I felt like reading this book would allow me to take a break from my usual gloomy and/or literary reads, and You and Me on Vacation provided exactly that kind of, erm, vacation I was looking for.

While the characters seem quite stereotyped to me - you have the hyperactive girl on one side and the calm, reassuring guy on the other - their interaction works really well, with a lot of banter and little moments of sexual tension to be found throughout.

The dialogues are smart - in a very "millennial" way, I'd say - and the scenes, which alternate between the present and the past, presenting revealing episodes taken from the previous trips that Poppy and Alex took together - are kept short and effective, which increases the perceived pleasantness and general cuteness of this novel.

As one can image, the vacation settings add a lot of charm, especially during these trying time where most of us are forced at home. It's been pleasant to daydream about faraway places once again.

I give 4 stars - and not 5 - because I feel this book doesn't transcend its genre's limitations. Everything you will find in it belong to the romance genre, and that special something that can make a book universal and appealing in itself, outside of every possible categorisation, is not there.

But, if you fancy an "inside the box", feel-good, light and fun romance, I'm assuming you won't find a lot better than this.

Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the published for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was offered an advance copy by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, please, keep this book in your future TBRs and get yourself a copy come July 2021! Fairly sure Emily Henry has produced another perfect read for your future summer!
Poppy and Alex met over a decade ago at college, and after that first summer, they are best friends. Every summer, they go on their Summer Trips, and despite some what-ifs, they stay just friends. They date other people, and after one fateful event in Croatia, they don't see each other for two years. This summer is their one last chance to fix everything.
Through flashbacks to every summer they've spent together, we see Poppy and Alex go from university students to established adults, as they visit the world together. But You and Me on Vacation isn't only about their relationship, it's also the metaphorical journey Poppy takes to find out what's next for her in life after she appears to have gotten everything she ever wanted from her professional life.
With the back and forth between the past and present, Emily Henry kept me on my toes, always wanting to keep reading do I could know what's next. After a slightly slow start, I was hooked and had to set myself timers so I would be reminded of the things I actually had to do and force myself to stop reading for a while. And it made my very anxious self want to travel and discover new places. Maybe once the world is better I'll channel my inner Poppy and go discover a new place!
Both a lesson on taking chances and on finding your next self, You and Me on Vacation will charm both romance lovers and those who like their books to take them away.

5 "You're Home to Me" Stars!

"I don't know how to love someone as much as I love you."

I am sitting here in awe. It's official; from now on, when someone asks me for a friends-to-lovers romance recommendation, THIS will be the book I recommend.

What I adored:
* The dialogue - I can't remember the last time I laughed so much during a book. Talk about witty banter. Definite When Harry Met Sally vibes with the snappy and sometimes snarky humor. Poppy is witty and spunky and doesn't really embarrass easily. Alex is quiet and reserved and Poppy just lives to embarrass him.

* Their chemistry - Usually I am not a huge fan of friends-to-lovers because I have trouble "buying" it. That was not the case here at all. Alex and Poppy have such a solid friendship and I got all the reasons that made them hesitate to risk it.

*The travel!!! - Ok, let's face it, none of us have been anywhere in the last year...amIright? We didn't even make it to the coast last year. So I sooooo loved being able to travel along with Poppy and Alex on all of their trips. THIS is what to write as an outcome to quarantine. I see authors asking all the time, Should I write a quarantine read? NO! I personally do not want to read another thing about the Q-word. Give us what we've been missing and THIS is it!

*The romance - All the heart eyes here. Just so genuine and amazingly written. And yes, there is some definite steam that burned up my Kindle.

This book is hilarious, it's got depth, it's got richly developed characters, it has ALLLLL the feels. I could not get enough!

From the blurb, we know that something went down with these two during their last vacation, 2 years ago. Something big. The book is told in alternating timelines - one that's in the past that goes through each of their vacations from the beginning, and then a timeline in the present. That quality made this a book that you just CANNOT walk away from.

For someone who *whispers* has become somewhat complacent with some of the newer releases within the romance genre as of late, this book (as well as Beach Read) is a breath of fresh air!

Emily Henry is an author to take notice of, and I predict that this book will be as successful or more successful than Beach Read was, and it deserves every bit of it.

I'm going to go ahead and say it, even though I know it's only February, but I predict this book will be one of the top, if not the top romance read for me all year! I know it will be on my 2021 Top Reads list!

