Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Though I am notably easy to please when it comes to romance, Emily Henry has blown me away with this one. I am the first to note that friends-to-lovers is really hard, but I really think she nailed it with this one. I was highlighting sentence after sentence, thinking about how the big picture of this book was resonating with me so much. Beach Read -- one of my favorite books of last year -- felt like a ray of sunshine in the worst summer of my life, and People We Meet on Vacation is just a breath of fresh air, a warm hug, a rainstorm in a drought. I cried through most of it, and can't wait for everyone to read it.

We've got Poppy (great name) and Alex, unlikely best friends who met in college as anything but. They're opposites on the outside, but deep down they've got the same fears, hopes, loves, as many people who are drawn to each other do. And so we get the present day duo -- separated for two years after a mysterious incident on one of their yearly Summer Trips -- going on a trip as Poppy attempts to salvage their friendship. Told in dual timelines from their first vacation backward to the disastrous one interspersed with the present day, Henry gives us a great picture of the two and how they have grown around each other for a decade. I loved the layout and plotting of this and felt like yes, I was waiting for the big reveal, but I also didn't want it to end.

The biggest thing for me was this book made me so emotional. It made me think about traveling and meeting strangers and all the things we have lost in the last year that we most certainly took for granted before. It made me think about loss and fear and love and home and what all of those mean to me. It made me yearn for close friendship and contact and even small disasters as long as I was going through them with someone I loved. It was so tender, from start to finish, and I just can't wait to read it again.

5 stars for me. I'll read anything Emily Henry writes forever.

I knew after reading Beach Read that I would, henceforth, have to read everything Emily Henry comes out with. She has now become one of my favorite and most anticipated authors to read.

Poppy has hit a wall. She has completed all her life goals and yet feels unfulfilled. Out with her best friend, Rachel, she pinpoints back to when she was last happy.... on a vacation with her best friend Alex Nilsen. But it's been two years since they've talked. In a last ditch effort, she convinces Alex to go on a vacation like in the beginning - on a shoestring budget.

The harder Poppy works to recreate the magic the harder things seem to work against them.

People We Meet on Vacation has everything I look for in a book. It contains moments of levity and humor. The way in which she captures the most common of relationship complexities is beautiful. I felt ensnared from the first page as it dances between present time and vacations of the past 12 years. The beauty of watching their relationship dance across time is enthralling.

You should definitely one-click this book - you won't be disappointed.

When Harry Met Sally but with more traveling. Thank you @berkleyromance for this gifted eARC!!!

Picture this: Long drives with the windows rolled down. Running across the airport to catch a flight. Strolling down the streets of a new town. Long nights spent laughing with your best friend. Laying tangled in bed with the person that makes your heart skip.

I laughed, I cried, I felt all the warm fuzzy feelings! Basically, what I’m trying to say is I completely fell in love with this book! I adored Alex and Poppy and their witty banter! I loved the grumpy/ sunshine dynamic they had going on. Their chemistry was *chefs kiss* !!

Read if you’ve been itching to travel again. If you like opposites attract, friends to lovers, books that span years, and books told in “then” & “now.”

I absolutely LOVE Emily Henry's writing style. Her ability to really create a story and fully develop characters is phenomenal (even minor characters). I fell in love with Beach Read so I had to get my hands on People We Meet on Vacation!

Poppy & Alex have been best friends over the last 10 years and keep in touch daily while Poppy lives in NYC and Alex lives in their hometown of Ohio. Every summer they travel to some fun and exotic location essentially for free since Poppy works at a travel magazine called R + R. The story is told in different stages, each chapter is either dedicated to the 'current summer vacation' or one of the past 10 year summer vacations. Throughout the entire book you're told about a vacation that was 2 years ago where everything changed and their friendship essentially halted. The entire book you're anxiously awaiting to see what happened! But come to find out it was almost a let down. I found it to be frustrating that two individuals who are obviously in love and in their thirties couldn't communicate this to each other. I honestly just wanted to shake both Poppy & Alex. I loved Poppy's character, she's smart, witty, and sassy. But I wanted them to truly be together and honest with each other. If you're looking for a quick summer romance read this is your book, but it isn't my favorite of this year! I think I preferred Beach Read to this one!

