her fear of navigating conflict with those she cares about hindered her ability to communicate and be vulnerable in her relationships. Many may have felt frustrated by her character for these reasons, but I saw so much of myself in her and I felt her journey of self-discovery so deeply.
I loved that the story was told in past and present timelines. We get to see how Harriet and Wyn’s relationship blossomed and then fell apart. We don’t learn the true reason until the very end, but I think that was a great move. The focus was on how their relationship grew and changed over time, rather than how or why it ended.
I also loved that this story didn’t just focus on long-term romantic relationships, but also on long-term friendship. This story demonstrates how friendships change over time, and seeing these friends navigating these changes was chaotic but also incredibly… Refreshing? Needed? Relatable? I don’t even know what word to use for it, but I know I loved it and it was something I needed lately. This friend group loved each other so deeply and had to learn to adapt to how each person has changed over time, knowing that it doesn’t mean they love each other any less than they did at the beginning.
Also—miscommunication, where? Maybe I’m looking at it differently than others, but I thought the “miscommunication” was navigated in a very realistic and relatable way. First of all, communicating your feelings can be extremely challenging, even to people you trust (see my point about me and Harriet). Plus, communication may look or feel different to different people. And I think it is these two realities that Emily was trying to showcase in this story, and I think she did a phenomenal job in doing so.
Oh, and I really enjoyed the depression/mental health representation with Wyn.
In conclusion, I loved Happy Place. It is not as happy and light-hearted as some of Emily’s other romcoms, but it houses several important themes and lessons. And I loved every bit of it.
And I fucking love Emily Henry.
₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.
Quotes
"Love means constantly saying you're sorry, and then doing better."
__
“I love you", I tell him. "In every universe.”
__
“My best friends taught me a new kind of quiet, the peaceful stillness of knowing one another so well you don’t need to fill the space. And a new kind of loud: noise as a celebration, as the overflow of joy at being alive, here, now.”
__
“Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was. You belong here.”
__
“You're like gravity. Everything keeps spinning, but my mind's always got one hand on you.”
__
“There doesn’t need to be a winner and a loser. You just have to care how the other person feels. You have to care more about them than you do about being right.”
__
“No one else’s happiness is yours to grant.”
__
“Because it makes me happy. And I don’t consider anything that does that a waste of time.”
₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆. ₊‧.°.⋆˚₊‧⋆.
Check out my reviews on bookstagram