'You and Me on vacation' is the sort of book that you read in one sitting beneath the summer sun. Its the book that makes you laugh out loud and cry with frustration. It's the type of story where you sit and root for the two protagonists to admit their feelings and finally fall in love.

Its the type of book that will make you smile once you've reached that final page.

This book was a fantastic, lighthearted read that made me smile. Our two protagonists were strong written characters, and their re-kindling friendship was both entertaining and sad. Although this book won't make you cry, it will make you ache for the characters and their stories, and also want them to be happy in the end.

This book is also a 'friends to lovers' book, so the tension about moving into this new territory was incredible and had me on the edge of my seat for a while.

The only disadvantage to this book that I didn't particularly like was the constant change of past and present between chapters. I much prefer books that stick to the story and have the details of the past intertwined, but I understand that to pack in as much detail as Emily Henry has, you may need to separate the past and present with their own chapters.

I overall thought this book was great, and I could see it as a beautiful summer read.

Trigger Warnings*: death, grief, minor injury (sprained ankle, not graphic), parental loss

*This is not an exhaustive list - these are just what I picked up on in the novel, and there may be others that I have missed

Oh my, my, my the yearing. So much yearning, so much angst, so much desire, I love it. (And that's no just between he characters . . . that was also how I felt reading about these holidays!)

This is the first novel by Emily Henry that I have read, and I'm so glad I requested it on Netgalley! I've been on a bit of an adult contemporary novel binge, so when I came across this with it's pretty cover, and read the blurb I was like ugh...yes please! It combines some of my favourite tropes, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, and the continuously magnificent, there's-only-one-bed *gasp*.

I enjoyed the structure of this novel. We start off with one random summer holiday, allowing us to be introduced to our main characters, Poppy and Alex, in the midst of their friendship. Then we go to the present, and find Poppy alone, feeling burned out, and discover something mysterious happened between Alex and herself that stopped them from talking for 2 years . . . The novel then interchanges from the present and the past. The analepsis is chronological, taking us back to the beginning of their friendship in college, and working it's way up to that mysterious holiday in Croatia where it all fell apart. I loved that we were able to see the development of their friendship, and their love for each other (God, Poppy was so painfully in love with him) and then that contrast to them in the 'present' were they began to reconnect and relearn about each other.

It was just so cute, and really emotional. I thought both characters were great. I was able to connect with Poppy more since this was in her perspective, and I certainly felt her love for Alex more than I felt his love for her - I do think it would've benefited having chapters from his perspective. It wasn't awful, like there was certainly emotion and chemistry from Alex, but I think it could've been written with a bit more depth.

Well written, funny and escapist. An enjoyable read overall. I immediately downloaded and began to read Beach Read after finishing this, desperate for more of Henry's writing!

Big thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for sending me this e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited for this book as I loved Emily Henry's previous novel, Beach Read. This book was even better than her previous novel. It had my favourite romantic trope, with the best friends who keep missing each other and take years to finally get together. What I loved most about this novel was how relatable both Alex and Poppy were. They were very different to each other but they both made complete sense and you could completely understand both of them.
This book also made me want to travel ASAP! Maybe not the perfect book to read during a national lockdown because now I'm itching to travel to a different country.
Overall, this is one of my new favourite romances and I will definitely be re-reading this in the future.

This book should've been a 5 stars but my dumb brain decided not to connect with the story and the characters even though I related so much! It makes no sense whatsoever but it is what it is and I fault myself entirely and not the book because the books IS AMAZING!!

If you loved Emily Henry's other book I think you will love this one too because I loooooovveeed Beach Read. But instead of enemies to lovers, this is sort of friends that are no longer friends and are kind of estranged to lovers.

THINGS THAT I LIKED :
-this book gave me MAJOR wanderlust and I loved reading about all the places our two characters went to on vacation.
-the friendship between Poppy and Alex feels so realistic and I liked how it is (in my opinion) a non stereotypical friendship.
-I like how the characters were flawed in a human way, which made them feel real.
-I related a lot to the characters, mainly Poppy.
-I appreciate the healthy decisions that the characters made at some point in the story, not gonna say when though.

