People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - Spoiler-Free Review

This is the fourth book by Emily Henry I ever read. I’ve always been a big fan of romance books. I enjoy reading about different ways people fall in love and everything that happens in between their journey to finally realizing that they are meant for each other. 

Emily Henry is a well-known author whose books are loved by many romance book lovers, including me. I have seen so many people ranking her books five stars. To be completely honest I still didn’t find any Emily Henry books that I thought were so good that I would give a five stars to. People We Meet on Vacation was close but something was missing.

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Plot Summary

Poppy and Alex at first glance seem like they don’t have anything in common. You wouldn’t even think that two people so different could ever become friends. Poppy likes to meet new people and see new places while Alex prefers to read his books and stay at home. But after they meet in college and share the right home they become best friends. While they cannot meet often, they make sure that every summer they take one week of vacation together.

They’ve been doing that for decades until two years ago when something happened that made them drift apart. It may seem like Poppy has everything she ever wanted but soon she realized that the only time she was ever truly happy was when she was on a vacation with Alex.

When she finally got some courage to convince Alex to take one more summer vacation together. When he surprisingly accepts the offer it is when her attempt to fix everything between them starts.

My Thoughts

I started reading this book after I finished reading Beach Read. Those were the two summary books that I wanted to finish before I could start reading more cozy and autumnal books. In contrast to the Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation was more lighthearted and easier to read. Of course, as in every Emily Henry’s book, there are some deeper feelings emotions, and situations characters are going through. I would never describe Emily Henry’s book as a simple rom-com.

She always makes sure that we can relate to the characters and what they are going through. The same thing happened in this book as well. This might be one of the few friends-to-lover tropes I read in a while. I could easily imagine Poppy and Alex being real people; they didn’t seem too fictional because they had so many layers and character development.

One thing that surprised me while reading this book was mentioning Croatia. I’m from Croatia and it’s always such a surprise when I see big authors mentioning it as it’s not that often.

For me, it was very easy to relate to the characters. Poppy being loud and happy on the outside but still dealing with the bullying she went through when she was younger made me think about my school days. On another hand, Alex and his calm and realistic perspective on life made a meeting about how I also don’t mind having a more predictable life. One of the reasons I enjoy Emily Henry’s book so much is the way she makes the conversation between the characters so fun and witty.

At some places in the book, I thought that there was to match the description of the place or what others were doing. I think that one of the reasons why I still didn’t give any of her books five stars is the fact that her ending seems a little bit too rushed. From the point where characters have a conflict to when the conflict is resolved and their happy ending starts, I wish there was more background.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes romance books with more depth to them.

What are your thoughts on this book?