Name: nanafark's review of People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry
Item: People We Meet On Vacation
Rating: 5
Author: nanafark

Emily Henry

From the#1New York Times bestselling author ofBook Lovers andBeach Read comesa sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
 
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.
 
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
 
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

People We Meet On Vacation

Silke vandorpe

“I thought you didn't like holding hands," I say. 

“So, what? I just get whatever I want now?" I tease. 

His smile flickers back into place, calm and restrained. "Yes, Poppy" he says. “You get whatever you want now. Is that a problem?”

He arches an eyebrow. “Are you just saying that because you know what I'm going to say, and you want to make fun of me for it?" 

No?" I say. "Why? What are you going to say?" 

As long as i have him, I will never be alone again. 

Kiara

And that's how it is in real life too. You can love someone and still know the future you'd have with them wouldn't work for you, or for them, or maybe even for both of you.

You and Me on Vacation

Fiona

"Anyway" Rachel continues, “she told me that sometimes, when you lose your happiness, it's best to look for it the same way you'd look for anything else." […] "By retracing your steps," Rachel says. "So, Poppy, all you have to do is think back and ask yourself, when was the last time you were truly happy?" 

Stas

"My home," he says, and kisses me. We are, I think. We’re home.

“I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that's where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you. No matter what I'm feeling, I want you next to me. You're home to me, Alex. And I think I'm that for you too." 

“I’ve always felt like once someone sees me deen down, that's it. There's something ugly in there, or unlovable, and you're the only person who's ever made me feel like I'm okay. 

There’s nothing scarier than the chance that, once you really have all of me, that changes. But I want all of you, so I’m trying to be brave.”

“I don't know how to love someone as much as I love you”

Alex bumps his leg into mine under the table, and when I glance at him, he's not even looking my way. He's just reminding me that he's here, that nothing can really hurt me.

“You won't lose me" he says, voice dimmed by the rain. “As long as you want me, I'm here."

I shake my head. “I don't want to lose you again"

“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." 

“You asked me who I was, and it was like the answer came out of nowhere. Sometimes it feels like I didn't even exist before that. Like you invented me." 

“I don't think I knew I was lonely until I met you." 

I'm crying because I'm relieved. Because I will never again feel as alone as I did during those long nights as a kid. As long as I have him, I will never be alone again.

I wish I could bottle this moment and wear it as a perfume

When I look back up at him, he's beaming at me, and I think “I love you more now than I ever have.” How is it possible that this keens happening with him?

Maybe that's why he can handle the public affection. Maybe, like me, when we're together he feels like no one else is there, like they're phantoms we dreamed up as set dressing.

"You are so sweet. I hope you don't let this place change you.”

And it's normal, so natural to push up on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his waist, burrow my face into his chest, and breathe him in. Cedar, musk, lime. There is no greater creature of habit than Alex Nilsen.

Emily McMeans

“Isn't that ridiculous? I groan-laugh. "My life turned out how I hoped it would, and now I just miss wanting something"

Why do all guys want girls who look like they're carved out of Soap?» «What are you talking about?» Alex says. I mean, you had no interest in all those cool, sexy girls and then you see this wannabe kindergarten teacher and she's the first person you even consider. It's just... typical.» She's not a kindergarten teacher" he says. «What do you have against this girl?»

nanafark

issa

sooo long. i loved it. poppy is so my girl, i love her so much and Alex, needless to say, has become my man goal. anyway, the story is great once you get into it. i had to get past 200 pages for that but you have to be patient in life.

siinsiiin

Bulan

YOUCH! it is very hard to be nonchalant about this book because it touched a part of my soul that i didn't think could be seen by anyone else. emily henry gets it. she really does! i think i am always going to be forever changed knowing this book exists in this world, and i can pick it up anytime. the movie adaptation is really going to kill me i think.

shaye

Ella Williams

I preferred Beach Read, but this does some interesting things narrative-wise with its timeline and is funny and touching in places. The thing that I struggle with in this and other romance novels that aren’t historical or romantasy is that the tensions and obstacles that the characters face are generated by them being obtuse or childish, so they come across as caricatures and I don’t feel as invested in their story.

Laura Dobie

The flashbacks to vacations past (and their original meet at college) really helped build Poppy and Alex's friendship and make it feel real, and deep, for me, which I liked. I think that was really well done, and made me want to keep reading to keep finding out little tidbits about their friendship and why it fell by the wayside.

This one is definitely a slow burn, almost a little too much of a slow burn, which is the only reason it wasn't a 5 ⭐ read for me. 

