"People were complicated. They weren't math problems; they were collections of feelings and decisions and dumb luck."
~ Emily Henry
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Emily Henry, a contemporary fiction author, has carved her name in the literary world with her compelling narratives and heartfelt storytelling. Born and raised in Ohio, Henry's journey into writing began at a young age, fueled by her insatiable love for books and storytelling.
With a background in English literature and a passion for storytelling, Henry embarked on her writing career, debuting with her novel "The Love That Split the World" in 2016. However, it was her 2020 release, "Beach Read," that catapulted her into the spotlight and garnered widespread acclaim from readers and critics alike.
"Beach Read" follows the journey of two writers, January and Gus, as they navigate through personal and professional challenges while finding unexpected love and inspiration in each other's company. Henry's masterful blend of humor, romance, and emotional depth resonated deeply with readers, earning the novel a permanent place on bestseller lists and cementing her status as a rising star in contemporary fiction.
What sets Henry apart is her ability to craft complex characters with genuine emotions and flaws, drawing readers into their lives and making them feel invested in their journeys. Her writing style is characterized by its witty dialogue, poignant introspection, and immersive settings, transporting readers to the quaint towns and picturesque landscapes that serve as the backdrop for her stories.
Readers are drawn to Henry's authentic portrayal of relationships and the messy, beautiful complexities of love and life. Her keen insight into human nature and her knack for weaving together poignant moments with laugh-out-loud humor have garnered her a devoted fan base who eagerly anticipate each new release.
While "Beach Read" remains Henry's most popular work to date, her earlier novels, including "A Million Junes" and "People We Meet on Vacation," have also received widespread praise for their compelling storytelling and unforgettable characters.
In addition to her literary accomplishments, Henry has been recognized for her contributions to the literary world, receiving nominations for prestigious awards such as the Goodreads Choice Awards and the Romance Writers of America RITA Awards.
For those unfamiliar with Henry's work, diving into one of her novels offers an escape into a world filled with romance, humor, and heartfelt moments that will linger long after the final page is turned. Her stories have a universal appeal, resonating with readers of all ages and backgrounds, making them perfect companions for lazy afternoons at the beach or cozy nights curled up by the fire.
As for upcoming projects, readers can look forward to Henry's next novel, slated for release later this year. While details remain scarce, anticipation is high for another captivating story that will undoubtedly capture hearts and leave a lasting impression on readers around the world.
Emily Henry Best Quotes
“Maybe things can always get better between people who want to do a good job loving each other. Maybe that’s all it takes.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“People were complicated. They weren't math problems; they were collections of feelings and decisions and dumb luck.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“She wonders whether what comes next could ever live up to the expectations. She doesn’t know. You never can. She turns the page anyway.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I read once that sunflowers always orient themselves to face the sun. That’s what being near Charlie Lastra is like for me. There could be a raging wildfire racing toward me from the west and I’d still be straining eastward toward his warmth.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“It’s fascinating. How so much of love is about who you are with someone.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“If you swapped out all my Jessicas for Johns, do you know what you'd get? Fiction. Just fiction. Ready and willing to be read by anyone, but somehow by being a woman who writes about women, I've eliminated half the Earth's population from my potential readers, and you know what? I don't feel ashamed of that. I feel pissed.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“You are in all of my happiest places.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Those were the endings I found solace in. The ones that said, Yes, you have lost something, but maybe, someday, you’ll find something too.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Bad things don't dig down through your life until the pit's so deep that nothing good will ever be big enough to make you happy again. No matter how much shit, there will always be wildflowers.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Love means constantly saying you're sorry, and then doing better.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“For anyone who wants it all,” she begins, “may you find something that is more than enough.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“Like even when something beautiful breaks, the making of it still matters.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Maybe it’s possible to have more than one home. Maybe it’s possible to belong in a hundred different ways to a hundred different people and places.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Just because not everyone gets you doesn't mean you're wrong.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Happy. Not giddy or overjoyed, but that low, steady level of happiness that, in the best periods of life, rides underneath everything else, a buffer between you and the world you are walking over.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“You know that feeling, when you're watching someone sleep and you feel overwhelmed with joy that they exist?”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“I always like that thought, the way two people really did seem to grow into one. Or at least two overlapping parts, trees with tangled roots.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was. You belong here. ”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“I know,” he says. “I can read you like a book.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Suddenly we’re not kids anymore, and it feels like it happened overnight, so fast I didn’t have time to notice, to let go of everything that used to matter so much, to see that the old wounds that once felt like gut-level lacerations have faded to small white scars, mixed in among the stretch marks and sunspots and little divots where time has grazed against my body.I’ve put so much time and distance between myself and that lonely girl, and what does it matter? Here is a piece of my past, right in front of me, miles away from home. You can’t outrun yourself. Not your history, not your fears, not the parts of yourself you’re worried are wrong.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“It’s not your job to make me happy, okay? You can’t make anyone happy. I’m happy just because you exist, and that’s as much of my happiness as you have control over.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“For January, I don't care how the story ends as long as I spend it with you.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“A reminder that there are things in life so valuable that you must risk the pain of losing them for the joy of briefly having them.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Because I know you, he says tenderly, "and I remember what you sound like when you like something.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“Love, after all, was often made not of shiny things but practical ones. Ones that grew old and rusted only to be repaired and polished.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Love is giving the world away, and being loved is having the whole world to give.”
