Emily Henry's Happy Place

A perfect feel-good book.

This book had me laughing, crying, thinking about my friendships, and happy places.

The story is told from the main character Harriet's perspective a thirty-something who is on her annual week-long vacation with her best friends from college. When her ex-fiancée, Wyn( who is also part of the friend group) surprises her on the trip the pair come up with a plan to keep the breakup quiet so they don't ruin the trip or have to tell their friends they are no longer together.

Happy Place takes us through the highs and lows of trying to fool everyone along with flashbacks of Harriet and Wyn's relationship. The book has the reader guessing if maybe the couple still has a chance of getting back together and secretly rooting for them to be together. The question becomes can the pair keep their secret from their friends who know them better than anyone and is it just too messy to try to repair the relationship?

The book also has a second storyline that tells the story of Harriet and her two best friends Cleo and Sabrina from college. While the relationships are strained due to distance and life when entering this trip it has the reader and Harriet asking can these relationships be saved and maintained or if there has been too much distance and too many secrets. It explores friendships that they hold so close that they have become family but is it reasonable to maintain those relationships with distance, jobs, families, and romantic relationships? Can the threesome reconnect during this week-long vacation that they have each brought secrets to hide from those closest to them?

Happy Place is a great reminder of how important our happy places are with the people we love the most and how it's even more important to treasure those places, people, and relationships.

I gave Happy Place 4 out of 5 stars on Good Reads. For a book that I was unsure about reading I was pleasantly surprised.