Beach Read was my first Emily Henry book, and I will admit, I wasn't sure People We Meet on Vacation could live up to it. Friends to Lovers is not a common trope of mine and I had reservations. If that sounds anything like you, worry not! My expectations were not only met, but exceeded.

Poppy and Alex are opposites in almost every way and yet somehow they became the best of friends in college. No matter where life takes them, including living hundreds of miles apart, they always find time for the best summer vacations. But now it's been two years since they've spoken and Poppy is starting to wonder if her life is missing something. Or someone. So she decides to convince Alex to take one last trip together... unless they can both admit what they really want in life.

I will just say that if everyone writes Friends to Lovers like Emily does, I'm going to need more of it in my life. I literally lived Friends to Lovers and this book captures that unique sexual tension so well. It's not instant attraction and the sexual tension is never so thick you could cut it with a knife. It grows and shifts, like a question forming in your mind and coming to the tip of your tongue, but getting stuck there... in this case, for years.

This book reminds me of the movie Definitely, Maybe. Just without the kid and with the temperature both figuratively and literally turned WAY up. Throughout the book we get to look back at all of Alex and Poppy's previous summer vacations. Despite being set in present day, and the story line working us towards what could be their final vacation together, we still get the full backstory of their friendship right up until the day it all went wrong. I'm one who loves multiple timelines and flashbacks, so this set up was perfect for me.

And then there's Poppy and Alex themselves. One buttoned up, one carefree. The ying to the other's yang. They make no sense together and yet fit perfectly. I mean, you're already swooning at the possibilities, right? Well, you should be. Emily has crafted these characters to pull you into their story and have you feeling every up and down of their relationship right along with them. She makes it impossible to not root for their happily ever after.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know how to truly describe how much I loved this book. This author has quickly become one of my favorites. This book is raw and real and simply fantastic. I adore Poppy and Alex. I can't recommend this book enough. It is one of the best books I have read this year.

Cute book. Definitely a beach type of read. The story went by fast because the plot was so smooth. You do go back and forth in time but not in a way that makes the book hard to understand.

3.5 Stars

Thanks #NetGalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyWritesStrongWomen #BerkleyBuddyReads for a complimentary eARC of #PeopleWeMeetOnVacation upon my request. All opinions are my own.

Do you have a best friend of the opposite sex? Would you take an annual vacation with this best friend? Would you include spouses in the relationship?

Thirty something and opposite in almost every way, Poppy and Alex have been best friends since college when they shared a ride home from college for summer break. They decided then that they should vacation together every summer. Even though they don’t live in the same town, this annual vacation has been a tradition and a highlight of the last decade. Until the year that something happened and now they have missed their vacation for two years. Poppy is miserable without her best friend fix and realizes that these times with Alex have been her happiest memories, so she decides to plan a vacation this year to fix what’s broken between them. He agrees to the vacation but Poppy is desperate and nervous that they won’t be able to restore their friendship.

Slow, slow burn romance + friends to lovers trope + entertaining and unputdownable.

I’m not a huge chick-lit fan, so the writing can really redeem a predictable story for me. The People We Meet On Vacation unfolds from Poppy’s perspective through a past and present timeline. I love the quick pace and witty banter. Vivid details and descriptions transport me to each location with Poppy and Alex. No one in my buddy read shared my view on this, but I think I would have preferred one chronological timeline. The story is an incredibly slow burn romance and my interest was with the present timeline because we already know nothing happens in the past….except for the year that things got broken. The past timeline was interesting as we are brought up to speed on their history and connection, but I constantly felt pulled away from the present to learn about the past. As I said, no one in my group seemed to mind and were happy with the structure.

I liked that Poppy and Alex are opposites….always a fun trope. Poppy is free spirited and Alex is conservative (and a perfect book boyfriend). They are both likable, reflective, and have good intentions, but they each are dealing with issues from the past. For the most part, their communication is good (always annoying when lack of communication is the plot device). I do have a question about one decision that Alex made that seemed extreme and didn’t make sense for his character (but otherwise didn’t affect the story).

The People We Meet On Vacation has thoughtful themes including trust, grief, finding “home,” friendship, taking risks, and second chances.

I recommend The People We Meet On Vacation for fans of chick-lit, for readers looking for a light vacation or weekend read, and for book clubs looking for well-written RomCom. Everyone in my buddy read loved it!

