Happy Place follows recent exes Harriet and Wyn on an annual vacation with their friends from college, but with a twist; they’ve been broken up for months, but have neglected to clue their friends in on their predicament. Throw a surprise wedding and house sale into the mix, medical resident Harriet is determined to make this week the best possible for her friends despite her heartbreak. 

Told in two alternating timelines, readers get the chance to see the entirety of Harriet and Wyn’s romantic relationship, from meeting the parents to their break up. This not only establishes how each of the characters have changed throughout their relationship, but it focuses on how romantic love is sometimes just not enough. 

However, unlike her other works, Emily Henry focuses heavily on friendship throughout Happy Place, adding in another level of interaction between characters. The supporting cast of Cleo, Parth, Sabrina, and Kim bring an issue to light that isn’t necessarily discussed enough in literature: the maturing of friend groups. Cleo, Sabrina, and Harriet met early on in college, but have drifted quite a bit since moving to different places in the country; it’s a sad reality for many people, but Henry takes it in stride and ultimately works through their complicated lives and finds them all on the same page after the finally address the problems that they are experiencing. 

My favorite part of this book was the easy banter that we got to see between the friend group, because it speaks to the fact that nobody knows us better than our friends. You can also tell that these people have been through a lot together, and it starts with the core three who have a deeper connection than the rest of the group, but it’s what makes them so special. In addition to the friendship, I liked seeing the vastly different personalities on display throughout most of the work, because it goes to show that friendship doesn’t always boils down to what you have in common.

I like the romantic aspects of this book, but I felt like it was a little bit rushed there at the end. I knew that going into reading this book that the protagonists were going to end up together, but I don’t support Harriet giving up her dream to be with Wyn, when it feels like someone flipped a switch on Harriet’s view of her job in a matter of days. It seemed sudden, and I think I would’ve liked for her to find some sort of happy medium in the medical field, rather than just kind of throw it away. I understand that she wanted to make her parents proud, but I think finishing out her residency, and then joining Wyn in Montana to become some sort of private practice doctor would have made for a more humanistic ending.

I have read quite a few Emily Henry books, so I had high hopes for this once I decided to sit down and read it. I can’t say that I was disappointed, because ultimately, I did enjoy reading this book; however, I would have liked to be given a different ending because for how inclusive Emily Henry has been in this book, as far as personalities, are concerned, for it to end in the traditional “giving up your job for a man” threw me off a little bit. I would give this book three out of five stars, and it’s simply for the fact that I thought this was a little rushed towards the end, and the ending has so many different possibilities that were not given a glance.

She is still an amazing author, but I feel like she missed the mark on this one.