Gosh, I really loved this one. For whatever reason, it really hit the right notes for me. Poppy and Alex, even as they are trying to reconnect and resurrect their friendship after falling apart, have chemistry that radiates off the page. Their genuine care and connection to each other is so clear, and their obstacles not impossible as neither one wants to force the other to compromise. I loved the flashbacks to their summers of traveling together, really establishing their relationship. Funny, charming, sweet, and sexy, this should definitely earn a place on a lot of summer reading lists, and not just for the descriptions of travels many of us can't take right now.

People We Meet On Vacation is Emily Henry’s newest summer read. Poppy and Alex Metin college and soon thereafter began traveling on summer trips together. The story moves alternately between the present day and back over the years detailing their trips. The reader knows something went down a couple years ago that created a divide. Henry nice.y weaves the storylines until the big reveal. This is a fun summer read that’ll have you thinking about the characters even when you aren’t reading the book. Read and enjoy!

Alex and Poppy are as far apart in personalities as two people could be. Alex is quiet and steadfast. Poppy is loud and unpredictable. Their friendship began at the end of their freshman year of college when Alex gave Poppy a ride back home to their mutual hometown in Ohio. Their friendship involved summer vacations on the cheap to new places each year.

We get to travel with them on their adventures starting 10 summers ago, knowing the whole time that something happened in Croatia two summers ago that almost destroyed their friendship. With that tension in the background, the story bounces back and forth between various summers and this summer - their first time seeing each other since the incident in Croatia.

What we get is a slow burn romance between best friends who prefer to fight their feelings for the sake of their friendship. I loved so much about this book, and since romance is not my preferred genre, that’s saying a lot! And while many of us still can’t travel, living vicariously through Alex and Poppy’s vacations just might be the next best thing.

Thank you so much @Berkley & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 11 May 2021)

SYNOPSIS | Poppy & Alex meet during orientation week at college & become friends after spending an awkward car ride driving back to their hometown. Poppy is free-spirited & has wanderlust, whereas Alex is introverted. Their friendship develops over many years & even though they don't live in the same place anymore they take a summer trip together every year, until one summer everything falls apart. After not talking for two years, Poppy invites Alex on one last summer trip in the hopes of rekindling their friendship.

WHAT I LIKED:
- Poppy & Alex are ridiculously adorable butterbeans & I was INVESTED in their relationship
- I very rarely read a romance spanning several years & it was so precious to witness the progression (& downfall) of their friendship
- this story gave me serious wanderlust (stupid pandemic ruining all my travel plans)
- jam packed full of romance tropes: best friends to lovers, only one bed, opposites attract, mutual pining *heart eyes*
- this was my first book by this author & now I am oh so excited to read Beach Read

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- give me, give me more, give me more!! (seriously I need more)

This is THE book of the summer, a more perfect romantic comedy doesn’t exist. All the travel and exotic destinations you could want, amazing chemistry and perfect banter between Poppy and Alex and emotional depth make this one a must read this summer.

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.