Thank you to NetGalley & Berkley publishing group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 5/11/21

I’m on the fence on how to to rate this, so I’ll just keep it in the middle for now and maybe up it later.

Emily is a fantastic writer and I just loved Poppy and the opposites attract she had with Alex.

But a book having a “secret” to why they haven’t talked for two years after ten years of friendship for basically the whole book paired with the time jumps just made me super anxious the whole time?

The travel aspects of this were fantastic and I loved how we got to travel with Poppy and Alex around all these cool places. It balanced out the heavier topics of loss, bullying, and unhappiness Poppy/Alex faced along with their fantastic banter.

The first book I read by Emily Henry was Beach Read and it was amazing! I love her ability to create such real characters with depth and relatable internal struggles. Then I read A Million Junes. It was not for me and didn’t even finish the book! Because of this, I was super on the fence about this book, however, it was definitely more like Beach Reads in that the characters were very real and the lessons about love, friendship and owning your own happiness are so relevant in this day and age! Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed Beach Reads!

Hands down the best book I've read all year! I know we're only 3 months in, but dang this was good! I really liked Beach Read so I was excited for People We Meet on Vacation! Let me just tell you, it was so much better than I expected! I couldn't put it down. I loved the Alex and Poppy, I loved their adventures, and I absolutely loved all of the side characters they met along the way. This was such a fun book and it is definitely the ultimate summer read. I will be singing about this book for months and months to come. Thank you Netgalley for sending this book in exchange for an honest review.

An achingly real treatise on the power of friendship and love told in a warm non-linear way and highlighting the foibles and triumphs of two people who are destined to recognize that they've found their soulmate. Henry reigns at friends to lovers and Poppy and Alex's travels -- highlighted through years of annual trips---showcase the small ways these two imperfectly brilliant and humorous people are unintentionally navigating toward their own happily ever after. But that trail is rarely smooth and --here-- finds them reconnecting at a wedding after time and silence has sliced them apart. There's a reason that Henry's accessible writing, soulful takes on the fallacies of the human condition and beautifully vulnerable characters keep her high in bookish visibility. This is, I think, an even more daring offering than Beach Read because she allows her sure voice to be riddled by uncertainty and her all-too-real heroine to be caught in her own inadequacies. A lovely read. And a lovely tome on friendship and adventure --- all too needed in a world of isolation and sheltering in place.


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I already know this will be a favorite for 2021 for me. When a book has me laughing out loud, crying the next, & swooning until my heart soars, how can it not be? My emotions are all over the place since I just finished reading this. Know that you need this book the day it publishes. Pre-order it ASAP.

A friends to lovers romance that literally takes you on a journey over the span of a decade, tells the story of what it means to find home & happiness among the people you love. It’s beautifully written, by the talented Emily Henry that has such a talented way of story-telling. Her words run over the page like smooth honey, lingering just long enough to burrow deep inside. She has such a brilliant way of weaving a romance that tugs & bends, in ways that shouldn’t work, but completely do. This one right here is perfection.

This is the second adult romance book I've read by Emily Henry & goodness she does not disappoint.
An amazing friends to lovers trope with so much backstory that you'll be screaming just get together already! several times in this book.
I throughly loved reading about their relationship & friendship and how it came to be.
Needless to say I want more of Emily Henry's romance...I need more.

Thank you @berkleypub @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the eARC!

Alex and Poppy meet their freshman year at university and quickly become best friends, despite their opposite personalities. Every year, they get together for a Summer vacation, but something happened in Croatia two years ago and they’ve hardly spoken since. When Poppy extends an olive branch in the form of “a trip like old times,” she hopes rekindling their friendship will cure the unrest & “millennial ennui” she’s experiencing. She wants her best friend back.

This book sparkled and warmed me from the inside out like bottomless mimosas at Sunday brunch. (Ah, remember when?) The goodness just kept coming. Alex and Poppy were an absolute delight, their friendship full of inside jokes and witty banter and tender moments that made me want to burst and shout, JUST KISS ALREADY. They were both adorable and frustrating in their own way, and I loved them.

People We Meet on Vacation tickled my wanderlust whispered “soon...soon.” It was a beautiful reminder that it’s not always about the destination, but who you decide to experience those moments and create those memories with.

