If Emily Henry writes it, I will read it.
If Emily Henry writes it, I will love it.
I don't know what it is about her, other than the woman knows what I like and writes the perfect books to make me fall head over heels in love with the words she's spilled onto the page.
Happy Place was no exception. In it, we meet Harriet (Harry), who can't wait for her upcoming trip to Happy Place--her best friend's cottage in Maine where she and her bestie group have spent countless vacations together. She's just gone through a devastating breakup, where her fiancé Wyn ended their engagement, and relationship, in a four minute phone call. She needs the peace that Happy Place will bring to begin to heal, even though it's been months since she's seen or heard from Wyn. She knows that Happy Place, and time with her friend group, will restore her soul.
That is, until she arrives at Happy Place to find Wyn is there. She'd planned to tell her friends about the breakup during this trip, but they'd invited Wyn--who didn't break the news himself for fear of outing Harry for "lying"--to surprise her. Oh, and they assigned she and Wyn the best, most romantic room, complete with an open shower.
We love a good forced proximity story around here, right?
I loved the ups and downs of Harry and Wyn's relationship and interactions throughout this book! Wyn takes care of Harry when she's had too much to drink, they're forced to pretend to still be engaged and, of course, have to be touchy feely, then they argue when they're alone. There's so much delicious tension that left me reeling.
It was surprisingly a bit more melancholy than I expected, but that tinge of sadness throughout the book worked perfectly with the story. If there's something I love more than forced proximity, it's pining. I found myself all but screaming at Harry for so long. Girl! Open your eyes! Use your context clues, here! But, again, that tension is delicious and leaves you guessing up until the very end. I truly was afraid (in a good way!) to see how this book would end, given the touch of dark throughout. Will they? Won't they?
Seriously, though. Emily Henry could rewrite a phone book and make me cry, squeal, and have heart eyes burst forth from my head like a cartoon character. She's just that good.
Many, many, many thanks to Libro.fm for the advanced audiobook!
Order your copy of Happy Place here!
Love and claustrophobia in a wine cellar,
Mandy
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from Libro.fm for free and have voluntarily written this review with my honest feedback. You can (and should!!) create your own Libro.fm account here, where you can support your local bookstore while enjoying audiobooks either through a monthly membership, or by purchasing audiobooks a la carte. If you purchase a physical copy of the book using my Amazon affiliate link above, I will receive a small commission which I will use to justify my literary addictions and to spoil my dogs (probably).
