People We Meet on Vacation - Review

 

Book Review:
Title: People We Meet on Vacation (US)/You and Me on Vacation (UK)
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Penguin

“It hurts to want it all, so many things that can't coexist within the same life.”

TWO FRIENDS
TEN SUMMER TRIPS
THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE
12 SUMMERS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again.
11 SUMMERS AGO: They're forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.
10 SUMMERS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver. Poppy holds his hand the whole way.
7 SUMMERS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.
2 SUMMERS AGO: It all goes wrong.
THIS SUMMER: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

I don’t usually review contemporary romances on my blog (even though I absolutely love reading them, specifically New Adult/Adult romances) but I’ve decided that that is going to change now. And I’m really happy that my first contemporary book review in AGES is going to be such a positive one.

Because yes, I absolutely adored People We Meet on Vacation. After reading Beach Read last year, I was left a little underwhelmed – while I enjoyed it and rated it 3 stars, it didn’t really live up to the hype for me. But this book…it lived up to the hype and even exceeded my expectations.

Poppy and Alex just gave me everything I love from a soft romance. Sizzling chemistry. Angst. Humour. Wholesome-ness. I’m not usually a fan of stories where characters don’t communicate openly, and in this case there was a little bit of the no-communication trope as there are a lot of repressed feelings from both sides – but I really did not mind it one bit in this novel for 3 reasons.

1.) It provided some delicious angst. Seeing them slowly fall for each-other but not knowing if the feelings were reciprocated, or not wanting to possibly ruin their friendship…SO GOOD. And the angst was never over-the-top, it was just the perfect amount to get your heart racing.

2.) It wasn’t stupid or frustrating. I get really annoyed when characters can’t communicate properly, because their issues can usually be solved through a 5-minute conversation, but I never once got really frustrated with Poppy and Alex. Being best friends for so long and being complete opposites there’s a lot at stake and therefore I can understand the hesitancy. There’s also a lot of discussion about personal goals and insecurities, which felt extremely authentic, and again from that perspective, you can’t blame either character from holding back their emotions. OR maybe like point 1, Emily Henry provided just the perfect amount of angst to make it bearable?? Both are technically true.

3.) Maturity. As Poppy and Alex’s relationship progresses there were a few times I thought we were going back to the mis/no-communication, but no. These characters actually learnt from their past and literally aired out issues that came up so quickly, and I can’t tell you how good it was to read. Even times when it took a little longer to work stuff out, it was always felt real and had a purpose – it wasn’t just added for the sake of drama. Like yes, we love character growth!

Another thing I loved was the slow-burn. There’s only one way I like my romances, and that’s sloowwwwww. I love seeing the initial meeting, the slowly getting to know each-other stage, the getting comfortable around each-other point, and the unconscious build-up of feelings, followed by the realisation of love. It gives me so much serotonin. I honestly spent most of the day lying in bed while reading this book on my kindle, and ended up finishing it in less than a day. I couldn’t get enough. Seeing Poppy and Alex’s journey over the 12-ish years felt so genuine and pure that I just had to clear my entire day to see them get their HEA.

Overall, I think this was truly a brilliant friends-to-lovers romance. Emily Henry’s decision to alternate chapters from past to present worked beautifully and kept me absolutely hooked from start to finish. You and Me on Vacation/People We Meet on Vacation has 100% become a comfort read for me and I can see myself re-reading it many times in the coming years.

5 Stars
Goodreads