People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

5*

If you’re a fan of When Harry Met Sally and Love, Rosie, you’ll fall hard for this endearing, funny, and, at times, heartbreaking friends-to-lovers romance. 

When Poppy and Alex meet their first day at university, they quickly realize that they have nothing in common other than coming from a small town in Ohio and will likely never see each other again. However, fate and her roommate have other plans, and they end up sharing a ride home for the summer. From that initial journey, the idea of making the summer trip an annual occurrence is born. Although they’re complete opposites, they just seem to get each other and feel comfortable sharing their genuine selves. So, it’s devastating when, after a trip to Croatia where something mysterious happened, their friendship abruptly ends. It isn’t until a female friend of Poppy’s asks her what would make her happy that she realizes that she needs to take one last chance to revive their relationship. So, under false pretenses, she gets Alex to agree to a trip to Palm Springs, both to spend time alone together and to attend his brother’s wedding.  Will they be able get back to where they were or have they both changed too much and lost that comforting, familiar rhythm they once had?

Henry has chosen to tell their story from Poppy’s POV, alternating between the current trip and 10 years worth of summers. Although it gets somewhat confusing to keep the timelines straight (the only criticism of the book), it’s necessary to see how their relationship grew and when their feelings for each other veered into non-platonic thoughts. Over the decade that passes, they become the most important people in each other’s lives despite them each having boyfriends and girlfriends, and, in Alex’s need to make sure that the people he cares about are happy, his sacrifices upset the balance. Henry’s use of dialogue is stellar, giving readers an intimate look at the dynamic between the two and inducing both laughter and messy tears. Highly recommend this as one of the best romances this year!

 

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.