― Emily Henry, The Love That Split the World“I understood then, the immense honor it is to hurt like she does. To have loved someone so much that the taste of maple syrup can make you cry and laugh at the same time.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Tomorrow we will love each other a little more, and the next day, and the next day. And even on those days when one or both of us is having a hard time, we’ll be here, where we are completely known, completely accepted, by the person whose every side we love wholeheartedly. I’m here with all the versions of him I’ve met over twelve years of vacations, and even if the point of life isn’t just being happy, right now, I am. Down to the bones.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“His hands root me through the floor, the room stilling.“Sorry. I just needed …”His eyes search mine, thumbs still sweeping in that gentle rhythm. “A nap?” he teases softly, tentatively. “A fantasy novel? A competitively fast oil change?” The block of ice in my chest cracks.“How do you do that?”His brow furrows. “Do what?”“Say the right thing.”The corner of his mouth quirks. “No one thinks that.”“I do.”His lashes splay across his cheeks as his gaze drops.“Maybe I just say the right thing for you.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I want my life to be like-like making pottery. I want to enjoy it while it's happening, not just for where it might get me eventually.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“I've always felt like once someone sees me deep down, that's it. There's something ugly in there, or unlovable, and you're the only person who's ever made me feel like I'm okay.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“I’m afraid of loving you for our entire lives, and then having to say goodbye.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“That is how life feels too often. Like you're doing everything you can to survive only to be sabotaged by something beyond your control, maybe even some darker part of yourself.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Some books you don’t read so much as live, and finishing one of those always makes me think of ascending from a scuba dive. Like if I surface too fast I might get the bends.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“You fucking undo me.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“And that's how it is in real life too. You can love someone and still know the future you'd have with them wouldn't work for you, or for them, or maybe even for both of you.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“I imagined them all thinking it was worth it. Telling me how much they loved me. All my life, when I thought of my future, that was what I pictured. Not a career. The things I thought would come with it. Happiness, love, safety. And that dream had been enough for a long time. What was school if not a chance to earn your worth? To prove, again and again, that you were measurably good. One more deal I struck with a disinterested universe: If I'm good enough, I'll be happy. I'll be loved. I'll be safe.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“You're like gravity. Everything keeps spinning, but my mind's always got one hand on you.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Dammit, R.E.M. was right: Every single person on the planet had to take turns hurting. Sometimes all you could do was hold on to each other right until the dark spat you back out.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Here's the thing about writing Happily Ever Afters: it helps if you believe in them.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Hate, I found out on the ride home, was a less embarrassing way to say fear.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“I thought - think it's brave to believe in love. I mean, the lasting kind. To try for that, even knowing it can hurt you.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“When I think about you, January, and I think about doing laundry with you and trying terrible green juice cleanses and going to antiques malls with you, I only feel happy. The world looks different than I ever thought it could be, and I don’t want to look for what’s broken or what could go wrong. I don’t want to brace myself for the worst and miss out on being with you.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Because nothing—not the beautiful and not the terrible— lasts.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I thought you didn’t like holding hands,” I say.“And you said you did,” he says.“So, what? I just get whatever I want now?” I tease.His smile flickers back into place, calm and restrained. “Yes, Poppy,” he says. “You get whatever you want now. Is that a problem?”“What if I want you to have what you want?”He arches an eyebrow. “Are you just saying that because you know what I’m going to say, and you want to make fun of me for it?”“No?” I say. “Why? What are you going to say?”Our hands go still between us. “I have what I want, Poppy.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“There aren't words vast or specific enough to capture the ecstasy and the ache and love and fear I feel just looking at him now.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“A good bookstore,” Charlie says, “is like an airport where you don’t have to take your shoes off.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“He's become my best friend the way the others did. Bit by bit, sand passing through an hour glass so slowly, it's impossible to pin down the moment it happens. When suddenly, more of my heart belongs to him than doesn't, and I know I'll never get a single grain back.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Not every decision a woman makes is some grand indictment on other women’s lives.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I know feeling small gets to some people, . . . but I kind of like it. Takes the pressure off when you’re just one life of six billion at any given moment. And when you’re going through something hard . . . it’s nice to know you’re not even close to the only one.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Until you got here,” he rasps, “all this place had ever been was a reminder of the ways I was a disappointment, and now you’re here, and—I don’t know. I feel like I’m okay. So if you’re the ‘wrong kind of woman,’ then I’m the wrong kind of man.” I can see all of the shades of him at once. Quiet, unfocused boy. Precocious, resentful preteen. Broody high schooler desperate to get out. Sharp-edged man trying to fit himself back into a place he never belonged to begin with. That’s the thing about being an adult standing beside your childhood race car bed. Time collapses, and instead of the version of you you’ve built from scratch, you’re all the hackneyed drafts that came before, all at once.