About the Book:

Harriet and Wyn are the perfect couple – they go together like bread and butter, gin and tonic, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Every year for the past decade, they have left behind their lives to drink far too much wine and soak up the sea air with their favourite people in the world. Except this year, they are lying through their teeth. Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago. And they still haven’t told anyone.

This is the last time they’ll all be together here. The cottage is for sale, and since they can’t bear to break their best friends’ hearts, they’ll fake it for one more week. But how can you pretend to be in love – and get away with it – in front of the people who know you best?

Published by Penguin

Released April 2023

My Thoughts:

I’ve grown quite fond of Emily Henry in a very short space of time. Her books are fun, romantic, angsty, and maintain an incomparable standard of dialogue between the characters. I got off to a bit of a shaky start with Happy Place though, I thought I might have hit a snag in my winning Emily Henry streak. Alas, all is well. There was an argument, a reveal, and a corner turned, and the story galloped along with ease for me from then.

‘The only way I can bear loving anyone this much is knowing it will never turn to poison. Knowing we’ll give each other up before we can destroy each other.’

Happy Place is not just a romance though. It’s also a book of friendship, three women who met at college, became best friends, and have maintained that through the years – until now, at least.

‘My heart keens. Another little reminder of how well these people know me against all odds, all the pieces of me I’ve come to see as difficult or unpleasant, the parts I never voluntarily share but have sneaked out here and there across the years.’

Love is not easy, especially inside an Emily Henry novel. It’s heartbreaking, and frustrating, and filled with angst and joy in equal measure.

‘Want is a kind of thief. It’s a door in your heart, and once you know it’s there, you’ll spend your life longing for whatever’s behind it.’

Is there an Emily Henry subscription service somewhere out there? Just take my money.

Highly recommended!