Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college, everyone in their friend group thinks so. Everyone’s sure that they are a match made in heaven. But here’s the thing: Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago. And they haven’t told their best friends yet. This is how they find themselves pretending to still be together and happier than ever when they get invited to their best friends’ Maine cottage in an attempt to not ruin their final bash at the place they’ve all called their safe space for so long.
Harriet and Wyn are in for a pickle. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts but with every single day they have to pretend they’re still happy, that the things that tore them apart haven’t happened, all their shoved-down feelings threaten to rise to the surface and cause one an epic storm. Can two people who loved each other for years (and maybe still are in love) fake it for one week in front of their best friends?
I think the fact that it’s been over a month since I read this book and I still can’t talk about it without tearing up speaks for itself.
I don’t think I’ve ever quite been as invested in a couple the way I was in Harriet and Wyn. Through expertly placed flashbacks, we get to see them fall in love and then fall apart—all while watching the consequences play out in real life as they are forced to pretend they’re still happily engaged and just counting down the days to their own wedding. It was absolutely heart-wrecking to see them so broken up and learn in pieces what caused them to break up. My heart hasn’t ached this much while reading in years.
But then we also get to see how Harriet and Wyn met, what made them the perfect couple from the get-go, the devotion and commitment they both had for each other, which was simultaneously so reaffirming but also caused multiple sobbing parties for me. Honestly, the way Henry managed to celebrate romantic love and show all of its facets in such excruciatingly realistic detail absolutely broke me. You’ll cry reading this, guaranteed, but you’ll also be unable to put the story down before you know how it all ends for Harriet and Wyn.
There’s also so much to be said for the atmosphere of this book. We spend much of the story at this cottage that has been the friends’ getaway for over a decade. The memories, the emotions, everything that makes this cottage a home away from home is translated so beautifully onto the page that it almost feels like the cottage is another character. You can’t help but feel like you are right there along with Harriet and Wyn, caught up in the nostalgia and magic of this incredible place that shaped who they are.
And if you think it couldn’t get any better than this, think again: the cast of secondary characters is just as vivid and charismatic as Happy Place‘s protagonists. Harriet and Wyn’s friends are going through their own life troubles but above all, their friendship and deep bond prevails. From the heartfelt discussions of harrowing topics such as grief, loneliness, family baggage and growing apart when you promised to stay the same forever, this book gives platonic relationships the worship they deserve.
If you’re looking for a magical second-chance romance that will make your heart ache and read compulsively to find out what happened to the perfect couple (and whether they’ll get their happily ever after), then Happy Place is sure to keep you up all night!
Happy Place is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of April 25th.
Will you be picking up Happy Place? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