THINGS I FEEL MEH ABOUT: (these are just personal preferences and to be frank I am nitpicking here)
-the writing did not blow me away but I do think a lot of people will find this book funny.
-even though I related to the characters a lot, for some reason I could not connect with them or the story. I am not entirely sure why...
-the story went from the 'now' to the past, (eg. this summer and then 10 summers a go), until the past caught up with the present. So with this in mind, I didn't feel like there was any character development for Poppy and Alex. You would think that throughout a decade, they would feel a bit different every summer but they didn't. They felt like the same people throughout the entire story. Not sure if this was on purpose or not.



And lastly, I wonder if love like this even exists in real life?

You and Me on Vacation it a heartfelt and funny story of two best friends who go on vacation together every year.
It is told from Poppy's point of view and switches between present day and flashbacks of the yearly holidays she takes with her best friend, Alex.
Each flashback brings you closer to the present day, its twelve years of slow burn and it is fantastic. They whole way through I just wanted them to get together already and admit they loved each other!!

I think my favourite thing about this book was the characters. Both Poppy and Alex are really compelling characters and i fell in love with them instantly. Especially Poppy. She's bubbly and fun but also very insecure. I found her so interesting to read about. Her and Alex also have the BEST banter and it made me laugh out loud a number of times.

To top it all off, this book was FILLED with some of my absolute favourite romance tropes. You have friends to lovers, only one bed, one character looking after the other while they're sick - THE LIST GOES ON. And let me tell you, this book does them all wonderfully. The sexual tension between the two characters is *chefs kiss* and there is sO MUCH PINING.

I think at this point I will read absolutely every book Emily Henry puts out because both this one and Beach Read were absolutely fantastic.
I cannot wait for this book to be out in the world so that everyone can experience what a joy it is!

Overall, I think You and Me on Vacation is everything I look for in a romance. Its funny, heartfelt and has characters that leap of the page. I know i'll be thinking about this book for a long time and encouraging everyone I know to read it!

Oh my heart! This was even better than Beach Read!

If you love adorable yet complex characters, witty & playful dialogue, hilarious mishaps, and friends-to-lovers romance, this one was made for you. I will be swooning for weeks to come!

This is like When Harry met Sally. But with Poppt and Alex and their journey through their vacations they share and the friendship they form. A nice Sunday afternoon read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

Emily Henry you have done it again!
I fully believe that you have some how managed to reach deep into my soul and write exactly what I didn't know I needed.

You and Me on Vacation is a mix of the past and present perspectives of Poppy Wright; bright-adventurous-dramatic-wanderlust-Poppy, and her yearly summer vacation with best friend Alex Nilsen; sweet-shy-control-freak-literature-loveing-Alex. The book covers the 12 years on their best-friend-ship from when they met in O-week at university to present day Palm Springs, at Alex's brothers weeding. I loved the change between past and present! getting to know Poppy and Alex now while also getting to know then when they first met.

The development of their relationship was lovely and heartwarming and oh-my-goosness-please. Both Poppy and Alex are beautifully flawed characters, so real and broken and amazing. I am in awe of how Emily Henry writes people that are so real that I can get immediately hooked, like 100% invested in their lives and cannot think about anything else. The slow-burn between Poppy and Alex was so slow and tortuous and my-heart-cannot-cope-with-all-the-emotions-perfect.

Honestly I don't think I have the words to explain how much I loved this story and how deeply invested I was, and still am. I cannot explain the way my heart was racing and my mind was fixed wholly on the words in front of me. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Take a journey through the friendship of Poppy and Alex who met 12 summers ago who didn't actually like each other at first. However, a year later they spend a car journey together as they return back to their hometown in Ohio which allows them to form a friendship and plans for their first vacation. Over the years during college and beyond they make sure to plan a summer vacation together.

