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Happy Place by Emily Henry
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Buckle up, bitches, because I have some things to say.

P.S: if you liked this book, I'm really really really happy for you. I wish that could be me! <3

My review may contain some spoilers, you've been warned.

I decided to give Emily Henry another chance after Beach Read, which I did not finish because it was bad in my opinion. So, I said "Why not? Maybe this one turns out to be pretty good!" and now that I finished it, I've realized (after a long night of overthinking and self-loathing. Yeah, I know, it wasn't my best night, lol) that maybe romance as a main plot isn't my genre.

First of all, I've never ever been in love in my almost 25 years of miserable existence, nor someone has been in love with me, so I don't actually know how it really feels, (that's a deep and traumatic conversation for another day), but to me it's kind of unreal that people can last years and not get bored. Please, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's not a real thing , but I can't even start to imagine someone loving me for so long without getting bored of me. (Plot twist: deep down, I'm a hopeless romantic who yearns to love and be loved for a really long time and to be in a healthy relationship, but that's not gonna happen, so).

Basically, Happy Place is about a second chance romance, between Harriet and Wyn (I swear I've never heard the name Wyndham until the day I started this book), who broke up five months ago and reunite for a trip with their best friends. They have to act like they're still together and pretend happiness and such just to not causing chaos.

The jump from past to present was not for me. While I enjoy those kind of flashbacks, things were "interesting" in the present than in the past.

I felt like a fucking third wheel. Or perhaps like I was in the middle of a friend group which I wasn't part of and it made me feel uncomfortable, (I've felt like that in the past, in many friend groups, and it feels awful) and if EH's point was to make me feel like I belonged with them, well, it didn't work out. They didn't even feel like best friends because there was a lot of tension and they were keeping secrets from each other (yes, I know this last thing happens a lot irl).

The side characters had no personality whatsoever. They felt very flat and boring. Sabrina was controlling and kind of bitchy. Parth had zero personality. Cleo and Kimmy were okay, until I felt like they were not a lesbian couple, but a heterosexual couple where one of them is a guy with a girl's name. Don't come at me for this, I just felt it like that. I did enjoy when Sabrina was called out. I get that they were in that trip mourning their youth and trying to have a good time, but goddamn it was painful. I just could not stand them. Trust me, I'm good at mourning my wasted and non existent youth, but this was pure hell.

Wyn was flat and boring. Gods, he had no personality and it was pretty clear. Even a shoe or a rock has more personality than Wyn Connor. What I hated the most is that basically Harriet was the one making the moves. Always. Man, if you really "love her" then go and fucking fight for her. MAKE SOME GODDAMN MOVES TO GET HER BACK AND LOVE HER PROPERLY.

And Harriet, girly pop, please, have a little bit more of self-steem and respect for yourself. Stop being a people pleaser and try to save everyone. !

I hate miscommunication. I believe it's one of the worst tropes ever and it's used throughout the book. Harriet complains and whines a lot, has a lot of inner monologues but she never says shit. Ma'am, please don't expect that everyone knows what the hell do you want if you never say anything. I'm not defending Wyn either, because he did the same thing. And they were constantly lying about how they were happy and okay. Both, Harriet and Wyn made a lot of assumptions instead of actually talk to each other, which could have spared us from a 400 pages book. Things could have solved up faster if they both had spoken first.

Like, are you going to tell me that after a long-ass relationship of 8 YEARS, neither of you can communicate things? They could have broken up sooner if they just talked things through. It's like both communication and understanding were missing in the entire book. Also, breaking up with her over the phone? Are you fucking kidding me?

This book could have been better if we had Wyn's POV. He obviously was struggling with depression, the loss of his father and his mother being diagnosed with Parkinson. We could have understood him more like this. But otherwise, he seemed indifferent about his relationship.

My last straw was... Pottery? Really?

Did you just throw so many years of med school, hard work and your residency for pottery? I don't know how things work for med school in the u.s, but, girly pop, I'm pretty sure that isn't cheap, not even when you study in a good school. And holy shit, she’s a neurosurgery resident. (My dream was to become a neurosurgeon, so I was speechless and almost screaming like Regina George in Mean Girls). I'm still speachless and amazed because how are you gonna pay your +$200,000 debts from pottery? Wyn must be a fucking billionare.

I also felt nothing, nor empathy, sadness, pity or whatever towards any of these characters or their problems and relationships.

The sex scene felt... Off. There was "a lot" of tension going on between Harriet and Wyn from the beginning, but when the sex scene finally came, it disappeared and felt dull.

Anyways, not everything seems bad, lmao.

I have this love/hate relationship with EH's writing style. For one side, there are some phrases where you can relate and say "Same, sis, same.", but for the other side, Emily uses metaphors and stuff like that where is no needed.

