This story was not necessarily what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. I normally get frustrated with slow-burn romances, but the way this story was told was very satisfying. Showing the story from the main characters' past through flashbacks of their past vacations was a great way to see the progress of their friendship, personal growth, and love lives. Telling the story in this way added nuance and depth to the story. Highly recommended for those who enjoy nuanced romance stories and slow-burn romances.

Well, that does it. Emily Henry is up there with my must-read romance authors. After loving Beach Read, I can safely say it wasn’t just a lucky run or a one-off, as this book is just as charming and endearing as it.

Honestly, I think this one may go down as one of my favorite friends-to-lovers stories. I mean c’mon, can anyone else make friends-to-lovers THIS good?

The best part about this book was that we get to see their friendship grow throughout the years and come to understand just what brings them closer together. It was a refreshing change of pace from most stories like this, where we are typically dropped into the middle of a friendship. Definitely loved this one!

After Beach Read, I couldn’t wait for Emily Henry’s next book. Luckily, People We Meet on Vacation was utterly charming and heart-warming. It also gave me a severe case of wanderlust (so consider yourself warned!)

Poppy and Alex had such a slow-burn romance, it was so interesting to get the flashbacks to all of their different trips and to see how their relationship changed over time. I also loved how Henry showed the importance of communicating and on working on yourself before you can dive into a relationship. Although some portions of the book were a bit too slow for me, I really enjoyed the story overall.

If you’re looking for a great beach read with some depth (or just looking for a good romance), definitely pick this one up!

LOVED this book. This is the perfect beach read for the summer: cute, romantic and light. I also loved the travel component so much too. This was such a good read! Recommending to everyone.

**Thank you Berkley publishing for providing this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“That crush of happiness, that feeling that this is what life’s about: being somewhere beautiful, with someone you love.”

Heartfelt, heartwarming, heart wrenching, this book made me feel so much. I honestly was not expecting it to be this good! But honestly words are not enough to express how much I enjoyed reading this book. This book didn’t need overly sexual content, it was emotionally stimulating enough. Emily Henry created complex characters that anyone at any point in their lives could relate to. At some point in your life I can guarantee that you have felt like one of these characters. This is not a romance but it is a love story, learning how to be in this world on your own, learning to love yourself and where you come from. It’s about that unconditional, undying love between two people who are opposites of each other and yet soulmates in every sense of the word.

“I wish I could bottle this moment and wear it as a perfume.”

“I would rather have one tiny sliver of him forever than have all of him for just a moment and know I’d have to relinquish all of it when we were through.”

Poppy and Alex always fall into relationships with other people when one of them gets scared of their feelings for the other, so they sort of take a step back from each other and their friendship. Their relationships with other people is kind of their buffer, because if they are in committed relationships they cannot pursue their growing feelings for each other. Although, he is her person and she is his. No matter how many relationships they’ve had they will always find their way back to each other.

“I don’t think I knew I was lonely until I met you.”

“I don’t know how to love someone as much as I love you.”

This book has the best friend to lovers trope, the one bed trope, the will they won’t they end up together trope. People we meet on vacation, is a rollercoaster of emotions. I cried the entirety of the second half of this novel. I enjoyed Emily Henry’s Beach read but People we meet on vacation is definitely one of my top 10 favorite reads of all times!!!

“It’s not your job to make me happy...you can’t make anyone happy. I’m happy because you exist…”

This book speaks to me and I’m happy it exists! Which is why I am rating it 5 out of 5 outstanding stars!!!

I received a reviewer copy of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry from the publisher Berkley from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CW: Loss of Parent, References to Maternal Death, Bullying, Grief.

What It’s About: Poppy and Alex met for the first time in college and have been going on summer trips together ever since. However, two years ago their vacation imploded and they haven’t spoken since. Two years later Poppy is in a rut, despite having a dream job for a travel magazine. Poppy realizes Alex has been missing from her life she convinces him to do one trip like old times and stakes are high and the lack of A.C in the summer in Palm Springs is not making it easier. Oh, and the sexual tension too.

What I Loved: I loved this book so much, truly this is perhaps the best friends to lover romance that I have ever read (sorry, with romance reads, tropes get assessed). Henry writes a beautiful love story and truly lets us see how these two characters build a friendship and love for one another, and we as the readers are completely invested. I felt like I was watching my own relationship build. I found it so joyful and compelling. This is perhaps my favorite romance book since Love Lettering, it made me feel the same happiness. Also the way Henry captures the feeling of vacation was a delight given that I haven’t gone away for a year, so it was a perfect escape.

