Exactly what I needed! Romance, travel, friendship, humour, sarcasm and a happy ever after. I just needed to be by a pool! Emily Henry gets this spot on. I was invested in the characters, their story and their emotions. A lighthearted and enjoyable read. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Emily Henry for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley, Emily Henry and Penguin General UK for the ARC of You and Me on Vacation. This is my personal review.
Poppy and Alex have been friends for many years and each year they take a vacation together. They click together and learn more about each other every year. Then after 10 years there were two years that go by where they did not connect. Then Poppy decides it is time to get back in touch with Alex- she texts him and they plan another trip. Is there sill time to repair their friendship?
This is an exceptionally good read. The connection between them grows as time goes by and you just have to know how things turn out. Going with them on the annual vacations is filled with so many emotions.

4.5/5. this book is proof that best friends to lovers is the superior trope.....

but seriously i LOVED this book. Emily Henry does such an amazing job at weaving our main characters past and their current timelines so well to create tension and make you root for them as a couple. i think the way that Poppy and Alex got together was a little underwhelming, maybe just due to all the tension that was created, but this didn't take away from how much i enjoyed this. it was funny, cute and so easy to read. emily henry has easily become a must read romance author to me!

huge thank you to Penguin UK and Netgalley for sending me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Poppy and Alex have been friends for years and take holidays together over a 12 year period. This is the story of them going from friends to lovers. Such different people, wanting totally different things from life but then when they stop speaking to each other after one holiday together, will they be able to make things right.
From the very start of the book, you wonder what has happened between them for them not to speak for 2 years and look forward to them getting back on track. However, this part of the story does seem a little predictable. I was so excited to be given the chance to read this book, I am new to Emily Henry books, I had high hopes due to hearing so much about Beach Read. Unfortunately, I just didn’t gel with the characters, even though Poppy is a very likeable character and it is told from her perspective but there were elements where I just didn’t “get her”. There is good humour throughout the book but I struggled with the back and forth of the chapters, from various holidays to the present day. Please don’t let that put you off, I struggle with films that have the same format.
If romance and travel is your thing, this book is the one for you, especially in these time throughout lockdown when travelling isn’t a possibility and you are able to experience the holidays alongside Poppy and Alex.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for the opportunity of reading this book prior to release.

A very good feel good read. I enjoyed the relationship between the two characters and it was also informative with different locations well described. Recommended.

In the first week of college Poppy and Alex meet and have absolutely nothing in common. After an awkward conversation both of them are pretty sure they will never see or speak to each other again, forward one year and they are car sharing home. During this journey they start to see each other in a different light and make a promise to go on holiday together in the summer. This becomes a tradition every summer and their friendship grows from this point.
Poppy and Alex get on with their life , loves and work but, always make time for each other and their summer vacation. There are some very funny and tender moments. It becomes obvious that at points they both have feelings which cross the friendship line and this builds throughout the book. Especially after Croatia!
A great read.

Well this was no Beach read that's for sure. In this novel we see current day Poppy and Alex on a holiday after some tension in their friendship and we also see their past holidays spanning over years counting down to the current holiday. I was vaguely interested in the current timeline but the past holidays were very boring to me and I had zero investment in any of it. Felt like we were just hearing about Sarah over and over again and if i'm honest she was such a bland and under developed character there was no emotions evoked from reading about her. Then when it came to the romance we saw less than 30 pages of them together!! Nothing at all happened and by the time it did I was so over it that I didn't have the same affect as I hoped it would. Very disappointing read with under developed plot and characters.

