by Emily Henry ★★★★★
I approached Happy Place with some caution; where previous Emily Henry books shot straight to 5-star ratings, I had a couple of reader friends suggest this one was a notch below previous efforts. And so perhaps it was my tempered expectations going in, but Happy Place turned out to be a very happy surprise for me.
The novel opens with our narrator, Harriet Kilpatrick, en route to her annual week-long excursion to fictional Knott's Harbor, Maine for their Lobster Fest. Since her first day of freshman year at Mattingly College, when fate put her in a room with Sabrina Armas and Cleo James, they have been her best friends and surrogate family. Sabrina's father owns a lake house in Knott's Harbor, and the trio has been spending the week of Lobster Fest there ever since graduation. It's a chance to reconnect and relive old times, even while life continues to move forward and threaten to drive a wedge into their friendship.
And, of course, over time they have added significant others. Eight years post-graduation, their group of 3 has swelled to 5, to include Sabrina's beau Parth and Cleo's longtime girlfriend Kimmy. Noticeably absent this year is Harriet's fiancé, Wyn, for one very good reason: he is no longer her fiancé, and hasn't been for the last five months. There's one problem, though -- neither Harriet nor Wyn have told their friends. And when Harriet arrives, there's another problem: Wyn is there.
What follows is a tension-filled week where Harriet and Wyn present a "nothing is wrong" front to their friends so as not to ruin the week, while remembering all of the things they love about each other and beginning to drift back together. Henry does a really nice job of bouncing between the present week in Maine and flashbacks that let us see the evolution (and dissolution) of Harriet and Wyn's relationship. We get to see them fall in love, and we get to relive their rapid why-would-they-do-that breakup. And we get to see them try to reconnect, while also trying to balance what their heart says with the pressures of careers, the expectations of friends and family, the challenge of a long-distance relationship, and the need for happiness outside of what a partner can give you.
Like with all of Henry's novels, Happy Place has the trademark witty banter and humor I've come to expect (and, it turns out, I can start to predict -- I was completing punchlines for characters while listening to the audio book). I appreciated that this was more nuanced and serious than just a "let's watch them get back together and swoon while they do" rom-com. At one point Sabrina says, "God, I've been crying a lot this week." to which Harriet replies, "Me too." There are lots of tears, and with good reason. Happy Place is less predictable and a bit darker than Henry's previous novels, and I think it's better for it.
After being late to the Emily Henry party and stumbling upon Book Lovers last year (my #9 book of 2022), I went back to the start earlier this year and read Beach Read, Henry's first novel. In my review, I noted that it lacked some of the polish of Book Lovers, but that was fun to be able to go back and see where she started, so that you can appreciate her progression and growth as a novelist. I think Happy Place continues that progression, and for me it might be her most complete book yet and one that demonstrates her continued evolution and maturity as an author.