Emily Henry strikes gold again with her sharply funny ‘The People we meet on vacation’ which pays homage to ‘When Harry met Sally’. Only this time we have a reversal with Alex being the pedantic, dependable one, while Poppy is the more free flowing adventurous one.

Both meet on their first day of university, where Poppy teases Alex about his choice in clothing. They don’t see each other much again until their last day of first year and end up car pooling back to their neighbouring Ohio home towns.

The book then jumps between previous twelve years of summer trips and the present day as Poppy, undergoing a bit of a demotivation with her dream job as a travel writer in New York.

Her best friend advises her to remember the last time she was truly happy, which she realises was one of their shared trips - to Croatia two years previously - which lead to a rift between the two. Poppy decides she wants to convince Alex to take another trip to try and regain their friendship, which she is grieving.

Complete opposites, Poppy and Alex sparkle together. Their snappy repartee is what makes the book a joy to read. I laughed many times, especially during their first road trip when they shares their likes and dislikes. Alex opines ‘feet should be kept private’ (here here Alex!) and that songs are ruined by the saxophone.

While you can guess where the story is going, the joy in this book truly is the journey not the destination. Watching each character -particularly Poppy, scarred from her high school experience - grow through their friendship is delightful. The things we do when we’re too scared to really ask ourselves what we want and then work to get it and face the fear of rejection is a lesson we all can relate to.

Henry literally turns on the heat on these two characters to communicate with each other about the causes of their two year rift. You can feel the growing tension and anger slowly rising alongside the Palm Springs heat with a broken air conditioner.

Overall it’s a charming rom com book and definitely one you’d want to add onto your reading lists.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

It’s not often I nearly give up reading a book part way through, but I have to confess I almost did with this one. I find it hard to say exactly why but I think it was probably the way it was written and the switching backwards and forwards in time didn’t really flow as the author might have meant it to.
I also found it frustrating that two people who both appeared to love each other would not have got together properly for so many years when they did meet and go away together annually.
I did persevere and the book did flow a bit better towards the ending.

I adored Emily Henry's previous novel, Beach Read, so much that I simply had to get my hands on this one as soon as possible. And my expectations were high. Poppy and Alex have been friends for years, taking vacations together every summer, until one summer something happened. And now Poppy has decided that it's time to give their vacation tradition one final chance and maybe heal their friendship. So essentially a slow friends-to-lovers romance involving a lot of travel? Sign. Me. Up!

Unfortunately, Poppy and Alex just didn't resonate with me in the same way that Augustus and January from Beach Read did. They're generally very likeable. In a way, Poppy and Alex might actually be better-written characters than Augustus and January, but there was a small distance between me and these characters that just couldn't be bridged.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy myself. The timeline shifts every chapter from the present-day to vacations from the past, and at times it felt like I was actually there with Poppy and Alex as they went on their trips. Especially considering the current travel restrictions most people are dealing with (and will probably be dealing with for the foreseeable future), being able to "travel" through a book was just wonderful. In the chapters from the past, we see the way their friendship started, how it grew and became the central relationship in life for both of them, without a romantic component attached to it. But even when the romance started to be hinted at, their friendship never felt like it was somehow less than a romantic relationship.

Emily Henry's writing is funny and moving, and I think I will probably like whatever she brings out next.

This is my second book by the author and I will be honest and say I did not enjoy this as much as Beach Read. I found the main characters Poppy and Alex boring and one dimensional, especially Alex. They have been best friends since high school, and have for years been hiding their romantic feelings from each other. They are complete opposites but the mismatch in personalities isn’t why I didn’t buy into their romance, but more so the lack of chemistry and angst between them made it difficult to connect to them.

There’s a lot of flashbacks of past travel holidays which I found to feature way too heavily and at times took me out of the present story. I can also see why this book would be compared to ‘When Harry Met Sally’. In the first half the banter between the two was good and at times funny but by the second half it started to turn cringey.