The story starts with Poppy discovering that she has met all her professional goals as a travel writer and influencer, however, feels as though there is something missing from her life. Her friend Rachel asks her to think about the last time she was truly happy, which instantly brings a flashback of Alex to her mind. However, the best friends haven't spoken in two years. An incident on their last vacation led to them giving each other space, which as time went on it wasn't ever easier to reach out and reconnect. However, Poppy has decided that she'd love to have one more summer vacation with Alex - if he'll speak to her.

Flitting between the stories from their previous summers together, giving you an insight into their friendship, the loves and passions in life. With Alex due to attend his younger brother's wedding they make a plan to spend a few days beforehand together before heading to the celebration. Whilst her travel job at R&R have said no to her low budget vacation idea Poppy goes ahead with it paying and booking everything herself which doesn't quite go to plan.

After having been friends for so many years, are they able to find the friendship they once had and possibly take it to the next level. But their lives are different, is there a way to make it work? Laugh out loud moments and tissues at the ready for this one.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I believe in Emily Henry supremacy

Alex and Poppy are best friends who couldn’t be more different and regardless of where they are in their lives each summer has cemented time together with their annual summer trip or at least it had because after an incident on one said trip, Poppy and Alex haven’t spoken in two years. When Poppy attempts to consider the last time in her life she was truly happy all she can think of is the time she spent with Alex and proposes a trip to remind Alex and herself how good their friendship is, a trip which is plagued with plenty of Vacation mishaps and reliving of Vacations past, allowing them to realise what it is they really mean to each other.

This book is wonderful. Beach Read was one of my favourite reads of 2020 and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. Also feel blessed to be reading this in January because it’s currently summer this is a book to be reading by the beach and in the sun.

Emily Henry has such an amazing sense of humour I don’t know if it's just that it's exactly what I find funny or that it's written super well and effortlessly, but I always end up laughing out loud. I truly believe she mas mastered the art of the rom-com. This book is the perfect blend of romance and witty banter with just the right amount of emotional depth.

This book is written so incredibly well. The writing itself had me pausing after reading certain passages as I was left thinking how incredibly written it was. The structure of this was very unique flashing between vacations past and present to convey a holistic view of how Poppy and Alex came to be who they are and where they’re at in their relationship. And the characters are conceived so well not just Poppy and Alex who are both so different but equally complex and fleshed out but all the side characters that are met along the way are so uniquely well developed.

Poppy and Alex could not be more different which is largely their obstacle to face but their differences aren’t a detriment to their relationship but rather a marker of the lengths they go to prove their love to one another which looks different in each other eyes.

The story itself depicts a lot of travelling (which is certainly something to be missed in 2021) and presents it as not necessarily the intricacies of new places but about the notion of that experiencing something new brings us new people and new connections.

This book is about not wanting to be alone and how you do not always have to travel far and wide to find the people you connect with. How even when you feel like you don’t belong anywhere there are people in life who are such innate parts of ourselves that even if we’ve overlooked it they’re apart of where we belong rather than a particular place.

This book takes you on Poppy and Alex’s surprisingly emotional ride which spans twelve years and a whole lot of love. It's both a deliciously fun time with a lot of depth that has you thinking about it a while after. I adored everything about this book.

I LOVED this. I really liked Poppy and Alex and whilst the ending was predictable that wasn't a bad thing. Their relationship and journey was great and I sped through the book. Perfect pandemic reading.

This book speaks to me! Poppy and Alex are the ultimate friendship and it is a book that you truly believe the friendship and the fear they have.
Emily Henry has done it again, Beach Read last year and now this, she is an author I am falling in love with.
The characters are captured in such a way you feel every emotion right there with them. You can see he path that could’ve been and maybe what should’ve been but this story really shows a love that has blossomed and maintained through the years and it is outwardly about friendship but ultimately true love.

I received an advance copy of, You and Me on Vacation, by Emily Henry. I did not like this book, the characters or the language. I also thought it was boring.

