For August book club, we have the highly anticipated novel, Happy Place by Emily Henry! This is the fourth book of Emily Henry’s that I have read now. I first fell in love with Beach Read, then People We Meet on Vacation. When Book Lovers was announced, I immediately pre-ordered it, and I did the same with Happy Place. I didn’t even know what the book was about, but I have enjoyed her books so much that I didn’t care! I’m in!!!
Emily Henry is really a great romance/light beach book kind of author, so if that’s the kind of book you are looking for, I highly recommend trying out some of her books.
Happy Place Synopsis
Harriet and Wyn have always been the perfect couple since they met in college. Like every summer for the past decade, they are headed to Maine for their friend’s yearly cottage vacation. But now the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together. Also, Harriet and Wyn broke up 5 months ago and none of their friends know. They don’t want to ruin the last week together at this special cottage, so they decide to fake it. Now they are sharing a bedroom together and pretending to still be the happy, perfect couple that their friends believe them to be.
Discussion/Themes
Overall, I enjoyed this book, I didn’t have a hard time getting myself to pick it up, and I looked forward to reading it. There were a few things about this book that I didn’t love though. So this isn’t really my favorite Emily Henry novel!
Spoilers ahead! Proceed with caution!
Forced Proximity Trope
This is always a popular trope in romance novels, and I know a lot of people were excited to see that premise for this book as well. While I enjoy books with that trope, for some reason it didn’t work for me here because the miscommunication between Wyn and Harriet basically prevented ANYTHING from even happening for sooooo long!
Miscommunication
This is my absolute least favorite trope in a book. There is nothing more infuriating than a character having a long eternal monologue wondering what someone is thinking about them or storming off about something without giving any explanation. It makes me actually shout “JUST TALK TO HIM!!!!!”.
Most of the time, I can deal with this trope if it is just part of a book. I swear every romance book loves to have a miscommunication scene after the two people have finally gotten together to challenge their relationship. Unfortunately for Happy Place, the entire book is dependent on the miscommunication trope. You don’t quite know what the miscommunication was until closer to half way through the book; but, it’s clear from the beginning that Harriet doesn’t quite know what she did to make Wyn break up with her, doesn’t know how Wyn is feeling, and never told Wyn how she feels. It is so frustrating as a reader because it is SO illogical considering that Wyn and Harriet have been together for 8 years. How am I supposed to believe that they have known each other for almost a decade and don’t know how to communicate one bit?
College Friends and Growing Up
Other than Wyn and Harriet’s relationship, the other big part of this book is growing up and how friendships evolve as you grow older. The relationship between Cleo, Sabrina, and Harriet reminded me so much of my best friends in college. It reminded me of how my freshman year RA used to stop by our room constantly because we were being too loud late at night just laughing our heads off.
My best friends taught me a new kind of quiet, the peaceful stillness of knowing one another so well you don’t need to fill the space. And a new kind of loud: noise as a celebration, as the overflow of joy at being alive, here, now.
But this theme of growing apart reminded me of friends from different times in my life that I may not have the same relationship with– often times due to distance. This book was a good reminder that even if friends are not in the same stage of life as me though, I can still be there for them in the ways that I can.
“I don’t need you to stay the same, Cleo,” I say. “And it’s not ‘having things in common’ that makes me love you. We’re so different, Clee. All of us. And I wouldn’t change anything about you. Like I said, you are a missing piece of my heart, and Sabrina is too. If your schedule has to change, or you start singing Barney songs to yourself, or become one of those people who post about their kids’ diaper blowouts on social media—”
Changing as a person is NOT necessarily a bad thing. Who wants to be stagnant and not grow? Unfortunately that will drive a wedge in some relationships, but I do think we should celebrate changes in our friends and be excited for the people they are becoming.
Everything is changing. It has to. You can’t stop time. All you can do is point yourself in a direction and hope the wind will let you get there.
Wyn
I am still processing Wyn’s character and trying to decide how to feel about him. The chemistry between him and Harriet was the intriguing part of the book; however, he was so passive about everything which was frustrating to read.
I’m not going to stop fighting for you, Harriet
OK???? Like then fight for her??? He never did!!!!
“No,” he says quietly. “In every universe, it’s you for me. Even if it’s not me for you.”
Show her then?????
The point is, some people live the bulk of their lives in their minds (me), and some are highly physical beings (Wyn).
I know this was included to explain, but I couldn’t help but feel like he was using Harriet for the physical intimacy after their breakup during the cottage trip; because they had yet to work out their miscommunication. It really rubbed me the wrong way.
The Ending
Love means constantly saying you’re sorry, and then doing better.
The hopeless romantic in me was glad they ended up together, but Wyn’s lack of drive to fight for Harriet and the inability of the two of them to communicate their feelings to one another really made me question whether they should be together!
Like even when something beautiful breaks, the making of it still matters.
The healthcare worker in me who knows how much money and effort goes into medical school and residency understands that residency is hard (I definitely don’t have any interest in doing it); but for her to quit to do pottery that she is admittedly bad at was the weirdest ending to me!
Final Rating
3.5/5 stars
Like I said, I still enjoyed this book, but the miscommunication trope really made this book frustrating as a reader. And also made me doubtful on how compatible they actually are as a couple!
The first half of the book was really the most enjoyable part, and then once the miscommunication really unfolded in the second half, I enjoyed it less.
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