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A review by pineconek
Happy Place by Emily Henry
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ok fine, I see what you all see in Emily Henry. I Get It.
2024 has been my foray into modern romance and catching up on what you crazy kids have been up to. And I gotta admit, it's pretty entertaining. I finally understand what the tropes are, and the ones here were indeed entertaining. Let me give listing them a try: second chance romance, only one bed, fake dating... anything else? (ok, I'm done with my "how do you do, fellow kids?" segment).
Our main character is an aspiring neurosurgery resident who was dumped by her fiancee a few months prior to the events of the book. But neither of them had the guts to tell their circle of friends that, so now they're both invited to the annual (and final) summer holiday weekend. When two of their friends announce their own engagement and that they'll be getting married that very same weekend, our protagonists realize that they can't announce their own breakup there and now. Fake dating shenanigans ensue, along with a lot of nostalgia for the good old days as well as rehashing why the relationship can't work out. I'll let you guess how all this ends.
Oh, and it absolutely hit my burnt-out-high-performing-academic-self very close to home.
Recommended for my fellow non-romance readers as a painless transition into the genre (and relatively low on smut, though that may just be the contrast with the Romance Recipe which I'd read a few weeks prior to this one), especially if you liked other character-driven romance novels with similar tropes (I'm looking at you, Dani Brown). 4 stars.
2024 has been my foray into modern romance and catching up on what you crazy kids have been up to. And I gotta admit, it's pretty entertaining. I finally understand what the tropes are, and the ones here were indeed entertaining. Let me give listing them a try: second chance romance, only one bed, fake dating... anything else? (ok, I'm done with my "how do you do, fellow kids?" segment).
Our main character is an aspiring neurosurgery resident who was dumped by her fiancee a few months prior to the events of the book. But neither of them had the guts to tell their circle of friends that, so now they're both invited to the annual (and final) summer holiday weekend. When two of their friends announce their own engagement and that they'll be getting married that very same weekend, our protagonists realize that they can't announce their own breakup there and now. Fake dating shenanigans ensue, along with a lot of nostalgia for the good old days as well as rehashing why the relationship can't work out. I'll let you guess how all this ends.
Oh, and it absolutely hit my burnt-out-high-performing-academic-self very close to home.
Recommended for my fellow non-romance readers as a painless transition into the genre (and relatively low on smut, though that may just be the contrast with the Romance Recipe which I'd read a few weeks prior to this one), especially if you liked other character-driven romance novels with similar tropes (I'm looking at you, Dani Brown). 4 stars.