Overall enjoyable, emotional, and wrapping up with a satisfying ending 🩷

Megan Murray 

The flashbacks to vacations past (and their original meet at college) really helped build Poppy and Alex's friendship and make it feel real, and deep, for me, which I liked. I think that was really well done, and made me want to keep reading to keep finding out little tidbits about their friendship and why it fell by the wayside.

This one is definitely a slow burn, almost a little too much of a slow burn, which is the only reason it wasn't a 5 ⭐ read for me. 

Overall enjoyable, emotional, and wrapping up with a satisfying ending 🩷

Carmen Malca

First Emily Henry book I've read!! I love how she writes and how witty and easy to understand the worrs are. I loveee Alex and poppy 

janna a

'A gorgeous romance' BETH O'LEARY, The Flatshare 'Our generation's answer to Nora Ephron' SOPHIE COUSENS, This Time Next Year 'So warm and funny' PAIGE TOON, The Minute I Saw You 'A pitch-perfect balance of loveable characters, hilarious wit and steamy sexual chemistry' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS, Our Stop From the bestselling author of Beach Read comes a steamy new novel that will have you laughing out loud and dreaming of your next holiday! *Also known as People We Meet On Vacation* TWO FRIENDS TEN TRIPS THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE 12 YEARS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again. 11 YEARS 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 YEARS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver. Poppy holds his hand the whole way. 7 YEARS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans. 2 YEARS AGO: It all goes wrong. THIS YEAR: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives. You and Me on Vacation is a New York Times bestselling love story for fans of When Harry Met Sally, One Day and Casey McQuiston. Get ready to travel the world, snort with laughter and - most of all - lose your heart to Poppy and Alex. ------------------------------------------------------------ WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT EMILY HENRY 'The hottest book of the summer - the pages simply sizzle!' JOSIE SILVER 'Full of banter, heat, and sexual tension. A gorgeous page-turner of a novel' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS 'Full of sexual tension and tantalizing possibility. I fell head over heels for Alex and Poppy, and loved travelling all over the world with them both' BETH O'LEARY 'Emily Henry is my newest automatic-buy author . . . a heartfelt, funny, tender escape that you wish could last forever' JODI PICOULT 'A compulsively readable book full of sparkling wit, dazzling prose and a romance that grabbed me by the heart and wouldn't let me go. Absolutely my favourite read of the year, and probably one of my favourite books of all time' ABBY JIMENEZ 'Funny, and seriously sizzling' BEST 'Original, sparkling bright and layered with feeling. If whipcrack banter and foggy sexual tension is your catnip, you'll adore this book' SALLY THORNE 'What an absolute flipping triumph of a novel!!! I LOVED it ' EMMA COOPER

Tiktok made me buy it! Escape with 2021’s New York Times #1 bestselling laugh-out-loud love story

A thread of linked hands between Hallmark Romance and something recognised more as 'reality'. I suggest a read for anyone who feels unsettled or intimidated by the optimism of traditional romantic comedy. 

daphne

i feel pretty much the same about this as i did about funny story. i don’t really love poppy or alex much, but i like them together. still made me cry 

julia

Fatiema 

I feel like Sarah should be allowed to get away with murder

This is probably my favorite friends-to-lovers book ever. Emily Henry is amazing.

This was so fun, cute, colorful and all the good stuff and the repressed feelings between Poppy and Alex weren’t too face-palm-worthy.

Kyra

This is probably my favorite friends-to-lovers book ever. Emily Henry is amazing.

This was so fun, cute, colorful and all the good stuff and the repressed feelings between Poppy and Alex weren’t too face-palm-worthy.

Real good lighthearted read!

Lidia testa

Lenja

Sommarmöten

Väldigt långtråkig, händer inte jätte mycket. 

Lyckades inte ens läsa klart den, väldigt svårt att ja upp å börja läsa igen.

Nova sjödin

Väldigt långtråkig, händer inte jätte mycket. 

Lyckades inte ens läsa klart den, väldigt svårt att ja upp å börja läsa igen.

i honestly think frienda to lovers is evil bc the way i felt ill seeing the tension was insane, i rlly did love them though. I CANT WAIT TO SEE MOVIE ALEX OH MY GODDD!!! i did think the kiss in croatia was a bit underwhelming, like a big argument wouldve made this a 4.5 star read but other than that i rlly love this book

best friends to lovers excellence !!! poppyalex i love you !!!

tink 😵‍💫⭐

I was not expecting to love this book the way I did. I sat down to start it and finished it in one shot. 

