You and Me on Vacation was an overall good read but I did find it slow at parts and the chemistry took a while to gel for me. Once it did, the pairing was very sweet and had a wonderful ending. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to Penguin General UK and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for this advanced reader's copy of You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry.

You and Me on Vacation is the story of Poppy and Alex and their relationship as they travel together over the course of twelve years. Poppy is a free-spirit who loves to travel and wants desperately to escape her suburban childhood. Alex is the opposite, straight-laced and responsible with no plans to ever leave his hometown. Over the course of twelve summers Alex and Poppy travel to destinations near and far, growing closer and then falling apart when the vacation ends. Will these two friends ever become more than just summer travel buddies? You'll have to read You and Me on Vacation to find out.

I fell in love with this book from the first page and my love just grew and grew as the story evolved. I loved that the story had the classic trademarks that make a good romance but it wasn't sappy or overly romantic. This was a romance novel that I could relate to, which made me want to keep reading it until the very last page. I have absolutely no complaints and I'm jealous of every new reader of You and Me on Vacation, you lucky readers you.

I love Emily Henry's books, fan of Beach Read. This one was very cute too. It's very heart warming, fun, well written.
If you're looking for an entertaining, uplifting summer read, this is a great one.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

A beautifully written love story. I laughed and cried along with Poppy and Alex as we journey with them through their relationship and holidays over the years. Full of tension and emotion, Emily Henry has again written a wonderful romance - never as easy as boy meets girl and falls in love- this story will make you realise what it is to be in love. Just magical.

Alex and Poppy, sharing holidays, secrets, and having fun, until their last holiday. Now is their chance to rebuild their friendship, maybe even build a relationship.
I enjoyed the storyline but I did struggle to connect with the characters. I found them a bit shallow, although they did become more likeable towards the end.
Maybe not the book for me, but I can see the appeal over the summer holidays.

Loved loved LOVED this book. A bright and emotionally intelligent take on the 'will-they-won't-they' romcom that had me falling in love with the characters as they were falling in love with each other. I loved the evocative descriptions of the vacations - I'm not going abroad this year but feel as if I've taken a few holidays myself after reading this! A perfect summer read that will transport you away no matter where you are.

Emily Henry did not fool me this time with her bright, adorable illustrated cover for You and Me On Vacation! I was absolutely wrung out when I read Beach Read of the equally cheerful and bright cover, as I did not expect the emotional journey I went through with the characters, but this time I was prepared!

Poppy and Alex first meet in college where they sized each other up and found the other lacking. They meet again by chance and this time, they click and soon become the best of friends with promises to always spend their summers together. They managed to keep their word, until the summer 2 years before the start of the book, they have a falling out and stopped speaking to each other. Poppy hesitantly reaches out and they agree to go on holiday together again.

This book is absolutely delightful while the author again put me through my emotional paces. I could wait to read it as I heard that it had one of my favourite trope, friends-to-lovers. However, I did not expect the amazing slow burn of their 12-year relationship as these adorable clueless creatures hid their feelings for each others from the other and even themselves for fear of losing their friendship. This book was seriously one of pining-iest things I ever read.

You should read this, if you love:
- Mutual unrequited love
- Friends to lovers
- Second chance
- ONE BED
- Lots of humour with just enough angst to turn you lightly limp at the end
- Epic emotional journeys

This book has alternating past and present timelines which usually does not work for me. However, I enjoyed it here as the emotional notes matched up quite seamlessly and I did not find it at all distracting. I also thought that it added a sense of urgency to storyline and pushed it along nicely.

This is definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of the year and will linger for a long while!

What a lovely little summery romance. Best friends Poppy and Alex go on holiday together every year, partly funded by her job as a travel journalist, and have a temperate will-they-won’t-they thing going on for ten years. For a romance novel, You and Me on Vacation isn’t too formulaic, and both Poppy and Alex are rounded characters with independent hopes and worries. I do wish that the reveal about what happened to their friendship in Croatia could have come earlier because I was expecting something much worse by the time it was fully told, but otherwise I have no real complaints about this other than the fact that I wasn’t anywhere near a beach when I read it.

"Wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you."

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for sending me this ARC in exchange for honest review.

After the success of Beach Read last summer, Emily Henry had some real big shoes to fill, and frankly I think she did an excellent job. You and Me on Vacation is (unironically) the perfect beach read for the summer. It captures the excitement and joy of travel and wanderlust that I think as a collective, we've all been missing in the last 18 months. With the added benefit of an absolutely adorable romance to boot, it's a sure-fire recipe for summer success.

Poppy and Alex are a couple that really did steal my heart from the get-go. They're a mismatched and opposite pair that find such comfort and feelings of home within one another, I challenge anybody to read this book and not root for them to get together at the end. I loved that we got to see every step of their relationship through flashbacks to their Summer Trips throughout the years, up to the present day following an incident in Croatia two years previous. It's almost frustrating at times to watch the near misses in their relationship occur time and time again, but when they do finally get together and acknowledge their feelings, it's like a big sigh of relief and suddenly all feels right in the world.

This book as a whole really feels like a love letter to the romantic comedies we all know and love. If you love the classics like When Harry Met Sally, or you're a fan of my personal favourite Love, Rosie, you will absolutely adore this story. The romance is just so pure and believable you can't help but watch and see it all play out. It really is a lovely book all about finding home and what home means to you, and I really do recommend it to absolutely anybody looking for something that's sure to bring a smile to your face this summer.

The first thing I want to mention about this book is the unusual decision to change the title for UK readers. If anything, I expected them to change the word vacation to holiday but alas not, the title change doesn't seem to make any difference to me but hey ho. I don't work for a publishing company so I don't see the motived behind that decision. Not something that affected my overall reading experience at all but I just thought I'd mention it. Also, People We Meet on Vacation was released before the UK version hence why this ARC review is perhaps latter than some bloggers from other countries. Now, with that out of the way, I'll get to my actual thoughts on this one.

In comparison to the hate to love romance of Beach Read, this one plays into the more friends based relationship with a second chance romance and a friends to lover situation. Knowing that going in, I had a much better experience with the romance. You really did feel the love and respect between Poppy and Alex in both their friendship and when it becomes that much more. Both characters are given individuality and stand on their own two feet. You had Alex who is a slightly insecure male character who has dealt with a lot of loss in his life and therefore is more serious, feeling like he has to be there for his family all the time. Poppy on the other hand is bursting with life and energy, more spontaneous but, she also has some trauma on her own. In true Emily Henry fashion they're given an extra depth and seriousness that you don't always see in a romance novel. I loved how these characters were opposites in a lot of ways but also incredibly complementary. They really did bring out the best in each other. I was rooting for both their friendship and their relationship throughout both of which had a great element of realism to them. It felt like this could actually happen in real life which is nice.

In terms of writing style this book does not disappoint. Like any good romance should, the dialogue put a smile on my face often and was just witty and fun. Things don't alway go right in this book and you cannot help but feel for this characters but also laugh at the misfortune and mischief they get themselves into. The chronology of this story is also written in a way that weaves both past and present together. We read about how they became friends and the breakdown of their relationship as we also read about them reuniting. This worked extremely well as it helped to establish that early relationship and make the second chance aspects believable. It also made for an incredibly intriguing plot line: what happened? why did the relationship breakdown? These are questions you want answering so bad you don't want to put the book down. It has been a while since I've been desperate to pick a book up, thinking about it when I'm not reading. I've missed that feeling.

All in all a very enjoyable read. However, I still couldn't quite give this one a five star even though I enjoyed it a lot more than beach read (to make a great book from some of my least favourite romance tropes Is impressive for me). I found that I was not as convinced by Poppy's childhood trauma. It feels awful to say that about someone's trauma but this is after all a fictional character and it is the authors responsibility to make these plot points convincing enough for the consequences within the plot to make sense. (I hope that makes sense). Unfortunately, that wasn't fully the case for Poppy. I understood that she didn't want to go back to her home town because of it but......I don't know. It didn't seem to have had a believable impact on her character - she didn't seem like the kind of character that would have allowed this to affect her to the extent it did in the story. Maybe that's the point? I'm not sure. Let me know in the comments what you thought if you've read this one.

