Poppy and Alex are an unlikely pair. They met one day in college and thought they would never see each other again until they were thrown together and began to develop a bond that strengthened over the years until their lives were intertwined.

I loved the relationship between Poppy and Alex. They were so different - she was fun-loving, outgoing, and up for anything, while Alex was more reserved, steady, and introverted - but they found common ground, and grew close. I enjoyed watching the slow burn of their relationship over the course of the book and their twelve-year friendship. Their interactions ranged from hilarious to tense to frustrating. Poppy was such a fun narrator; there were some truly hilarious laugh-out-loud moments throughout the book, between her thoughts and the banter between her and Alex.

I love books about friendship, and at its heart, that’s what The People We Meet on Vacation was about. Yes, Poppy and Alex developed feelings for each other and fell in love, but their friendship was the foundation for all of that, and I loved how this story showed over and over again the things people will do for the people they love.

This was such an excellent and surprising love story. Such an enjoyable and quick read. I would highly recommend this for someone looking for a great romance.

Emily Henry is an auto-buy author for me. I fell in love with her writing when I read Beach Read last year. I’m sure you can imagine how excited I was when I was sent an arc of People We Meet On Vacation to read and review.

People We Meet On Vacation has one of the sweetest friends to lovers romances I’ve ever read. Poppy and Alex’s friendship is unlike any I’ve read. They’re both able to be their true selves around each other without the fear of being judged or rejected–which is an incredible feat considering they’re exact opposites. Their love for each other is so incredibly pure and unconditional. Emily Henry couldn’t have written a more beautiful, heartwarming friendship if she tried. Poppy and Alex are everything and more. Their relationship was a breath of fresh air to read about.

This book is about friendship, figuring out what you want in life, facing your fears, and allowing love into your life. Prepare to feel all of the emotions while you read this book. You’ll laugh (a lot) and cry while reading this book. I hope you pick it up and enjoy it as much as I did!

Cute quick read. Good to bring on vacation. I enjoyed the main characters and their story. The ending was predictable but I liked that about it.

Emily Henry can do no wrong. She's so skilled at crafting real characters, ones who seem like friends you meet for coffee to hear all the juicy details of their love lives. These characters feel so wholly lived-in, and I couldn't wait to uncover all the layers of their history together. This is such a satisfying friends-to-lovers romance.

I am SO in love this this book! It was utterly fantastic and I totally understand why everyone adores Emily Henry. She is a force to be reckoned with and will take over the publishing world by storm.

This was a cute story, I loved the back and forth of their friendship and showing how they grew together and also each of their trips leading up to the fateful trip that ruined their friendship. I loved seeing Poppy try hard to fix what was broken and realize how different her life is without Alex in it. Definitely a book I plan on selling to anyone looking for a fun read.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is a beautiful and poignant exploration of friendship, self, and love. There is something about Emily Henry novels that grabs readers and refuses to let them go until they have experienced every possible emotion from the first to last page. In this novel, readers watch Poppy and Alex navigate their lives, friendship, wants/needs, and annual summer trips with all of their ups and downs. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is a novel that stays with you long after you have finished reading the last page.

Another fantastic romance from Emily Henry!

Poppy and Alex have the type of friendship that when you are reading it you are wondering why they aren't together. As the reader, it is quite obvious that they are attracted to each other and LOVE each other with all capitals but why aren't they together? Emily Henry creatively tells their story with their friendship from the day they met at college with chapters alternating between past and present until now. You know they aren't in the best of places but you don't know what happens. As Henry expertly takes you between now and then, it all leads up to the heart wrenching, soul clenching ending that you hoped for. A great romance novel will have amazing characters and genuine emotions between them and Henry does a wonderful job of creating their relationship. You truly believe their feelings and are rooting for this unlikely pair the ENTIRE time. I loved this novel and couldn't put it down. I will recommend to all contemporary romance readers at our library.

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

I wanted to like this book more than I did, I felt like the whole book I just wanted to scream at them to get together already because CLEARLY they belonged together no matter how much they didn’t think they did. The book was slow and I am still unsure what really happened with them. I felt like it was at lot of build up to the trip they took that messed up their friendship and it was just brushed over and it was just a kiss. Wanted to really like this book.

Thank you soooooo much Berkley Publishing for sending me an e-ARC of this book! I genuinely never thought I'd get a reply to my email begging to read and review an early copy because it was unavailable to request on Netgalley 😂

I had really high expectations from this because Emily Henry's first book, Beach Read, is my all time favourite contemporary romance! I'm so glad to say that my expectations were met and that I absolutely adored this book!

People We Meet on Vacation is quite different to Beach Read. This is a friends to lovers romance, which I read much less of than E2L, but I gotta say that Poppy and Alex were just absolute friendship, and eventually relationship goals. Poppy's character was great, the complete opposite to me personality wise, but so well developed! I definitely share a lot of the same personality traits as Alex though, him and Poppy are like East and West, but I guess opposites attract!

The writing style was great, I love when a story is told in multiple timelines or interspersed with flashbacks from the past. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed reading about each of The Summer Trips and living through the amazing memories Poppy and Alex made together. The author was able to fantastically emulate that special relationship you can only have with your best friend - the inside jokes and the pop culture references that only you and your bff will understand - spot on! But throughout their 12 years of friendship, there's these moments of something more, something less platonic, and these are also written so well, which makes this love story so believable and explains why I was so invested in the characters!

