- Happy Place by Emily Henry
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This novel follows Harriet and Wyn five months after their breakup as they attend their friend group’s annual Maine trip. The catch is: Their friends don’t know they are no longer together. In an attempt not to ruin the last trip before the house gets sold, they pretend to still be in a relationship. As the week progresses and Harriet and Wyn are forced to spend their time playing the part of a happy couple, they struggle to put their feelings aside and acknowledge the reason they broke up in the first place.
Despite not knowing why they broke up, we see how the two individually handle their challenges throughout the novel. Our female main character, Harriet, deals with burnout. As a surgical resident and having dedicated her life to her career, she struggles to pursue her personal happiness at the risk of losing approval from others, especially her parents. In addition to her breakup, this raises the question of who she truly is outside of her career and relationships.
Often mistaken for a rom-com, Happy Place tackles female friendship, break-ups, self-worth, platonic love, and the transitional times in life that make you think things will never be the same. As someone who struggles with intense nostalgia, the discussion around growing up and making changes and how that affects both romantic and platonic relationships in your life resonated with me deeply. I loved how Emily Henry perfectly balanced Harriet’s romantic relationships with her female friendships—equally important—while acknowledging how your relationships change as you grow up.
Found family and an East Coast summer—what more could you ask for?
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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In this novel, Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo gives her final interview about the rise and fall of her career as a starlet to unknown journalist Monique Grant. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo discusses the hardships Hugo faced and the sacrifices she made to get to Hollywood, her glamorous entrance into the scene in the 1950s, her abrupt departure decades later, and most noticeably, her seven husbands along the way. Through the glitz and glamour of award shows, showmance, rumors, and old Hollywood stardom, Reid transports the reader to the beginning of Hollywood culture and star power.
The novel also shines a light on Hugo’s experience with race, sexuality, and sexism in Hollywood, as a Cuban woman navigating a male-dominated industry in a time when minority voices were often ignored. But Hugo herself is not perfect. She makes frequent mistakes, hurts the people around her, and at times is wholeheartedly selfish—and this humanness made me like her so much more. She was the most human female character I could imagine. She navigates domestic abuse, grief, suppression of her culture, manipulation, and power dynamics by men above her with resilience and grit.
She was not written to incite sympathy from the reader or be a damsel in distress; she was written to show women how they can take charge of their lives and not live for the convenience of others.
- Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
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An astounding memoir by journalist Dolly Alderton, this novel follows a woman navigating her 20s in London through break-ups, friendships, career changes, and growing up. With a humorous but flawed main character, readers get a real and raw depiction of girlhood and all the good and bad that comes with it.
As someone who doesn’t often connect with memoirs, I could not put this one down. This novel is a candid collection about entering adulthood, written in an easily digestible format that mixes regular narrated chapters with recipes or other miscellaneous excerpts. It addresses the fears and changes of growing up and the pressure women internalize to stay young and vibrant forever. It also showcases the freedom adulthood gives you and how it is not something to fear but something to soak up.
When you don’t feel like you’ve met the love of your life yet, this book will make you realize love is intertwined in the most mundane parts of our lives. Romantic love does not need to define you—platonic love should! Your platonic loves are the people you do not need to impress but the ones who have loved you through every phase and mistake of your life, the ones who know the deepest parts of you. This is a novel you pass along to your girlfriends, which is exactly what I did; they loved it!
- Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
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Inspired by Ted Bundy’s Florida State University sorority house murders, this novel follows the president of her sorority in the aftermath of the violent slaying as she navigates the blame the public places on female victims and the fascination men and women alike fostered for the serial killer.
The protagonist, Pamela, never refers to Ted Bundy by name; she only refers to him as “The Defendant.” Through this carefully constructed choice, the author takes away the one thing people have let him keep even long after his death: his legacy, and in turn, his power. No one remembers his victims’ names, but they remember him.
The author also fact-checks legends about Ted Bundy, noting that every article you read about him will mention that he was a college graduate studying law, or how he defended himself at his own trial, putting on a hard fight for the jury. Even today, people still need to give him credit where credit is not due.
As someone who pays attention to true crime stories, it’s no secret that people have been fascinated with serial killers throughout history. Idolizing them until they become some all-American celebrity. By doing this, you overshadow victims’ stories with the “glory” of the person who ended their lives. In the case of Ted Bundy, most of the glory was given to him by law enforcement, who wanted to cover up their own mistakes during his captivity, which led to his escape. By doing this, they gave him an image of intelligence and charm attached to his legacy for decades. This legacy has given him power over his victims even after death.
It feeds into the common misconception that he charmed women into these situations and that these women put themselves there because they were attracted to him. Almost five decades later, we are still placing some of the blame on the women involved.
I devoured this novel in just a few days, enraged by law enforcement’s involvement, corrected on so many common misconceptions about Bundy, and devastated for the bright young women who never got to grow up and who are still living in his shadow even today.
Five stars across the board!
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