At the end of April, Emily Henry’s fourth adult romance book, Happy Place, was officially released. As someone who enjoyed Henry’s previous three books in the genre, I was eagerly anticipating buying a copy and jumping right into reading it. Now that I have had time to process the book and reflect on how it compares to the others, here is my ranking of all four of the main couples.
4. Poppy and Alex
People We Meet on Vacation has the staple romance tropes we all love. The book follows college best friends Poppy and Alex on a series of vacations they take together every year since they met a decade prior. Their individual personalities are quite different, but their friendship and deep rooted understanding of one another is the heart of the story.
3. Harriet and Wyn
Happy Place stands out because in addition to having a strong romance plotline, the friend group is just as important. Harriet and Wyn also met in college but soon after started dating. Now in the present, they’re broken up and the yearly friend group vacation provides the perfect opportunity for a second chance romance. Their story is very sweet and I found both of them extremely relatable as characters.
2. Nora and Charlie
Book Lovers, of course, abides by Henry’s theme of the main couple meeting before the main events of the novel. Even though they do not get along at first, Nora and Charlie have a sense of maturity that makes them different from the other couples. From their initial meeting their chemistry is instant and I loved their storyline so much.
1. January and Gus
Beach Read has become the classic Emily Henry book. January and Gus are impossible not to root for and the fact that they are both authors creates an interesting rivalry turned romantic dynamic. There is a reason why they have little cameos in every other book on this list. You just can’t beat the couple that started it all!
Each one of Emily Henry’s couples has an endearing romance story and it is genuinely difficult to rank them. I have my favorites, but I adore every one of her books and I can’t wait for the next one so there can be another great addition to this list.