Book Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

Happy Place by Emily Henry was voted Best Romance of 2023 in the Goodreads Choice Awards. So I read it to find out why. And I wasn’t disappointed.

BOOK SPECS:

Number of pages: 400

Format: eBook

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy

Tropes: Second Chance Romance, Forced Proximity, Fake Dating

SHORT REVIEW:

I absolutely loved this book and Emily Henry has become one of my favourite authors. If I could recommend only one book to you this year, it would be this one. Detailed review below.

HEART REVIEW:

SMUT SCORE:

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FULL REVIEW:

Plot

When you meet the main characters - Harriet and Wyn, they have already split up. Henry uses a dual timeline to take you back to when they first met and how they got to where they are. This flip is an interesting spin on the standard boy meets girl, things go wrong, they split up and then get back together story arc. It shakes up the third act split that has become a predictable given in romance fiction.

Now, flashbacks can be a double-edged sword. They can be confusing, like the ones in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, or tedious like the ones in It Ends With Us. But Emily aces their delivery by cleverly using the chapters and chapters titles as a way to tell you where you are in the timeline.

In terms of trope, I would class it as a second chance romance with an added dose of forced proximity and a twist on fake dating. It’s told from Harriet’s point of view and, as the story unfolds, you realise that everyone in this book is working through some personal stuff, figuring out what they really want, and who they truly are as friends, family and lovers.

Characters

There are actually six main characters in this novel, including our protagonist pair, plus another roster of subplots and secondary characters, but there is no waste. All of them are in the story for a reason and their presence is relevant and proportional even when brief.

Wyn and Harriet are also quite relatable. They are regular folk with personality traits and insecurities that affect their relationship. Issues that, on the surface, look minor but when brewed with lack of communication and misguided expectations lead them to break apart, despite being clearly in love with each other.

Smut & Romance Score

You’ll not be short of steamy scenes in this novel. There’s plenty of sexual tension going around and they start in the flashbacks, which just builds your anticipation for what will happen in the present. And when they do finally do the deed, you are not disappointed, even though Emily Henry doesn’t overwrite sex scenes.

Writing

I absolutely love Henry's writing. Her prose is smooth and her descriptions beautifully delivered. The only thing I can slightly pick (and this is ever so slightly) is that some of the dialogues made me feel like the characters were trying too hard to be witty. But then the storyline kicked in and I was absorbed and obsessed with finding out what happened. Even the prolonged ending didn’t annoy me. If this is the first review of mine you read, you probably don’t know that I hate when the ending drags on, slowing down the pace and just making me feel like I should have stopped reading thirty pages earlier.

OUT OF CURIOSITY:

Five of Emily Henry’s books have now been optioned to become movie or series adaptations – Happy Place (yours truly), Funny Story, Book Lovers, Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. So watch this space.

Buy this book on Bookshop.org

Buy it on Amazon