That aside, I still highly recommend Emily Henry's romances as this is a great read. It has the tension, the atmosphere and great holiday vibes. Reading this on the beach would be amazing!

“𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒇𝒊𝒕, 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇”

Synopsis:
Poppy and Alex are two people that make an unexpected friendship. After meeting in college, they have shared the past 12 years being each other’s go to person and travelling the world every summer (even doing short breaks during their broke college years). After a complicated summer 2 years ago, they haven’t spoken since. Poppy is desperate to reach out to Alex and rekindle their friendship. Perhaps a long break to Palm Springs will do the trick?

Opinion:
Oh. My. God?! 🥵 Emily Henry has honestly smashed it out of the park. What an epic read 🤩 this was such a beautiful second chance / friends to lovers romance and I loved the jumping back and forth between summers of the past and present day. The author has managed to truly translate such an important message of how you home doesn’t have to be a place, but a person too. I really felt for Alex about being scared of losing someone you love because of previous loss and I think that’s such a common thing that people can relate to. I didn’t think this would be such a powerful romance that it was but I’m so so glad I picked it up. Literally cannot find any fault with this

You and me on Vacation by Emily Henry was a lovely read. Hooked in from the beginning, I loved travelling with Poppy and her polar opposite bestie, Alex. I loved her humour and extrovert personality, and how she and Alex made each other better. Emily writes so well that I felt I was there with them and could see Poppy’s outrageous fashion style. I do love a book where the characters are living lives where you see their triumphs alongside the more mundane- from dead houseplants to good friends, and get to see the emptiness behind apparent opulence and success. That key moment when a school friend or ex boyfriend crushed your self esteem and how close to the surface that stays was well done in Poppy’s encounter with an old nemesis. The story rolls along effortlessly and I just wanted to read another chapter, and then another. Ok, it’s a rom-com but a good one, with many turns and lots of reflections. I loved every page Four stars from me for this one

*Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for granting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review*
And again Emily Herny surprised me with this gem of a book!
Beach Read was a fantastic and unexpected read and You and Me on Vacation was even better.
The stories told were so incredibly relatable that it just sucked me in. Poppy's struggles really resonated with me, made her not perfect and I loved that about her, it made her real. Alex on the other hand with his quiet and stern personality was a bit of a mystery from time to time but as the book went on Id come to love him.
This is a book that thrives on character work. Skipping between now and the trips they went on years before was an interesting choice in telling this story, but one that worked out brilliantly.
If you love good storytelling, a beautiful love story and really well done characters, read this book!

Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsen are complete opposites - she's zany, outgoing and loves to travel and meet people - in fact she has a dream job doing just that. Alex is introverted, serious and wants nothing more than to settle down and raise a family. When the two first meet at college they don't even like each other - but you know what they say about opposites attract ...
The friends' story is told through a series of holidays they take together. As we learn their back stories of growing up in a small Ohio town, pursuing their dreams and falling in and out of love with other people, we get to see just how right they are for each other. But will either of them realise it? Something certainly went wrong with their friendship two years ago in Croatia, and now they're trying to get it back on track with a week-long desert trip culminating in Alex's brother David's wedding to his fiance, Tham, But will it be happy-ever-after for Poppy and Alex, or are they just too different?
This was such a warm, funny hug of a book! Both Poppy and Alex are brilliant characters, and their relationship is explored in a series of madcap escapades that are as entertaining as they are hilarious. And yet within the narrative runs a deep emotional core as their feelings, their daily life challenges and their unwillingness to be fully honest with each other are explored.
With romance, adventure and repressed passion that's hotter than the desert sun, theirs is a story that will have you laughing, crying and wishing for best friends like them!

