Member Reviews
This story felt like the perfect vacation in this year of no vacations. As with all of Henry’s other books, her characters feel so textured and real that it’s impossible not to love them and feel completely entangled in their lives. And the BANTER 😍 I laughed out loud many times, and the dialogue really made Poppy and Alex come to life for me.
In conclusion (and to the surprise of absolutely no one who has heard me sing Henry’s praises before) I adored this book, and recommend it to absolutely everyone.
This book won’t be out until May 2021 but it’ll be worth the wait! Emily Henry is becoming a romance favorite. This book was sweet and tells the story of two friends who meet freshman year of college and stay best friends for the next decade despite living thousands of miles apart. Of course there is a missed connection for love somewhere in there. The story was told in alternating timelines, which was really well done.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
“𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.”
Overview: Best friends Poppy and Alex have taken a summer trip together every year for the last decade, until a trip two years ago changed everything. Poppy plans one last summer trip to try and save their friendship.
I can already tell this is going to be a book that earns a coveted spot on my book cart. Poppy and Alex’s relationship is the best friends-to-lovers/opposites attract romance I’ve ever read. I loved the evolution of their inside jokes, the banter and meaningful conversations. I especially adored Poppy’s messy, weird, and lovable family. Both Alex and Poppy felt like real people with real problems and real love. They actually had to work through their baggage in believable ways and confront what is keeping them apart.
𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺. 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘎𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯.
A Few Favorite things:
🌴”Too many wine!"
🌴Millenial Ennui
🌴Poppy was quirky, but not in a “not like other girls” way
🌴Great portrayal of therapy
🌴 Flawed but lovable families
🌴 That knee touch under the table!
🌴 Positive portrayal of the midwest
🌴 No demonization of exes or other women
🌴 Saxophones and serial killers
🌴 Subversion of rom-com airport trope
🏝Pre-Order from your favorite indie bookstore! I’m ordering mine from @quailridgebooks
Thanks to @berkleyromance , @emilyhenrywrites , and @netgalley for this ARC!
Emily Henry just keeps nailing it with her contemporary novels! I adored BEACH READ, and was super excited about PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, but also a little nervous because I just wasn’t sure if anything could be as gut-wrenching and swoony as BEACH READ? Nevertheless, PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION is every bit as beautiful.
PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION is told in vignettes of Poppy and Alex’s 12 year friendship. It’s a little WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, but so much better. Poppy and Alex take annual vacations, but something went wrong on a trip, and they haven’t talked for two years. Poppy is determined to make their one last trip special, but can anything help these two reconcile?
Henry masterfully includes so much pitch-perfect millennial angst and hope. I’m here for every page of this book, and I suspect you will be too!
After ten years of vacations together, best friends Poppy and Alex, haven't spoken in two years. Can they find their way back to each other and through the unspoken truths hanging between them.
I loved Henry's first book, so I was so excited when I saw this on NetGalley. It did not disappoint! Poppy and Alex and best friends that reconnect after a couple years apart doing what they do best- vacations! They have such amazing banter (my favorite part of romance books) and you can really feel the tension build between them. It's a bit of a slow burn with chapters alternating between previous vacations and the present, but it is well worth it in the end and helps you really get to know the characters
Opposites attract best friends to lovers with the best banter chemistry of all time. I adored Poppy and Alex, their travels and hang ups, and of course Flannery O’Connor as a pet name. You had me at tiny fighter, Henry. So good that I stayed up stupidly late to finish it.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry has the delightful banter and wit of her first book, Beach Read. The conversations between Poppy and Alex in the flashback chapters of their past vacations show they are completely in sync besides being opposites in every way.
This book has an understanding of millennial ennui that makes it relatable and universal to all age groups.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What are we seeking when we travel? Are we looking to escape, explore, try on different experiences? As we take a break from the day to day, what is it that we hope to find? Outgoing and adventurous Poppy, a travel writer and blogger, and influencer has a wanderlust that has lead her to New York where she works at a magazine, traveling the world and documenting her experiences. And it is what she thought she wanted, but why is she feeling unfulfilled? Well, that thing that happened on vacation two years ago destroyed her relationship with her best friend and summer travel partner, Alex. Ahhh, Alex, Mr. Dependable - Poppy's exact opposite in every way. But Poppy needs to recover what she lost, so she gets the courage to ask him on one more trip.
While there might be a lot of "when millennials grow up" in this story, there's also a devastating truth that we are all seeking something. Fulfillment, love, people like us . . . and we feel lost without those experiences. There's a love story here, but there's also a quest to locate the missing pieces that we need to feel whole. People We Meet on Vacation is an amazingly relatable book - aren't we all looking for the place where we belong?
I will probably recommend this to romance readers, especially those who loved Beach Read, because I'm certain this book will be a huge success and plenty of people will devour it; however, I did not like it. I was very disappointed after loving Beach Read, but this book was honestly just boring. Poppy was over-the-top annoying. There seems to be a trend in writing main female characters in this over-the-top, quirky, loud way and I just find it irritating. Alex was the total opposite and he was really just completely dull with no personality. I also felt like the two main characters had NO chemistry and didn't care for all the flashbacks to their many trips, which were also boring and where half the time they were dating other people. This one just didn't do it for me, but I'm clearly in the minority.
