Alex and Poppy are two people who are complete opposites, but have somehow become really good friends. On their last vacation together, they get into an argument that causes them to seek space from one another. When Poppy needs a vacation from her job and life, she immediately asks Alex is he'd join her, and he does, even after not talking to one another for a year. I couldn't imagine going on vacation with someone I hadn't spoken to in a year, I'd definitely feel awkward.

This book is everything you want to read in the summertime. This is one of the first books in a long time where I finished a book and immediately wanted to reread it. (honestly I may pick it up again next time I'm in a slump) Emily does a phenomenal job creating this beautiful chemistry between Alex and Poppy. It was funny, witty, and just really enjoyable to read. I loved all the vacations, I loved all the fun conversations between Alex and Poppy, and I loved how she wrote this in a way that switches from past tense to present every few chapters, and I loved the friendship.

5 +

This is the second book I've read by Emily Henry and was blown away again. Her titles are misnomers: the first was not a Beach Read and this one is not about People We Meet on Vacation, but about people who vacation with us. It must be part of her carefully laid plan to surprise you.

Poppy and Alex have been the best of friend for ten years, even though they are completely different people who like totally different things. Going on vacations together once a year during Alex's summer vacation is the highlight of each other's year. Until two years in Croatia when something happened between them.

I really liked the format of alternating a chapter in the present with a chapter in the past, starting ten years ago when they met, getting closer and closer to the now.

The writing is fantastic, the characters are perfect in their imperfectness, and I literally could not put the book down and read straight until the very wee hours.

Wholeheartedly recommend.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

I think I want to give million hugs to author right now! I fell so hard for her latest book Beach Read which is still my favorite romance book of last year!

I thought nothing she may write could be better than this lyrical/ dreamy/ feel good- tear jerker love story . But after reading this freaking heartbreaking amazing book I’m taking all back: this book is the best thing I’ve read for so long! And I can honestly say this is is going to be not this year’s best romance read for me but it also will take its space at my all time favorite and at least three times must read list! It’s freaking good!

It is unbelievably amazing mash up of When Harry Met Sally- Love, Rosie- One Day with combinations of 90’s best Meg Ryan romcoms vibes!

The couple’s first meeting and their road trip is truly inspired by When Harry Met Sally as the author mentioned at the end of the book but their 12 hilarious, inspirational, adventurous, exciting trips and the way of storytelling makes you gather the clues to find the missing matches to complete the puzzle to understand their 12 years long friendship zone relationship is outstandingly smart.

Poppy and Alex were so so real, so powerful, so genuine! I feel like I have been knowing them for a long time. They’re polar opposites, wanting different things from life. As Poppy hates Linfield and khakis, those two things are Alex’s favorite things. As Poppy is vivid, energetic, hyperactive, adventurer, risk taker, Alex is more serene, picky, bookish, calm, controlling. Poppy never wants to settle down, desiring to experience different things from the life as Alex sticks to his routine, living at the same neighborhood, dreaming of being a happy family man.

But could wanting to different things from life stop them to yearn for each other?

Two years ago something happened in their Croatia trip. Now Poppy misses her friend like crazy, she’s not happy with her life and she cannot concentrate on her job! She decides to dodge a bullet, asking her best friend for one last trip to Palm Springs to fix their relationship. What could go wrong when you’re having an adventurous holiday with your favorite person?
Right!???

I don’t want to give any spoilers but I can only say one thing. There’s a part at the last third: Poppy gives a powerful and bold speech at the bar: the speech made me cried for at least three hours! My husband finally lost control and put duct tapes to my mouth to make me shut up. I think I’m also suffering from dried eye syndrome. I may have dropped at least five gallons of tears and I think I’m out of tears for a long time! But that emotional speech and entire book made my entire year!

I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I LOVED IT SO MUCH!

Okay, I’m stopping right now! I’m giving five gazillion stars to this amazing book and I’m specifically giving the last third: entire galaxy!

I’m million times thankful to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this fantastic reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

i don't have many thoughts beyond "i want to be in love".

there's so many good lines filled with raw emotion that i'm overwhelmed thinking about about them. i love that we got to see poppy and alex throughout the years.

very 'when harry met sally' but i actually liked it. it's about the repression and being in love with your best friend!!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing my review copy

I haven't finished a book in one day in so long and after reading People We Meet On Vacation the feeling felt amazing! Emily Henry's writing is pure gold because you immediately become so invested into the beautiful story she has created for these characters that you are wishing that the book would never end. If you have read Beach Read, you will definitely know that was one of my favourite's last year and after reading this one I was not disappointed because it was flawless. I even felt like crying during some scenes!

Poppy is so adventurous right from the start compared to her best friend, Alex who would do anything for her. But the chemistry between these two character was through the roof. I wish I didn't read it so fast because I already want to reread it again!

I haven't finished a book in one day in so long and after reading People We Meet On Vacation the feeling felt amazing! Emily Henry's writing is pure gold because you immediately become so invested into the beautiful story she has created for these characters that you are wishing that the book would never end. If you have read Beach Read, you will definitely know that was one of my favourite's last year and after reading this one I was not disappointed because it was flawless. I even felt like crying during some scenes!

I don't know how Emily Henry managed to top the perfection that was Beach Read, but somehow she wrote another (dare I say better?) touching, moving, hilarious story. I devoured this book in a single sitting. Henry's characters always blow me away because she gives them so much depth and individuality. They have quirks that define them, yet do not make up their entire personalities. They have well developed pasts, and issues that have followed them through life. And they even talk to therapists (!!) about said issues! And don't even get me started on the witty banter. No one, and I mean no one, writes rom-com banter quite as well as Henry does.