The only good thing, perhaps?

I get the hype over Emily Henry's books, I swear I do, but they never captivate me or make me giggle, kick my feet in the air or feel happy. Maybe there's something wrong with me. Maybe, like I said at the beginning of this review, maybe romance as a main is not for me.

I'm not going to include this book in my big hype big lie shelf yet because I honestly didn't have many expectations for Happy Place. Nevermind, I just added to my big hipe, big lie shelf, lmao.

This is where Emily Henry and I part ways.

I guess I have more things to say, but I'll add them when I remember, lmao.
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Reading Progress

April 27, 2023 – Started Reading
April 27, 2023 – Shelved
April 27, 2023 – Shelved as: to-read
April 27, 2023 –
page 20
5.0% "i'm as nervous and anxious as harriet, lmao"
April 28, 2023 –
page 50
12.5% "maybe it's because i've never been in love or no one has ever been in love with me, but the fact that people can actually be together for years sounds so unreal for me. gods, it feels weird, lmao"
April 29, 2023 –
page 100
25.0% "i'm trying to fight a reading slump and my constant responsibilities just to read this, lmao"
April 29, 2023 –
page 120
30.0% "so, i've made just because!"
May 1, 2023 –
page 200
50.0% "I wanna kick Harriet and Wyn. Gods."
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: adult
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: adult-fiction
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: chick-lit
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: contemporary
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: fiction
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: i-m-too-old-for-this-shit
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: new-adult
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: standalone
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: stupid-female-mc
May 1, 2023 – Shelved as: this-shit-has-no-romance
May 1, 2023 – Finished Reading
July 8, 2023 – Shelved as: big-hype-big-lie
August 22, 2023 – Shelved as: 2023-reads

Comments Showing 551-556 of 556 (556 new)

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message 551: by Gage (new) - rated it 4 stars

Gage Older While I respect your perspective, this book successfully achieves its purpose of exploring personal growth and relationship development.
You claim that the characters in the book are boring and have little to no personality. While you may see it like that I see it as the book was more focused on Harriet’s development and how her and Wyn’s relationship changes. In the book we learn more about Harriet than anyone obviously, but also as the book goes on we can see she is more for herself than her previous passive self and she learns she can do whatever her heart desires. You claim the move from being a surgeon to a potter is your last straw, but the whole point of the change is to explain how she understands herself and what she wants a lot more. Changing your life means you know how to change your life. If Harriet can change her career then the basis of her relationship with Wyn can too. You may think the lack of personality in characters like Sabrina causes the book to seem boring; instead you should stay more focused on how deep the personality is with Harriet because she is layered like a cake.
In addition to your other arguments of yours was that Wyn was boring too. This may be seen that way only because he is a closed off character. This is on purpose, we don’t learn as much as we want to about Wyn because he is meant to be seen as a nonchalant and quiet person. We do get to see the depths of him as a person when we learn about his father passing and how it affected his family and himself. You say that having a POV of Wyn would make the book better, I have to agree partly because it would answer questions we had throughout the book, but we can’t ask for his side when Emily’s writing wasn’t for that. It was to help us understand that there can be growth in relationships.
While you may have seen it as flat or boring, I think the personal experience of being in a relationship can make it so you can see the idea of growth in relationships rather than just entertainment because we know everyone and everything.
I know that everyone sees books differently and I can understand why you saw it the way you did, but understand that the point of the book is different than what you envisioned.


message 552: by Kayla (new) - rated it 3 stars

Kayla this is exactly how I feel about all of Emily Henry’s books.


message 553: by Ro (new) - rated it 2 stars

Ro Cartes All I will say is yes. This is the review.


message 554: by Alison (new) - rated it 1 star

Alison Coak I’m on chapter 17 and I can’t even finish it. I hate to just abandon ship. But I’m super bored! And the audio book is even worse. I respect your opinion. This is my first and last Emily Henry books.


message 555: by Elle (new) - rated it 4 stars

Elle E. I liked the book well enough, but agree that the neurosurgery to pottery thing made no sense. Those freak outs and realizations that you aren't as smart and amazing as you and everyone else thought you were do absolutely happen. They occur in the first year of med school though, not in residency. There is no way she became an MD with such an indecisive personality and no real love of medicine. At the very least have her pivot to being a rural family practice doctor or medical consultant.


message 556: by Kaylyn (new) - rated it 2 stars

Kaylyn I feel like she could’ve skipped neurosurgery and just become a primary care doctor—get this—in Montana. Still could’ve done good in the world without going full scrubbed scalpel. Sigh. But pottery� maybe she’ll end up teaching a medical pottery recovery class or something. Still, when the main plot revolves around miscommunication—or a total lack of communication—I just can’t. Be an adult. Have a conversation.


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