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“All those years spent thinking that I had superhuman self-control, and now I realize I just never put anything I wanted too badly in front of myself.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“He’s a golden boy. I’m a girl whose life has been drawn in shades of gray.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“that’s what made me fall in love with reading: the instant floating sensation, the dissolution of real-world problems, every worry suddenly safely on the other side of some metaphysical surface.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I want to be the one who gives you what you deserve, and I want to sleep next to you every night and to be the one you complain about book stuff to, and I don’t think I ever could deserve any of that, and I know this thing between us isn’t a sure thing, but that’s what I want to aim for with you. Because I know no matter how long I get to love you, it will be worth whatever comes after.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“That crush of happiness, that feeling that this is what life’s about: being somewhere beautiful, with someone you love.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“It's not about what's happened. It's about how you cope with things, who you are. You've always been this fierce fucking light, and even when you're at your worst, when you feel angry and broken, you still know how to be a person. How to tell people you- you love them.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“The only promise you ever had in life was the one moment you were living.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“How many universes do you think we’re together in?”
“Higher than either of us can count.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“They all do, I think. You are in all of my happiest places. You are where my mind goes when it needs to be soothed.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Life in New York was like being in a giant bookstore: all these trillions of paths and possibilities drawing dreamers into the city's beating heart, saying, I make no promises but I offer many doors.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“And when you see those good things--and I promise you, there are so many good things--they're going to be so much brighter for you than they are for other people, just like the abyss always seems deeper and bigger when you stare at it. If you stick it out, it's all going to feel worth it in the end. Every moment you live, every darkness you face, they'll all feel worth it when you're staring light in the face.”
― Emily Henry, The Love That Split the World“Want is a kind of thief. It’s a door in your heart, and once you know it’s there, you’ll spend your life longing for whatever’s behind it.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Nora Stephens,” he says, “I’ve racked my brain and this is the best I can come up with, so I really hope you like it.”His gaze lifts, everything about it, about his face, about his posture, about him made up of sharp edges and jagged bits and shadows, all of it familiar, all of it perfect. Not for someone else, maybe, but for me.“I move back to New York,” he says. “I get another editing job, or maybe take up agenting, or try writing again. You work your way up at Loggia, and we’re both busy all the time, and down in Sunshine Falls, Libby runs the local business she saved, and my parents spoil your nieces like the grandkids they so desperately want, and Brendan probably doesn’t get much better at fishing, but he gets to relax and even take paid vacations with your sister and their kids. And you and I—we go out to dinner.“Wherever you want, whenever you want. We have a lot of fun being city people, and we’re happy. You let me love you as much as I know I can, for as long as I know I can, and you have it fucking all. That’s it. That’s the best I could come up with, and I really fucking hope you say—”I kiss him then, like there isn’t someone reading one of the Bridgerton novels five feet away, like we’ve just found each other on a deserted island after months apart. My hands in his hair, my tongue catching on his teeth, his palms sliding around behind me and squeezing me to him in the most thoroughly public groping we’ve managed yet.“I love you, Nora,” he says when we pull apart a few inches to breathe. “I think I love everything about you.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“You’re a fighter,” he says. “When you care about something, you won’t let anything fucking touch it. I’ve never met anyone who cares as much as you do. Do you know what most people would give to have someone like that in their life?”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“I’m saying,” Rachel replies, “that purpose matters more than contentment.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“I’ll take you home whenever you want,” he says. “But if you want to stay, and you wake up screaming, it’s okay. I’ll make sure you’re okay. And if you want to stay, and then change your mind, I don’t mind driving you back at four a.m.” I read once that not everyone thinks in words. I was shocked, imagining these other people who don’t use language to make sense of everyone and everything, who don’t automatically organize the world into chapters, pages, sentences. Looking into Charlie’s face, I understand it. The way a crush of feeling and feathery impressions can move through your body, bypassing your mind. How a person can know there’s something worth saying but have no concept of what exactly that is. I’m not thinking in words.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“There doesn’t need to be a winner and a loser. You just have to care how the other person feels. You have to care more about them than you do about being right.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“I did what any reasonable adult woman would do when confronted with her college rival turned next-door neighbor. I dove behind the nearest bookshelf.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Letting go is not forgetting. It's opening your eyes to the good that grew from the bad, the life that blooms from decay.”
