Emily Henry does it again! BUT EVEN BETTER!Is that even possible?! YOU BET YOUR BIPPY!
What’s to love about this gem of a book? Poppy & Alex! Talk about relatable, funny, awkwardly witty characters! All of their experiences together made my heart sing & jump for joy all at once! I was totally invested from page 1! The travel! I’m all for wanderlust through reading! NOLA & Tuscany were my fave destinations! The alternating timelines worked perfectly for Alex & Poppy’s story! There was such a heartwarming underlying theme of finding where & who you consider to be your home. Perfect steam meter rating! Not too much, but not left craving more either! This was the best friends to lovers trope I’ve read in a long time! But all of the LOL moments throughout the book!? Who doesn’t love to laugh until they cry?! I’ll be recommending this book for years to come!


Full review on Instagram came be found at—
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNlcF7QroHi/?hl=en

Emily Henry’s Beach Read was one of my favorite books of 2020, so I had very high expectations for People We Meet on Vacation. While I’m not sure it will make my 2021 Favorites list, I still definitely enjoyed it.

I absolutely loved the relationship between Poppy and Alex. They had amazing banter and it was obvious how much they cared about each other. So many of their scenes just put a big smile on my face. The chapters jump around between the present and the past, where we see many of their summer trips, going back from when they first met twelve years ago. I enjoyed both timelines and being able to see the evolution of their friendship.

While I loved the humor and the romance, there were a few things that brought the story down for me. There was some subtle bashing of religion, which I found a little offensive. There was also a lot of build up to the big Croatia trip that ruined their friendship two years ago and it ended up being pretty anticlimactic to me. It was a short chapter and I expected a bit more than what actually happened. I also was a little confused about how impactful to Poppy’s life she kept saying the people she met on her travels were, when there were very few examples of that in the actual story. I can only think of a couple of examples and they left no lasting impact to me.

Overall, People We Meet on Vacation was a very cute story. It had terrific banter and several adorably romantic scenes. The characters were likable and I loved their friendship. I felt like it was a little messy at the end, though. What happened in Croatia and the fall out didn’t feel like it lived up to all the build up about it. I also felt like too much was crammed into the final chapters. Trying to make the theme of the title so important at the end when there was very little about it in the rest of the story was a little jarring. Despite that, though, this is a book that I see myself re-reading in the future.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

Thanks a million Berkley for letting me read this arc!

Have you ever read a book that was so heartwarming and lovely, you ended up hugging it after you finish it? — I did, for this book! I got an eARC so I hugged my kindle. Don’t judge ok?!

Alex and Poppy have been friends since college. Although Poppy quit college and became a travel blogger and Alex became a high school teacher after college their friendship has been there! They have so much fun together, they both promised they’ll spend every summer break together travelling.

The story alters between past and present spanning for 12 whole summers including the vacations they took together. We also get to see occasions of their friendship, they relativeness and the fairness Alex & Poppy have for each other. Alex is near perfect being. I haven’t met anyone like him.. he is so pure! And Poppy is a next door girl — I saw so much of myself on Poppy!! I’ve never read a Friends-to-Lovers romance this good before. I was patiently waiting for them to get together instead of telling them to get it over with. Flawless friendship that makes more sense when it turns into love.

Honestly if I didn’t like People we meet on vacation more than Beach Read, I wouldn’t have given this a whole 5⭐️. Good god Emily!! You made me happy cry. Especially when Alex expresses his feelings. Loved every moment of this book. Finally, a book that lived up to my expectations and didn’t disappoint even for a single moment.

I’m not a cryer. I read romance because it’s fun and it makes me happy to see people fall in love. However, recently the happily-ever-after has felt like a real hurdle for me as a reader. It is a heavy lift for an author to create a sense that there are real stakes in a relationship, but Henry delivers this beautifully. So beautifully that I cried just a teeny tiny bit. She does a great job getting at emotional depth, while also being funny and sexy. Plus, friends to lovers is a hard trope to execute well, but I was with the characters each step. Finally, I love how Henry subverts reader expectations in the titles of her books. You go into them thinking they will be fluffy “vacation” material, but really very little goes according to plan in her books and we instead get imperfect, complicated characters trying to reach each other. And, yes, ultimately succeeding in their efforts.

What a wonderful read! I loved Beach Read and this was an equally wonderful read. Quick and lovely with very well-rounded characters. Fun and sexy and also thought=provoking on choosing your own life. Recommend!

I absolutely loved this book! I enjoyed the characters, storyline and the vacation settings. A truly wonderful adventure.

People We Meet on Vacation was like a cold slice of watermelon on a warm summer’s day. A coke and cherry slushy with just the right 50/50 balance of flavors. A book series that is all the same size and cover designs. You get the picture?

Poppy and Alex are polar opposites. Their friendship shouldn’t work. They shouldn’t love each other as much as they do. Yet, their love and friendship completely and utterly makes sense. They balance each other, but they don’t try to change the other for any reason. They each pay attention to their needs and wants and actively work toward them, never pushing the other to do anything that they don’t want to. Their attentiveness, their pure desire to completely know and support each other, makes their friendship a dream.

