When Harry Met Sally is one of my all time favorite movies and I think this is a decent homage to that classic film. It's also a great example of opposites attract. An enjoyable read, although something about the ending didn't hit right for me. However, still enjoyable.

I want every who gets this book to head to the beach and make sure they have a few hours of uninterrupted reading because everyone DESERVES to have this book in their lives. 

Alex and Poppy are the most unlikely pair but in the same breath - they complete each other in so many ways.  Their friendship begins with a car ride home back from college and turns into a lifelong friendship that neither can do without. 

This is my first book by Emily Henry and I am in love with her writing.  These characters are now friends of mine.  I want to run into Alex and Poppy on vacation and have drinks with them. I loved how they could be themselves with each other, something that we often find isn't happening in our lives.  We are different people in different situations but these two were genuine with each other and it was refreshing.  Their journey from their early friendship and summer vacations to the present day where they haven't spoken for 2 years since an "incident" on their last vacation.  This summer vacation needs to heal their friendship and their escapades are laugh-out-loud fun to read. 

This book will be on my top reads of 2021 - no doubt.  Grab this book and your beach chair and enjoy the trek!

It didn't even take a chapter to know that this book is special. I assumed going in it would be, because Emily Henry stole a piece of my heart with Beach Read. But with People We Meet on Vacation, she's got a big ole chunk of my heart and I don't even want it back. Poppy and Alex can keep it.

Poppy and Alex have been best friends since their first year of college. Opposite's must attract because they couldn't be more different. Poppy is loose, and silly, and unapologetically herself, whereas Alex is buttoned-up, organized, and holds himself on a very short leash. The summer after their freshman year of college, a tradition starts: The Summer Trip. No matter the money they have (or don't have), Poppy and Alex vow to go on a trip with each other. Even if they lose touch during the year, Poppy and Alex always come back together for the trip and it's like nothing has changed despite the years that keep coming.

The story is told in Poppy's POV and it alternates between present-day and flashbacks of each Summer Trip Alex and Poppy take. Each flashback brings us closer to the present day, building their friendship at an almost maddeningly slow pace. We see the cracks start to form with each trip until we realize why this current Summer Trip is so crucial. Poppy just isn't the same with Alex and vice versa.

The banter in this book is some of the best. You'll snicker, giggle, and downright guffaw while you're reading. Their humor is quick and built from hours and years of friendship. Emily Henry is so talented when it comes to creating believable characters with history and charisma. Poppy and Alex have full lives outside of the pages of this book and it makes them incredibly dynamic. And don't even get me started about the steam. This book isn't loaded with sex scenes, but they are incredibly effective. The one-bed trope has never looked so good.

I can't say enough good things about this book. This is one you'll see me recommending over and over. I can't get enough of Emily Henry. I will read anything she writes and I already can't wait to revisit this one again.

I LOVED this.

Emily Henry is just perfection. This was totally different from BEACH READ, despite carrying over Henry's writing style and voice. The structure of this was so much fun for a romance novel--it reminded me a lot of Colleen Hoover and Christina Lauren's books in terms of organization and dual timelines. It was so sweet. The overarching theme here is what truly makes a "home". Is it a place? A person? How can home be attached to someone who may not choose you back? Golden.

I will always choose enemies-to-lovers over friends-to-lovers...but this one may change my mind. Character development and scene positioning were the stars of this show. ADORED.

5/5

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

*Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

My favorite romance of the year thus far. Reading this made me remember how I devoured Beach Read in the same way. I sat down and read this in the course of one Sunday afternoon. As a firm enemies to lovers fan, I have to say this friends to lovers got me in my feels.

This romance had all the tropes that I could have wished for: years of pining, sharing a bed, two idiots in love who don't know their in love, witty banter, sexual tension, miscommunication - all of it came together to create a romance I absolutely couldn't put down. I was crying by the end of this one, not just welling up, but literal tears streaming down my face.

The characters felt so real, their problems were realistic and that's why this felt so raw and emotional to me. Not to mention, Emily Henry, is a master of witty dialogue. I laughed out loud at multiple points. It was endlessly charming, funny, emotional, and simply delightful.

CW: Bullying, parental death, fear of abandonment

After reading and adoring Emily Henry's Beach Read last year, this book was immediately added to my most anticipated list of 2021. Cue my excited freak out when I got the email that I was approved for this arc (Thank you Netgalley, Berkley, and Emily Henry for an advanced copy!) Let's just say that I have a new favorite romance. People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex from their time as best friends who take a trip together every year, until something happens on their trip to Croatia. Flash to the present where Alex and Poppy haven't spoken in two years, and Poppy decides on a whim to convince Alex to spend a few days with her in Palm Springs before his brother's wedding. I loved the dual timeline aspect of this book, switching between each of their past vacations back to the present. I felt as if I was on each trip with them, it made me even more eager to get out and travel when it's safe! Alex and Poppy were two excellently crafted characters. Alex as an introverted, book loving guy made me swoon, and Poppy was hilarious and ambitious. I appreciated that Poppy's main focus was on repairing their friendship because she knew her life was better with Alex in it, no matter how. The only thing I was frustrated with was the lack of communication between Alex and Poppy at some points. I know that a lot of it was intentional, and I was frustrated with it because I cared for the characters. Overall, this was excellent. If you're looking for a romance with adventure and depth, I highly suggest picking this up.

