I really enjoyed this story. It was well written with a well thought out story line and good character development. Nice settings and good chemistry. The perfect read for your summer vacation. Recommend
This was the audio version which was well read, clear and easy to listen to.

Lovely feel good book to read. It was a joy to read. Lovely characters. Great plot. The book was charming. Very well written. I’d definitely recommend this book

This book sounded really interesting, and I'd previously heard great things about the author, so I requested this book. When I say I devoured this book, I flew through it. I loved it so much I traded for an ARC, and I have the Emily Henry set from Illumicrate on the way. This book was exactly what I needed to break up the fantasy or YA I usually read.

Emily Henry has a great way of writing characters that just makes them so ... realistic. I found I loved meeting each and every single one of them.

The plot itself was great. It includes everything a reader could want from a book, highs and lows, full story arcs.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars,

Ever since Beach Read, Emily Henry is a hot, blinking light on my radar for writing the most exciting rom com. Like her previous book, don’t be fooled by the light-hearted, sugary cover - this is a deep friends-to-lovers story with sharp lines. The characters are intense, one-of-kind and reassuringly real and messy. From start to finish, I was laughing at the quips and frowning at the complexity of the relationships described.

I love opposites-attract and this book does it so well. Poppy is adorably loud while Alex is reserved and self-conscious. When they get together it’s both comforting and hilarious. I’m not a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope as it can be quite frustrating and the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ question lingers into a slow burn. To be honest, this book did have some long moments and I was glad that I listened to it as an audiobook. It was more relaxing to listen to some of the awkward moments. The narration was also energetic, sophisticated and avoided being too embarrassing when it came to the more romantic parts (which can be a problem when there’s one narrator doing male and female voices!).

Most of all You And Me… stood out to me as a truly deep exploration of relationships; what people mean to each other and how we need them at particular moments of our lives. It stayed with me and I can’t wait for the next book.

I absolutely adored this book. It’s such a heartwarming and lovely book with a fantastic relationship. I adored both Poppy and Alex in different ways. They both felt so real, and had real flaws. I really thought there was some excellent character progression too. One thing that I thought was so noteable was that I didn’t love either the romance or the friendship more than the other. Both were well developed and the characters had so much chemistry that they worked either way!

I will be racing to the bookshops for every new Emily Henry now. Absolutely brilliant!

The story of friends Poppy and Alex, told through 12 years, mostly of their vacations. A funny and endearing read, which made me laugh outloud.
As their story turns from friendship to love without them even realising, the story gets better and better.

This book was one of my favourite summer reads, it has all the elements to make it perfect for reading by a pool or at the beach!
I loved the chemistry between the characters and, although had an inkling of what was going to happen was kept wondering and doubting myself throughout! The holiday destinations throughout are so well written that you can definitely imagine yourself there!

This was another brilliant read from Emily Henry. This time centering around the friends-to-lovers trope.
Poppy and Alex are the best of friends and take a vacation together every year... until they dont.

Told in dual time lines with snippets from each year we follow the friends and discover what went wrong and can they every be back to the friends they used to be,

This was a really enjoyable story, very heartfelt and a compelling read.

You and Me on Vacation - Emily Henry

I really liked Emily Henrys writing style but unfortunately I did find it a little drawn out, more so than I thought it needed to be. I think I would have liked more of Alex's point of view during the book. I really miss the feeling you get just after booking your next holiday, and this has just reminded me of this.

A super cute friends to lovers story, that makes for some light summer reading.

Poppy and Alex have quite the unique friendship, although they live in the same town they don't meet until they both go to the same university. On the ride back home for the summer holidays they form a bond that will forever lead to them spending their summers vacationing together. That is up until their disastrous Croatia trip.

In a story that unfolds through varying summer trips, the reader learns what they get up to each year. I found the friendship between Poppy and Alex to be very endearing yet fluffy, they are average everyday characters that made them relatable, even with Poppy being entitled at times. But does it really take 12 years of vacations to figure out your feelings for each other? Yikes, such a slow burn.

This book will definitely make you want to book your next holiday.

Thank you for the ARC to review.

This book follows Poppy and Alex, once best friends, now haven't talked to each other in 2 years due to something that happened on one of their summer trips. This summer Poppy asks Alex to go on another summer trip with her, in the hopes of rekindling their friendship.

After reading Beach Read, I knew I wanted to read whatever romances Emily Henry comes out with next. You and Me on Vacation really intrigued me as I love friends to lovers romance tropes in TV so was looking forward to seeing it play out in a book. It did not disappoint. I loved both Alex and Poppy as characters and I loved them both together. It was so lovely to see how their friendship and relationship developed over the years during their summer trips.

