Happy Place by Emily Henry
One of the best contemporary romance writers around doesn't disappoint with this one. The narrator here is Harriet a doctor currently working her residency in San Francisco. Her fiancé Wyn had lived there with her until he needed to move back home to Montana to help with the family business. Over the last year, when this stretched into a more permanent situation, they agreed to break up, but neither of them have shared this information with friends or family.
They are part of a friend group that all met in college. Sabrina comes from Manhattan, part of a well-off family, with her divorced parents distanced from her emotionally. Her dad cycles through relationships and is currently on his sixth wife. Cleo is from New Orleans and the daughter of a music producer and an essayist, who was studying painting. Harriet is from Indiana, second daughter of a teacher and a dental receptionist, and is always trying to please them since her sister is a rebel.
Sabrina's father has a oceanside cottage in Maine that the group has been going to for a couple weeks every summer since their college days. One of the things that keeps Harriet going on her long hospital shifts is thinking of her 'happy place' this cottage.
As the book opens, she's on her way, expecting Sabrina and her boyfriend Parth, Cleo and her girlfriend Kimmy, and not expecting Wyn. When Wyn is there, she is shocked and when he acts like nothing has changed between them, even more so. Then she learns two things, one that the cottage is for sale and this is the last year they will be able to go; and two, one of the other couple's has a special event planned. Harriet and Wyn agree that they can't break the news at this time, and make a pact to fake it for the two weeks. There are other tense relationship encounters during this time as well, as personalities and secrets come into play.
I enjoyed the underlying messaging here about life choices, and how Henry shows the different mental stresses that each of the characters carries. There is lots of fun banter between the characters, and found the book a page-turner as expected.
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