Happy Place by Emily Henry

 

Title:  Happy Place

Author:  Emily Henry

Narrated by:  Julia Whelan

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hour and 3 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible

Where is your happy place?  Is it a place or a person?

Harriet and Wyn have been a couple since college and are a fixture in their group of friends.  They broke up five month ago and have not told their friends.  Now it is the annual getaway for their friend group in May and they are sharing a bedroom.  Will they be able to make it through and keep their friends?  Will they find love again?  Why did they break up?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I am a mood reader, and I was not in the mood for this book.  I listened to it on audiobook.  The narrator was great, but the storyline and characters did not engage me.  I was annoyed at Harriet and Wyn for lying to everyone.  I really hated miscommunication in books.

·       This was my first Emily Henry book.  She is raved about on Instagram – is there a better book by her that I should read?

·       I did not really like the characters.  The side characters were all one dimensional and Wyn was not a great hero.

·       Spicy scenes were included.

·       I was let down when the book finally told why they broke up.  I was like, really?

·       This book could be classified as contemporary, fake relationship, second chance romance.

·       I loved that Harriet loved to read cozy mysteries.

·       This was the June pick for the Rogue Book Club and the July pick for the Page-turners book club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  Is this a great book club book?  I didn’t think so.  It was a book of mostly angst with not much action.

·       I thought the ending was a part of the living in a different world of privilege.  SPOILER ALERT:  Harriet is going to school to be a doctor and decides to leave it all to become a potter.  Most people I know would not be able to do this.  That’s a lot of money and loans to throw away and somehow must be paid back.  I do believe in second chances and making a change, but most people would need to finish up and work as a doctor for awhile to pay off this debt.

Overall, Happy Place by Emily Henry was an angsty book that wasn’t for me.  What book has disappointed you lately?