I loved this book! Way more than I thought I would. Emily Henry’s book Beach Read was one of my favorite rom-coms of this year and I didn’t think she could write another that was up to par; I was completely wrong.

The People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy's writings of her travels (for her blog, then R&R company when she begins to work there), along with her best friend Alex over the summer for 12 years… well until 2 years prior to now when something happened that halted communication between the two. The novel transitions between the present (This Summer) and past (_X_ Summers Ago); each few chapters moving between another Summer Trip. At first, I didn’t think I would like this, I tend to have trouble following timelines well in books, but it worked – I guess since it was only a year here and there in chronological order.

One thing I thoroughly enjoyed, the connections between character's mentioned in past Summer Trips to the current or other past trips. It felt isolating between just Poppy and Alex, but throw in other characters they met along the way and it felt less like I was following two people who only had life for each other. Another thing I really enjoyed was the quirky side notes/thoughts from Poppy - the additional parenthetical notes mostly at the beginning and end of the book. These added something to her charismatic, funny, lively personality. Having inside jokes that carried between Poppy and Alex throughout the book were cute! The little Beach Read connection(s) fit in well – anyone care to read an Augustus Everett novel? The characters were really likable and the trips were fun! The complexity of the characters was rather shocking, but I guess it built up to that – the pain and feeling of loss deep down.

There was a period in reading the book I was tired of it being just the two of them – Poppy and Alex. But then another character would be mentioned or joined and it felt less awkward. Overall though, great book! It exceeded my expectations… which were rather high from loving Beach Read so much!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for giving the opportunity to access this ARC! We read Beach Read for a book club earlier this year, this one could be another selection after it’s release!

This was another great novel by Emily Henry. I stayed up too late reading because I could not put it down. I will continue to recommend her to library patrons.

I love Emily Henry and I loved this book. I live for will-they-won't-they-be-more-than-friends and this book delivered. I finished it and spend the next few days rereading sections because I was sure I read it too quickly the first time.

This is only the second Emily Henry book I've read. I enjoy her style. It is witty without being too obvious. She creates characters who are both believable and admirable, which can be rare in a romance.

Heart wrenching and relatable to anyone suffering from that particular brand of nostalgia-based melancholy that is Millennial Ennui. Emily Henry crafts a narrative that hits hard and understands the millennial psyche. Alex and Poppy do fall into the tried and true "quirky, enthusiastic girl meets cynical, stuck-up boy" trope which can feel forced at times. But the plot and and "count-down" pacing keep you hooked and rooting for them. Give to fans of Casey McQuiston's "One Last Stop" and Talia Hibbert's "Act Your Age, Eve Brown".

I loved this book so much! "Beach Read" was my first book by Emily Henry, so I had high expectations for this book. I completely fell in love with the main characters, Poppy and Alex, and it was so tickling to read their story! Also a super interesting format switching between chapters from the past and current.

If you liked Beach Read by Emily Henry (which I sure did), then you will love People We Meet on Vacation! It fills a specific and wonderful genre of vacation + romance + friends-to-lovers. The descriptions of the places that our characters travel, for Poppy's work as a travel blogger, will help quench the wanderlust of the 2020 pandemic times. You can't go anywhere, but you can read about it!

Poppy and Alex have been odd-couple friends since college. Poppy is a colorful travel blogger looking to never go back to her small-town, Midwestern roots as a weird, bullied girl. Alex is a straight edge guy from a neighboring town who has been responsible and practical his whole life. The two don't make much sense on paper, but they have fun and are themselves around each other. Their tradition of a summer trip together ended two years ago with some awkwardness. However, Poppy is trying to bring it back and get their friendship back on track. Told in alternating timelines with trips from the past and the current summer vacation, it is fun, if a little predictable.
Recommend for summer romance lovers!

Just like Emily Henry's other book Beach Read, I loved this one! I was drawn in from the beginning to Alex and Poppy's relationship and how different they were but how close they were despite that.
I liked seeing their relationship through the years. I didn't mind the jumping back and forth in time. I will read anything Emily Henry writes!

Thanks NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC!

A well written, friends to lovers story in the vein of "When Harry Met Sally" (The book itself makes the reference.) Poppy and Alex meet at freshman orientation in college. The next time they are together they are car sharing to their hometown for summer vacation. On the drive they become best friends. They start what becomes a tradition of taking a vacation together every summer. Regardless of their jobs and love status they meet and travel to Vancouver, New Orleans, San Francsico and more. Alex goes on to be a teacher at the same high school Poppy attended. Poppy turns her love of travel into a career writing for a travel magazine in NYC.

The characters are real and well developed. Alex and Poppy each have their own issues. The conversations and experiences, told through Poppy's POV are funny and occasionally heart wrenching. This is very much a slow burn build. At times I was frustrated because I wanted to find out why they weren't already together. But that is a good author building the tension. The chapters jump from the present day vacation to trips over the previous 12 years giving all the back story. I think this would be excellent read for book clubs. There is very little language and minimally more than fade to black steaminess.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked Emily Henry's first book, Beach Read, and was worried this one wouldn't live up to it. Turns out I had nothing to worry about! This is the story of Poppy and Alex, who met in university and at first didn't really click, but then get to know each other quickly on a car ride home at the end of the school year. We then see their friendship unfold throughout their summer trips over the next several years. This book gave me all the feels. I cried several times, I laughed out loud and I didn't want the story to end. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I cannot wait to see what this author will come out with next.

5 stars!! Emily Henry has quickly become my favorite author. You could feel from the beginning the love Alex and Poppy had for each other. I loved the different family dynamics, how they not only grew as friends but as individuals as well. I can not wait to purchase this book.

