Blog Tour: People We Meet on Vacation - Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation
Emily Henry
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Berkley Books
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

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?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read, a sparkling new novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.

REVIEW

For over a decade, Alex and Poppy had taken their Summer Trip together, at least until two years ago. When challenged to remember the last time Poppy was really happy, all she could think of was Alex and that last Summer Trip. In an attempt to recapture the magic and restore their friendship, she plans a trip-on-a-budget in a nod to those early excursions, and in hopes that it can reunite them. 

I will describe this book using one word: PERFECTION. I have always found Henry's books brilliant and entertaining, but this was a masterpiece for me. Let me list the ways. 

• Friends-to-Lovers is my favorite trope, and it was done so well in this book. I loved flipping back and forth on the timeline and seeing this friendship take root and blossom. It was tough watching Poppy resist her feelings in fear of losing her best friend, but I knew it would be worth the pain. 
• The Summer Trips were so great even when they were disasters. There is nothing I enjoy more than going on a trip, and I got to go on one every summer with these two. Like their friendship, these trips evolved. They gradually went from super budget to lush and lavish. Regardless, they were all fantastic to read about, and they temporarily sated my wanderlust. 
• The story spans years. It's such a treat to get the opportunity to see people grow and change over long periods of time. I knew so much about Poppy and Alex, that by the end of this book, they felt like friends to me. Delving into their history, sharing their failures and successes, being there for big and small events in their lives made this a truly rich experience for me. 
• Henry is the queen of banter. I thought this as I read Beach Read, and I am saying it again. She writes some of best dialog I have ever read. I absolutely adored the humor and wit as I savored every line in this book.  
• This was a slow burn that worked for me. I am not necessarily a patient woman, but everything in this book was done so well, I had no problem waiting for this thing to happen. It didn't hurt that so many fantastic tropes were employed during this tale as well, and that there was lots of pining and tension and "almost" moments to feed my needs. 
• The When Harry Met Sally vibes were so strong. This was wholly its own story, but those vibes were there, and I welcomed them with open arms. 
• Poppy and Alex were fantastic. Due to all the years I spent with these two, my love ran deep for them. I liked how they were polar opposites, yet perfect together. I loved their loyalty to their families and each other. I felt so much for them and was one thousand percent invested in their relationship. 

I think I could go on for days talking about People We Meet on Vacation, and everyone can expect me to be pushing this book big-time. It was everything I could have asked for and more. The story filled me up with feels, fulfilled my heart's desires, and left me basking in the warm-fuzzies for days. 

* ARC received in exchange for an honest review.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emily Henry writes stories about love and family for both teens and adults. She studied creative writing at Hope College and the New York Center for Art & Media Studies, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it. Find her on Instagram @EmilyHenryWrites.

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If you had unlimited funds, where would you vacation?
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