As soon as I finished, I immediately flipped back to the first page and started again. It was that good! I miss Poppy and Alex now and I want more.

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What a great read. A true romance but one that kept you frustrated by the characters trying to do the right thing and second guessing each other's wishes. In the end it works out, but through a convoluted story. A story of how your childhood shapes you, with loss of a parent, bullying, and a desires to escape and to have a "home". I really got a feel for all the characters, well described.

i received an arc from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review!

i forced myself to go to be last night and not finish this all in one go: i had about 20% left, but it was late for me, and i just couldn't. but it was a real struggle because this book is just so, so delightful. 

beach read was such a surprising book to me, something that felt deeper than i had expected, a romance book that was so acutely tuned into its characters and the questions they had about their lives and their own place within the world. i was interested when i heard about this book an i knew i would read it, but the summary didn't blow me away or anything like that. it looked interesting! i knew i loved beach read! i thought i'd give it a go.

this book is so suffused with emotion and charm. it aches, in that very sharp way that comes with deep affection and almost joy. there's a poignancy to this book from the beginning, something which is excavated every time that the book flashes back to the past holidays that poppy and alex have been on together. something i think that is done so superbly here is the feel of the characters: poppy and alex are sharply-drawn from the beginning, characters that are knowable to the reader even if they aren't always knowable to each other and occasionally themselves. this is written in the first person, something i don't always love, but it's utilised so well here. poppy is our main character and she's a great pov character: smart and extremely funny, finding herself at a point in her life where she feels awful because she's got what she wants and it feels like not enough. 

i think this book explores that well. the idea of what we want, how we get it, what we're willing to sacrifice and what it feels like when you have achieved your goals only to not find the satisfaction to go along with it. both main characters in here are struggling to find ways to be fulfilled and how they imagine that will happen has been so influenced by their individual experiences and it's lovely to see that unravelling and how they get to know that. naturally, the literal and more metaphorical journeys are interspersed here, with a lovely languid pace, that somehow still feels propelling. i wanted to devour this, but it feels like it wraps you up in it too. i loved those journeys. i loved dipping back into these characters shared history and watching them learn each other, watching them fall for each other. 

this is a friends to lovers romance and one that is so well-drawn. i never doubted them for a moment. it FELT romantic and earned, even from the beginning, in the deft use of emotions and language here. it felt like love, and affection, and an instinct towards self-preservation. i loved going on this journey tbh. beautiful, and i'm excited to follow the author.

I wasn't expecting You and Me on Vacation to be so romantic!

I loved this one, I wanted to read it all in one sitting. Poppy is an excellent character, and I love how her personality took this from a standard rom-com to a really well thought out, really well paced read. I could never guess what was going to happen next!

All the characters had a lot of depth, and it made everyone just that much more realistic.

A perfect summer read for sure!

This is my second book of Emily’s that I have read and I LOVED every minute of it. My only complaint is that I am now in a book-coma and missing where Alex and Poppy are off travelling to next.

Without any spoilers, this novel is set between the current summer and past summers from Poppy’s narrative. Poppy and Alex both have their quirks and are loveable characters.

In a time of COVID-19 and not being able to travel very far (ok, out of the front door really) I liked living through this book with Poppy and Alex. It felt like it could be real and this could be any of us millennials.

I really thought this was going to be a light-hearted ‘easy’ read and it was in a sense but it also went so much deeper with the emotions of both characters. I was so invested in them both and my heart broke for them at times.


If you want some escapism with depth, pick this book up!

Thank you to Emily and NetGalley for the ARC.

Let me start by saying this book will stay with me for a LONG time. I was laughing, crying, frustrated, anxious, in love! What a book - thank you Emily Henry and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this before it's release in May. Everyone needs to get this pre-ordered now because this is without a shadow of a doubt a solid 5 star read and I know you are going to adore it as much as I did.

What I loved:

The vacations - I loved finding out where Alex and Poppy had been and what they got up to on each trip. It was such a fun element to the story!

I found it very relatable. After turning 30 last year I started feeling a little lost, like time was getting away from me and I needed to figure everything out, so I really felt for Poppy as she tried to find her happiness

This book just made the 'friends to lovers' trope take 'enemies to lovers' top spot for me! I loved the timeline of the relationship, the slow progression, and I was so curious as we slipped from current day to a past vacation, wondering where it all went wrong.. I was hooked from start to finish!