― Emily Henry, A Million Junes“Can you just do me one favor?” I ask.He knots his hands against my spine. “Hm?”“Only hold my hand when you want to.”“Poppy,” he says, “there may come a day when I no longer need to be touching you at all times, but that day is not today.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“There's nothing scarier than loving someone”
― Emily Henry, The Love That Split the World“The corner of his mouth twitches into a smile. “You could have always looked,” he says in a low voice. “Just so you know.”“Well, you could’ve too,” I say.“Trust me,” he says. “I did.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“Sometimes the most beautiful moments in our lives are things that hurt badly at the time. We only see them for what they really were when we stand at the very end and look back.”
― Emily Henry, The Love That Split the World“I sit on the edge of the bed, feeling the loneliness swell, not knowing whether it's pressing against me from the outside or growing from within. either way, it's inescapable, my oldest companion.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“I wanted to know whether you could ever fully know someone. If knowing how they were—how they moved and spoke and the faces they made and the things they tried not to look at—amounted to knowing them. Or if knowing things about them—where they’d been born, all the people they’d been, who they’d loved, the worlds they’d come from—added up to anything.”
― Emily Henry, Beach Read“Grief is an unfillable hole in your body. It should be weightless, but it's heavy. Should be cold, but it burns. Should, over time, close up, but instead it deepens.”
― Emily Henry, A Million Junes“Living, being responsible for myself, seems like an insurmountable challenge lately.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“For me, traveling is about wandering, meeting people you don’t expect, doing things you’ve never done.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“It doesn't matter how busy life's been, how long the five of us have gone without seeing one another: meeting at the cottage is like pulling on a favourite sweatshirt, worn to perfection. Time doesn't move the same way when we're there. Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it will be waiting, the same as it ever was. You belong here. ”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place“Maybe for some people, falling in love is an explosion, fireworks against a black sky and tremors rumbling through the earth. One blazing moment. For me, it's been happening for months, as quietly as a seed sprouting. Love sneaked through me, spreading roots around my heart, until, in the blink of an eye, the green of it broke the dirt: hidden one moment, there the next.”
― Emily Henry, A Million Junes“I was just a moment, and you gave me a million Junes.I was just a moment, and you made me forever.”
― Emily Henry, A Million Junes“Charlie threads his fingers through mine and lifts the back of my hand to his lips. “For what it’s worth,” he says, “I doubt I will ever like anyone else in the world as much as I like you.” I slip my arms around his neck and climb into his lap, kissing his temples, his jaw, his mouth. Love, I think, a tremor in my hands as they move into his hair, as he kisses me. The last-page ache. The deep breath in after you’ve set the book aside. When he walks me to the door sometime later, he takes my face in his hands and says, “You, Nora Stephens, will always be okay.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Of course I have a checklist." His eyes glint in the dark. "What am I, an animal?”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“On vacation, you can be anyone you want. Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself.”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“I used to think it was because people like me don’t get those endings. And asking for it, hoping for it, is a way to lose something you’ve never even had.”
― Emily Henry, Book Lovers“Just because you don't know what you want yet, it doesn't mean that there's nothing to want.”
― Emily Henry, The Love That Split the World“Contentment is a lie invented by capitalism,”
― Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation“What can you feel? Sunlight, everywhere. Not just on my bare shoulders or the crown of my head but inside me too, the irresistible warmth that comes only from being in the exact right place with the exact right people.”
― Emily Henry, Happy Place