I am usually not a fan of friends to lovers trope because they just give me heartburn and not in a good way. This book was no different. It did give me the typical friends to lover tripe with plenty of miscommunications, absent communications, missed oppurtunities, lots and lots of angst and let’s not forget, the heartburn but in the bestest possible way. Emily Henry does some kind of magic with her writings and makes even a trope I hate feel good. I loved Alex and Poppy so soooo much. It was intense, they were intense but also sweet and fun with with witty banter but also the angst, oh the angst.... I realise I am rambling and that’s because my brain has decided it loves this book too much to form coherent sentences but anyway, I definitely recommend you checking it out if you enjoyed Beach Read and/or if you love friends to lovers. Even of you don’t like that trope, I would still recommend you to check it out because, it’s just too good 😌

🌸 Adult • Contemporary• Romance • Friends to Lovers 🌸

✍🏼 Book Quote:
Touching is such second nature to me that once I accidentally hugged my dishwasher repairman when I let him out of the apartment, at which point he graciously told me he was married, and I congratulated him.
~You and Me on Vacation

This is my second read by Emily Henry and it did not disappoint!

Poppy and Alex meet in College. They have absolutely nothing in common. Poppy is outgoing, quirky and free spirited with a serious case of wanderlust. Alex is quiet, thrives on routine and loves to stay home with a good book. Yet somehow they become best friends who take a yearly summer holiday together.

The story goes back and forth between the current day, where something has happened to break Poppy and Alex apart, and the past when they are taking their many summer vacations together.

Despite working her dream job for a travel magazine, Poppy isn’t happy. She really misses Alex after 2 years of not speaking to him. Before she knows what happening, she’s somehow not only reconnected with Alex via text, but planned a summer holiday with him. Will this be an opportunity to fix their broken friendship and get her best friend back, or a complete disaster?

I really loved this one! Poppy and Alex were such amazing characters who felt incredibly real. Both had their strengths and their weaknesses and I loved how totally opposite they were. Their friendship made absolutely no sense and yet it made all the sense in the world. Getting to see them grow as individuals through all their summer trips was really interesting. I just loved their whole dynamic.

I’d definitely recommend this one to all the romance fans out there. Especially if you liked Emily’s book Beach Read or Beth O’Learys The Flatshare or The Switch.

🎧 Song vibe:
Wonderwall by Oasis

You and Me on Vacation is a clever and authentic love story that’ll make you laugh, cry, and daydream as you travel the world over a decade of summers.

Emily Henry is a true storyteller. She weaves emotional self-discovery with heart-warming romance in You and Me on Vacation, and it plays out beautifully. Like Beach Read, Henry has created the ultimate summer getaway in less than 400 pages. Her writing is sophisticated and intelligent but full of wit and charisma. I found myself smiling one minute and close to tears the next. Even the simplest of sentences are structured in such a way that provokes emotion for the reader.

Poppy’s personality is the perfect narrator for You and Me on Vacation. She’s bubbly, sharp, and relatable. Henry did a great job at creating an authentically flawed but accessible character. Alex’s personality, upbringing, and goals are starkly different to Poppy’s. I mean, he wears khakis. It’s harder to get to know him as we only get her POV, but I still adored him. He has a shy but kind disputation mixed with heartfelt vulnerability that makes him undeniably loveable.

With a split timeline, the book contains flashbacks to different summer vacations around the globe. It definitely provides an escapism aspect that only becomes more entertaining as the adventures unfold. There were moments where I did forget which country Poppy and Alex were visiting, but I love the wanderlust their quests stir up. Plus, Henry’s writing is just as vivid as ever with stimulating descriptions and animated explorations.

Although I dabbled between 4 and 5 stars, ultimately Henry’s writing and my fondness for the characters won me over. You and Me on Vacation is a story of self-searching and true love that’s perfect read for friends-to-lovers fans. It’s independent of Beach Read and stands its own merit, but like its predecessor, is the delightful, summertime escape we all love to get lost in.

Fun, flirty, fantastic. I loved the style in which this was written, spanning tales of summers past and the present day. Thoroughly enjoyable. A really uplifting read that reminded me; not everyone has it all together, you not everyone has a plan or a picture perfect life and it’s totally ok to ask for help even you need it. Some really refreshing truths told while mixed in with a story that shows the true extent of love, friendship and feeling at home.

The perfect escape from the real world, filled with holidays. The characters are easy to connect too and the friends to lovers to enemies to friends I found enjoyable.

Emily Henry has cemented herself as my new favourite auto-buy author. The story of Poppy and Alex unfolds in past and present timelines, expertly woven together, and builds to a wonderfully satisfying climax - and in not quite the way you might expect.