Emily Henry is definitely a talented writer. This is a quick, light hearted read and I can see this book being a big hit particularly if you like travel + romance books.

Thank you to Penguin UK Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a wonderful feel-good rom com. This book was just what I was wanting after a long run of thriller novels. It was delightful. The characters were likeable and relatable. There were laughs and there was also tenderness and tear jerking.

A book I would whole heartedly recommend to anyone wanting a good romance.

Thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to start with saying that this is my first book by the author and it didn't disappoint. I loved it!

We have one of my favorite tropes: friends to lovers, but to the next level because they haven't talked in two years. I liked the fact that we didn't know from the beginning the reason why they stopped talking, plus we got to see when they first met, their first trip together. I loved that we had the opportunity to see how they slowly realized they have feelings for each other and their relationship changed throughout the years.

It's definitely a must read, especially if you love the author's writing style and you are a fan of the friends to lovers trope.

What a fun follow-up to Beach Read, one of my favorite texts from last year. Poppy and Alex are best friends who go on a vacation each year as part of Poppy's job as a travel writer.

In this fun friends-to-lovers trope, Poppy and Alex must overcome past troubles and current issues on their vacation. Is this a "last hurrah" of a decade of vacations, or will Poppy and Alex find a way to salve some of the cracks in their friendship.

The plot structure of this piece was perfect: we got to re-live past vacations by jumping from past to present and back again. I highly recommend!

Oh my! Loved this one - the story was so cleverly told as it wove through time and the history of their relationship. Great, likeable characters - a bit predictable perhaps but I was kept guessing and who cares when you're left smiling!

The layout of this book was perfection, we flick between now and each summer over a 12 year period. Poppy and Alex met in college and hate each other instantly. Lucky for the pair of them they never have to see one another again.

Well that’s until the next summer when Poppy fiends herself in Alex’s car on a shared trip home go their small towns. They bond over things they like and don’t like and make a pact to vacation together every summer.

Poppy ends up dropping out of college to pursue her blogger/influencer career in New York and Alex stays in his home town and finishes his teaching masters and writes in his downtime. The two have spend the best times of their lives together, both never feeling alone when they are together. Until one vacation changes everything and their friendships over.

In an attempt to save their friendship Poppy reaches out an olive branch and they take one last trip that will hopefully save their friendship. The second they are back together their spark is reignited and the flirting quickly becomes sexual tension! They have finally got each other back in their lives are they willing to risk it all and their hearts?

This book was incredible, from the moment I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. This story is original and raw, but incredibly relatable at the same time. I thourrly enjoyed travelling all over the world with Alex and Poppy. You're in for a treat with this one!

This book has 'One Day' vibes for me, with reliving the different vacations Alex and Poppy have been on in years gone by. At first I was a little disappointed not to hear the story from Alex's perspective but in the end I'm glad that there was that intrigue and mystery with the will-they-won't-they storyline. I really invested in this book and them as a potential couple. I love their friendship and connection. Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

A beautiful, well written about lasting friendship and how opposites attract I loved this book I cant wait for this authors next book.

Alex and Poppy have been friends a long time. Each summer they take a trip together - no matter if they are in a relaxing or not.
The book flips between this summer and other summers. I was swept along with the story and hoped that it would have a happy ending.
The only thing I found annoying was the authors use of couple instead of couple of which always irritates me.
However I would recommend this as a nice easy read

A very sweet story which I liked but didn't really get into straight away. The fact that it kept jumping back and forth was a bit distracting but it was obviously needed to explain the history of the friendship between Poppy and Alex. So as I got more information about them I became more engrossed in the story!!.
I think it's well worth a read if you can come to terms with the fact that you'll be time jumping for most of the chapters!!!
Thanks to Netgalley for the free Arc book for an honest review.

Two best-friends, Alex and Poppy are polar opposites. She is quirky, regularly updates her blog and shares pictures of herself with her social media followers, and dresses too colorfully especially in comparison with Alex who thinks khakis are the perfect fashion-wear.
Poppy lives in New York, and Alex in their small hometown.
She works as a travel writer, and he works as a teacher.

