Was a Happy Place necessary? - Emily Henry

A happy place has been everywhere since it was announced that Emily Henry, Tik Tok’s favourite romance author, was coming out with a new rom-com. I had recently finished two of her books, Book Lovers and Beach Read, which I immensely enjoyed, so I was equally excited as the rest of the internet. I read it the second it came out and am now disappointed.

A Happy Place takes place in two periods: Happy Place and Real Life. One of which, the past, describes how the relationship between our two main characters started and eventually ended. And the other explains how they survive a week with all of their friends while fake dating to convince them that they are still together to get their friends married. As exciting as that might sound to some people, I was very disappointed when I found out after having expected a fake dating trope, that that was just a poor excuse to sell more titles. And worst of all, that marketing strategy made it even worse.

Emily Henry is not a wrong author; this story is not terrible. However, it lacked so much care, work, and depth that I hoped it would end soon. Yes, I enjoyed the parts where she wrote about their past and how their relationship had started and ended. There was no unnecessary fluff and no boring parts. I was pretty invested. It made sense and needed to be there. However, whenever we switched to real life, I felt the depth was thrown out the window. Not only was it scene after scene of unnecessary hormones and the worst, “Will they, will they not”, it was boring. Emily Henry was trying to create a fluffy romance, trying to go in-depth into the themes of love and, at the same time, trying way too hard to get the whole “Sally Rooney” essence of the friend group who explore human connections without actually examining the friend group nor the human relationships.

Following that, the side characters were not only dull but forgettable. I do not remember a single one of their names, nor do I know anything about any of them. The only thing I know is that one of them, I forget, had a father who has married many times (which, again, was never explored in the least). They were there to get the Sally Rooney-similar author’s target audience to join the Emily Henry scene, but, as a fan of both romance and the no-plot-just-vibes scene, I was disappointed in both parts. I don’t think the idea was terrible; I think it could have worked; if she had had fewer scenes of the world, they would not thing of the main characters and more of the genuine friendship being like family stuff.

Finally, the good stuff and the banter are terrific. Emily Henry knows how to write dialogue. I think it works, is funny, realistic and flowing, and it helped me get through the entire book without throwing it out the window.

In light of what I have said, if you are a fan of Henry’s books, you might enjoy this one. However, as a passive reader of her books, I did not like this one now I think I’ll be reading her next one.