Synopsis:

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?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read, a sparkling new novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.

Emily Henry’s latest release was my most anticipated novel of the year after Beach Read topped my list of favorite books for 2020. I won an early copy of Beach Read last year but I wasn’t as lucky with People We Meet on Vacation—so I had to wait like the rest of the world. I told myself that was okay because then I could read it closer to summer and enjoy the full experience, imagining myself reading it under blue skies with a cold beverage nearby. 

WHICH MEANS I should have known that it would be raining buckets the week it was released with colder than average temperatures making it feel more like fall than spring.

But a little rain didn’t stop me from picking it up—visiting a physical bookstore for the first time in over a year (Yay for vaccines!)—and diving into it immediately, a warm cup of tea nearby instead of something icy. I read it within 24 hours, and didn’t even mind that I couldn’t read this one while outside under sunny skies and warmer temperatures. It even seemed serendipitous when the book opened with the main characters stuck on vacation amid a rainstorm.

Henry grabbed my attention right from the first page, introducing the reader to Poppy and Alex in a most unconventional way. It had me smiling and instantly reassured that I would have fun with these characters. They are complete opposites, but Henry has made it work. The history of their complicated relationship is slowly revealed through Poppy’s memory, successfully building the tension and a very satisfying slow-burn romance.

“Sometimes I think that’s why we’re so drawn to each other. Because he’s used to being the steadfast big brother and I’m used to being the annoying little sister. It’s a dynamic we understand: I lovingly tease him; he makes the entire world feel safer for me.”

People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

Like Beach Read, Henry has created compelling backstories for these characters. They have things to learn about themselves—things to accept and things to change. And I found plenty to be inspired by from Poppy and Alex.