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People We Meet on Vacation

Emily Henry

Start date: January 1, 2025

Finish date: January 31, 2025

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What Members Thought

Jul 21, 2022 Trisha rated it it was amazing

"Time to panic?"

There are books that just hit at the perfect time and place. THAT is this book. Perfectly adorable - I was cracking up laughing through all of it. Poppy is funny, sarcastic and flighty. Alex is witty, stable and sweet. I loved getting a peak through flashbacks of their previous vacations and their first meeting. You don't love either of them to start. But slowly their storys unfold and suddenly you can't imagine a world without them. Their experiences, their humor and their wild ...more

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Jul 06, 2021 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, read-in-2021, summer-reading-2021

During a recent Twitter DM threat with an old friend and published romance author, I asked if the fact that I not only read but enjoyed both of Emily Henry's "romance" novels meant that I had to turn in my "guy card." She assured me that it was OK to enjoy any writer and genre I wanted.

Reassured, I'm here to report that I really enjoyed Emily Henry's latest novel People You Meet on Vacation. Poppy and Alex became accidental best friends following their freshman year of college. Carpooling back During a recent Twitter DM threat with an old friend and published romance author, I asked if the fact that I not only read but enjoyed both of Emily Henry's "romance" novels meant that I had to turn in my "guy card." She assured me that it was OK to enjoy any writer and genre I wanted.

Reassured, I'm here to report that I really enjoyed Emily Henry's latest novel People You Meet on Vacation. Poppy and Alex became accidental best friends following their freshman year of college. Carpooling back to their small town in Ohio, the two bonded over various shared interests and some interesting disconnects. A year or so later, the two made a pact to take a summer vacation together each year.

And so, things went well for the first decade or so as Alex pursued his master's degree and then began to share his love of literature with unsuspecting English students and Poppy pursued her dream of traveling the world and getting paid to share her experience and advice. Then, there was the infamous summer in Croatia and the two haven't spoken much for two years.

Now, Poppy is living her dream but finding herself a bit unsatisfied. At the urging of her friend, she texts Alex, and soon the two are making plans for a Palm Springs vacation that bookends with his brother's wedding. Can these two get their friendship back on track or will this be the last hurrah for these two?

Part of the issue is that Poppy has a wavering attraction to Alex that can waivers between five and fifteen percent of their friendship. And while they've both had other relationships during their friendship, it's easy to get the feeling that something is always holding them back from fully committing to someone that isn't Poppy or Alex.

And so, the slow boil begins. Henry flashes between the present trip and previous trips to fill in details, allowing readers to make assumptions and then either confirming them or dashing them creatively along the way. The smoldering attraction between these two is obvious from the first few encounters they have, though it's interesting to see how long and the ways they go about denying it to themselves and each other.

Thankfully, Henry doesn't make the course of true love run smooth. She stays true to her characters by not having a potential romance be the magical cure for everything going on in Poppy and Alex's complicated lives. It all helps make the ending of the novel that much more authentic and satisfying.

A satisfying, character-driven romantic drama. A great read anytime you're in the mood for some quirky escapism.
...more

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Jan 17, 2022 Tfalcone rated it it was ok

Predictable.

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Mar 27, 2022 Kathleen rated it liked it

Sweet love story

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Oct 16, 2022 Kim Benouski rated it liked it

Shelves: romance-fluff-or-humor

I loved the banter between Poppy and Alex, and I enjoyed their friendship and the travels. But, the back and forth "I'm afraid" stuff was painful, and every character other than those two was flat.

2.5 stars ...more

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Sep 22, 2021 Kimberly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-sister-trip

Cute rom-com. I enjoyed reading about all the trips these friends went on together. It was a nice, light--well written and held my attention. Glad I read it!

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