Book Review: The People We Meet on Vacation | Emily Henry

Honestly after Emily Henry’s novel Beach Read dominated the perfect vacation read the year it came out, it is clear that she is not just the author of Beach Read, she’s the rising star of beach reads! The People We Meet on Vacation is no exception. Grab this one for your next vacation or even to read and pretend you are on vacation!

About the Book

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?

Reflection

There is something so satisfying about reading a book where a relationship evolves over many years. Told largely in flashbacks, The People We Meet on Vacation is the story of Alex and Poppy. One year they drive home from college together for break and ever since they have been best friends. Their post-college friendship is largely based around annual summer vacations they take together.

Poppy is a travel journalist so vacations are part of her job. Since the magazine she works for covers upscale travel, her vacations have become more lavish over the years. But Alex and Poppy have lost touch over the past two years, with their last trip being to Croatia. In an attempt to re-connect their friendship, Poppy plans a trip to Palm Springs to attend Alex’s brother’s wedding. Letting Alex think her work is paying for it, Poppy is actually funding the trip herself. She realized several years ago she has feelings for Alex.

As their trip to Palm Springs unfolds in present day, we see flashbacks to their prior vacations over the years and see how their friendship evolves. This is a romance so there isn’t much to spoil, but I want to leave the plot here so that readers can experience the story for themselves.

I really enjoy the way Emily Henry writes and develops her characters throughout her novels. Poppy is not only reconnecting with Alex, she is also going through some self-discovery as she realizes her life should be making her happy, but isn’t. There is also a lot to learn about Poppy’s past and childhood that added a lot of depth to her character and story.

A quick and breezy read that delivers on some deeper notes that is reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally, I definitely recommend grabbing The People We Meet On Vacation for your next weekend getaway!