Source: Purchased
Audible, 11+ hrs.
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Happy Place by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan, is set in a Maine cottage worth millions of dollars (while I love escapism, there’s something about this setting that rubs me the wrong way). Perhaps it was the semi-whining about the sale of a home by Sabrina’s father. Eventually, this one wins me over once I look past the elitist nonsense.
Harriet is nervous about returning to her happy place in Maine without Wyn, who broke their engagement with her five months ago with little explanation after nearly a decade. One week in paradise might turn into torture where these two are concerned, especially as sparks continue to fly even if they are pretending to be in love. Parth, Kimmy, and Cleo round out the friends group.
Julia Whelan is an excellent narrator, and I love how she brings out the personalities of each character as she performs. She’s definitely on my very short list of go-to-narrators on Audible.
Happy Place is so much more than just a romance and book about a vacation home, it’s about friendships and how we change over time. In some cases, we leave our friends out because we fear their reactions to what we tell them and in other cases, our lives get so busy we can’t possibly keep in touch with everyone we’ve known throughout our lives. I loved that Henry parsed out the friendships throughout the novel while talking about Harriet and Wyn’s relationship — the flashbacks enriched the secondary characters and their relationships to one another.
I don’t necessarily consider this complete fluff given the relationship between Cleo, Harriet, and Sabrina and how they have coped with being “shut out” of key happenings by their best friends. It made this story far richer than a beach read often is. There are plenty of light moments, but there are some key heavily emotional ones in Happy Place by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan, but it’s a book you probably don’t want to miss this summer.
RATING: Quatrain
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I lost interest in the book when my request was denied but then later approved. Now I must try to get to it as I’ve read lots of praises for the book
I didn’t bother requesting it because I planned to listen to the audio when I saw Whelan was the narrator.
I enjoyed reading this. Although I see what you mean about the sale of the house that anchors their “happy place,” I thought the whining was more about the father than the house itself, that he never thought about the women in his life or anyone except himself.
I can see how you’d get that impression, but I also felt like some of these characters were very entitled. LOL It just rubbed me the wrong way initially. It got better as I listened. I was invested.