Alissa 

Eva Ströberg

All the other reviews convinced me that this wasn’t some chick lit book, and that’s why I picked it up.

You know what? It is just some chick lit book and I spent half of the reading time wondering when the interesting story would pick up, and felt deflated because it didn’t for the next half of my reading time

Poppy and Alex, such difficult romance. Such complicated relationship, that was probably only valid if they were in highschool and fuelled by teen angst.

But no, Poppy and Alex are two grown ups who couldn’t admit to themselves what they wanted.

And I lost respect to Poppy and the author once she confused Austria with Australia. Say what?? Amateur. 

If only I could give zero star, I would

Jennifer Gosnell

Loveddd this book. Really cute. I love a travel romance! Definitely felt some frustration with the characters at points — but it was because I was invested! Love them both, really love all her books.

'A gorgeous romance' BETH O'LEARY 'The perfect getaway' JODI PICOULT 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. You and Me on Vacation is a love story for fans of When Harry Met Sally and One Day. Get ready to travel the world, snort with laughter and - most of all - lose your heart to Poppy and Alex. **PREORDER NOW** ------------------------------------------------------------ WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT EMILY HENRY 'The hottest book of the summer - the pages simply sizzle!' JOSIE SILVER 'Full of banter, heat, and sexual tension. A gorgeous page-turner of a novel' LAURA JANE WILLIAMS 'Full of sexual tension and tantalizing possibility. I fell head over heels for Alex and Poppy, and loved travelling all over the world with them both' BETH O'LEARY 'Emily Henry is my newest automatic-buy author . . . a heartfelt, funny, tender escape that you wish could last forever' JODI PICOULT 'A compulsively readable book full of sparkling wit, dazzling prose and a romance that grabbed me by the heart and wouldn't let me go. Absolutely my favourite read of the year, and probably one of my favourite books of all time' ABBY JIMENEZ 'Funny, and seriously sizzling' BEST 'Original, sparkling bright and layered with feeling. If whipcrack banter and foggy sexual tension is your catnip, you'll adore this book' SALLY THORNE 'What an absolute flipping triumph of a novel!!! I LOVED it ' EMMA COOPER

Sajiya Chaudhary

Before buying it, I read a sample and the prologue was so good, I bought the book instantly and devoured it in a day. I mean i am going to go back to it again, definitely, but this first read was just too good! I laughed out loud so many times, i loved Poppy's character and related a lot to both Alex and Poppy, and the kind of dynamics they have! 
It's relatable and very very real, also the millenial problems they have. It is a very relevant book, especially now when people are analysing their life, work and assessing their choices, at least I am. It comes at a perfect time, and I am so glad I read it.

"What happens when best friends with nothing in common come together, fall apart, and fall in love? The Vacationers meets When Harry Met Sally..., from the author of Beach Read When Poppy met Alex, there was no spark, no chemistry, and no reason to thinkthey'd ever talk again. Alex is quiet, studious, and destined for a future in academia. Poppy is a wild child who only came to U of Chicago to escape small-town life. But after sharing a ride home for the summer, the two form a surprising friendship. After all, who better to confide in than someone you could never, ever date? Over the years, Alex and Poppy's lives take them in different directions, but every summer the two find their way back to each other for a magical weeklong vacation. Until one trip goes awry, and in the fallout, they lose touch. Now, two years later, Poppy's in a rut. Her dream job, her relationships, her life--none of it is making her happy. In fact, the last time she remembers feeling truly happy was on that final, ill-fated SummerTrip. The answer to all her problems is obvious: She needs one last vacation to win back her best friend. As a hilariously disastrous week unfolds and tensions rise, Poppy and Alex are forced to confront what drove them apart--and decide what they're willing to risk for the chance to be together"--

People We Meet on Vacation

Rebecca Hurd

LOVED!! Super cute story, makes me want to go on a vacation!! Enjoyed reading about all the vacations that they took while also seeing where they were in present time!!

On vacation, you can be anyone you want. Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself.

“I thought the whole thing about millennials was that we don’t get what we want. The houses, the jobs, the financial freedom. We just go to school forever, then bartend ’til we die.”

“she told me that sometimes, when you lose your happiness, it’s best to look for it the same way you’d look for anything else.”

Then again, sometimes when you guess about people, you end up very wrong.

I’ve always preferred the version of me that Alex brings out to the one I was back in our hometown. This Poppy feels safe in the world, because he’s in it too, and he, deep down where it matters, is like me.