While I was initially wary of the frequent flashbacks (sometimes a girl just wants a linear narrative), I found that they worked effortlessly with the main narrative, and created such a strong foundation for the main characters that every single twinge of feeling, wrong move, mis-step, and declaration felt warranted, well founded, and perfectly in character.

I loved every page of this book. I am in love this with book. Emily Henry now occupies a spot on my authors-whose-grocery-lists-I-would-read-if-they-published-them list. I can't wait to see what's next.

*review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley

If this tells you anything about my love for Beach Read- I was approved and read this title in the same day. People We Meet is a friends to lovers story that has legitimate miscommunication/understanding issues. They have always had feelings for each other, but each thought they weren't the others types.

Another thing I really appreciated about this book was the way Henry described both Poppy's job as a travel writer and her best friend, Rachel's job as an influencer. There was no commentary or making fun of jobs that use social media. She talked about them with legitimacy which, as a social media coordinator, I greatly appreciated.

Loved loved loved! I was a huge fan of Emily Henry's BEACH READ and was nervous this new novel wouldn't live up to the hype. But it definitely does! It's such a cute, fun love story that made me long for the days when I could travel freely.

I am obsessed. Poppy and Alex's chemistry was beautiful. I laughed out loud. I swooned. I texted my romance-loving friends to read this when they can. The slow burn had me anticipating the big moments, while I also adored every flashback we got. Thank you, Emily!

Well this is a love story alright. Feels wrong to call it a romance. I don't always enjoy flipping between different times but it really worked here and at the end of the novel all the pieces came together so well. So many awkward and wrenching moments, you definitely grow to feel for these characters. I've been in a lovely afterglow all day after finishing this.

This book was fantastic! I started it and couldn’t stop reading. There was so much tension and feels I was hooked. The pacing was fantastic as well as the characters. I loved that we got to see just snippets of their relationship just over these yearly vacations. The flip between past and present was perfectly executed.the book was full of heart and made my laugh.

People We Meet on Vacation is funny and heartwarming, a great example of the friends to lovers trope! We get to follow Alex and Poppy from their college days riding home together in a station wagon, through years of their shared vacations and on their journey of discovering how they feel about each other.

Emily Henry tends to write a story that feels both light-hearted but also deeply emotional. People We Meet On Vacation is exactly that. Poppy and Alex are really wonderful characters, and you are rooting for them the entire time. It's fraught with fun, drama, heartache, and I just loved this story!

I adored this book. Imagine reading an emotionally complex contemporary romance that doubles as a love letter to "When Harry Met Sally." Imagine that book also happens to be masterfully plotted. Emily Henry simultaneously tied in flashbacks from a decade of vacations past with increasing tension on a vacation in the present day. The entire novel I was screaming at my screen "WHAT HAPPENED IN CROATIA?"

Friends to lovers is one of my all-time favorite tropes, and this novel is a fantastic addition to the canon. Emily Henry was on my radar after "Beach Read," but this new novel knocks that one out of the park. I cannot recommend it enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. It was well read.

I loved everything about this book! Not only did it fill the void I’ve experienced from not being able to travel due to Covid but I also loved the characters! I loved the way the author told the story and I can’t wait to recommend this title to friends and family!

People We Meet on Vacation is a funny, sexy, zesty romance! Beautifully written and made me laugh out loud. Brava!

Emily Henry's story of Poppy and Alex is so warmly familiar, but so genuisly original. I fell immediately into their storyline and rooted for their romance more than any others. The writing is well done, the story is sweet. Absolutely loved this book, and now I'm going to read any Henry I can get my hands on.

I really really enjoyed this book and it had me smiling and laughing throughout. It was exactly what I needed after a few heavier reads. It’s a friends-to-lovers romance (which is a trope I love) that has just enough emotional heft to make me invested in the characters, but also the lightness and joy of a romance.

Our characters are Poppy and Alex. They meet by chance in college, become best friends, but drift to different parts of the country after college. The exception being one summer trip they take with each other every year. They are seemingly mismatched as best friends, one is spontaneous and messy and the other stoic and straight-laced, but they just kind of get each other the way best friends do and bring out something in each other that no one else does.

We learn through Poppy’s POV about their friendship in dual timelines. In the present we learn Poppy and Alex have not really spoken in two years after a trip to Croatia where something happened. In intervening chapters then, get a glimpse of the beginning of their friends and each subsequent summer trip up until they stopped talking.

I love stories with dual timelines where the reader is in the present, but slowly unravels the past simultaneously. I will say in this particular story, I enjoyed the present timeline much more than the past timeline. I think there was just a lot of tension built into the present and it was that tension that really sold this story for me. In the present there are the possible romantic feelings brewing between Poppy and Alex, but there’s also the tension inherent in a friendship that you’re trying to rebuild after a falling out and maneuvering the pitfalls of not saying the wrong thing that could make it worse. That same tension just wasn’t there as much for me in the past timeline, but I did enjoy seeing their friendship grow.

I just really enjoyed the stakes in the story; it felt relatable. The thing that drives me crazy in romance is when simply saying one thing would avoid all conflict, but in this case not saying something is a choice. Poppy knows she could say something, but the friendship means so much to her that chooses to ignore those feelings just to have the friendship remain intact. There is, of course, still miscommunication, but it felt like a real choice someone may make to choose not being honest about feelings in order to not lose your best friend.

Emily Henry is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I was worried that this one wouldn't live up to Beach Read, but my fears were unfounded. Great characters, and a terrific storyline.