I really enjoyed Emily Henry’s “Beach Read” and was so excited when I saw she was coming out with another book.  Poppy and Alex are best friends, since they shared an awkward ride back to their hometown after their freshman year of college.  Poppy is an open book, kind of quirky and loves almost everything with a wild and crazy family, while Alex is very serious, private and buttoned up. He feels responsible for everyone and puts their happiness above his own. Long story short, they are total opposites, but when they’re together, they feel complete. They can be totally honest with each other in a way that they can’t with other people.  Since college they have traveled together (usually on a shoe-string budget until Poppy gets a job at a fancy magazine), eventually dubbing their annual trip “The Summer Trip”.  Every year they both look forward to this trip.  Something happens on the last trip they took together to Croatia that led to them not traveling or really speak to each other.  It’s now two years later and Poppy isn’t feeling inspired at her job anymore and misses talking to Alex, so she convinces him to take another Summer Trip so she can try to fix what’s wrong between them.

It was so great to be able to watch Poppy and Alex get to know each other and build the foundation for their friendship in one storyline and see them finding their way back to each other and unraveling what came between them to get back to how they once were in the other one.  Writing the book this way allows readers to see the complete friendship and really invest in and root for both Poppy and Alex.  The speech that Poppy says to Alex at the end of the book reminded me of the speech that Julia Roberts gave Hugh Grant at the end of "Notting Hill".

I loved the premise of two friends traveling together year after year exploring new places and meeting new and interesting people. Poppy and Alex are total opposites, but that adds to the chemistry they have. About 1/4 into the book, I wanted to jump right into the book and push these two together!  I really enjoy the banter that Emily Henry writes in her books.  Some of the stuff that Alex and Poppy say to each other had me laughing out loud while I was reading. I highly enjoyed People We Meet on Vacation and can't wait to tell everyone about this book.

Emily has done it again. How does she get me EVERY SINGLE TIME. This story made me laugh, tear up, and SWOON. I will eat up every single one of her books with a spoon. All the stars.

Henry's done it again. I wasn't sure she would be able to top Beach Read but she has! This book was absolutely wonderful. The characters we're so true and real and their friendship was incredible. The moments they shared, the laughs, the tears and everything in between was so raw and real and honest.

Not to mention the wit and banter! I laughed so hard so many times throughout this novel and it all felt so effortless. I loved it, simple as that!

People We Meet on Vacation.....

Ok... Alex and Poppy. Poppy GAHHH.. I absolutely LOVED her... she made me laugh so much. She has this incredibly wit and sassy personality and it's incredibly perfect to the reserved Alex. I loved Alex just as much in different ways but the banter between the two back and forth is pure genius... really it is.


People We Meet on Vacation is told from Poppy's POV and it bounces from present day to past yearly vacations that she took with her best friend Alex twelve years ago. Each past vacation, brings you closer to the present day and how Alex and Poppy's relationship has formed over the last twelve years. It is quite the slow burn but what I enjoyed was the frequent vacation trips we saw between the two. You travel the world with Alex and Poppy and you end up falling in love with the two of them slowly but beautifully.

It's the perfect friends to lovers romance! The only thing I felt I was missing was the steam between the two in this one. I was hoping for a little bit more of a sexy chemistry and felt that was lacking. Although, it was more of a sweet falling in love type of chemistry if you get me?! :).


Can I just add....... loved the term "Naked Alex." It works SO ever so perfectly in this romance and Emily haha ONE BED.

I have yet to read her debut novel but I thoroughly had fun with this one!!

4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 5/11/21
Published to GR: 11/1/20

I was invested in Poppy and Alex's relationship from the very first chapter. I was equally split with excitement and despair with anticipation for what Emily Henry was going to do to these two. I kept thinking I would get tired of the romantic 'close calls' that thematically pulled this book along, but it was reasonable. Henry unpacks A LOT of therapeutic gems into the last 15% of of this book and it broke my heart to watch Alex & Poppy struggle so much for the duration of the book and then especially at the end. Thankfully, she managed to put my heart all back together and made me want to go back to page one and start all over again.

I thoroughly enjoyed People We Meet on Vacation - the sweet, slow-burn romance between best friends who've always loved each other was so winning. I understood Poppy and Alex's desire to set aside romantic feelings because their friendship was so important to them, but I was so happy for them to finally figure out that they could be together. The travel descriptions were perfect escapist fare for the current minimal-travel pandemic situation.

This book has left me with a goofy grin on my face!
Best friends Poppy and Alex met in college and always take a summer trip together. Except something happened on their trip two years ago and they haven't spoken since. Feeling lost and unhappy without Alex in her life, Poppy convinces Alex to sign up for another summer trip this year to go to Palm Springs. Glimpses of past trips mixed with the present makes you feel like you really know these characters; by the time their trip to Palm Springs is falling apart you are invested in their relationship. A great escapist rom-com that lets you travel around the world with these characters from the comfort and safety of home.

Another excellent offering from Emily Henry. A recommended first purchase for collections where WF and contemporary romance are popular.

Wow, this was so good! I laughed, I cried, and as soon as I was done, I texted my friends telling them to add this book to their tbrs. This is the perfect friends to lovers, slow burn, second chance romance story. Poppy and Alex have been friends since college, and they've traveled the world together, up until two years ago when something happened and their friendship broke apart. Now they're reuniting for one last trip together to see if their relationship can be saved. The story alternates between their trips in the past and the current one happening in Palm Springs as they try to figure things out. The armchair travel was amazing, especially in 2020 when we're all stuck at home. Poppy and Alex were so funny together, and I found myself laughing out loud at their banter. Their differing personalities made the struggle for an HEA believable, and I found the conflict to be so complex and believable. This is a book I'll definitely be rereading over and over again.