Happy Place

You know those friend groups where you fall into step immediately, no matter how long it's been? You know those places and traditions that feel like your one soft place to land? What if everyone is just pretending that's the case and there's actually tension and disconnects coming to a boil just under the surface? A terrifying thought. But I'm a sicko who needs a side of Actual Real Bad with my romance to make it through the piles of fluff. I much prefer that to the rickety scaffolding of refusing to communicate.

If you liked [b:Book Lovers|58690308|Book Lovers|Emily Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638867089l/58690308.SY75.jpg|92341790], I bet you'll like Happy Place. You've got the woman thinking she and the love interest are enemies when they were never enemies. You've got the man needing to take care of his parent suffering poor health whose sister bailed. You've got the complex relationships between siblings. You've got the slow realization of how much one's parents shape adult relationships, career trajectories, and overall self-concept.

But you've also got an insistent defense of cozy mysteries, a picturesque description of an escape from reality, and a beautiful ode to unlikely yet everlasting friendships. You've got a real and important message about how you can be struggling with your mental health and not even realize it, and the additional barriers and stigma faced by men who struggle with anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. And you have one of my favorite things: a defense of quitting something that's killing you that you've deeply convinced yourself you must see out to make others proud and be a moral, successful, deserving person. We should quit things more.

A few qualms—I say this as a prude, but I did not understand why the friend group was unbothered by the amount of PDA. It was way too much PDA. And also, depending on your tolerance for Gilmore-Girls-esque banter, the dialogue can flip between entertaining and grating. Though I think my threshold for that is much lower when listening to a book rather than reading a print copy.

Still, overall, Emily Henry did it again! More like, she Wyns again. Alright bye.