Content Considerations: high school bullying, death of a parent, grief, some casual drug use, some steam

Emily Henry is officially one of my favorite romance authors now. Earlier this week I devoured Beach Read and loved it. Then I picked up People We Meet on Vacation and loved it even more.

People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex's story of meeting in college and becoming best friends. While in college they start a tradition of an annual Summer Trip. The story bounces back and forth between their present-day and past vacations. Significant others come and go, life changes happen, but through it, all Poppy and Alex always end up staying connected.

I loved the characters and the travel aspect of this one so much. I highly recommend this one, especially if you are impatiently awaiting the time when we can all travel again.

I want to start by saying I know a lot of people will love this book.... overall it just was not my thing. I did follow along and was into the story and never once did I want to stop reading. (Do you feel a “but......” coming??) I love banter and all of that in a book and this book had it BUT it seemed too forced and overdone. I don’t know I did laugh at a few parts but it didn’t put me in the feels like some other people.

3.5 stars

I am in the minority, but I didn't love People We Meet on Vacation as much as everyone else did. It was an OK read for me. I liked the writing style and I liked both Poppy and Alex, but I didn't love their extreme slow-burn romance. I didn't like the constant jumps between past and present. I would get invested in what was happening in the present, only to be pulled back to a random flashback in the past. I usually read romcoms fast, but I found it difficult to stay invested in Poppy's and Alex's love story. This is not a bad book by any means, but it's not as good as Beach Read, in my opinion.

I loved Beach Read and couldn’t wait to read Emily Henry’s newest book. People We Meet on Vacation tells the story of two best friends, Alex and Poppy. They meet in college and although they move to different cities once they graduate, they set aside time every year for a summer vacation together. At first I was a little disappointed when this started showing signs of the ‘friends to lovers’ trope, but I eventually I fell in love with Alex and Poppy too much to care if there ended up being a little bit of cliché in their story.

It’s clear from the start that something came between Alex and Poppy and kept them apart for many years, and through flashbacks, we begin to get an idea of what happened. This allowed the reader to see just how their friendship formed and they became so close. These details were incredibly well written and believable and made for a really solid basis of the character’s friendship. I loved getting to see the two of them realize how well they worked together. I also loved getting to be a part of their inside jokes.

Emily Henry’s writing is fantastic. The details she includes create vivid settings for the plot to unfold in. I could picture each moment of Alex and Poppy’s many vacations and their jetsetting made for an always changing and always interesting environment for each chapter of their story.

The backstory behind what each character wanted out of their life added a lot of richness and depth to both Poppy and Alex. They both seemed incredibly real and I felt just as torn as they did about the decisions they had to make.

Well I love me a good friends to lovers trope and this one did not disappoint! Emily Henry, I will read anything you write. This one had me wanting to book a vacation asap. I really enjoyed how the book was broken up by their different summer trips and went back and forth between the past and present. Henry’s writing had me feeling as if I was in the places with them. All in all a really cute read and definitely recommend!

Way better than beach read. Liked how the timeline went to the past and then present. The buildup was perfect. Predictable but in a great way.

As I nearing the end of this book, I was feeling all type of squeeze feelings that included swooning, all the sweet moments and tears. Yes, there were tears; happy tears My goodness, do you know how many quotes I underlined and had to own the physical copy and is on the way to my house as I type. I need to sticky note ALL of the quotes of this sweet best friends to lovers that was a beautiful slow burn.

Gah, it was SO good. I loved how we got to see how Alex and Poppy became friends-the foundation of a single conversation and car ride, to them going on vacations together, the timing of relationships, the pining and the 12 years (yes, read it again) of should we do this to toeing the line. GAHHH!!! But within that 12 years it was a slow burn buildup from friends to best friends to lovers. IT WAS SO GOOD! This is such a great sweet summer read.

I absolutely loved this book! Poppy and Alex were hilarious and vivacious and you just couldn’t help but to root for them and their love story. Henry’s writing is just beautiful and I can’t get enough. I loved this one so much more than Beach Read. This book will stay with me for awhile!

❤friends to lovers
*12 years of tension in vacations
*oops only one bed and a broken AC
*partner in peril/sick bed tending
*therapy

Definitely a romance, an aching slow-burn.