This books was filled with pining for on another, funny inside jokes and real feeling characters. I felt like the Alex and Poppy knew each other so intimately and cared for each other so much. I loved the writing and the audiobook was great.

Contemporary romance isn’t my usual choice of reading matter but after the popularity of Emily Henry’s Beach Read I was tempted by the idea of some witty escapism in this friends to lovers romance. What I didn’t anticipate was how much of a struggle I would find it to the point where it quickly became monotonous and for me both the characterisation of the two romantic interests and the structure of the novel proved a disappointment. Poppy Wright is a travel writer now living in New York and met Alex Nilsen twelve years ago in orientation week at the University of Chicago. Poles apart and having little common ground aside from hailing from neighbouring towns in Ohio they didn’t expect to see each other again. However when Poppy cadges a ride home with Alex the very next summer it is the start of a friendship that blossoms into an annual summer holiday commitment, despite both having separate lives and their own romantic entanglements. But two years ago in Croatia things went wrong and Poppy and high school teacher, Alex, have not spoken properly since. Although Poppy has the career she dreamed of and an enviable lifestyle she is disaffected with her lot and decides that salvaging her friendship with Alex, and revealing her feelings for him, on a final make or break summer vacation is too important an opportunity to pass up.

What follows is an extraordinarily drawn-out story that moves back and forth between this summer and flashbacks through ten previous summers, illustrating the ups and downs of Poppy and Alex’s relationship and following their current tightly budgeted trip to Palm Springs My enthusiasm for the story of this summer was limited and so wading through all of the previous years exploits quickly became tiresome. It also takes well over half the book before Henry even tackles the events of two summers ago which neither live up the billing or I doubt will surprise many readers. The entire novel is presented from the perspective of Poppy who I found a little grating and superficial and whilst I found Alex bland and frankly pretty dull I did feel that hearing his perspective would have added another dimension to the novel. Not only did I feel that the chemistry between the pair was negligible but aside from occasional moments of witty banter they didn’t even seem on the same wavelength. Personally I didn’t find the novel entertaining and was bemused that the pair seemed unable to talk to each other openly and there had been ten years of miscommunication. Although the outcome of the novel was unashamedly predictable from the off, my disappointment was compounded by a denouement that was over in the blink of an eye and felt decidedly anticlimactic.

After reading Beach Read last year I knew I had to request You and Me on Vacation when I saw it. Emily Henry writes romance really well, and it's exactly what I needed.

I enjoyed the changes between past summers and the present to understand the relationship fully, and was happy with the ending. A nice, easy summer read!

If you want to steal my heart, blurb a book as one for the fans of One Day and create an incredible chemistry between the characters that rivals the original. You’ve got me Emily Henry, I’ll continue to read anything you write from now on.

You and Me on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex, two friends that met in school and weren’t biggest fans of each other. Except, somehow, they made it a yearly tradition to go on holiday together.

I say this often, but it really is refreshing to read a book that doesn’t carry an unnecessary amount of cringe. Y&MOV is full of great banter, sexual tension and a *wonderful* friendship. It’s obvious in the way that Emily Henry writes, that she draws inspiration from real people, their romantic relationships and their friendships. I personally saw a lot of my relationship reflected in those characters.
The ending of this book made me tear up and the only way to describe why is to say that it felt like a warm hug. That ‘long time coming’ feeling that fills your heart with joy. I adored Poppy and Alex’s relationship and I loved that it was not simple, it felt real.

I received an audiobook copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Alex and Poppy met in college, they didn't really hit it off. But a semester later, a road trip kicks off a years long friendship that always comes together in an epic summer vacation every year. But two years ago, something happened and now they don't talk. But Poppy has managed to get Alex on one more holiday - this time to Palm Springs - and maybe with some fun and sun, things will be okay again.

Told in flashback vacations as well as the present day debacle to Palm Springs, this story was quite enjoyable and I didn't mind the audiobook version of it at all. Poppy is the typical 'not your average type of girl' girl while Alex is very much the standard 'dreamboat but doesn't know it'. There's a lot in this book that will really resonate and attract readers from friends to lovers, a lot of in jokes and comical moments, wanderlust, an emotional speech worthy of a rom com and a lot of sexual tension. A lot.

I have to say that there were times I found myself bored of Poppy and Alex and/or irritated by them and their togetherness. They are so much of a duo that even when you're reading about them you feel like a third wheel and that you should leave the room. And this is probably where I had some of my problems with the book - the whole story is about Poppy and Alex and we all know what is going to happen. It is inevitable - to the point where i honestly could not figure out why it had never happened before. It just felt a bit stupid that these guys weren't already a bonafide couple.