While it didn’t resonate *quite* as strongly as Beach Read, this beautifully written, tension-filled, slow burn, friends to lovers romcom was still a home run for me.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First off, Beach Read was easily one of my favorite books of 2020. When I heard Emily Henry's next book was just months away, my excitement was off the charts.

People We Meet on Vacation introduces us to Poppy and Alex, two very unlikely best friends, but the perfect example of opposites attract. The story bounces between the present and the back story of how they met, and what led up to that fateful day two years in the past when they stopped talking.

I didn't think anything could top Beach Read, but this did. Emily has a way of writing that just sucks you in. One minute she makes you laugh out loud and the next she has you tears, right alongside the characters. I felt so many emotions reading this. It literally gave me all the feels.

If you loved Beach Read, you will love People We Meet on Vacation.

This book is such a perfect summer read. Emily Henry does a great job of keeping you interested in the story between Poppy and Alex and their vacation relationship.

A must-read for your summer afternoons outside or at the pool!

This was a really cute story. As with previous books, Emily Henry's characters are very real and human. They are lovely an easy to identify with. The chemistry between them and the building tension were very well written. I particularly liked the way the chapters alternated between the present and the past.

4.5 Stars!

People We Meet On Vacation is a smartly written, feel-good, friends-to-lovers romance that will knock you off your feet and leave your heart full of joy. This is my first book by this author and most certainly will not be my last…

People We Meet On Vacation follows the story of Poppy and Alex. Poppy and Alex are complete opposites in every way. She’s the wild child and he loves the status quo. She wants to explore all that life has to give and he’d be happy staying out home with a good book. But, ever since their fateful meeting in college, these two have become the best of friends. Despite being miles apart, they spend every summer vacation together….that is until one fateful summer two years ago. Now everything has changed and Poppy and Alex no longer speak to one another. Poppy hasn’t been the same since and will do anything to make things right…..

I absolutely adored People We Meet On Vacation. It was a unique and refreshing read that left me utterly captivated. The characters are real and easy to connect with. I felt like I was right alongside them as they went on their journey. I loved the way the author told the story in both past and present tenses. We got to experience Poppy and Alex’s vacations and see their friendship grow and change over the years.

Poppy is a force to be reckoned with. She’s bold, a total risk-taker, and lives for her next big adventure. Alex is more chill and set in his ways. These two shouldn’t work, but somehow they did. Their banter was intoxicating and had me yearning for each moment they shared. The romance between them was a long and I mean long time coming and was the ultimate slow burn. It should come as no surprise that I loved every second of it.

People We Meet On Vacation was an extraordinary read. I felt right at home with these characters and enjoyed every minute of their journey. This story was sweet, swoon-worthy, and had just the right amount of drama. This is the kind of story that leaves your heart full and a big smile on your face. It’s one that you just never want to end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can not wait to check out more books from this author. She has definitely made a fan out of me!

I absolutely loved this book. Romantic comedy books tend to really run the gamut in terms of how much intelligence they’re written with, and I’m happy to say that this one is smart AND funny, while being very touching.

Poppy and Alex have been the best of friends since college, and have established an annual summer vacation where they get to reconnect, reestablish their friendship, and make new memories. As they grow older, complications arise in the forms of boyfriends and girlfriends, career choices, and their feelings for each other. Poppy makes a last ditch effort to save her relationship with Alex by planning a week long vacation, so she can finally figure out what she wants him to be in her life.

Told in flashback format, this “When Harry Met Sally” romp is delightful, witty, and one of the very few rom coms where you’re truly not sure how it’s going to end. Emily Henry takes what could be a very cliche story and situation and makes it fresh and inventive. Plus you get to travel the world within the book, and who wouldn’t love that after a year of being home bound? I highly recommend this book!

Told in flashback format

A huge thank-you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this e-arc of People We Meet On Vacation

"...I should enjoy this moment. I'm on vacation. Vacations always end."

This was the most precious, slow burn, friends-to-lovers story I didn't know I needed until I read it. I couldn't put it down and read over 80% of it in one sitting! I haven't done that with a book since high school! I was walking around like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, with my e-reader in one hand as I moved from room to room. I'm pretty sure my husband thought I was going to hurt myself because I quite literally had my nose in this book all day long. It was that good.