When we were together, though, the game didn’t even exist. The rest of the world dissolved until I believed this was how things truly were. Like I’d never been that girl who’d felt entirely alone, misunderstood, and I’d always been this one: known, loved, wholly accepted by Alex Nilsen.

Sometimes I think that’s why we’re so drawn to each other. Because he’s used to being the steadfast big brother and I’m used to being the annoying little sister. It’s a dynamic we understand: I lovingly tease him; he makes the entire world feel safer for me.

I want to ask if he wanted to talk to me in all that time, if he ever typed out messages that went unsent or thought about calling for so long he actually started to dial.

If he too feels like he lost two good years of his life when we stopped talking, and why he let it happen. I want him to say things can be how they were before, when there was nothing we couldn’t say to each other, and being together was as easy and natural as being alone, without any of the loneliness.

Even slouching, he was towering over me. I guess he always was. I just didn’t always notice because he so often brought himself down to my level or pulled me up to his.

It’s possible that all those little moments that meant so much to me never meant quite the same thing to him. It’s possible that he didn’t reach out to me for two full years because, when we stopped speaking, he didn’t lose something precious the way that I did.

I want to tell him I’ll feel terrible if I leave. I want to say, 

Who cares about seeing Palm Springs when it’s one hundred degrees out

When I look back up at him, he’s beaming at me, and I think, 

. How is it possible that this keeps happening with him?

“Can we take a picture together?” I ask, but what I’m thinking is, 

. It would always be with me. Everywhere I went, he’d be there too, and so I’d always feel like myself.

“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.”

Tears cloud my eyes, but miraculously I blink them clear. Somehow, my voice comes out steady and light, and not like someone reached into my rib cage and held my heart inside his hand just long enough to run a thumb across a secret wound.

“I know,” I tell him, and, “I love you too.”

It’s true, but not the full truth. There aren’t words vast or specific enough to capture the ecstasy and the ache and love and fear I feel just looking at him now.

“Ready,” I confirm, and Alex Nilsen sweeps me up into his arms and carries me down a motherfucking mountain.

No. I really could not have invented him.

And here it comes, the moment that keeps slipping through my fingers, like it’s the game-changing detail in an instant replay I can’t seem to pause or slow down.

We are just looking at each other. There are no hard edges to grab hold of, no distinct markers on this moment’s beginning or end, nothing to separate it from the millions just like it.

But this, this is the moment I first think it.

The thought is terrifying, probably not even true. A dangerous idea to entertain. I release my hold on it, watch it slip away.

But there are points in the center of my palms that burn, scorched, proof I once held it there.

“Do you love him like you love Alex?”

I remember with vivid clarity the feeling of my heart stumbling over its next several beats. That question was more complicated, but I couldn’t lie to her.

“I don’t think I’ll ever love anyone the way I love Alex,”

Betty shook her head and looked me in the eye. “Wish he knew that.”

Alex bumps his leg into mine under the table, and when I glance at him, he’s not even looking my way. He’s just reminding me that he’s here, that nothing can really hurt me.

We stand there grinning for a few more seconds, our locked hands swinging back and forth between us.

“I thought you didn’t like holding hands,” I say.

“So, what? I just get whatever I want now?” I tease.

His smile flickers back into place, calm and restrained. “Yes, Poppy,” he says. “You get whatever you want now. Is that a problem?”

“What if I want you to have what you want?”

He arches an eyebrow. “Are you just saying that because you know what I’m going to say, and you want to make fun of me for it?”

“No?” I say. “Why? What are you going to say?”

Our hands go still between us. “I have what I want, Poppy.”

My heart flutters, and I pull my hand from his, coil it around his waist, and tip my head back to peer into his face. “I am resisting the urge to PDA all over you right now, Alex Nilsen.”

He bends his neck and kisses me so long that a few people start cheering. When we pull apart, he’s pink cheeked and bashful. “Damn,” he says. “I feel like a horny teenager.”

“So,” he says. “How did this happen?”

“Um.” I try to think of how to explain it. Years of undying love, occasional jealousy, missed opportunities, bad timing, other relationships, building sexual tension, a fight and the silence afterward, and the pain of living life without him.

“I scared myself so much that I couldn’t tell you what had happened. It was terrifying to realize how much I loved you. And then you and Trey broke up, and––God, Poppy, of course all of it was because of you. Everything is because of you. Everything.”