I also HAVE to mention a particular reference, I really don't want to spoil the surprise, but if you're a fan of Beach Read make sure to pay attention in chapter 11 👀

Genuinely I could gush about this book for another 10 paragraphs but its 3:37am as I'm typing this review so.... yeah 5 stars I don't even have anything to criticise! Definitely a book, like Beach Read, that I will be rereading <3

If I had to sum up this book in 4 words, they would be this - "it speaks to me!" (you'll get it after you've read the book 😂)

This book! I don't even know where to begin. It was such a good romance. I also loved seeing the roles switched from a nerdy girl to a nerdy guy and the party guy to the party/wild girl. Bestfriends/friends romances are one of my favorites to read as well! Highly recommend.

Emily Henry does it again!

Alex and Poppy are best friends but also complete opposites. Every year they take a vacation together, however, two years ago they had a huge falling out and haven’t talked since.

It’s a classic story of friends to lovers and I LOVED watching the mutual attraction play out. While it took forever for them to recognize their desire for each other, I really enjoyed the light-hearted chemistry.

Alex and Poppy are best friends. Every summer they meet and go on vacation together. Until something happened one summer which causes their friendship to fall out. Two years after, Poppy reaches out to Alex to finally fix everything.

I've learned my lessons when I read Beach Read last time. I ended up disappointed because I pushed myself to read it until the end. I started reading People We Meet on Vacation last year but I ended up putting it down. I'm glad I did. It worked out really good this time. I loved Poppy and Alex and their adventures. I loved their friendship and their chemistry. The flashbacks really helped a lot to get to know their background and how their relationship build-up over the years. I thought the friends-to-lovers trope and slow burn romance in this book are perfect. Overall, this was a fun and beautiful read.

For starters, basically everyone in book club loves to travel and adventure, so being able to travel vicariously through Poppy and Alex’s story was so much fun. We especially enjoyed seeing how in the early years of their travels, Poppy and Alex did things by the edge of their seat and with more spontaneity and it definitely seemed to make for more memories and random encounters with people (hence the title!!). It gave way to discussion on how the planned work trips just did not have that same feel and vibe to them because they were so structured and we much preferred the fun, unplanned ones!

Now as for Poppy and Alex— they were so sweet and cute! I personally adore the friends to lovers trope and these two were way too fun to follow along. While they were complete opposites, we loved how they were still able to create such an amazing friendship and liked seeing how they evolved over time both individually and with one another. One of the minor issues some had with this book was just the ending, specifically with how Alex handled things with Poppy. But hey, maybe it’s just a “guys can kinda suck sometimes” sorta thing?For starters, basically everyone in book club loves to travel and adventure, so being able to travel vicariously through Poppy and Alex’s story was so much fun. We especially enjoyed seeing how in the early years of their travels, Poppy and Alex did things by the edge of their seat and with more spontaneity and it definitely seemed to make for more memories and random encounters with people (hence the title!!). It gave way to discussion on how the planned work trips just did not have that same feel and vibe to them because they were so structured and we much preferred the fun, unplanned ones!

Now as for Poppy and Alex— they were so sweet and cute! I personally adore the friends to lovers trope and these two were way too fun to follow along. While they were complete opposites, we loved how they were still able to create such an amazing friendship and liked seeing how they evolved over time both individually and with one another. One of the minor issues some had with this book was just the ending, specifically with how Alex handled things with Poppy. But hey, maybe it’s just a “guys can kinda suck sometimes” sorta thing?

Emily Henry's books always mix the perfect amount of carefree romance with real life problems and issues. Just like Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation is the perfect summer read without being devoid of substance.

This is it. This is the one. Emily Henry, we have finally clicked. I've always found her novels a little too literary and very good but I have to remind myself to finish them. Not this one. This one was UNGH. My chest felt too small to contain all the emotions.

Cleverly plotted, and I loved that this was such a growing story and a finding your place story as well as the most delicious, delectable romance.

Review based on pre-pub copy: Best read of the 2021 year by far!! I absolutely adored Emily Henry’s Beach Read last year but this raises the bar so much more. From the first pages I was sucked into this story of unlikely friendship and what potentially happened to divide them 2 years ago. Their personalities and personal histories are so flawlessly blended into the narrative that it seems to just organically ooze from the pages, as we learn about these characters. The way the chapters alternate storylines between the present day and all of Poppy and Alex’s past vacations beginning with the day they met and progressing to merge with the present day storyline is such a beautiful way to show readers truly who they are as characters, allow us to become invested in them and their future, and also torture us with end-of-chapter cliffhangers! I can’t say enough about this book. I’ve already read this and still can’t wait for release day so I can go buy my own personal hard copy!

Review posted on Goodreads on April 5, 2021.

I kind of envy my friend who told me to read this before Beach Read or I wouldn’t like it as much. I already read Beach Read, so I didn’t have that luxury, and she wasn’t wrong. Still a quality book and worth the hype, I just can’t help but compare. I will happily read anything Emily Henry writes though.