EMILY HENRY. Had to all caps it because she's amazing! I love how her books are romantic and fun, but also so very painfully honest about how people really act and feel. It feels much more true than your average romance. This one is a second chance romance, which I love, and I adored it. So worth the time to read!

A perfect blend of best friends to lovers and opposites attract.

I didn’t read Beach Read, so I went into this book blind. I knew nothing about this author or what to expect. And I am coming away from this book utterly in love with Alex and Poppy.

Some people just make sense on paper. This I know well. Alex and Poppy are not those people. They're the people you meet in real life and think, "What the hell do those two have in common?" And most of the time, on the surface, the answer is nothing.

But dig deep and you find that they share a lot. A lot of love, a lot of laughs, a lot of happiness. They never truly let anyone else see them naked, not in the physical sense, but on an emotional level. They drop their guard, they show their worst, they expose themselves - to each other.

Poppy and Alex have the kind of love I think everyone hopes to find. A deep, all-consuming love, rooted in friendship and understanding.

Are there familiar tropes in this book? Absolutely. But they are used well and our characters are so endearing that it doesn't feel like a rehash of something I've already read. Like Alex and Poppy, it just works.

People We Meet on Vacation is one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and though it didn’t pull me in at first, it definitely did not disappoint.

Emily Henry has a way of writing that is both hilarious and emotionally charged. I feel the characters she creates in my heart and soul.

I loved how she wrote the book - alternating between present day and all of Alex and Poppy’s previous summer trips. It added layer upon layer to them as characters and to the relationship as a whole.

The last few chapters, when both characters are given the chance to open up about their feelings, are beautifully heart-wrenching and raw.

I am dying to dive into Emily Henry’s backlist now!

I have been in desperate need of this exact combination of opposites attract and Emily Henry has served us!!!


Poppy and Alex have an unlikely friendship. Poppy is free spirited, quirky and outgoing. Alex is quiet and prefers to stay indoors with a book.

They meet during orientation week in college and become friends after an awkward car ride home.

After college they mostly live far apart however every summer they take a trip together and go on exciting adventures.

Until one summer, everything falls apart.

Now, after two years of not talking, Poppy is determined to fix things with Alex. She manages to persuade him to go on one last vacation where she has one week to convince Alex to give their friendship another go.



Beach Read was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2020. So i went into this one with my fingers crossed, peaking through one eye, just in case it didnt live up to Beach Read.

I cannot put into words how ECSTATIC i was to find that it surpassed my hopes.


Its scary how perfect this book was (for me). I feel like the author stole my dreams (like the giant in the bfg hehehheheh) of the 💕perfect romance book💕 and picked every single trope that i loved and mashed it into one book.


Here are the tropes this book included: best friends to lovers (the superior trope). Grumpy/sunshine. witty banter. there's only one bed. opposites attract. slow burn. lots of yearning and pining. TENSION FOR DAYS.


The writing was like a bowl of chocolate mousse. Smooth, lovely and addictive.

After the first spoonful (or in this case: page) i could not put it down!


We follow their friendship from the day they met with chapters alternating between past and present.

At the time i read this (January 2021) i had been in lockdown for almost 10 months.
And when i tell you i was living vicariously through Alex and Poppy 😉🚣‍♀️. I felt like i was there with them visiting these beautiful places. ((Lowkey jealous of them tbh 💅🏽 ))


Poppy was so cute and i loved her so much. I found some parts of her so relatable and i just wanted her to be happy.

Alex was.... *whispers*.... everythingggggggg.
My sweet cinnamon roll introvert. *weeps* i want him 😭.

Y'all can thirst all you want over your smirking badboys. Just leave Alex with me mmkay?


I really enjoyed the chapters set in the Past. We get to see Poppy and Alexs' friendship grow and it was beautiful to see how much they cared for each other before romantic feelings came into play.

And then the Present chapters were filled with tension and yearning. *dies*


People We Meet on Vacation made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me 🥰'aawwwwwwww'🥰 - just,, ALL THE FEELS

In conclusion, this book was *chefs kiss* from beginning to end and i wish i had a physical copy so i can highlight all my favourite parts and stain the pages with my tears of happiness.

Everything Emily Henry writes is pure gold. I can’t wait to buy this when it comes out here shortly. I devoured this story.

Is it weird to say that this book is brilliant while acknowledging that it didn’t do a lot for me, emotionally speaking? Like I admire a great deal in the execution, but I also didn’t... love it. I have no idea how to explain myself. I think Emily Henry is a good writer and this is just one of those inexplicable reader-writer mismatches.

The friends-to-lovers tension is EXCRUCIATING. It’s one of those books where the couple is in love the entire time (not just the present timeline, but for the past ten years) but believe it’s unrequited while dating other people. Cue that gleeful Marie Kondo “I love mess” gif. The romance hit its peak during the NYC sickbed scene, imo. Major kudos to Emily Henry for torturing this couple with broken thermometers and back ailments in the admirable mission to enable Only One Bed.

