Happy Place by Emily Henry - Book Review

[@mojos7]

SPOILER As a doctor, I wanted to throw this book across the room at the end. No way a neurosurgery resident wouldn’t know what she was getting into before residency, we spend half of med school in the hospital, and she would have had to do a lot of extra rotations and research to get a position at UCSF. As others have said, she’ll never pay off those loans. I think even worse the book implies it is ok for Harriet to give up her dreams but not Wyn. They could have laid the groundwork by showing Harriet loved something more, like maybe family medicine but wanted to do something more prestigious but switched to family medicine residency in Montana, or neurosurgery residency in Montana, but this ending undercut the book in a major way. Which is really sad, because I otherwise loved it.

[@nikkisbooknook]

I definitely agree and felt so weird about that whole aspect of the book!

[@pari09ca]

The way I saw it, Harriett wasn't thinking about her wants or needs before. It was all about pleasing and appeasing others (re: her parents). I think she wouldn't have registered her dislike for the profession as it made others happy...and during the times she did, she probably lied to herself about it because she felt so guilty. About the loans, I think it was implied that Wyn was now making bank and had lots of savings so he would be able to support them/take care of her loans for at least a little bit. She had said that pottery was what she did for herself, to clear her head. She mentioned not wanting to take it up as a profession. So I assumed she took the pottery job temporarily until she was able to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She mentioned liking med school, so I can see her transitioning to a job in academia, where right and wrong are easier to discern.

[@pepper6528]

I thought she would have been there when Cleo had her baby and would have been inspired to get into family med or become a doula

[@pepper6528]

I thought she would have been there when Cleo had her baby and would have been inspired to get into family med or become a doula

[@pepper6528]

I thought she would have been there when Cleo had her baby and would have been inspired to get into family med or become a doula

[@samanghazvini9191]

I really loved Happy Place more than other EH books by a large margine! The story resonated with me on so many different level. [SPOILERS AHEAD] I didn't think Harriet's decision to quit her residency was out of nowhere. As a child of middleeastern parents currently in an engineering Ph.D program I totally see how you can grow to hate your job (or not even like it from the beginning). It's like you're smart and you're good at it and you become the embodiment of what your parents wanted for themselves and that's the biggest reason why anyone is proud of you. I understood it even when Harriet said she gets annoyed when people think of pottery as just her hobby, where in fact it's more than that for her. I think in a world where everyone tells you ALL the time that nothing should be placed above your career, it's actually such a brave decision to say no to your job when it's leeching out your happiness. I just don't think it's doable to pay loans off of pottery making, but maybe living with Wyn's family and his bussiness will reduce the financial burden? Idk!

[@Lah_tubes0]

I just finished it and oh my god i'm crying so much. This book got me out of a months long reading slump and I loved it!! [SPOILERS AHEAD] Despite the name I wasn't happy at all lol like you said it was so painfully real and relatable that it made my heart ache. It was so so sad reading the past chapters, seeing how happy they made each other back then only to jump to the present and see all the pain harriet was enduring because of the break up, how it phisically hurt her to be without him. i really really liked it and i agree that it was incredibly well written. I think that the reason we didn't clock how unhappy she was with her job was because she hadn't know either, she was coming to that realization at the same time we were. I did see glimpses of it though, like when she said she choose her career path because of how impressive it sounded. She was so busy trying to make up for her parents, to make them proud, that she never really took the time to find things out about herself. Wich is why I also think the ending made perfect sense, for the first time she wasn't letting anyone's expectations decide for her. She choose for herself, not for anyone else. I was bracing myself for them not getting to be together but I am so happy they did. Book lovers was my favorite, followed by PWMOV but I think Happy Place is my new #1! 🥹

[@katsversion]

I absolutely loved Happy Place and is my #1 book to date. Completely agree with you on your review and thought it was perfect. I just want to chime in, as a nurse who works in a major city hospital like Harriett does, I could 100% relate to her just wanting to leave and do pottery. It gets draining and sometimes you just feel miserable which I could sense while reading, but it could just be me pulling from the material and relating it to close to home 😅

[@angelaholmes8888]

21 people have happy place on hold at the library so it's going to be awhile before I read it

[@ImogenReeves]

Same, tempted to just get the book on my Kindle instead & reading it from that

[@michelacarletti3671]

I feel this book gets drastically better after the first 50%! Agree with all your thoughts as usual!

[@Lauren_Stern]

I loved this book!!! I never laugh out loud when reading books but definitely did when reading this book. I loved the banter between Wyn and Harriet when they first met. After reading this book, I read the rest of Emily Henry's other books and this was my favorite of the 4. PWMOV is my 2nd fav! Nice review by the way!!

[@hetvikhetia4354]

Idk 6 chapters in and it's just not drawing me in no matter how much i wanted to be into it...feels like it should just be a movie under 2hrs

[@xPRECIOSA]

yeah Harriet's decision totally threw me off and in my opinion doesn't seem realistic. [SPOILER AHEAD] Could Harriet have transferred her residency to Montana instead? How is she going to pay off her med school loans while teaching at a pottery studio?

[@nikkisbooknook]

I had all the same thoughts

[@galiaelizondo]

Please do book recs of dark enemies to lovers 😭😭😭

[@No-ux6yl]

YESS

[@SantReads]

Oh hey! I loved People We Meet on Vacation too!! Read and reviewed this book too and loved your thoughts on it. And I totally agree with almost everything you said. SPOILER COMMENT BELOW - still think the reason for the break up was very anticlimactic. I really thought there would be more. How can you just break up like that after 8 years being together. -i totally agree with you the book was trying to show you that you cant have the other person be everything for you and the last decision shouldnt have been so rushed - like maybe with Book Lovers. - The quitting medicine bit irritated me so much!!

[@emmabudriss5826]

i actually disagree, I feel like the way they broke up felt accurate to a lot of couples in real life. They were in two different places physically and mentally and they couldn't be there for each other when they needed it. right person wrong time sort of thing. It was anticlimactic in the sense of it wasn't this big dramatic breakup, but I think if it was done that way it would have felt inauthentic.

[@natalhab]

Book Lovers was Nora being angry at nothing and Charlie flirting from the beginning hahaha haven't finished Happy place and never started beach read, but PWMOV and Book Lovers the romantic disagreement was meh for me. IDK how a truly enemies to lovers would go for her

[@yorkiepudd]

That nail polish colour is amazing BTW

[@christinaestes8809]

I agree with everything you said. I loved Happy Place but it didn’t dethrone People We Meet on Vacation. I would put it second to People.

[@nikkisbooknook]

Same!

[@Maddog441]

Is happy place a closed door romance ?

[@KatieSanvick]

i listened to the Audiobook and felt like i constantly had stinging eyes towards the end, definitely 5 star

[@user123_user]

been waiting for thissssss

[@savagejazz4958]

I hope i like happy place bc i just didnt like people we on vacation 😂😂 n also cant wait for something rad to come out 2mm

[@angelaholmes8888]

Happy place was good i really didn't like win but did like and understood harriet ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@kdramas_0204]

I just wanna know if it was HEA or not!?😭😭

[@nikkisbooknook]

It is!

[@madamb2246]

It's like EH heard us and wrote this book accordingly. Contrary to you I'm in the beach read/book lovers camp and didn't really like PWMOV. Happy place combined the good parts from all the previous books. I genuinely loved it. Still I'm not the fan of characters altering their personality for love trope.

[@sanderella1642]

❤❤❤

[@maryannsulic1174]

Only on Chapter 5 and it's not grabbing me.