Not that I expected anything less after reading Beach Read last summer. I knew that Emily Henry was a phenomenal author already, but somehow this book left me even more in awe than the last.

People We Meet On Vacation is told from the perspective of Poppy, an extroverted, confident, (dare I say) eccentric millennial woman who loves travel more than anything. She loves the anonymity of it and how she can adopt a new persona on vacation. But she loves it MOST because it means spending time with her very unlikely best friend, Alex. He's reserved, organized, and basically the opposite of Poppy in every way. They compliment each other while simultaneously making no sense. I loved their witty banter and their inside jokes.

I really enjoyed the dual timeline. It was like witnessing their relationship evolve over time - right in front of my eyes. The way it was written had me on the edge of my seat, with a strong desire to know what "happened in Croatia." And for every few chapters in the present, there was a chapter or two a few summers back to balance it out. As I said, I couldn't stop reading once I started!

The author mentioned that she drew elements from When Harry Met Sally and I can definitely see that and appreciate it, but I also love that it was a unique story on its own. In these uncertain times, it was a really beautiful escape. It gave me wanderlust, sparked a strong desire for romance, and - in the last 15% of the book - I found myself so inspired by what Poppy had learned.

People We Meet On Vacation provided a much-needed escape and it will definitely be a novel I pick up again and again.

This is a perfect beach read, it’s fun, light, and happy but, it’s no Beach Read. Alex and Poppy are caricatured leads who are a bit frustrating in their typical restrained and flighty roles and going on vacation after vacation after vacation with them was lengthy, occasionally dull, and without much payout. They were so obviously meant to be together, it was honestly a bit boring and annoying to watch them realize it over TWELVE years. I get you got to grow into people that can be together, but sheesh. Probably my biggest gripe though is the scarcity of the people they meet on vacation (hello, it’s in the title). There are only about 4 people they meet that I can remember and the interactions are so limited and yet that becomes a crux for transition at the end of the book. The foundation wasn’t there for me. Ultimately, I’d still say pack it for a beach trip, but if you haven’t reach Beach Read, bring that instead.

Oh wow! I loved this book even more than I thought I would.

This was a lovely and very well done friends-to-lovers romance. Just like Beach Read, which I also adored, this was a slow burn love story with a perfect pay-off. I loved both characters, and their opposites attract relationship.

Henry has a knack for creating characters that feel so real and that drive themselves into your heart.
Alex and Poppy's flaws, their humorous banter, their vulnerabilities, and their love for each other made me root for them from the first to the last page.

I loved the setting - they met as freshmen in college and then every year, they take a summer trip no matter what else is going on in their lives. As someone who enjoys traveling a lot, and really misses it because of the pandemic, I couldn't imagine a better storyline tying it all together.

To paraphrase the cliche- I laughed the whole way through and then cried (happy, gushing tears) at the end.

If you're still reading this review- please do yourself a favor and get your hands on this book.

This book is essentially When Harry Met Sally On Vacation. Do I have your attention? Excellent 👍🏻

Poppy and Alex have been best friends for years. They met in college and became fast friends while carpooling home to their small town in Ohio and bonding over things they hate (but honestly, don’t we ALL hate when people call boats “she?” 🤮). Before long, they developed the tradition of vacationing together every single summer - just the two of them. They traveled all over, but after an *unfortunate incident* on their last trip completely changed their friendship, they haven’t spoken in two years. Poppy is desperate to repair the most important friendship in her life, so after two years, she finally reaches out and convinces Alex to join her on a “work trip” to Palm Springs. Can they get back to normal? Can their friendship survive? And can Poppy keep hiding that she’s been in love with Alex for a decade?

I just loved it. This is a brilliantly executed friends-to-lovers romance is heartwarming and funny and entertaining and swoon-worthy and sincere, and I especially loved the impact of all of the connections they make with people throughout their travels. It made me think of all of the wonderful people my husband and I met while traveling in the *before times,* and it made me so nostalgic and even more excited to finally travel again.

You guys. Just read it. Pre-order it. Order a copy for your sister. For your best friend. For your aunt. For your guinea pig. They’ll all love it. I certainly did. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️