What I Didn't Like So Much: The book ended. Seriously, I could just read and read and live in Alex and Poppy’s relationship. I wanted more, seriously, if I could read there full college years and career years outside of vacations I would. Also can I get a book from Alex’s perspective because I would love to read a book about him?

Who Should Read This: People who love good romance novels. People who love the friends to lovers trope. People who want to escape and go on vacation.

Quick Summary: Two best friends, ten years of traveling, one last shot.

Beach Read set the bar high for me in regards to Emily Henry’s adult romances. But then I saw all the hype all over IG and TikTok and was really worried it wouldn’t live up to the hype.

I was wrong—thank goodness!

This book hits all the right notes for me: flashbacks, slow burn romance, friends to lovers trope, adorable characters that I could relate to, open discussion of mental health awareness and therapy, a male MC that was just amazing *chef’s kiss* for Alex. Loved it all! New favorite romance author right here, people!

Do you believe Harry (from When Harry Met Sally) when he said “women and men can’t be friends.” ?

We are sure that he’s wrong, but one of our favorite tropes is friends to lovers. People We Met on Vacation is the latest beach read from @emilyhenrywrites and it’s addicting.
Poppy has been best-friends with Alex since a car ride home from college a decade ago. Since then, they’ve gone on vacation together every year until 2 years ago. Something happened that has put their vacations on hold. As a matter of fact, they have not spoken at all. Will they recover their friendship with one more trip or will their relationship be irrevocably ruined?
The perfect beach or poolside read, be sure to add it to your summer reading list. Emily Henry has a recipe for romance that works every time.

People We Meet on Vacation is a lovely, beachy read that had adorable characters and a fun romance. It did get a little too long in the tooth towards the end, though, and I found myself often getting annoyed with Poppy for not just telling Alex how she felt and being an adult about their whole situation. Overall, though, I very much enjoyed this story and found myself wanting to book my next vacation immediately.

I absolutely adored everything about this book. Review link below. Thank you for my copy. I can’t wait for her next book.

I am elated to announce that I am joining the masses who LOVED this book.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION is nothing short of the most blissful, summerish-vibe book that everyone should read. It seriously has it all.

Romance ✅
Travel ✅ (To refresh your memory: this is when you leave your house and wear something other than sweatpants)
Adventure ✅
Friendship ✅
Career drama ✅
Crazy families ✅

...and best of all, I adored the humorous banter between the main characters, Poppy & Alex. I think that was my favorite aspect of the story. I don't usually do the LOL thing when reading but this book had me giggling every few pages. The dialogue is witty, funny & authentic and made these two characters came alive on the page.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION is the escape for 2021 that we all are craving. Perfect for beach/pool/couch/bed/floor/lawnchair reading and if your friends are making plans to travel and you are super jealous, just get this book, it's way less $ than hotel & airfare and you are guaranteed a great time! 😎

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and Opinions are my own.

5*

If you’re a fan of When Harry Met Sally and Love, Rosie, you’ll fall hard for this endearing, funny, and, at times, heartbreaking friends-to-lovers romance.

When Poppy and Alex meet their first day at university, they quickly realize that they have nothing in common other than coming from a small town in Ohio and will likely never see each other again. However, fate and her roommate have other plans, and they end up sharing a ride home for the summer. From that initial journey, the idea of making the summer trip an annual occurrence is born. Although they’re complete opposites, they just seem to get each other and feel comfortable sharing their genuine selves. So, it’s devastating when, after a trip to Croatia where something mysterious happened, their friendship abruptly ends. It isn’t until a female friend of Polly’s asks her what would make her happy that she realizes that she needs to take one last chance to revive their relationship. So, under false pretenses, she gets Alex to agree to a trip to Palm Springs, both to spend time alone together and to attend his brother’s wedding. Will they be able get back to where they were or have they both changed too much and lost that comforting, familiar rhythm they once had?

Henry has chosen to tell their story from Poppy’s POV, alternating between the current trip and 10 years worth of summers. Although it gets somewhat confusing to keep the timelines straight (the only criticism of the book), it’s necessary to see how their relationship grew and when their feelings for each other veered into non-platonic thoughts. Over the decade that passes, they become the most important people in each other’s lives despite them each having boyfriends and girlfriends, and, in Alex’s need to make sure that the people he cares about are happy, his sacrifices upset the balance. Henry’s use of dialogue is stellar, giving readers an intimate look at the dynamic between the two and inducing both laughter and messy tears. Highly recommend this as one of the best romances this year!