PWMOV was the perfect summer read, or read to get you ready for summer. It made me nostalgic for a time when we could freely travel and see people and places in other parts of the world. It’s the most beautiful escape from the pandemic-filled time that we are still living in. Even though I wanted to know what happened in Croatia to separate them for two years, I still loved the constant flashbacks and seeing the development of not only their summer trips but also their friendship over twelve years. It was worth waiting to find out what happened.

With Beach Reads being one of my favorite romances of last year, I eagerly anticipated Emily Henry’s newest work and it did not disappoint. This engaging, emotional, fun and funny escape was beautifully done and achingly good.
Poppy and Alex meet during orientation week at University. With seemingly nothing in common, they first discover they’re from the same town when Alex offers to share a ride home to a friend (Poppy) of a friend. A connection is made on that drive, and a strong friendship develops. Over the course of 12 years they meet annually for a summer trip. On the last trip something happens and they don’t talk for 2 years. Reunited for one more vacation Poppy is determined to make everything right again.
Filled with humor and witty banter, conversations between Alex and Poppy are a definite highlight. The characters are well conceived and developed and relatable. Although polar opposites, they have a unique chemistry that engages the reader. In addition to the romance there are touching elements exploring self discovery and what makes a home. Incredibly well written, this story was the perfect blend of humorous dialogue, romance and emotional depth. Adored this one, highly recommend.

Ah, where to start with how much I love Emily Henry's books! After reading, and loving, <i>Beach Read</i> last year I was really looking forward to her new book, <i>People We Meet on Vacation</i>. And after reading it, I have to say that I loved it even more than I loved her first book!

Poppy and Alex meet in college, an unlikely pair, and become best friends. They establish an annual tradition of a Summer Trip, in which they go on vacation together each summer, and the story follows along from present-day through the flashbacks of all their previous summer trips. Significant others come and go, life changes happen, but through it all Poppy and Alex always end up staying connected.

I love the love story was very sweet and I absolutely loved all the travel! After a year+ of staying home because of COVID, this was a true escapist read. I think I forgot how wonderful going on vacation is? But this book made me remember and then allowed me to travel vicariously through the characters.

Henry writes really relatable characters and Poppy and Alex are no exception. They came alive on the page for me and I was cheering them on the whole time. And I found Poppy to be so hilarious.

Highly recommend this one for a wonderful, funny, warm, charming read!

Emily Henry is now one of my favorite authors. While the covers suggest light rom-coms, and there are those elements, Henry has a remarkable ability to create profoundly moving characters and avoid the cliches of so many love stories. Like her previous adult novel, Beach Read, this book is impossible to put down and impossible to stop thinking about after you've closed the covers.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me! I’m so bummed that I couldn’t connect with the story the way I wanted to.

I’m a huge fan of a friends to lovers romance. It’s my all time favorite trope. Sadly, this one didn’t live up to my expectations. The chemistry between Alex & Poppy came and went. It was really difficult for me to see them as a couple at times. Even in the end, it wasn’t all that believable to me.

Toward the middle of the book I started to get a little bored. I kept waiting and waiting for the reveal to happen. I was so eager to find out what exactly happened in Croatia that caused Alex & Poppy’s friendship to crumble. Once I learned what it was, I was disappointed. It was such a trivial thing and I didn’t care for it.

Even though I didn’t quite like People We Meet on Vacation, I do think that other readers will. I am definitely going to be an outlier here and that’s okay!

❤️Perfect beach/pool read❤️Fun, quirky side characters❤️Friends to lovers trope

Can Emily Henry write books forever? How do you have two back to back romance books that knock it out of the park!? I loved this book, the way the story is told and the friendship between the two characters. There was enough left unknown to keep me turning the pages and oh my gosh when will they finally kiss!!?  Loved this one!

Poppy and Alex have been best friends since college, traveling together on budget vacations each summer and staying connected between trips by constant emails and texts even when living in different cities or dating other people. Straitlaced Alex has been the perfect traveling companion for impulsive Poppy...until she isn’t. They haven’t traveled together, or spoken, for two years and Poppy is at a crossroads. Unhappy in her work and her life, she decides to rekindle their friendship in one more (last?) trip.

As Alex and Poppy navigate traveling together again (and dealing with mishaps such as having no AC in sweltering Palm Springs), Poppy remembers previous trips visiting different locales and through various periods of friendship strain (AKA other relationships). Poppy knows her feelings for Alex aren’t quite platonic anymore, but does she dare risk their friendship on the possibility of it becoming more?

I was a huge fan of Henry’s previous novel, BEACH READ and love this just as much. While I have read other novels within this general “best friends to maybe lovers” story line, this didn’t feel repetitive or predictable. Poppy, Alex, their friends and family all contribute to how Alex and Poppy are formed as people and how they respond to the possibility of love in their lives. Poppy is hilarious, Alex is charming and above all we want them to be happy, but does that mean we want them to be together? Either way, you’ll love them both enough to not want this story to end.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for this ARC!

