Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Title: People We Meet on Vacation
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romance/Fiction
Author Info: She/Her
Setting: Various Locations/ NYC, NY/ Linfield, Ohio
Month Read: April 2021
Book Type: Hardcover BoTM)
Publication: May 2021
Pages: 384
*Book of the Month April pick
TRIGGER WARNING-
Sexual Themes/ Anxiety/ Heavy Drinking
"It hurts to want it all, so many things that can't coexist within the same life."
No Spoiler Summary:
People We Meet on Vacation is a book about two best friends, Alex and Poppy, that have been taking yearly summer vacations together for the past decade. Alex and Poppy couldn't be more opposite, but once a year they get together and go somewhere and drive each other nuts while having the time of their lives.
Poppy works for a chic travel magazine in New York, Alex is a teacher in Linfield, Ohio and our two friends have had a falling out. 2 years have passed since (something) happened while on their Croatia trip, and out of the blue Poppy sends a text asking if Alex would like to go to California for their annual trip- hoping she can get things back the way they were.
The vacation is NOT the vacation either of them planned on having, sweating to death in the Palm Springs heat, having no money for the expenditures Poppy is used to with her work credit card, and the compete awkardness of spending every moment together after 2 years of complete silence leave the two at a crossroads.
Will Poppy and Alex be able to mend the rift between them? Will they be able to go back to the way things were before? Only time, and a lot of mishaps will tell.
Review:
I'm really excited to finally RAVE about a book, because I feel like I've been really hard on stuff I've read this year. I loved this book, and I cannot wait to attack the rest of Emil Henry's entire catalogue.
I am Poppy. I didn't ask for this, I can't help it, but the entire time reading this book I wanted to text my best guy friend and apologize profusely for every time I've done this to him (for the past... 20 years.) I thought she was uncomfortably relatable, and fell in love with her completely about 5 pages into the book that I barely put down for 2 entire days. (Sorry, son. Mommy was very busy.)
I don't think there is a person on Earth that won't immediately fall in love with Alex Nilsen. He's actually a perfect specimen, khakis and all. I don't think this is a spoiler but be wary for the next few sentences- but the sexual tension in this novel was so intense I spent so much time wondering Will they? Won't they? What's going on? Why are they they only ones who don't SEE IT. I whooped when the air conditioning broke for the 7,000th time in like 4 days.
The writing was intensely good- This book has Gilmore Girls-esque banter and I was here for it. This is the witty conversation I need, and am thrilled to ingest from my media. I want people to be too much, and I will always love a good Lorelai/Luke or Jess/Nick dynamic and Emily did that for me. Not that Emily Henry will ever read this, but thank you profusely for this book.
The traveling throughout the novel (10 years worth of vacations) also provided me with the best feelings while I continue to sit in a world where you can't go almost anywhere, never mind Croatia, California, or hell, even the 2.5 hour drive into NYC at this point. I'd probably just go back to Disney, anyway- I'm sure to Poppy's complete horror.
If you haven't read People We Meet on Vacation, do yourself a huge favor and pick it up and take a day off to enjoy yourself. It's a fluffy, perfect book that filled my post Jeff Zentner broken heart into a very full, in tact thing. I can't wait to order Beach Read in my next Book of the Month box.
Recommendation:
(Cheesy-or Adorable???) Rom Com's with unlikely lovers:
*When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
*The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
*What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (YAY LGBTQ BOOKS!)
*A Study In Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
*The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
"You can't outrun yourself. Not your history, not your fears, not the parts of yourself you're worried are wrong."
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