There was nothing necessarily off about this book for me. The story was fine, the writing was good, the characters were all right apart from me knowing that if I knew Poppy in real life she'd annoy the heck out of me. It was an alright book just not the emotional tearjerker it seems to have been for everyone else. Maybe it didn't help that for some reason I thought something really tragic was going to happen in this book, and it didn't. So every moment I was waiting for something terrible and it didn't happen.

I think this book may have been better if it had a dual POV. We only got Poppy's POV and Alex seemed a bit too wooden and perfect, and I would have liked to have seen his real thought process. It would also mean two narrators for the male and female voice and this would have improved the audiobook.

I do recommend this if you're looking for a nice rom-com type book to read - definitely a good one for the beach or pool. And 100% the type of book to read if you need something to help with wanderlust in Covid times.

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 finished this book almost a month ago and I wanted to wait to see if I’d just been swept away in it. I still feel the same. What a great book, I loved this!

If you’re a fan of second chance romance, friends to lovers or a romance story with a bit more heart/depth, you’ll love this! This is what I was hoping for from The Beach Read.

Emily Henry’s writing made me believe the feelings, the chemistry, the angst and I felt them, hard! I was SO invested, I cried too. I rarely re-read but I would definitely delve into this again in the future.

It’s not all sweetness and light, there’s discussions of heavier topics - mental health and death of a parent being the main two that stick with me.

The audiobook was great. The narrator did a good job. I did a mixture of read the ebook and listen to the audiobook and both of them were a great reading experience. What a book!

I received an advance copy of this audiobook book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. However, these opinions are my own.

You and Me on Vacation
By Emily Henry

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#ad #gifted #netgalley #penguinaudio

Narrated by Julia Wheelan

“I still have a lot to figure out, but the one thing I know is, wherever you are, that’s where I belong. I’ll never belong anywhere like I belong with you.”

✈️ Poppy and Alex - two best friends, ten summer trips. They have nothing at all in common. She’s wild and unpredictable and he’s safe and stable. She lives in New York and he’s still in their hometown of Ohio. Her job is glamorous and filled with adventure. He works as a 9th grade English teacher... so why after all of these years do they keep being drawn back to one another. Well until one year in Croatia where something happens - something that shakes the foundation of their friendship and causes them to break apart. Poppy needs a chance to win Alex around and she’s hoping a week in Palm Springs will help. Can they really be truly happy? ✈️

This book. Wow! When I first started listening I was a little bit ‘meh’ - I didn’t love the narrative voice to start with and I thought it may ruin it for me but I gave it a chance and by the second chapter I was so glad I did. From start to finish I loved Poppy and I LOVED Alex. I fell head over heels with their story and spent every spare moment with headphones in eager to hear what would happen next. I laughed, cried and blushed - there are some seriously saucy bits 🥵 It felt like I travelled around with them, from New Orleans to Tuscany - I was gripped! I recommend this to all you fans of romance and rom-coms - it’s a friends to lovers that will have you wanting more and more!

You and Me on Vacation is released on July 8th 2021 and is available now for pre-order.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Penguin Random House Audio for the chance to listen to this gifted audiobook in exchange for a fair review.

You and me on Vacation, tells the story of Poppy and Alex who meet at college during 'O' week. They are the only ones standing alone but they appear to hate each other because their so different, one being an introverted and the other extroverted. There just to different.

However the following year they are forced to share a ride home and a friendship is formed. That's where the idea for having a vacation together every year comes from.


Then the story becomes a bit mixed up for my taste, it jumps around over the next twelve years telling the story chronically would make no difference, I feel. Also the friends to lovers was a tad clichè and did little for me emotionally. They just needed to admit to each other how they felt, why did it take twelve years!

We jump forward two years and Poppy and Alex have not spoken, we are not told why. Just that things went wrong after "Croatia", and when we find out I feel it's a bit of and anti climax! Poppy asks Alex to go on one last trip together. But have they now spent to much time apart to bridgethe  gap between them. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers who gave me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

You and me on vacation

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I really enjoyed this romance. I listened to it as an audiobook and it was a sweet one to have on in the background while I was doing other bits and I found I kept wanting to listen to more.

It follows Poppy and Alex over several years on their annual holiday together, and is pretty much all about how their relationship develops. I don’t usually like books that flit forward and back in time without any logical order but that actually really worked with this one to slowly build the story and the characters.

If you’re not a romance lover this probably isn’t for you, but I really enjoyed it.

I do have to say though that I did not like the narration of the book. It felt really flat and automatic without enough expression and feeling.

A light hearted easy read - 3⭐️