I really enjoyed this book - it does what it says on the tin! It's a great when Harry met Sally tale - really glad to see that the author acknowledged their love of Ephron. This was a heartwarming story for the darkness of January

A great romance. Wonderfully written and with characters you can really get to know. I loved seeing Alex so clearly through Poppy’s eyes.

Thank you to netgalley and Penguin UK for access to this E-ARC.

Now that I have read two of Henry’s books I can say she is officially one of my favourite authors. I love how she writes romances that are always interwoven with other genres. This story I would say is interwoven with the theme of friendship.

I think because 2020 and 2021 are the way that they are this story about a character who writes for a travel blog was a perfect kind of escapism. It also had one of my favourite ways to format chapters that went back and forth between present day and flashbacks. I would give this book 4.5 stars. It didn’t disappoint me at all.

Thank you so much for inviting me to read this book. This is a wonderful story, funny, sad, entertaining and so very true to life. How many readers I wonder will see themselves and the choices they have made in life in this story of two people who love each other so totally and completely and fit together so naturally that they don’t even realise how they feel about each other and even when they do won’t acknowledge it in case they lose the most precious friendship that they have. How will they choose, what will they choose, will they end up together or apart, Can they risk losing the treasured moments of their friendship by trusting and sharing how they truly feel, or will they each end up with other people and carry the regret of words unspoken, risks not taken, forever. Take a journey into this beautifully written heartwarming story and find out for yourself. If I could give this book 6 stars I would but as there is only five it’s a 5 star review.

Alex meets Poppy 12 years ago this summer. They don't like each other and then the next summer, they are forced to spend time together, Somehow, they keep spending summers together until it becomes the one thing they both look forward to. After not spending last summer together, Poppy wants to find a way to spend this summer with Alex, even if she needs to make it happen.

Told through the present day and flashbacks to summers of the past, you get drawn into Alex and Poppy's story instantly and can't wait to see how every summer spent together leads them to right now.

After loving Beach Read last summer, I had high expectations for Emily's new book and was not disappointed. I devoured it in one sitting, staying up late into the night to find out how Alex and Poppy's story ends.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.

You and Me on Vacation is the cute summer read you will not be able to put down. It will make you laugh, it will make you sigh in frustration at the two main characters, trying to fix their friendship and work everything out and maybe become more.

Thank you very much the publisher and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 4.5

Alex and Poppy couldn't be more different and in spite of that, they have the perfect friendship. They spend every summer vacation together, or at least they did, until they stopped talking after the last vacation to Croatia. However, after almost 2 years, Poppy is willing to put it all behind and to have one more trip so they can make amends.

The book alternates between their current vacation, in which they're trying to be friends again and all of the vacations they spent together in the past.

Well, Emily, you did it again! I loved these characters and the interaction between them so much. I loved the contrast between their personalities and the result of it and the way their friendship turns into something more is so subtle and yet so well done that I just couldn't believe it.

The author's humor is on point as usual and I laughed out loud several times, but there's also a ton of dramatic moments and she also knows how to navigate through those different situations very well. I also really enjoyed getting to know all of the places they visited and the adventures they had together.

The romance was the main part of the book? Of course, but I would say this is mainly a book about people. It's about Poppy and Alex growing up and figuring out what they want for their lives and learning how to change - or just staying the same in some cases, which is also valid - and appreciating what they really value.

However, even though I loved this book, I have to say I was a bit annoyed at times. I just wanted to yell: "Why the hell are you guys not together?" Most of the times I could understand the circumstances and everything, but sometimes I got a bit frustrated. Plus, in some parts throughout the book I was not 100% hooked like I was in her previous books.

The book is described as When Harry Met Sally meets One Day and I couldn't agree more. If you loved those love stories, you'll definitely love this one as well. If you don't know them, but if you're a friends to lovers fan, you'll definitely like this one as well. Honestly, I see no scenario where people do not enjoy this book.