“I don’t know how to love someone as much as I love you,” he says. “It’s terrifying. […]”

I start to walk away, and Alex pulls me back to him, his hands light on my waist, voice low beside my ear. “In case I don’t kiss you as pornographically as I want to for the rest of the night, please know that after this trip, I’ll be investing in therapy to understand why I feel incapable of expressing happiness in front of my family.”

I should enjoy this moment. I’m on vacation. Vacations always end.

It’s the very fact that it’s finite that makes traveling special. You could move to any one of those destinations you loved in small doses, and it wouldn’t be the spellbinding, life-altering seven days you spent there as a guest, letting a place into your heart fully, letting it change you.

For the first time in my life, the airport strikes me as the loneliest place in the world.

All those people, parting ways, going off in their own directions, crossing paths with hundreds of people but never connecting.

I always knew there was a reason we kept a boundary up. We’d let our libidos get the best of us and now he couldn’t even look at me, text me back.

Ten years of friendship flushed down the drain just so I could know what Alex Nilsen tastes like.

Living, being responsible for myself, seems like an insurmountable challenge lately.

, not away. My only hope for figuring this out is to stay, sit in the discomfort.

“But most of us are too scared to even ask what we want, in case we can’t have it.”

I thought I had to run hundreds of miles away from here to find some place to belong. I spent my whole life thinking anyone outside my family who got too close, saw too much, wouldn’t want me anymore. The safest thing was those quick, serendipitous moments with strangers. That’s all I thought I could have.

“I like it there, and I think you would too, but you asked me what I’d be willing to give up for you, and now I know the answer is: everything. There’s nothing in this whole world that I’ve built in my head that I’m not prepared to let go of to build a new one with you.”

“You’re not a vacation, and you’re not the answer to my career crisis, but when I’m in a crisis or I’m sick or I’m sad, you’re the only thing I want. And when I’m happy, you make me so much happier. I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you. No matter what I’m feeling, I want you next to me. You’re home to me, Alex. And I think I’m that for you too.”

He sniffs through a laugh, cups my jaw in his hands, and presses his forehead against mine, his eyes closing as his breath syncs with mine, our chests rising and falling like we’re two waves in the same body of water. “I never want to live without this,” he whispers, and I knot my fists into his shirt as if to keep him from slipping through my fingers.

The corners of his mouth twist as he breathes out, “

His eyes slit open, and the flutter in my chest is so strong it almost hurts. I love him so much. I love him more than I did yesterday, and I already know tomorrow I’ll love him even more, because every piece of him he gives me is another to fall in love with.

Tomorrow we will love each other a little more, and the next day, and the next day.

And even on those days when one or both of us is having a hard time, we’ll be here, where we are completely known, completely accepted, by the person whose every side we love wholeheartedly. I’m here with all the versions of him I’ve met over twelve years of vacations, and even if the point of life isn’t just being happy, right now, I am. Down to the bones.

what can i say for this book? for me, it was just a masterpiece! (top favs of the year for sure)

i don’t know where to start. the writing was a m a z i n g. like, Emily Henry is indeed talented. how it goes back and forth through present and past summers. every chapter leaves you even more excited for the next.  

the main characters lovely developed. their dialogues sweet and genuine. their chemistry and love vibrating through every page. what you get to experience through their eyes. their concerns, their fears, their pure love. 

i was also very satisfied with the epilogue. we got the chance to see their happy ending and that makes a book worth it for me. being such a slow burn, it’s so great that you’re not left hungry. 

i adored every single minute of it. i can’t think of a single thing i’d change. 

it was such a lovely and sweet read, it left my heart warm and happy.

 sooo spoke to me and I SOOO RECOMMEND IT!!

what can i say for this book? for me, it was just a masterpiece! (top favs of the year for sure)

i don’t know where to start. the writing was a m a z i n g. like, Emily Henry is indeed talented. how it goes back and forth through present and past summers. every chapter leaves you even more excited for the next.  

the main characters lovely developed. their dialogues sweet and genuine. their chemistry and love vibrating through every page. what you get to experience through their eyes. their concerns, their fears, their pure love. 

i was also very satisfied with the epilogue. we got the chance to see their happy ending and that makes a book worth it for me. being such a slow burn, it’s so great that you’re not left hungry. 

i adored every single minute of it. i can’t think of a single thing i’d change. 

it was such a lovely and sweet read, it left my heart warm and happy.

it sooo spoke to me and I SOOO RECOMMEND IT!!



nanafark &
People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

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nanafark &People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

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nanafark &
People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry