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Getaway #2

His Happy Place

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A quiet weekend in the wilderness, just the two of them. How romantic. But new love turns to terror in a suspenseful short story from the New York Times bestselling author of The Other Black Girl.

When Ama’s straitlaced boyfriend, Nathan, invites her to his secluded upstate New York cabin for the weekend, she can’t say no. It’s a chance for them to escape the city’s distractions, share intimate secrets, and take their relationship to a deeper level. By day, it feels like the perfect love story. But when Ama is awakened by strange events, she starts to wonder if she really wants to know everything about Nathan.

His Happy Place by Zakiya Dalila Harris is part of Getaway, a collection of six stories about dream escapes that take unimaginable, even sinister, turns. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2022

About the author

Zakiya Dalila Harris

2 books1,659 followers
Zakiya Dalila Harris spent nearly three years in editorial at Knopf/Doubleday before leaving to write her debut novel The Other Black Girl. Prior to working in publishing, Zakiya received her MFA in creative writing from The New School. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Guernica, and The Rumpus. She lives in Brooklyn.

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5 stars
605 (13%)
4 stars
1,258 (28%)
3 stars
1,782 (39%)
2 stars
643 (14%)
1 star
173 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 375 reviews
Profile Image for Allison Faught.
367 reviews194 followers
December 7, 2022
I liked this one a bit better than Stockholm yet still felt underwhelmed. Short stories are tough. I do get that. You have 45-50 pages to set up a story, make us care about the character(s), drive a plot and have a strong finish. That’s a lot for 45-50 pages!!!
The set up and characters were great and I was entranced until the end. However, I left with so many questions that it made me really want to read more.
The writing in this was very very similar to The Other Black Girl so I do like that Harris has a unique flow and personality to her writing.
3.5 ⭐️ rounding down.
Profile Image for Tonya.
582 reviews118 followers
April 9, 2023
Ama wants to believe everything is fine, nothing strange or unusual happening at his happy place. This secluded cabin once seemed full of possibilities. Her future with Nathan looked bright. Now her world is turned upside down with unanswered questions accumulating by the minute. Is Nathan the man of her dreams, or the main character in her nightmares? This part of the Getaway collection was entertaining with a creepy vibe that kept me engaged. The narration added a layer of mystery and tension.
Profile Image for Jonetta.
2,340 reviews1,170 followers
September 28, 2022
the setup…
Ama and her boyfriend Nathan Davis have dated exclusively for four months and things seem to be getting serious. He’s rather straight laced and she’s more free spirited but Ama likes the way he treats her, which is a nice change from her past relationships. When Nathan invites her for a weekend getaway at his upstate cabin (his happy place), she believes it means he’s ready for a commitment. Unfortunately, he’s ready for something but not what Ama was counting on.

the heart of the story…
Be forewarned that the prologue begins with the ending, which may be spoilerish for some. However, it intrigued me to learn more about how they got there. It’s a strange story with some paranormal angles, which added to the creepiness. I needed to hang in there to the end.

the narration…
The story is told from Ama’s point of view and the narrator wonderfully captured her personality and spirit, even when things started to get weird. She also elevated the creepy factor!

the bottom line…
I kind of liked the unconventional structure of this story, knowing how things end but being clueless as to what led to that place. I liked the story, especially the narration, and just wish I had a little bit more before it ended. Much was left to my imagination and I suppose that’s the point, especially in a short story. 3.5 stars

Posted on Blue Mood Café

(Thanks to Brilliance Audio for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)
Profile Image for Elyse Walters.
4,010 reviews11.4k followers
October 13, 2022
1 hour quickie read!

Ama didn’t do nature. She also didn’t do guys in turtlenecks.
Nathan Davis was an exception. Their relationship was still new….(four weeks)….and endearing.

I wasn’t sure why it was important to mention Nathan was Asian.
or why Ama was Black.

Nathan brought Ama to a shabby looking cabin he built….about a four hour drive from Manhattan. (they made it in three).
Ama thought she’d die when she noticed the outhouse. Hadn’t packed any wipes. No Lysol. She was completely unprepared.