The main thing they have in common is their yearly summer trips together, which started when they were in college together. This trip together was usually the highlight of their year. But Alex and Poppy had a falling-out after their last trip, and they no longer speak to each other.

Now two years later, Poppy realizes that the last time she was happy was during her last trip with Alex. She can no longer focus on work, or find pleasure in the things that used to make her happy. In order to get her life back the way it was, she decides to plan and invite him to the perfect trip to Palm Springs in attempt to rekindle their friendship.

But of course Palm Springs ends up being unbearably hot, and their AC isn't working in the AirBnB, making their trip feel like literal hell at times.

You and Me on Vacation will take you through many of Poppy and Alex's vacations, from their very first vacation to their current one.

You can trust Emily Henry to write about friends falling in love.

This is a really cute book. The story revolves around the two main characters who are Poppy and Alex. These characters meet in college and go on to form a lifelong friendship. Because they live in different places they arrange an annual holiday so that they can catch up. As is often the case with male female friendships the relationship isn’t straightforward and we see this play out through the books on a dual timeline between now and their previous holidays. I really enjoyed this book. The relationship between the two was really sweet and I especially enjoyed Poppy as a character as she was funny and very likeable. The book is not without flaws. Their communication or lack thereof is extremely annoying. And all through the book there is an incident in Croatia that is alluded to and we aren’t told about that until towards the end and it is a bit of a non-event. There is also a scene where they drink a pitcher of jalapeño margaritas and then drive home which really bothers me and took me out of the story. I really enjoy Emily Henry‘s books And I think this one is even better than Beach Read. In fact this is the perfect beach read!

Thank you to Penguin UK and Netgalley for an advanced copy of You and Me on Vacation!

I can't say enough how much I've loved this book!

Emily Henry's witty banter is back in Alex and Poppy and this friends to lovers is told in the present day and in the past as we see their 12 year friendship.

This hits so many tropes with slightly enemies, friends to lovers, single bed, opposites attract, super slow burn and in the most wonderful story. I started this on a Saturday night and read until 1am because I couldn't put this book down.

The characters are real, they are vulnerable and they are authentic.

READ THIS!

Such a cute story that nicely tells both past and present back and forth. Both main characters have issues from past that keep them from realizing their true feelings, but the adventures that are told are fun and you keep rooting for them to figure it out!

I loved this, the ideal book for those craving travel because it ignites the wanderlust.
Alex and Poppy commited to spending every vacation together and then something happens to cause a rift between the two. A beautiful narrative about friendship, love and everything in between.

I was in the right mood for a romantic and amusing book when I saw “You and Me On Vacation” by Emily Henry. This title lived up to expectations, however, I feel it was a little long and as I was reading this in grey lockdown I became a little fed up with all the travelling and sunshine. This aside, the idea of the book, told in two different time frames, one the holiday in hot Palm Springs happening now interspersed with previous vacations explaining Alex and Poppy’s relationship was good and intriguing. The ending was satisfactory.

The blurb says You and Me on Vacation is a love story for fans of When Harry Met Sally and One Day. As a massive fan of both I needed no more persuasion. I was not disappointed.

Barring a brief meeting during what we in the UK call “Freshers’ Week” at uni, the beginning of Poppy and Alex’s relationship is just like that of Harry and Sally – sharing a ride home at the end of the academic year and getting off on the wrong foot. They soon become friends, however, and their story is told through Poppy’s eyes, with the action switching between the present day and 10 years of annual holidays together.

They each easily fall in with the other’s daft banter and ‘in jokes’. They are completely on the same wave-length – or are they? We come to realise Poppy is in love with Alex long before she acknowledges it, but what can she do? She doesn’t want to put their friendship in jeopardy and he just doesn’t feel the same, does he? Does he???

I loved both characters and enjoyed every minute I spent in their company.