The writing was incredible - I think it's difficult to pull off a book with two timelines but the Author worked wonders with the storytelling, and there was lots of humour and heart throughout.

Well, look out for this when it comes out in July. Emily Henry has done it again, maybe I was one of the few people who didn't pick up Beach Read, but You and Me on Vacation has certainly encouraged me to do that.

You and Me on Vacation blends the genres of romance and general fiction. I would compare it to One Day by David Nichols.

You and Me on Vacation follows Alex and Poppy over ten years focusing o their annual summer trips the one time a year the two best friends have always allocated to catch up and spend time together. When something rocks the friendship the pair stopped speaking. You and Me on Vacation weaves the past and present as the two friends reconnect. It had me laughing and hooked from page one and I can not recommend it enough.

I received an ARC from NetGalley to review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Emily Henry for the advanced review copy of You and Me on Vacation. After ploughing through Beach Read the week before and then seeing another read by Emily Henry I was keeping everything crossed that it would be just a joyous and fulfilling as the first book...I was not disappointed! I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of friendship and love and would highly recommend to lovers of Beach Read.

I was so excited to read this as Beach Read was one of my favourite reads of last year. Sadly this fell a little flat for me and left me disappointed. Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it but that was it really. It was cute, made me chuckle at times but nothing more really.

So the characters. I disliked Poppy, loved Alex. Poppy annoyed me several times. Without spoiling anything, there was one scene when she was acting so selfishly and poor Alex was almost passing out, feeling unwell - annoyed me to no end. She's a bit too over the top for my liking. I did love Alex though. Quiet, reserved and passionate, he was a breathe of fresh air in romance books usually dominated by dark, brooding, and sometimes, bad guys.

I also loved the friends to lovers aspect but cmooon guys, communicate please! The lack of communication was so frustrating and I just wished they'd stop assuming things (usually the wrong thing!) and actually talk.

I did like the representation of therapy in this book and the fact it included a positive experience of it too. This book is a bit of light hearted fun and escapism, yet it also deals with some serious topics. I especially liked the discussion of seemingly having everything you've ever wanted but also feeling empty and lonely.

This book also gave me some serious wanderlust. Especially mentioning Norway - a place I should be visiting in a weeks time if the world wasn't in its current state. I found the different places a fun part of the story, and I love travelling, so this was probably one of my favourite aspects of this book.

Overall, You and Me On Vacation is a bit of fluff. Fun, light hearted, cute fluff. Nothing more which sadly left me wanting. I definitely seem to be in the minority but I would like to stress that I did enjoy it, but sadly it didn't wow me like Beach Read did.

There is a special kind of emotional energy that one uses to keep a secret, unrequited love from burning them up.
"You and Me on Vacation" is the story of one such secret between two longtime friends. She forces him to lighten up and he teaches her that it's okay to rely on someone once in a while.

But that's not all that happens between Poppy and Alex. They survive university life, settle into adult jobs and travel the world together, all the while learning more and more about why they are so incredibly perfect for each other. So perfect that they would rather ignore that age-old question: is pursuing a romance worth risking the beautiful friendship they have?

In prose that is easy and engaging, Emily Henry paints a lovely picture of a pair of millennials finding the love they need.

As a newcomer to this author, I started this book with an open mind. This is the story of two friends Poppy and Alex in a heartwarming, engrossing Summer read that is funny, original and a real success. The characters will become your friends, complete with their insecurities and problems.

My most anticipated read of the year and it blew me away. Emily Henry's new romance stunning, cute and simply phenomenal.

You and Me on Vacation (published as People We Meet on Vacation in the US) is the perfect getaway romance read for anyone needing a little escape- and aren't we all right now? It's an absolutely gorgeous story of Poppy and Alex, both genuine, unique and unforgettable, but also two people with seemingly nothing in common. But they become friends and as a result of a pact, they go for a weeklong vacation together every year... until two years ago, something happened and they haven't spoken since.

But this summer, they speak again and decide to go on vacation one more time. Will they stay friends, say goodbye forever or become something more?

Honestly, I haven't been this engrossed in a book for a really long time. Henry's new novel is definitely a slow burn, but gosh, it burns so good. There's tension for days, sizzling heat and uncanny wit, all of which make this book an unforgettable experience.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

this book was absolutely beautiful and heartwarming. as a big fan of Emily Henry, i thoroughly enjoyed Beach Read and was very excited to hear she was going to release another book this year. i’m very glad to say that she hasn’t disappointed me and has quite possibly written something even better than her first ground-breaking novel.

