People We Meet on Vacation Review

Hello, all!

I fell in love with Emily Henry's writing last year after reading Beach Read (review here), so it was a no brainer that I'd pick up her latest release, People We Meet on Vacation. Not only did I love it, but it also completely solidified her as a new auto-buy author for me.

Pub Date: 5-11-21
Adult - Contemporary

Ever since meeting their freshman year of college, it’s always been Poppy and Alex. The pair could not be more different: Poppy is loud and a little obnoxious, Alex likes to read books at bars and owns multiple pairs of khakis. But since sharing a car ride home for summer break, they’ve been inseparable. Now, as adults they spend most of their time living far apart—Poppy in New York City where she writes for a travel magazine, and Alex in their small Ohio hometown teaching high school English—usually only getting together every summer for one adventure-filled week of vacation. That is, until two years ago when they ruined everything.

Poppy has everything she could ever want, and yet, she’s stuck in a rut. When asked when the last time she was truly happy, Poppy knows immediately that it was when she was with Alex. Sucking up her pride, she reaches out to her ex-best friend hoping she can convince him into taking one last trip with her. To her shock, Alex agrees. With so much riding on this vacation, and things going wrong left and right, Poppy only has one week to lay all her cards on the table and hopefully win Alex back. Can the pair ignore the elephant in the room and go back to how they used to be? Or is it possible they were always meant to be more?

Can I just live in an Emily Henry book? She has a way of making me fall for her characters right from the very first page. Poppy and Alex are so different but they work so well together. Poppy is colorful and Alex has this nerdy grandpa vibe that I adored. I think he might be my new book boyfriend. Their banter is hilarious and their interactions had me smiling the entire time. I loved how this is told in both the present day and also in flashbacks to their past vacations. You get to see how their friendship evolved over the years and just what transpired that caused them to get to where they are at the beginning of the story. Even though there’s your typical rom-com drama, overall, this was so lighthearted and fun. If you’re a fan of When Harry Met Sally, I think this would be perfect for you.

Rating: 5/5