Poppy and Alex meet during orientation week in college and do not have anything in common so when they end up heading home from college together they both are dreading the trip, but there is something there even if they are almost polar opposites. This is the start of their travels together. Every summer for years they have traveled together to places across the globe and each looks forward to it. In fact it is their favorite part of the year, but is 1 trip a year enough? A story of friendship and adventures and growing-up that is an absolute delight to read.
This was a fiercely romantic contemporary read which I utterly enjoyed. The character development was fantastically done and the flashbacks and the pending ‘will they won’t they’ storyline was addictive. I also really enjoyed the underlying meaningful themes and the importance of trying to really figure out what you actually want. Love wins it all.
Oh wow. I really enjoyed Henry's debut adult romance Beach Read, but this blew it out of the water for me. This dual timeline friends to lovers romance between travel writer Poppy and teacher Alex, who have been unexpected best friends since college completely busted my heart open. They are both great, well-developed characters with excellent chemistry. There were laugh out loud funny lines and one of the best and most relatable depictions of millennial ennui I've ever seen in a romance novel. A new favorite.
As with Henry's last book Beach Reach, People We Meet On Vacation is another heartfelt, touching romance novel. Following two friends through the years via their summer vacations, Henry creates a wonderful novel about the lies we tell ourselves and others to protect our hearts. A unique novel that takes the classic friends to lovers story and will make you scream, "Just kiss already!" nearly every chapter.
Once again, Emily Henry delivers another winning romance that feels akin to a comfort read. I had high expectations after BEACH READ, but PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION absolutely tops them all. From the sharp humor to the heartfelt pains of longing and belonging, Henry has fully cemented herself as one of my favorite romance writers from here on out.
Poppy and Alex have been friends since college and take an annual summer vacation together. Two years ago, something happened during their trip to Croatia and they haven't spoken since. When Poppy begins to struggle, she asks herself when she was truly happy and the answer is summers with Alex. Alternating between the present and the past (working from their first meeting to present day), the reader gets a glimpse into their relationship. I guessed where it was going and wasn't wrong but that didn't make the journey any less fun! A big fan of Emily Henry's first book and the second one didn't disappoint. A fun rom-com.
I think that Emily Henry may be on deck to be my new favorite author. With People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read, I find myself in awe of the lightness of the text while delivering heavy and, quite frankly, life altering relationships to the readers. Alex and Poppy have become some of my favorite characters. Their banter made me laugh, and their unwavering love for each other made me feel as if I had transcended (who doesn't want to feel that for someone in their lives?). I feel as if what I just said may be a bit much, but in life there are people we are afraid to take that next step with because we don't want to ruin it, and Alex and Poppy have become the epitome of that. 12 years of travel, friendship, and love, but for what? Pining and disappointment in each of them, unbeknownst to the other. Henry's writing is beautiful, and I couldn't put it down. I will preach her writing until the day I die. She's magnificent. She's real. She's necessary.
Wow, this book was truest a master piece, I’ve never felt this much while reading a book. This love story was so heartbreakingly pure and real that I cried on several occasions. This is my favourite romance now. Brb while I go read it again!
First, I have to say that I can't remember the last time I read a book that had me literally laughing out loud, uncontrollably. This book has some pretty serious themes and a few sad parts, but the dialogue between Poppy and Alex is filled with smart, snappy humor. The humor is the thread that holds the whole book together and keeps us loving these characters and cheering them on.
Poppy and Alex actually grew up in the same Ohio town, but don't meet until their freshman year at the University of Chicago. They both have considerable scars from childhood. Poppy was odd one out and bullied. Alex lost his mother at age six and stepped in to manage things as his father fell apart. Alex ends up teaching high school English in their hometown, but Poppy can't get out fast enough. Alex wants to plant roots in Ohio, get married and have a family. Poppy feels she would suffocate if she did that. So, they want completely different things, and they fall in love with other people along the way. In the meantime, Poppy builds a career as a travel writer. One of her perks is going on free trips. So, every summer, for ten years, Alex and Poppy take a summer trip together.
They are great friends, and clearly in love with one another, but life is complicated and gets in the way. As the book opens, they are on their current trip, but in alternating chapters we flash back to previous trips and fully understand Poppy and Alex's entire relationship. This is a great love story. I enjoyed Beach Read, also by this author, but People We Meet on Vacation is even better.
God, that was excruciating! I wasn’t even going to read this, but the publisher sent it to me because I reviewed the author’s last book, which was quite a bit better than this, though not earth shattering. There were many things wrong with this book, the first being that Poppy and Alex P. Keaton don’t meet on vacation. While I’m not a particularly literal person, I’m not clear on the the reason for the title. The reader also has to sit through a year by year recap of every boring vacation these two boring people take, followed by a climax that culminates in both of them whining about their lack of personal adjustment to real life. Not recommended.