This was such a great read! The first few chapters I found the book to be quite enjoyable, then I found myself unable to put it down, by half way through I did not want it to end. I need more summers with Poppy and Alex…….Ten just wasn’t enough!
Poppy and Alex were great characters, their friendship and chemistry together really made this laugh out loud funny and had you hoping and praying they would get together. But are they really right for each other? Their friendship is so special it is something they don’t want to ruin. This really delved deep into relationships, feelings and emotions but it never felt too heavy.
The story is told through Poppy’s POV, she’s funny and likeable with quite a lot of emotional baggage that she keeps hidden away. Her unlikely friendship with Alex is told through their summer holiday/vacation they have together each year. We go from present time of this summer back to their summers of the past. Each summer is filled with fun, adventure and lots of laughs. Until something went wrong on their last trip. Two years have passed before they see each other again and go on one last holiday to try and repair everything. A must read this summer!

If you love a will they/won't they romance then you'll enjoy this. The story follows the lives of Poppy and Alex over a number of summers and what happens on each of their holidays together. It's funny, they meet some interesting characters along the way and somewhere along the line, they fall in love with one another but neither wants to admit it and spoil what they have.. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for my arc.

Really enjoyed this book from start to finish. Centering around the friendship between Poppy and Alex and their various trips to places far and wide, they slowly come to realise how much they mean to each other on another level. It underlines the fact that quite often the best things are right now front of us and we just don't see it until there's a chance we might lose it. Great read and thoroughly recommended.

This is such a charming story and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.  The characters are interesting, lovable and well developed. Poppy and Alex are different in many ways yet they bring out the best in one another.  The slow burn of this story really allows the reader to become invested in this couple and there were so many laughing out loud moments along the way!  It was fun to accompany them on their holiday adventures and the fact that I’m from BC Canada, made me appreciate their trip to Tofino all the more!

What I Liked About You and Me on Vacation:

- The quirky, lovable characters
- The sense of taking a vacation while reading the book
- The slow burn of a friends to lovers trope well executed.

I loved this book, and if I wasn't already convinced that friends-to-lovers is superior to enemies-to-lovers, I sure am now.

(All joking aside I actually love both tropes when they're done well but, as I've mentioned before, I find that enemies-to-lovers is very rarely done well.)

I really enjoyed Beach Read last summer and was looking forward to any further romance novels Emily Henry decided to write, so I was very happy when I was approved for an eARC of her new novel on NetGalley, which sounded like another ideal contemporary romance for the summer. Reader, I was correct.

Poppy and Alex are complete opposites, but they've accidentally been best friends ever since they shared a car home from their first year at college. Poppy longs to travel, and before they know it the two of them have started a tradition of going on holiday together for one week every summer. When the novel opens Poppy has achieved her dream of working as a travel writer, living in her own apartment in New York, but it's been two years since she and Alex spoke after something went wrong during their last holiday together. Poppy misses him terribly, and she reaches out to Alex to organise one last holiday with him with the hope that she can win back her best friend.

As much as I say I don't tend to enjoy enemies-to-lovers there are also plenty of friends-to-lovers stories I haven't enjoyed because it hasn't been done well, but I loved Alex and Poppy's friendship so much. I laughed out loud more than once and had so much fun witnessing their inside jokes, which they collected more and more of with each holiday. There's so much mutual pining and that worry that, if their relationship were to become romantic, it could ruin their friendship which means so much to both of them.

Henry did a wonderful job throughout the novel writing about two people who know each other so well, and yet are still dancing around each other and not always saying the right things because there's so much unsaid that they both need to get off their chests. Every few chapters, we're taken back to each of their ten previous holidays together and watching their relationship unfold, and knowing that the two of them could have been happier much sooner if they'd just said something, made what the two of them are to each other all the more believable.

I read You and Me on Vacation in two sittings and it's immediately become one of my favourite contemporary romances. I hope to be reading another summer romance by Emily Henry next year!

This wasn’t really my kind of book. It was nicely written but I didn’t feel engrossed in the story line or the characters and by half way through I just wanted something to happen!