Nathan was an investment banker.

Ama a freelancer.

Corie. Ama’s best friend didn’t like Nathan. (not because he was Korean).

“That man is just so ‘plain’, Ama. Plainer than plain. Like he’s never farted without asking permission first. Like his favorite kind of pizza is cheese. Don’t you worry that after a few months you’ll crave some olives on your slice?”.

Well.. yes! There just might be reasons to worry!

This short story—for 99 cents— is thriller-creepy -but intriguing—
I was curious to read it.
( the joy & pleasure from reading our friends reviews)
Thanks Linda!

My official October spooky read! 👻🎃
Profile Image for Provin Martin.
369 reviews54 followers
November 5, 2023
Another free for prime members, Amazon short story. This one was weird and I did not like then ending. I’m fact I have no idea what the heck happened. It’s like the book ended without an actual ending. I guess I can make it end how ever I want…………idk
Profile Image for Alan Teder.
2,321 reviews163 followers
September 11, 2022
Ghosts in the Cabin
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook (August 31, 2022), released simultaneously with the Audible Original audiobook.

I thought it was odd that the conclusion of this short story was placed at the very beginning. You start to wonder if there is going to be some sort of twist which will undermine the expectations that you start out with. But no, that is not the case. It is an actual spoiler.

Otherwise this would have had a nice buildup of disorientation and fear as girlfriend Ama is spending a weekend at new boyfriend Nathan's 'happy place', an isolated cabin in the woods. Ama begins to have visions and hears voices from the past which warn her to get out while she can. I am tempted to create the Unsatisfactory Beginning Alert ™ just for this story alone.

His Happy Place is one of six Amazon Original Kindle eBooks/Audible Audio audiobooks released on August 31, 2022 as part of the Getaway Collection of short stories where "Secrets follow you everywhere. Perfect vacation or last resort? In this collection of short psychological thrillers, bestselling authors bring trouble to paradise. Today’s itinerary: surfing, sailing, hiking, facing your worst fears... Most dream vacations never live up to expectations—but few cause this many nightmares."

Trivia and Link
You can watch for current and past Amazon Original Kindle short stories which are usually paired with their Audible Original narrations at an Amazon page here (link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).
Profile Image for TL .
2,028 reviews119 followers
September 3, 2022
*read for free with Kindle Unlimited and audible audio *

3.5 stars 🌟

Well done creepy but would have been better without the prologue and jumping straight into the story in my opinion. Didn't deter my enjoyment but it took some of the suspense away for me.
November 4, 2022
This story takes off like a house on fire (yuk yuk - I'm so corny - no rotten tomatoes please)! .

Not for me. It was loaded with color reference - Black, White, Korean. Black woman goes off on a romantic weekend in a secluded wilderness with her Korean boyfriend. I didn't quite get the reason behind this and I felt that the story would be the same without reference to color. Nor am I a fan of horror and/or fantasy - so those aspects also didn't speak to me. The prose was fine (a little reference to Hepworth's, The Mother In Law) but I thought the dialog was a bit lame. I am not familiar with this author and it felt like this Novella/Long Short Story genre didn't suit her. Second in the Amazon Original Getaway Series. Available in Kindle Unlimited including Audible.
September 21, 2023

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I've been watching The Other Black Girl on Hulu and it reminded me of how much I loved reading the book when I bought it, so I moseyed on over to the author's Goodreads page to see if she'd been working on anything new and found this Kindle Unlimited-eligible short story that she had apparently written. OMG!



HIS HAPPY PLACE is this weird and creepy little short story about a Black woman who is dating a Korean man. They've been dating for about four months and they're taking their relationship to the next level by going to a remote little cabin in his woods where he feels the most like himself, according to him. Because nothing says, "I love you, please don't kill me," like isolating yourself with a man.*



*Bad joke but you know, THE FEAR IS REAL.



Anyway, they get there and la la la, nature is beautiful but toilets w/ plumbing are iconic, and apart from the hatred of camping (same), the heroine, Ama, sort of gets into it. She and Nathan have some heart to hearts and he seems like he really wants to let her get to know the real him. Which is when things start getting REALLY FUCKING WEIRD.