This book was amazing. It is the perfect summer romance about best friends who drifted apart after an incident that happened on their annual vacation two summers ago. Poppy and Alex decide to travel together again in hopes of fixing their relationship after the falling out that kept them from talking to each other for years. They are opposites with undeniable chemistry and I loved both of them so much. The chapters alternate between present day and flashbacks to previous summer vacations that Poppy and Alex took together. I don’t usually like flashbacks, but in this book, they were my favorite part. I loved getting to see the relationship progress between Alex and Poppy since meeting ten years ago.

I absolutely loved this book. If you liked Beach Read, you will love People We Meet on Vacation. This was one of the best books I’ve read this year. 5 stars!

What a sweet, fun, romcom read! I enjoyed this one and it was a perfect lighthearted, entertaining and fun read between more serious books. I loved the writing style and the book flowed well. Perfect reading for a sunny weekend at the beach or pool!

I think this book officially just took the spot as my favorite romance book. I loved every single thing about this book. Alex and Poppy were so adorable and their friendship was perfection. I am usually not a fan of friends to lovers romance, but Henry knows how to write a flawless romance book.

Poppy and Alex have been friends for 10+ years, they met during the first week of college and even though it was a rough start they became best friends. They decided every summer they would go on vacation together. People We Meet On Vacation alternates between past vacations that they have been on and the present vacation. I loved reading about the past vacations and seeing how Poppy and Alex became best friends to begin with. The fact that they are polar opposites, but yet just genuinely love being together was so cute. I usually don’t like friends to lovers because we never get to see how they became friends; it is more of we know their friends and now they like each other. Not in this book, we see exactly why they are best friends and get to know all about their past ten vacations together.

Right from the beginning I could so see them being a couple and was rooting for them to finally admit that they loved each other the entire book. They are just so adorable I couldn’t stop smiling literally the entire time I was reading. I could go on and on about why this book is perfection, but that could be days of me talking. I just really think Henry knows how to write relatable characters, set the mood, and make you totally intrigued with the romance.

Did I love this book? Yes yes I did I laughed, I cried, I swooned I was completely in love with Poppy and Alex their connection and the angst was so good. But here’s why it lost a star from me. I felt like the middle part dragged A LOT I probably could’ve gone with out 2 or 3 summers because it got a bit repetitive and frustrating. That being said I truly loved this book it was so much better then beach read and was just an amazingly sweet romance I highly recommend!

This was a wonderful book to read. It was my sweet spot of romance, figuring out life and traveling around the world. It felt like this book was written for me!

Poppy and Alex have been best friends and travel buddies since college. She lives in New York and he lives in their hometown in Ohio. She’s more free spirited, he’s more reserved and cautious. Every summer they travel together, sometimes on a shoestring budget and sometimes when her company pays for it.

Two years ago, they ruined everything and haven’t spoken since. Poppy realizes the last time she was truly happy was when she was with Alex. She decides to book them a trip to Palm Springs to lay it all out on the table to make it right. She has one week to fix everything and hopefully get their friendship back to where it used to be. But can it ever go back once you’ve crossed the line?

I loved this book because Poppy was very much like me in my early 20’s. Like Poppy, I had wanderlust and traveled a lot. I also had a hard time committing and putting down roots, until I met my husband. I understood Poppy and I understood Alex’s point of view too. They were both so likable yet infuriating at times. Their story was sweet and very satisfying.


Thank you to @berkley and @netgalley for providing me the early copy to read.

This book is absolutely GLORIOUS. I don’t know how to explain how much I loved this book. 5 stars isn’t enough, 7, 10, 20 stars, the entire galaxy is this book!

Poppy and Alex are just friends that live in different cities but once a year reunite for a summer vacation. This story is told between dual timelines, past trips and the present, and it’s just enough chemistry, fun, and swoon to keep the pages turning for me. A lot of times these dual timelines are annoying, but this felt so right to me. Every past trip added to the present timeline and build a beautiful story.

I absolutely loved it.

It had that same kind of angst as a second chance romance and also swoon of people falling in love for the first time. Has anything so perfect ever been written?! I’m head of heels for this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley for the ARC!

Poppy is living the life she has always dreamed of – living in NYC with her dream job writing for a popular travel magazine that takes her all over the world. She has everything she has ever wanted. So why isn’t she happy? To get that spark back, she reconnects with her old friend Alex to embark on one of their memorable summer trips. So what if they haven’t talked in two years? The vacation will be perfect….right?

Emily Henry’s Beach Read was my favorite rom-com of 2020, so I was extremely excited to see that she was coming out with a new book in 2021. People We Meet on Vacation is a friends-to-lovers romance, with two MCs who are really struggling to get on the same page. The book was light and fluffy, but there were some darker elements, especially when Poppy discussed the bullying in her past and Alex losing his mom at such a young age. However, this is the perfect book for sitting on a beach or relaxing by the pool.

I don’t want to give too much away, but that moment when readers realize the meaning of the title was just perfect. The tie-in and ending was so well done! There was also a Beach Read Easter egg for anyone paying close attention. People We Meet on Vacation didn’t quite live up to Beach Read, but is still a strong addition to the rom-com genre. This book should definitely be on your summer reads list. 4.25 stars.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.