I love the slow-burn-things-left-unsaid between these two friends. I love the serious issues the book explores, and I love the side characters, particularly the women who, in less capable hands might have come across as vapid or pretentious. Everyone is real in this book, which makes the emotional punches really land. Emily has such a light touch; her writing switching from heart-breaking to funny with a rare deftness.

I laughed, I cried, I swooned.
LOVED IT.

A really good read. Alex and Poppy become friends after a shaky start but finally realise they do actually like each other. They have different lifestyles but they always get together for an annual vacation. It's a lovely story of families love and friendships and with interesting locations that draw you into their story,but before they can finally be happy they have to be honest with each other and work out their problems.

Emily Henry masterfully tackles yet another romance trope, proving that she may just be able to do it all. Full of yearning, tenderness and tension, YOU AND ME ON VACATION is the god tier friends-to-lovers story you've been waiting for. This book fulfills many different needs: on the one hand, it is most definitely the perfect holiday read, while on the other, it is the perfect kind of book for times like ours; while you mightn't be able to go out and freely explore the world yourself, the novel allows you to lose yourself in distant cities, bringing them to live in detail. There was a certain je ne sais quoi that wasn't there for me, but overall this was a fabulous read.

I've been having a difficult time lately trying to immerse myself back into contemporary fiction i always found myself going back to fantasy. This book made me remember why i loved contemporary in the first place!!

I'm a sucker for a friends to lovers trope. There has always been something so wonderful at the thought of falling in love with a friend. This book does it beautifully.

I loved all the vrious locations they visited. they were all so well written. I loved how we kind of saw both characters grow through the years.

Beach read was one of my favourite books from last year and this book didn't dissapoint me one bit! I loved the BANTER!!

4 stars

This stellar new book is everything you could ever wish for in a rom com and the perfect antidote for our post-pandemic times. Alex and Poppy are polar opposites. Brought up in the same town, but with very different experiences, they are thrown together by fate at university. Whilst friendship blooms, romance apparently does not - or so they think.

We follow Poppy and Alex over a series of vacations taken together over the course of their friendship, flashbacks neatly mixed with current day, as their personalities, problems and passions slowly unveil themselves. It's not entirely predictable but I did find myself praying and hoping for the outcome I got.

The flashbacks keep the tension nice and high and Henry writes brilliant relationships - relatable and realistic. She's also a dab hand at a great sex scene.

If you want to get away from all the chaos of today and still can't get on a plane to somewhere, grab a copy of this book and be transported. You won't regret it.

I do not have enough words in English to say how much I love this book. Poppy and Alex are so adorable that I want to be friends with them and hang out.

I laughed, I cried, I laughed again and cried so much with this story.

I do not want to spoil but there is a speech that Poppy made OMD! I had to put my kindle aside and cry and then continue reading.

Emily Henry writing is just beautiful.

Thank you for this story and thank you for made me meet Poppy and Alex

I read Beach Read by Emily Henry over a year ago and LOVED it. So, I'm happy to say she's only gone and done it again! I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read this book before it’s released in July 2021. I absolutely whizzed through it and didn’t want to put it down (yes, I was up till about 2 in the morning some nights, I have no regrets).

I thought the structure of the book in relation to the yearly summer holidays was used excellently as it really allows the reader to connect with the characters. Whilst Poppy and Alex were learning more about each other, as was the reader.

This is such a perfect book to escape in, not just because of Henry’s description of the destinations that Poppy and Alex travel to each summer, but also because it's so gripping! I think we'd all be lying if we said we didn't like a feel good rom-com right? I think this is a great read if you’re suffering from winter-ish blues (it may be March but it's still acting like winter 🥶).

Definitely a 5 star read for me and one to watch out for in summer 2021!

I quickly fell in love with Poppy and Alex; it was difficult not to as Emily Henry summed up their very different characters so vividly. The ups and downs of their relationship kept me laughing throughout. This was a brilliantly crafted easy read with a cliff-hanger right to the last few pages.