Not a big fan of flashbacks structure (this is a me thing) and I glazed over the travel descriptions (which is... a lot of the book). 😬 The last third fizzled out and never reclaimed the rush of the balcony scene. I definitely don’t regret reading this (it was entertaining enough) but it’s not going to stick with me. I do think everyone else will love it, so check it out!

Emily Henry may be my new favorite romance writer. I loved Beach Read and am so glad her newest met my expectations. This book, like Beach Read ,gives me everything I want in romance, witty dialogue, funny banter, nothing overly dramatic, and feelings that make my heart grow in size as
I flip the pages. . Her stories give me the same satisfaction I get after watching the perfectly sweet rom com. In fact, maybe they should start making these into movies.

I continue to just LOVE Emily Henry's writing style. It is funny, moving, and engrossing, and I think I'd be hard pressed not to like any book of hers pretty well. This book really moved me with its exploration of "millenial ennui"... aka the tough time people of my generation have had reconciling narratives around what adulthood is like vs. the realities of the world we have found ourselves in. While I really loved our main characters Poppy & Alex, and I really liked them together, their romance was probably the part of this that missed a bit for me. I honestly wish she had leaned fully into the "When Harry Met Sally" inspiration and had the story be fully linear- I think I would have enjoyed the build up to their relationship better with that structure. Still, I continue to be impressed with this author and would definitely recommend!

“I didn’t know regular life could feel like this, like a vacation you don’t have to go home from.”

I LOVED THIS BOOK and I don’t want you to have to wait for this whole review to know it! I read Beach Read in January and absolutely adored it so when I learned NetGalley was a thing I sprinted to request People We Meet on Vacation and literally squealed when I got approved.

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book! It’s the perfect millennial read - it talks tinder bios, Instagram influencers, traveling on a budget, the desire to keep switching careers, therapy, and all the things! And the love story!! I think friends to lovers just became my new favorite trope. As with Beach Read the banter is this book was witty and believable. This book made me laugh out loud and I couldn’t get enough. I easily related to the characters, I rooted for them, I wanted to hug them, I wanted to slap them, and I now consider them my friends.

This is clearly a 5+ star read for me! I already had it preordered and now I *really* can’t wait for the physical copy to come in to add to my library because I’m certain I’ll read it again someday.

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for this copy! Order yours now, it’s out May 11th!

In Emily Henry’s follow up to the popular BEACH READ,Alex and Poppy are an unlikely pair of best friends from the same hometown, but with very different backgrounds and goals. Poppy’s goal has always been to travel the world, and while Alex doesn’t mind their sleepy Ohio town. Poppy has a boisterous, loving family, while Alex lost his mother at a young age. But, their friendship develops over the years, Especially on their annual summer trips. Eventually it’s clear to everyone except Poppy and Alex that there is more than friendship going on.
The text alternates between the present summer and their trips of the past. We know that things fell apart in Croatia, but with all the buildup, I expected the events of Croatia to be more than just that they almost hooked up, but didn’t.
Still, I really enjoyed Poppy and Alex’s relationship, and was thrilled with the happy ending. This is mostly a fun and breezy read. The author admits that the book is an homage to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, so if you are a fan of that movie, you will probably enjoy this book.

Add People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry to your summer reading list! This best friends to lovers story was perfect. I loved the alternating timelines and the way this book and their backstory unfolded. Alex and Poppy were fantastic together. And I’m a sucker for the opposites attract storyline. Now I just need things to open up so I can go on vacation! 💖💖💖

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for the gifted book.

Poppy and Alex are total opposites and best friends. Every summer they go on a vacation together. It was their favorite tradition... until two years ago when everything went wrong. This story begins two years after “the incident” and is told in alternating timelines between present day and all the past years vacations.

Oh my goodness, did I love this book! I *dare* you to read this without smiling!

This book had probably my biggest trope pet peeve - a mysterious event that’s happened in the past, but the reader is in the dark about and yet IT WORKED! I was so drawn into the story that I was more than happy to wait it out and see what went wrong.

The dialogue is witty and it’s the slowest of slow burns. I could relate so much to Poppy - to her feeling the need to escape and travel, to always have new experiences and to meet new people. That’s how I spent a good deal of my own 20s and I enjoyed following on her journey of seeking contentment.

I loved it and it’s such a great read for some armchair travel!

3.5/ 5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for the early review copy.

I absolutely adored Beach Read and had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately I was a little let down. I like the characters Alex and Poppy. And reading about their vacations were kind of cool. I liked the idea of the story, just not the full execution. But we had full chapters that were flashbacks to previous vacations. And sometimes there were mini flashbacks in those flashbacks as well as mini flashbacks in the present chapters. It was just a bit too much flashback and I found myself skimming the previous vacation chapters aside from the one I cared about that was alluded to multiple times.

I'm probably just being picky because I'm in a reading slump, BUT I still enjoyed this book and will probably recommend.