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Antonella's Reviews > Happy Place
Happy Place
by
by
Antonella's review
bookshelves: arc, emotional-roller-coaster, forced-proximity, second-chance-romance, netgalley
Jan 27, 2023
bookshelves: arc, emotional-roller-coaster, forced-proximity, second-chance-romance, netgalley
** spoiler alert **
No book with such a cheerful cover has the right to be so angsty and sad!
cw: depression, parental death
I went into this book with such huge expectations. I was so happy when I received the arc. I was so determined that THIS will be MY EMILY HENRY book. So, my fav was Beach Read, and I thought this will top that and I would fangirl with the rest of you.
Sadly, this is not the case.
Is this book bad? NO.
Is is my favorite book by this author? also, NO.
Did I ignore sleep and just read it in one sitting? Absolutely YES!
And then I waited and waited and waited for the perfect words and the perfect time to write my thoughts and realized that will never come..so here are my ramblings
So, what is the issue - You ask!
Simple answer- romance part of the book. Look, there are authors out there doing this woman fiction/romance combo and they are doing it perfectly. It kind of became a subgenre even. It is a thing for sure. But here Emily Henry, in my opinion, failed. I like the friendship part of the storyline. But this second chance romance with miscommunication trope wasn't it. When everything could be resolved with a simple conversation, I kind of got tired of the same old storyline. What was intriguing at the beginning soon became exhausting. Add the layer of all the secrets everyone is keeping. I was so annoyed by the end that even the resolution didn't bring me any joy. So that brings me to my conclusion. This is not a romance book. Because romance books make me happy. Or at the very least this is not a romance book for me. There you go. In the end, I would recommend this book to fans of the author and to those of you looking for a depressing, and angsty read.
* thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book
cw: depression, parental death
I went into this book with such huge expectations. I was so happy when I received the arc. I was so determined that THIS will be MY EMILY HENRY book. So, my fav was Beach Read, and I thought this will top that and I would fangirl with the rest of you.
Sadly, this is not the case.
Is this book bad? NO.
Is is my favorite book by this author? also, NO.
Did I ignore sleep and just read it in one sitting? Absolutely YES!
And then I waited and waited and waited for the perfect words and the perfect time to write my thoughts and realized that will never come..so here are my ramblings
So, what is the issue - You ask!
Simple answer- romance part of the book. Look, there are authors out there doing this woman fiction/romance combo and they are doing it perfectly. It kind of became a subgenre even. It is a thing for sure. But here Emily Henry, in my opinion, failed. I like the friendship part of the storyline. But this second chance romance with miscommunication trope wasn't it. When everything could be resolved with a simple conversation, I kind of got tired of the same old storyline. What was intriguing at the beginning soon became exhausting. Add the layer of all the secrets everyone is keeping. I was so annoyed by the end that even the resolution didn't bring me any joy. So that brings me to my conclusion. This is not a romance book. Because romance books make me happy. Or at the very least this is not a romance book for me. There you go. In the end, I would recommend this book to fans of the author and to those of you looking for a depressing, and angsty read.
* thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book
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Reading Progress
December 17, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
December 17, 2022
– Shelved
January 14, 2023
–
Started Reading
January 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
arc
January 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
emotional-roller-coaster
January 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
forced-proximity
January 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
second-chance-romance
January 27, 2023
– Shelved as:
netgalley
January 27, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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by
Kristina
(new)
Jan 27, 2023 05:14PM
This author always brings my mood down and her characters’ lives are always so freaking sad. she is totally writing women’s fiction. I don’t find her stories to have enough romance to be romance. Granted I’ve only read a few of hers but they are always about the heroine and the man (can’t call him the hero) is kinda a side story. Nothing wrong with that, I have enjoyed her work, but she’s not my idea of romance. I kinda give her books the side eye when I see them in the romance area ngl. 🤣
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Kristina wrote: "This author always brings my mood down and her characters’ lives are always so freaking sad. she is totally writing women’s fiction. I don’t find her stories to have enough romance to be romance. G..."yeah, I agree.I think I need to stop reading her books or at least I need to lower my expectations. I read her three adult fiction books and dnfed one and this one is by far the most frustrating and the saddest one. I think if she leaned more into the woman's fiction part of the book I would love this more.
I agree with you. When i read beach read (my first book from her) I wanted a typical rom com with hea. I mean it was call the summer read, the laugh out loud romance story and heartwarming. I mean I thought it was going to be way WAY WAY happier that what it is. If I knew that it was more women’s fiction I would have waited until I was in a mood for that but in my case I needed a warm fluffy book after reading a fantasy book with way too many deaths. Now that I know her style I wait until I’m in that type of mood. Don’t think her books at bad but don’t think are rom coms
Anyway, are they celibate during separation??
Antonella wrote: "Esther wrote: "Anyway, are they celibate during separation??"[spoilers removed]"
Okay, thank you so much!! Did the H got face to face with om?
Esther wrote: "Antonella wrote: "Esther wrote: "Anyway, are they celibate during separation??"[spoilers removed]"
Okay, thank you so much!! Did the H got face to face with om?"
no, he never was named she just said she was with someone trying to move on bc they were broken up
oml im scared now <3 sorry you didn't like it as much as expected but depressing and angsty af does NOT sound like romance to me either ❤️
✨❤ Summer ❤✨ wrote: "oml im scared now <3 sorry you didn't like it as much as expected but depressing and angsty af does NOT sound like romance to me either ❤️"I hope you love it!
I just finished and 100% agree with everything you said 👏
@Angie well it sucks for us but glad I'm not alone about my impressions of the book
Your first sentence nailed it
Karen wrote: "Your first sentence nailed it"yeah, it is deceiving..
It’s like a Romance Trope Smoothie, except they put kale in there by mistake. Yuck. Nice review!
Christopher wrote: "It’s like a Romance Trope Smoothie, except they put kale in there by mistake. Yuck. Nice review!"haha great analogy.. thanks
Great review!
Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ wrote: "Great review!"thank you Val,xx
