I loved this very, very much. After how much I hated "Happy Place", this felt like a bit of a surprise. I'd figured diminishing returns. But then!

I don't see Henry's more self-conscious, almost-too-smart writing here; instead she's created a world that feels built up and lived in, filled with people who are easy to know if not immediately love, whose lonelier or sadder parts I could see being slowly healed. Which is exactly up my alley. Daphne in particular is SO easy to like and root for, and so much of what she wants or gets hurt by feels, even if it's not something I personally get, so easy to empathize with. And Miles! I love when a romance hero's messes aren't flung out as a thing for the heroine to forgive or feel sorry for him for; instead he's just immensely likable.

I reread my "Happy Place" and I mentioned there that I thought it would've been better if that book was more "British romance" than "American romance", and funnily enough I think she does manage that here. I'm pleased.