Happy Place, Emily Henry

Happy Place is a well-written look at 3 friends and their significant others growing through a ten-year relationship. Sabrina, Harriett, and Cleo meet in collage and become BFFs. As they grow and find their S.O., Parth, Wyn, and Kimmie, life, of course, takes on new meaning, new challenges, and new ideals - including where they all stand with themselves and each other.

There is so much good in this book; the way Emily Henry has evolved in her writing, the depth and realism in the dialogue, the characters’ individualism, but, there is just something too good about the book’s overall theme that fell flat to me.

Each character has his or her flaw, each relationship has its challenges, and while I realize most want a tied-in-a-bow ending, I tend to have a bit of a gag reflex if it’s too well-tied. Happy Place, is a bit “well-tied” for me. I’m not going to apologize if my life experiences do not all have a cherry on top, but because of the lack of candied sweet on my life, I just don’t see how every single thing just turns out roses.

This book deserves a read, it deserves the hype, it is worth your time. Just know that it is, like all the many others in the niche of everythings-always-perfect-even-though-I’m-trying-to-sell-you-that-the-characters-have-problems books, it is a bit unrealistic, at least in my opinion.