Professional review to come in Library Journal, but I really enjoyed this one. The story is tightly focused on chaos-sprite Poppy and buttoned up, Reid-from-Love-Lettering-archetype Alex, and their twelve years of summer vacations. Set in present day (not pandemic present) Palm Springs and interspersed with flashbacks from the previous vacations, this was full of so much yearning, so much friendship, and discussions of what it means to find a home.

Henry has a way with language the both grips me, and makes me swoon. I need to go back and highlight a few quotes and will do that soon.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

CW: drinking, lingering grief issues, love interests have other relationships before their HEA, but no cheating

I laughed. I cried. I felt all the feels. I LOVED THIS BOOK!

The storyline about two college friends taking an annual Summer Trip hit close to home and made me feel very nostalgic. The story, told in multiple timelines, flashes back to previous summer trips then jumps back to this summer. I enjoyed learning about Poppy and Alex’s relationship and how it developed through their past and present experiences. This book features lots of fun romance tropes, including friends to lovers, opposites attract, and just one bed.

I found Poppy so relatable. She is so unapologetically herself with her vintage style, confidence, and wanderlust. Alex was her perfect opposite, a giant teddy bear understand a serious and almost bland exterior. Their dynamic was perfection.

The writing was so hilarious and heartfelt. I laughed out loud countless time throughout the story, and I cried through the last few chapters (tears of both heartbreak and joy). Emily Henry is definitely an auto-buy author now. She’s probably my favorite rom com writer, and between this and Beach Read, she’s definitely the queen of the summer romance! I cannot recommend this book enough.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Netgalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Beach Read and couldn’t wait to read Emily Henry’s next book. It did not disappoint! I loved this cute rom com. The characters were great and I loved the witty banter between them. It had just enough steam and I love the friends to lovers troupe. Read it! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

How? How does Emily Henry manage to write a perfect book every time?! And HOW did she top Beach Read? (I mean, don’t get me wrong, I will always love Beach Read), but People We Meet on Vacation is easily my favorite book of the year!

I absolutely feel head over heels in love with Alex & Poppy; with their friendship, with their quirks, their hilarious witty banter, and the chemistry and was shooting off the page. The “best friends-turned lovers/can men and women actually be friends?” storyline can be so tricky to pull of and Henry nailed with every step of the way. These characters felt real. Their passions and fears felt so relatable. Their journey felt tangible and like a miracle all at once. And I loved being with them on their journeys to finding their way home.

I loved every minute of this story and I highly recommended everyone read it as soon as possible!

This is probably one of the most hyped books I've read this year. And I actually had a hard time getting into this book. We know that Alex and Poppy are best friends, but they haven't spoken to each other in two years. Something happened on that last vacation together and they haven't spoken since. Now, Poppy reaches out and they agree to go on vacation again. We get chapters that alternate between past vacations throughout their 12 year friendship and this current vacation. The whole time, I wanted to know what drove them apart. We don't even get that answer until wayyyyyy into the book and I found it so anticlimactic. If you're going to drag out this big secret for the reader, I was expecting something huge and not something pretty minor. This book relies heavily on Alex and Poppy just refusing to talk to one another about their feelings. That's it. They wouldn't admit they liked each other and then they refused to talk about what had happened between them on that last vacation. This actually drove me crazy and I was just so frustrated with those two. They couldn't have an honest conversation with each other for 12 years!?! I do get they both had some pretty big insecurities and problems with understanding what they really wanted out of life, but I was just frustrated by the non-communication plot line.

Also, this book is over 350 pages long and I didn't find myself loving all of the past vacation chapters. They were cute, but I didn't really feel any chemistry developing between them like I think I was supposed to, so it just read as two friends growing super close. Maybe that was the point? But the suuupppeerrrrr slow burn of that romance was just too slow for me. I especially felt like the beginning dragged too much.

I feel like I have a lot of negatives of this book, but I still did enjoy the story. If it wasn't so hyped, I don't think I would have as many complaints. Maybe I'm just being too picky, but this wasn't everything I thought it was going to be.

