People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

Narrated by Julia Whelan

Standalone Contemporary Romance

“I’m on vacation. Vacations always end. It’s the very fact that it’s finite that makes traveling special. You could move to any one of those destinations you loved in small doses, and it wouldn’t be the spellbinding, life-altering seven days you spend there as a guest, letting a place into your heart fully, letting it change you.”

Since Beach Read didn’t quite live up to the hype for me, I was a little nervous to listen to People We Meet on Vacation. But I wanted to give Emily Henry another try, especially because this book had a crazy amount of hype around it. I’m so glad I did because this was a fabulous, slow-burn, opposites attract, friends-to-lovers romance.

“He is tall, quiet, and eager to see the library. I’m short, loud, and hoping someone comes by and invites us to a real party.”

Poppy and Alex met freshman year in college and didn’t hit it off at all until they carpooled home together. Then, begrudgingly, the two polar opposites became the closest of friends. They want very different things in life. She has wanderlust and he wants a quiet family life, but somehow their friendship shined through.

Though they live in different cities, every summer for the last 10 years, Poppy and Alex spent a week on vacation together. But two years ago, during a trip to Croatia, something happened and they haven’t spoken since. When Poppy realizes that the last time she was truly happy was on that trip with Alex, she comes up with a way to get him to take one more trip with her so she can try to fix what went wrong.

“I don’t know how to love someone as much as I love you.”

Told in first person, only from Poppy’s POV, we get flashbacks of the last 10 summers leading up to the big reveal of what happened to their friendship in Croatia. Not knowing his POV added to the drama for me, and I was DYING to find out what the heck happened, though I had a good idea.

Likes:

I adored both characters.
The banter was awesome.
They were so different, but they just worked.
Realistic characters who were easy to connect with.
The past and present tenses flowed well and I never felt lost.
It was unique to not have the male POV.
I love a grumpy/sunshine theme.
There was something just a little smarter about this book—it wasn’t about the sex, it was about the personalities.
Excellent character development.

Dislikes:

It started to get a little too draggy with lots of insignificant details.
I started to get a little frustrated waiting for the big reveal.

The Narration:

Julia Whelan did a fantastic job with the narration.

The Down & Dirty:

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was a unique, smart read filled with family, friendship, and love. It’s about self-discovery and finally realizing what you want in life. It brought out every emotion and kept me listening into the night. Though it’s not my scream-from-the-roof favorite like it is most other people’s, it was a solid read that I highly recommend.