People We Meet on Vacation

2.75/5 Stars

I'm honestly debating whether to give this two stars or keep it at three stars.

For the first 90% of this book, I was absolutely loving it and was planning on giving it four stars. But then the last 10% of this book happened and I honestly hated it. It ruined everything for me.

But I don't think the problem is with this book. It deserves all the hype and all the stars. Emily Henrie is the literary definition of a talented author.

The problem is with me. This book just wasn't for me. I found the main character's job unrealistic. I felt like the buildup fell flat. And while I did enjoy Poppy and Alex's relationship, I also didn't think it was anything special. I didn't think Alex was anything special. But I didn't even realize this until the characters were finally together. Like I should have been excited but I was literally just like, “meh...“

Idk. It wasn't for me.

This is one of the best romances I've ever read. It has Love, Rosie vibes which I loved and I was a sobbing mess by the end. A wild ride from start to finish.
It was incredibly funny with witty banter and entertaining dialogue but also really profound at the same time. This is everything I could ever want in a romance. It really has some of FAVORITE tropes. 
That is not to say that this book was perfect. The entire time we are building up to the Croatia trip and what caused their “friendship” breakup but when we actually get there, the pay off is very disappointing. I was left feeling like, that's it? this is what made you not talk to each other for two years?. Alex, at times, was really prickly and that kind of ruined it for me. Also, the miscommunication trope is...used. But I still freaking loved it. This book got me out of a reading slump!

This is the first Emily Henry I've read, but I've heard reviews that this one is less beloved as her other two adult contemporary romances. But I absolutely loved this book. I love Alex and Poppy, but especially Alex. Reading this book reminded me of how I'm much more a fan of character-driven books rather than plot-driven ones, and the entire plot of this book just serves as character development for the two protagonists. There is emotional depth in addition to fun vacations. I also loved Henry's wit throughout – little asides such as, “In fact, she hugged me (it felt like being hugged by Beyoncé).” I closed the book and literally said, well, that was delightful.

I'm not a fan of chapters alternating between the present and past, I should've expected a book such as this would have that. I wish we got to experience things at the same time as Poppy and Alex instead of seeing through the flashbacks, that way I feel like the falling out between them would've been more impactful.

At first I thought Poppy and Alex were great but as the book dragged on, their antics were starting to get old. There was a lot of back and forth and unnecessary inability to communicate between the two. I did really like Poppy but she could be a bit much at times and all Alex seemed to do was take it which left me feeling that he lacked a real personality. But maybe that's because we only see from Poppy's point of view.

One thing I do really enjoy about the way Henry writes is that I find genuine humour in her books, I love how great the two MC's bounce off each other and I think that's shown really well here with Poppy and Alex being so different and yet so hilarious with one another.

shut up i loved this

it's not perfect, and i'm still swishing the content around in my brain to figure out why i wasn't 100% happy with this, but boy did i enjoy myself! the dual timeline was really cool to read and i thought it culminated well.

honestly, even though i'm a humble homebody, i saw myself a lot in poppy and her hot mess. also really enjoyed the banter between the two!

i have more thoughts but i'm so exhausted lmao i'm just here to read and vibe at this point #burntout

This is one of the best romances I've ever read. It has Love, Rosie vibes which I loved and I was a sobbing mess by the end. A wild ride from start to finish.
It was incredibly funny with witty banter and entertaining dialogue but also really profound at the same time. This is everything I could ever want in a romance. It really has some of FAVORITE tropes.??
That is not to say that this book was perfect. The entire time we are building up to the Croatia trip and what caused their “friendship” breakup but when we actually get there, the pay off is very disappointing. I was left feeling like, that's it? this is what made you not talk to each other for two years?. Alex, at times, was really prickly and that kind of ruined it for me. Also, the miscommunication trope is...used. But I still freaking loved it. This book got me out of a reading slump!

One sentence synopsis... A will-they-won't-they between best friends told through nine years of vacations they've gone on together.

Read it if you like... David Nicholl's ‘One Day' (the book only, not the terrible movie), ‘Beach Read' or just rom coms in general.

Dream casting... Emma Roberts as spontaneous, fun Poppy and Jake Lacy playing the same role he did in the underrated ‘High Fidelity' reboot tv show as Alex.

“Rahul and Anjali, sitting on a tree,K.I.S.S.I.N.G!”

This whole friends-to-lovers thing just kinda remind me of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Forgive me for I am not a very patient person. This whole past and present summer going back and forth chapter by chapter just kinda irritated the hell out of me. I mean, for fuck's sake, we know they fell in love with each other, just get on with it!

But, no, because this is a romance novel, we had to endure 10 never-ending summers with Poppy and Alex, going back and forth with Poppy's anecdotes of their previous summer trips, reminiscing of Alex's perfect body.

Yeah. Yeah. Not for me.

“Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself.”
~
Poppy and Alex's journey speaks to me! I love their varying summer trips and the way nothing goes perfectly, like life, but for the most part they still have fun. Emily Henry did a wonderful job of bringing two very different personalities together as friends, their dynamic is adorable and frustrating, yet my heart swells for them. A must read for a travel lover looking for a little bit of friendship, romance, and funny stories.

okay first off, did i hate this book? no. but did i find really any sort of entertainment in this book? also no.

mostly my problems lie in the characters in this book since there is not a lot of plot going on. the plot mainly consists of flashbacks that we get of the two “best friends”, poppy and alex, of all their vacations for the past 10 years interspersed with the current vacation they are on. they had a falling out before this current vacation which put them on pause, and we get a big lead-up to what caused it.

so basically most of this book was hella boring and nothing happened. i have a problem with a lot of romance books today because i feel like they want to be fun and light but also have a little bit of depth too but it just ends of disjointed. if you want to be emotional. GO THERE. if you want to be funny. GO THERE. you can definitely achieve both of those in the same book too but unfortunately, i think ms. henry half assed both aspects instead of putting her emdussy into both.

the big falling out was basically pointless to me personally and this is coming from a very sensitive person who also is petty. while there was some legitimate reasons behind the falling out that i do understand but for grown adults it seemed a bit immature to not talk for that long. this is something i could look past a bit because ya know things get awkward but i think these 2 could use some good communication advice in therapy. as a 19 year old i feel like i have more self aware about communication than both of them combined tbh.

now moving onto my real problems.

poppy is the most pick me, wannabe quirky, white girl i've EVER seen.

alex has the personality of a saltine cracker.

so poppy literally is giving an insecure woman who wants to be different so bad that it simply becomes annoying. to me a lot of her personality and traits resembled that of a 15 year old trying to find themself while experiencing puberty. i'm not saying you don't have identity crises and still aren't finding yourself later in life but it feels as if she's stuck in that stage. again even though i'm 19, i feel like freshman year of high school me related to poppy more than i do currently. and when i tell you i was the most annoying creature to touch this earth then, that says a lot about poppy.

next up, alex. this man literally was unseasoned chicken breast rinsed off after cooking. he had no personality besides being uptight and ya know what i feel like he actually is a realistic late 20s/early 30s white man but i personally do not find that desirable. i need a little spice. a lil zest. and he was giving dry wonder bread. i actually don't blame alex much for this because i think he does have a lil somethin somethin buried in there but this whole book was told from poppy's perspective so we never see anything at all.

i didn't hate these characters together or anything of the sort. i didn't feel like they had no chemistry whatsoever either. i did think that since we didn't have alex's perspective, it was hard for me to truly see how he cared about poppy in a romantic sense.

the writing wasn't bad either but it was unmemoriable. i literally forgot that i read this book and had to put a rating/review.

this is just the most boring romance with some of the blandest millennial characters that i've ever read. i can see it being relatable for some but as a gen z, mixed, black, bisexual, woman this was not giving what it was suppose to. it lacked spice and that's that.

thank you to berkley publishing, emily henry, and netgalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

I have heard so many things about this book but I refused to look into the synopsis properly so I could go into it completely blind and I'm so glad that I did. I think I audibly yelled “oh my god is this a friends to lovers?” and immediately got excited. I'm a sucker for cliche rom-coms and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Alex and Poppy are the perfect example of best friends to lovers. Their banter and conversations were probably my favourite parts of the book. I loved how they bounced off one another.

“I love when you get weird.”“You make me weird. I'm not like this with anyone else.”

This was special to me and I had to highlight and include it for that reason. I think it's important to find someone you can be your weirdest self with.

“My point is, no one really knew me before you, Poppy. And even if . . . things change between us, you'll never be alone, okay? I'll always love you.”

The minute I read this line, I immediately highlighted it because this is so beautiful. There's something about the reassurance in these words that it makes my heart just shatter. This is such an unconditional love and it makes me buzz.

This book made me giddy and kick my feet like a love-sick teenager. This is a comfort read for me and something I would revisit in the future.

Me alegro muchísimo de haber empezado el año leyendo este libro porque lo amé. Amo a Alex y Poppy y su dinámica y en estos días hace un calor insoportable y por lo menos pude sentir que viajaba por todo el mundo con ellos. Sentí un millón de emociones y ganas de saber qué iba a pasar (y qué había pasado dos años antes) pero disfrutando cada capítulo como si la que estuviera de vacaciones fuera yo. Me encantó la escritura y pude sentir el amor que se tenían el uno al otro en cada página, es un libro ameno y entretenido pero con los tintes justos de drama para mantenerte enganchado. Uno de mis nuevos favoritos!

Not a bad story overall. I definitely liked Book Lovers 100 times better though.

I really enjoyed the characters of Poppy and Alex. I loved their friendship, the witty banter, the hilarious situations they found themselves in, and felt their pull towards one another throughout the book. That was really well done! I was sad, happy, this book made me laugh, cry. I had all the feels.

However, the book felt a little boring with the constant back and forth chapters between the present and the past. I understood the reason for it, but every time I would reach a chapter describing events in the past, I found myself putting the book down and then forcing myself to come back later to read another chapter. As a result, it took way too long to read, and I did not get lost in this book like I usually do when I really a really good story.