Poppy and Alex mean everything to me, and it’s not only because they’re best friends-to-lovers. every moment they spend together, every emotion they were feeling, every conversation they had—it all felt so raw, so genuine, so real. i’m really amazed at how Emily Henry manages to write fully fleshed out characters who feel like they’re real people. not only does she manage to write characters who are easily lovable, these characters seem to have a purpose other than existing in a book that is meant to spark joy. you become so invested in them and their problems and their insecurities, and you just want to help them. that was how i was feeling reading You and Me on Vacation.

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. I enjoyed Emily Henry's first romance novel, Beach Read, but this one was just leaps and bounds better. There are so many things I loved about this: the friends-to-lovers aspect, the yearning, the character development, the tropes (oh no there's only one bed!), the fact that these characters have known each other for so long, the tenderness. It was all beautifully done. Another thing I really love about this book is how much it emphasizes emotional maturity and having real, honest conversations about your life, your motives, etc. That's something that I think really makes Emily Henry's books unique, and it was definitely present in this book. This is an absolute delight of a book, and I want to reread it already. I can't wait for everyone to read this because everyone is going to LOVE it.

Poppy and Alex come from the same small town in Ohio but first meet at college 12 years ago. She's an extrovert who can't wait to travel the world. Alex loves khakis and always drives the speed limit. Although they loathe each other initially, they become friends and develop a routine of having a Summer break together. They grow up, Alex becomes a teacher in their home town whereas Poppy becomes a travel blogger and lands her dream job for an aspirational travel magazine which pays for her to travel the world looking for new and exciting holiday ideas.

Two years ago in Croatia Poppy and Alex had a falling out and have barely spoken since, Poppy has come to realise that without Alex's friendship the rest of her life has no meaning, or perhaps that she has achieved all her dreams and still isn't happy. So she reaches out to Alex to persuade him to go on vacation with her again, trying to recreate the excitement of when they travelled on a shoestring.

Told from Poppy's POV in alternating flashbacks to previous holidays and the present day holiday we see how these two opposites became friends and see whether they can make it something more.

I really enjoyed Beach Read so when the publisher offered me an ARC of Emily Henry's new book I jumped at the chance. I thought I was clever to see that this felt like One Day meets Normal People, and then this morning I thought it had a bit of a When Harry Met Sallyvibe. Then I saw that the book's blurb specifically mentions two of those books so maybe I'm not so clever. The only problem is, I've seen One Day and Normal People and When Harry Met Sally and this didn't bring anything new to the table for me. Two people who hide their feelings because they are afraid of losing a friendship, one last chance to make it right, developing a deep bond when the issue of sex is taken off the table.

I liked it, but I didn't love it (and how many times have I said that line in the past 12 months) and the book contained a pet peeve of mine, where one character goes 'all in' and then issues an ultimatum to the other character - you have thought it through to the nth degree and reached a decision, maybe over weeks or months, and you want the other person to just on the spot get on board or get lost? Gah! Makes my blood boil.

Anyhoo, I think this would have worked better for me if it wasn't hooked on Alex and Poppy's annual holiday, if it had been told in flashbacks from Poppy's visits home for the holidays perhaps?

I still enjoyed Emily Henry's writing, it was just the story itself that didn't work for me this time.

I was invited to read a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry

Poppy and Alex met 12 years ago and after a rocky start became best friends. Every year they go on 'The Summer Trip' together but this year it's different. Flashbacks to the previous 10 summer trips reveal the story of Poppy and Alex as we follow their ups and downs (relationships, families, jobs) throughout their 20s.

This is a fantastic book with fabulous characters and both poignant and hilarious story lines. I loved Poppy and Alex, loved their families and, given the current pandemic, really loved the places they travelled to! Very highly recommended - you're in for a treat!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for an ARC of this book.

Loved this story and felt like I was on the edge of my seat through out with a "will they, won't they" scenario. The main characters are really likeable and you can buy into the story so easily. True beauty!

Gosh I loved it!

Whilst it took me a little while to get into, I absolutely loved this book.

A great beach read that has so many insightful moments too.

Alex and Poppy are both delightful, complex characters and I felt myself getting behind them throughout.

I wasn't sure how it was going to end, but I am glad it ended the way it did!

Highly recommend for a weekend or holiday read, one for readers who love Laura Jane Williams, Dolly Alderton and Sally Rooney.