Harris is so good at building tension and creating atmosphere. I noticed right away that this had the same vibes that I loved so much in THE OTHER BLACK GIRL. Also like THE OTHER BLACK GIRL, though... I didn't like the ending. Here, the author does something unusual and kind of risky: she starts the beginning of the book with the end of the book, so you already know what's going to happen as you're reading. Well, sort of. I figured if she was going to lead with an expose, she was going to take us somewhere shocking on the journey... but the whole thing just comes full circle with no closure.



I'm not going to give spoilers but if you read it, you'll see what I mean.



I will definitely be reading more from Zakiya Dalila Harris, but based on the two books of hers I've read, she seems to have a bit of a third act problem.



3 to 3.5 stars
Profile Image for Deb.
382 reviews104 followers
June 30, 2024
Eerie

Loved this short story. Of course being an avid movie and book buff this is my favorite type of book; scary and mysterious.
Profile Image for Lynn.
534 reviews8 followers
June 28, 2024
The Perfect Guy

Ama met the sweetest guy and they seemed like complete opposites, but they hit it off and Ama was getting attached to him.

Nathan invited Ama to his cabin far up in the mountains and it was really beautiful, and even though Ama wasn’t the camping type she knew she could be comfortable there.

Nathan started opening up to Ama about things she never knew about him, like that he didn’t really get along with his father and that he had been married before. Ama started having dreams in the cabin about Nathan’s ex being in a pool of blood and seeing her clothes burning in the fire place. Ama wisely kept that to herself as things just get stranger.

This was a short five star thriller, though subtle, packs it’s own chilling punch. Five stars.
Profile Image for Freda Mans-Labianca.
1,294 reviews120 followers
October 9, 2022
Twisted!
But I liked it.
This is one of those suspenseful stories that ends where it begins. You learn the in-between and what you learn is crazy. The thing is, who is crazy?!
That's what is kind of open-ended, if you ask me anyway.
So good. Nothing at all what I expected, though to be honest, I'm not sure what I expected.
I definitely want to read more from this author!

4.5/5
Profile Image for Julie (JuJu).
875 reviews210 followers
January 30, 2024
An Intriguing Plot That Needed More.

🌟🌟🌟.5
“His Happy Place” is my first taste of this author’s work, and I found her writing style quite enjoyable. However, while the plot was intriguing and had a lot of potential, I couldn't help but feel that the story itself was lacking. Even though it was a short story, it felt like there were loose ends that could have been tied up. More depth to the characters would have made the story much more satisfying. Overall, I think the story had a lot of potential, but it just didn't quite reach the level of quality that I was hoping for.

#HisHappyPlace #ZakiyaDalilaHarris #KindleUnlimited #AmazonPublishing #thriller #honestreview #bookreviewer #thrillerbookloverspromotions #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #ReadersOfTheLateArc #TalkWordyToMeTeam #lovetoread #bookworms #lovebooks #booknerd #readaholic #bookstagrammer
31 reviews
September 13, 2022
Super creepy and spooky but also disorienting and confusing. I’m not sure if Ama is crazy or Nathan is a bad guy or the cabin is built on a sacred burial ground and I really prefer my stories to have a better conclusion than this did.

I didn’t mind that the author gave away what was happening at the beginning but wish there was more clarity as to what the crap was going on in that cabin. Was it just the cabin? What happened to Laura? Why burn down the cabin instead of just taking the keys and going home and researching Laura’s disappearance instead of committing murder?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kira Flowerchild.
688 reviews5 followers
July 12, 2024


That said, the prologue ending-at-the-beginning is a standard trope. It is often used in movies, but I've read dozens of books, maybe more than a hundred, that begin this way. It is meant to make the reader wonder what happened to this woman to cause her to take such drastic action. I certainly wondered, but this is a choose-your-own-adventure tale. Any of the possibilities listed in the first paragraph could be true, or it could have been something entirely different. The author doesn't say.

