Happy Place by Emily Henry – A Book Review

Spoiler-Free Overview

Harriet and her college friends take a trip each year to Sabrina’s family cottage in Maine. The cottage has been the place of some of their happiest memories, including the start of Harriet and Wyn’s relationship. The two spent eight years in love and got engaged before Harriet’s surgical residency across the country.

Sabrina has some bad news for the group. Her father is selling the cottage, and this summer’s trip is the last they’ll have. 

Harriet and Wyn have a secret. They broke up six months ago. But they don’t want their friends to know, and they don’t want to ruin the last trip to the Maine cottage. So, they enact a plan. They’ll pretend to still be together, sharing a bedroom and covering up their sadness.

But the two have major unresolved issues from their breakup. They never really talked about it, and Harriet is still desperately in love with Wyn, while also being furious with him. So, they try to grin and bear it for their friends. As you can imagine, it doesn’t work so easily.

Liz’s Thoughts and Feelings

This book is one massive miscommunication trope. A trope I typically hate. However, if there was ever a way to do it right, Emily Henry found it. It’s one thing to force miscommunication only for conflict or a third-act break up. It’s entirely different to create real life scenarios that are fueled by insecurity, grief, depression. Young love coupled with just trying to figure life out. The constant battle between believing happiness can be real, love can last, and fearing everything changing.

This summer trip that brings them all together and then it being threatened by Sabrina’s dad selling the cottage is so realistic to me. I see a lot of reviews saying this premise is unbelievable or cheesy, but it hits very close to home for me. There’s a sanctity in these vacations when friendships reignite instead of drifting apart. Which is also why it is hyper realistic that Harriet and Wyn would want to protect that by faking that they’re still engaged. It’s also hard to admit that your relationship failed, especially to the people closest to you, double especially when it’s people that are friends with both of you.

Harriet and Wyn obviously needed relationship counseling, but they also needed their own therapy. Wyn is dealing with his dad’s death and his mom’s failing health. Harriet is finally out of school, which she excelled at, and is in her residency, which she’s struggling with. This is the first time she’s struggled with something school / career related, and that’s terrifying. She chose her life, not because she wanted it, but because it would make her parents happy. And their happiness meant they might love her more, show her the affection she’s always wanted.

Found family is an integral part of the story, and not just with the premise of the trip. The three main college friends – Harriet, Sabrina, and Cleo – are all growing up and changing. And some of those changes have driven them apart. But the trip brings those changes to light and has them confront how they’ll stay close even as they find their own lives.

To me, this book had an overtone of sadness to it. Even the scenes that were meant to lighten the tone and be humorous are still depressing or angry, such as the time skips back to when they were happy together. The audience knows they break up, so it’s not ‘happy’ to read about their past. I just kept wondering how it all got so bad. That tone is what really brought the overall rating down to a four. The name, Happy Place, is severely misleading. I wouldn’t call much of this book ‘happy’.