.png)
Friends to Lovers Trope Done Right.
- Jhanya&Ria's Corner
- Jan 22, 2022
- 7 min read
"It's wanting something I can't convince myself is even a possibility." - Poppy Wright
People We Meet On Vacation
Emily Henry
Amazon Kindle, Audible
11 May 2021
364 Pages
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?
Content Warning: sexual content
Table of Contents:
First Impressions
Ria: Going in, I had high expectations for this book. After finishing Beach Read, I was very interested in the other books of Emily Henry and was very much interested in People We Meet In Vacation. This was also a book I started reading but was not able to finish last year due to the start of school, so I am expecting that I’d like this book as much (if not more) as I liked Beach Read and I wasn’t disappointed.
Jhanya: I was counting down for the release of this book. Seriously. After Beach Read instantly took over as my favorite romance book, I couldn’t wait to enjoy another one by Emily Henry. Like Ria, I also had high expectations, but not just because of Beach Read. It’s mainly because I saw the synopsis and reviews mentioning When Harry Met Sally. My favorite RomCom film ever. Thankfully, Henry fully delivered and I can’t wait to talk about this book.
Story + Pacing
Ria: The plot of this book is quite unique for me as I haven’t really read a book that involves a lot of traveling. It was also very interesting in the way it was executed with the flashbacks to past summers but I’ll talk more about that later. This book also definitely had the best friends to lovers trope which I’ve always been a sucker for. And definitely, I feel this book is very character-driven (over the plot) because the character development of Alex and Poppy were heavily placed importance to. And of course, with all the traveling, I have such respect for Emily Henry for researching each place and being very realistic and vividly explaining each place. It actually felt like I was in those places, traveling with them.
Jhanya: I’m not completely new to books with a traveling plot (The Unhoneymooners and The Tourist Attraction were great), but it’s my first time encountering a rom-com book that alternated between present and past perspectives, highlighting Poppy and Alex’ 12 hilarious and exciting adventures in the past years. The way the story was told also gave me, the reader, a chance to slowly solve the real mystery of why our two main characters drifted apart 2 years ago and understand the long, charming friendship of the two, which was just so smart of Henry. As Ria said, the story is character-driven, focusing on the relationship and character development of our two MCs which, in my opinion, is one of the reasons why Emily Henry’s romance novels shine.
Writing Style
Ria: Henry’s writing has a way to make me feel such emotional hurt and depth. I literally felt like I was being beaten up while reading their story from years past and their meeting after two years. I mean, how can two people be so in love but not know that 😭😭😩. This was something I experienced more in this book compared to Beach Read which I think is why I like this book more. Aside from the depth, Henry has a way of articulating words that is not annoying despite the many details she placed into the book. She really makes you want to gobble up all that she writes and still want more.
Jhanya: Their past adventures showed us how Poppy and Alex grew to care for each other before their romantic feelings, while the present chapters were just filled with tension and yearning that had me in constant tears during my 2nd reading. The way Henry pieced together the different chapters was just *chef’s kiss*. Her knack for writing lines with the perfect balance of witty, funny, emotional, and realistic still amazes me despite knowing what to expect. The amount of details about the different locations in every chapter was also very nice to see as it shows how much the author researched the different places.
Emily Henry taking inspiration from multiple different RomCom films was so fun and also a gem to see. Alex and Poppy’s first meeting was directly inspired by When Harry Met Sally and there are also other scenes throughout the book that fans of Romantic films will recognize. I’m so happy I reread the book for this review because I got to see these small easter eggs throughout the story.
Characters
Ria: Like I said earlier, this book is really heavy on character development which was executed really well so I’ll probably be talking a lot about the characters.
I was initially slightly annoyed with Poppy. I felt like she was a bit over-the-top (just a bit), but I do get that that is her charm. It probably just really boils down to personal taste and probably because I don’t relate to her that much. Anyway, Poppy’s character development is probably the longest (understandable) and most obvious, to me. In the second to the last chapter, I really saw how Poppy has embraced her flaws and straight-on confronted them. The chapter also really highlights her self-growth and the amount of growth and maturity that she showcased from the first chapter to this is a lot.
Jhanya: I also wasn’t too much of a fan of Poppy upon starting this book. A lot of her values were the opposite of mine, and how she dealt with things left me confused at the beginning. But as her character grew throughout the book and the more I understood her slowly, I was really drawn to Poppy. All she really wanted from the beginning was to find her home and finally be contented with the life she wants to live.
Ria: Alex and Poppy are on two absolutely opposite sides of the spectrum. But even so, he fits Poppy really well. When they’re together, they keep each other grounded and balanced which is why I think they have a great time when they go on trips together (and why they fell in love with each other). He’s also a character I liked even though I feel that our personalities would clash a lot. His self-growth was also shown, but very subtly. I feel like it’s something that you’ll see more when you read between the lines. Nevertheless, I’m super happy with how Alex changed.
Jhanya: To be honest, Poppy and Alex aren’t the most likable characters. But once we read through the story, we get to understand them and see the full picture of who they really are. Similar to how Nora Ephron charmed me with her magic in When Harry Met Sally, Emily Henry introduced me to Alex and Poppy, two completely opposite characters that formed one of the most precious and unconditional friendships I’ve seen in modern-day fiction. Their relationship felt so genuine and so powerful all throughout. And I absolutely love it.
Ria: There were also quite a lot of side characters since they did go to lots of places during each summer. But there weren’t significant loopholes. All characters were introduced and tied up well. And even with the high amount of side characters, there weren’t any unnecessary ones.
Final Thoughts
Ria: Overall I loved this book. It is unlike the best friends to lovers book I usually read and the plot is a breath of fresh air. The characters were complex and realistic and I love the ending of Alex and Poppy because it was them both compromising and not just one over the other. And Henry’s writing is just *chef’s kiss*. The emotions that I felt when I was reading the book were insanely high and I just felt so attached to everything that was going on. I definitely recommend this to anyone, not just romance readers. And I’m looking forward to more Henry novels.
Jhanya: As I’ve mentioned last year, during our year-end recap, I loved People We Meet On Vacation which is my favorite book of 2021. How the story had a second chance romance, opposites attract, slow-burn romance, and friends to lovers tropes just checked all my boxes. Emily Henry’s writing is right up my alley was also a huge factor in why I had a blast while reading. Aled and Poppy also had me attached to every single page while reading that I really finished the book in one sitting during my 2nd read. Reading People We Meet On Vacation is an experience and one the reader wouldn’t simply forget. I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes reading fiction in general <3
Rating
Criteria | Jhanya | Ria |
|---|---|---|
Story / Plot (2) | 2 | 1.75 |
Characters (2) | 2 | 1.75 |
Writing (2) | 2 | 2 |
Morale (1) | 1 | 1 |
Originality (1) | 0.75 | 1 |
Relevance (1) | 1 | 1 |
Reread Value (1) | 1 | 0.75 |
TOTAL | 9.75 | 9.25 |
Final Score | 9.5 | |
FINAL RATING:
Comments