I debated for quite a while whether to give this story 3 or 4 stars. I finally settled on 4 stars, to offset (a little bit, anyway) the many 3-star reviews.
Profile Image for Melanie Fields.
284 reviews14 followers
September 5, 2022
I loved this short horror story! The ONLY reason for four stars instead of five is that the ending felt too abrupt. I would have preferred the prologue actually be the ending.

On to the next story in the series…..
Profile Image for Kimberly R .
292 reviews
October 27, 2022
Great Read!

Ama and her boyfriend Nathan go to his cabin in the woods. Things start to get weird and she wonders if she can really trust him. I liked this book and it kept me guessing.
Profile Image for M.L. Sexton.
Author 40 books141 followers
January 16, 2023
I knew something was up when he mentioned him being Asian and her being black and what the white people would say. Then the whole wine thing, him wanting her to drink more so she’ll sleep better. I know he knows what’s going on at night. And then AMA keeps getting these messages from Nathan’s dead ex to get away. Very much Get Out vibes. When he asked her what she saw, repeatedly, and then she tells him. I wouldn’t have. The fact that he asked her, made me even question him seriously. And then he claims his ex wife saw the same things when she was there, though she saw his father. Laura is trying to warn her. Take a hint. Sleepwalking? Visions? Hallucinations? Girl, run. And then he mentions sleeping pills. Naw. If all that other shit wasn’t a wake up call, the mention of the pills should’ve been a big, bright, red one. Him mentioning it being his happy place and still pushing the pills was too much. She pretends that the night before was a dream and wasn’t really real, and the fact that he went along with it, should’ve told her even more. Not her crushing the pills into his coffee!!! This story had me holding my breath until the end, but then it just ends, I want to know more!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Courtney McGhee.
378 reviews13 followers
October 22, 2022
I have no idea what just happened. I had finally started to really get into the story and then bam 💥 it’s over. What happened?!?! Oh wait…just got back and read the first chapter again. Okay so we know she burned the cabin down BUT did Nathan die? Was that Laura’s ghost? What truly happened to her? I WANT MORE!
Profile Image for S.A  Reidman.
244 reviews5 followers
February 20, 2024
Yeah okay what an opening! Might need to read The Other Black Girl - or at least binge it on Hulu seeing as this month is almost over and I have 15 more books to go. But that opening had me peeking through the window like who did you just burn Ama?!!!!

Also I gotta ask, how does soooo much chaos happen in 48 hours??? I'm not talking scale like war invasions or pandemic levels. But like this, horror - it just takes off like woooosh and lives are destroyed.

Horrifying because of the threat of violence - impressive because there wasn't even a raised voice let alone manhandling or a weapon weilded in the air.

Plot/Storyline/Themes:
First of all, dating for 4 months does not mean you go off into the woods with some dude who is still technically an acquainted stranger ...kinda sorta. 4 months? I'm calling in favors to a bestie who is excellent at doing a deep dive on a person before I am even getting in a car to go to some cabin.

But Ama, you do you girl. Smdh, Honeymoon phase and pheremones gon get you killed.

Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Oof, oh Nathan Davis why is it the moment she described it as being your cabin I just KNEW you aint shyte and also...something off about you and I hadn't even gotten to the whole "meet the character" part. Tut tut tut.

Ama seriously what you define as "hiccups" are yellow flags, you know, caution ahead - one sided emotional exertion ahead, caution, tread carefully one partner taking on too much etcetera ... smdh Corie was right.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
Because hanging a machete on the wall of a remote cabin is just so not red flaggey. PSA: "Pageing intuition, intuition are you there? Why hath thee abandoned Ama???"

Also: Mount Sunday, New Zealand and Nathan.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt quite this isolated, this alone. It was a peculiar feeling. Paralyzing. Like she had been tucked away in a tiny box at the bottom of the ocean, only to be forgotten about.” (on nighttime in wilderness)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ The Cabin as a conduit dead imprints

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short Stories by 2025
Profile Image for RedRedtheycallmeRed.
1,801 reviews44 followers
September 14, 2022
The twist with this story is that the ending is spelled out at the beginning. This was creepier than the others I’ve read in this series, I enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 375 reviews

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