3.5 stars

After reading and loving Emily Henry’s adult contemporary debut last year, I was really eager to read People We Meet on Vacation. Poppy is a free-spirited young woman who lives to wander the world and is lucky enough to call that her job. Or at least, she felt that way up until recently, when she realizes she’s in a rut and that the last time she was truly happy was two years ago when she was on summer vacation with her (ex?) best friend Alex (an annual tradition for years up until said fateful trip). Desperate to make things right with Alex, Poppy invites him on vacation… and he agrees to come. Poppy has one week to sort things out (for herself and between them), but will it all go according to plan?

After reading two adult contemporaries from Emily Henry, it’s safe to say that I will happily read anything she puts out in the genre. She’s delivered two consistently easy-to-devour novels (that are especially perfect for weekend or vacation reads) that make use of fully recognizable plot and romance tropes, but with a spin all her own when it comes to the characters. While it didn’t quite eclipse its predecessor’s spot as a favorite, People We Meet on Vacation was an equally wonderful read. Sure, the plot played a rather large part in winning my affection, especially with the travel aspect (I really enjoyed reading about their trips!) and the flashbacks to the past. But Poppy and Alex were the true highlight. I’ve always said that it’s my feelings about the main pair that will affect my overall feelings about a novel, and that was certainly true of this one. I enjoyed getting to know them both (they’re very quirky in their own ways), and it was very easy for me to care about their relationship and its development as the years went on. It was lovely to just immerse myself in this story and escape from the world as I read it, and I turned the last page feeling very warm and fuzzy and wonderful indeed. I really enjoyed People We Meet on Vacation, and think many other readers are going to feel the same way! Definitely add this to your TBR if it’s not on there already.

Poppy and Alex met in college and fell into friendship on their long car ride back home to Ohio. Since that fateful car ride, the two have been inseparable. Even though the two live far apart, Poppy in New York City with her fancy journalist job and Alex, at home in Ohio, the two take a summer trip together every year and have for the past ten years until something comes between them and the trips stop. Alex and Poppy haven't spoken to each other much at all since that summer trip two years ago, but when Poppy invites him on one and Alex says "yes", Poppy realizes she has 7 days to try and fix their relationship and get it back to where it used to be.

Something I really loved about this story was the alternating chapters. We follow the present day summer vacation and then the trips from summers past until we find out what has happened in their relationship. This was a really great way to work in the history of their friendship and all about their past together without making the book 500+ pages. Emily Henry did an amazing job at making you fall in love with the characters through their witty banter, their struggles, and most importantly, their undying/unconditional love for each other.

My only critic is that I do feel like it got a bit repetitive with all of the summer vacations and ended up dragging out just a little bit too long, but I really did love Poppy and Alex and their dynamic together!

Overall, this was an incredibly sweet story with amazing chemistry between our two main characters that definitely had me swooning!

Review is also published on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book a Million.

What can I say except, this book speaks to me!

People We Meet on Vacation is proof that not all sophomore efforts come up short. This book was absolutely fantastic. So fantastic that I'm going to drive people nuts by constantly recommending it! So utterly fantastic that it lands Emily Henry firmly on my exclusive auto-buy no matter what, author list!

Poppy & Alex were fantastic main characters, they were just different enough that they worked. Their banter was next level and instantly made me love them and root for them. Everyone else was the enemy of their happiness! I'm not spoiling anything, we know exactly how this story is going to end. But the thing about contemporary romance is the journey to the inevitable MUST be enjoyable. The flights have to have some entertainment and the layovers need to have solid restaurants, duty free shops and maybe a drug bust! It makes the end that much sweeter!

I'd be lying if I said I didn't channel Sebastian the Crab a couple of times and hum "La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Go on and kiss the girl." The tension was delicious... like Sebastian probably would be. Too dark? *shrug* Seriously though, the slow burn was perfection and while I was definitely antsy I was also like "Whoa whoa, there's no rush, enjoy the trip!" People We Meet on Vacation had me split into two very different people with different wants. They were both happy with how this one played out right until the final page! Hands down one of my favourite books of the... century!

If you love a book with travel, slow burn romance, a just quirky enough main character and a good guy with some pent up feelings, then this book should be on your TBR!

Thank you so much to Berkley and Penguin Random House Canada for a gifted copy of this book.




TW
Death of a parent (in the past, not on the page), Death of a grandparent (in the past, not on the page), Bullying (flashbacks)