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Emily Henry strikes again! I absolutely loved Alex and Poppy and thought the author's writing was immaculate, as usual. However, there's one issue that has bugged me throughout the entire book.

I did enjoy the flashbacks to Poppy's and Alex's previous trips at first, but because they were so many, I feel like we didn't really get to spend much time with present-time Poppy and Alex. I wanted to see them work through their issues together and repair their relationship, but instead, I got flashbacks after flashbacks explaining what their relationship was like before everything fell apart.

Somehow, even though everything about Poppy and Alex's relationship was shown, the one thing that I wanted to see (which is them working on their issues and figuring out what they wanted) was told. We gloss over that part and are told that both of them are now in therapy, working through things on their own.

The pacing felt a little off because of that. We spend the entirety of the story dissecting their relationship, but not much actually happens in the present timeline, despite the premise promising a vacation in Palm Springs involving a wedding.

Nevertheless, Emily Henry still managed to make me laugh and cry, and I fell head-over-heels in love with Poppy and Alex. Despite everything, I was still rooting for them to be together and I would still absolutely recommend this book to everyone who enjoyed the author's previous book, Beach Read.

🌻 REVIEW🌻 People We Meet On Vacation

“I wish I could bottle this moment and wear it as a perfume. It would always be with me.”

Alex and Poppy. Poppy and Alex. So much love for these characters! 😍 I can’t express how much I loved this book, even more than Beach Read.

Alex and Poppy are ✨goals✨ and I love the When Harry Met Sally vibes that sometimes the person you are meant to be with is the person who has been by your side all along.

PWMOV is more than a beach read. It is cozy, comforting, and restores your faith in humanity. It’s not your typical romance read. The writing is beautiful, the characters complex, and Emily Henry is beyond talented.

5/5 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

#PWMOV #EmilyHenry #beachread #romance #alexandpoppy #ARC #berkley #berkleypub #bestseller #summerreads #may #bookstagram #bookreviewer #bookreview #netgalley #kindle

I LOVED this book. The characters were well developed and the author drew on real world issues that made the plot infinitely relatable. The alternating past and present timelines worked perfectly for this story. I can’t wait to see what Emily Henry writes next!

Honestly one of my favourite reads of the year! Poppy and Alex were such wonderful characters, whose personal growth was so wholesome to witness. Both humorous and emotional, their story deserves all the praise and accolades.

Wow.

This book really resonates with me. I truly enjoyed getting to know both Poppy and Alex, and I liked each of them. I read this book in one day I was so hooked in their story.

The growth throughout, the realizations that both characters had to come to and confront were important parts of growing up.

I'd definitely recommend this books to everyone, and thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book is full of romance tropes and will give you all the holiday vibes if you're in need for a beach read.

If you can ignore that the main character is a spoiled white person who got to travel all around the world for her job, I guess then you might find some parts that are truly enjoyable.

This sounds so negative but it really was kind of frustrating to read about this white woman, who by the age of 30, had fulfilled all her dreams but still wasn't happy. Of course, there's no formula for depression and I think it's realistic for her to be depressed BUT I think what was missing for me were the nuances that she nevertheless is in a very privileged position. I needed her to reflect on that more.

In general, the cast of characters is super white. There are some queer characters but they honestly don't have any function, they don't get any arcs and there's really not anyone who is actually important to the story but the main character and the love interest.

While I'm aware that this is a romance book, it was still disappointing that there were literally no plot twists at all. Nothing surprising happened and quite frankly, the whole miscommunication thing got tiring after a while.. really.. for 12 years they weren't able to share their thoughts with each other once? It's a bit extreme.

I also didn't enjoy the way beauty standards were portrayed. Why is it always the girls who have to feel insecure about their bodies? Scretch marks and scars are nothing to be ashamed of and girls and other people don't need cis boys telling them they're pretty regardless of them.

I guess their relationship is still cute and if you're into friends to lovers and slow burns, you might still want to give this one a chance!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

I absolutely adored this book. I cannot recommend it enough! I love Poppy and Alex and this story. 10/10 recommend - pick this up ASAP!

Second times a charm! I didn’t love the authors last book but this one was such a delight. I couldn’t help but love both Poppy and Alex. Cute and predictable it was charming as heck. A great summer read.