Review: “People We Meet on Vacation” by Emily Henry
Winner of the ‘Best Romance’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards
Title: People we meet on vacation. Date of Publication: 2021 Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary romance. Publisher: Berkley Books. Pages: 364.
The first romance novel I read was “People we meet on vacation” by Emily Henry. Being new to this genre, when I saw the cover, I guessed this could be a story of two people who meet on a vacation and fall for each other. Could I be any more wrong?
Life is a very unpredictable flow of ups and downs but having a best friend as a constant throughout the years feels like a blessing. Emily has written this novel quite beautifully, portraying such two best friends by treading the events of the present, past, and the years in between.
The book starts at a current point in time where there is a hiatus in the friendship of over a decade between the lead characters from their last trip two years ago.
This is a story of Alex Nilson and Poppy Wright who met as freshmen at the University of Chicago, twelve years ago. They ended up carpooling to their hometown Linfield, Ohio. They gradually became friends the next year and had a trip to Vancouver in the summer holidays. After that, they decided to have one trip in summer, every year.
Poppy and Alex are too different from each other but they hit it off. After a few years, Poppy starts travel blogging and eventually becomes a travel journalist for an upscale travel magazine, where Alex stays in their hometown to teach literature at a high school. But the summer trip takes place on schedule every year.
Over the years, they both realize how much they mean to each other. They love each other as friends. Five years ago, on their trip to Sanibel Island, Poppy realized she was in love with Alex. But she didn’t tell him that as he wanted stability in life whereas she wanted excitement and adventure.
At present, Poppy is not happy with her life and her friend Rachel convinces her to reach out to Alex.
“When you lose your happiness, it’s best to look for it the same way you’d look for anything else. By retracing your steps.”
Then, Alex invites Poppy to attend his brother’s wedding in Palm Springs. One thing leads to another and they end up having sex. They confess their love for one another, and they attend Alex’s brother’s wedding together, holding hands. But when the time comes to leave Palm Springs, Poppy still doesn’t know if marriage and kids are what she wants from life. So Alex tells her to figure it out and they part ways.
Poppy felt alone in her childhood and her escape from that feeling was traveling to different places and meeting new people. But when she gets back to her life in New York, she understands that it was Alex who didn’t let her feel lonely, not the travelling. She goes to Linfield and they get together.
This book traverses through years of friendship from Poppy’s perspective, showcasing her range of emotions from loneliness, happiness, rejection, and love. It also has a good description of the places they visited on the tours and how their travelling style changed over the years.
I am sure that this funny, light, and colourful story will bring a smile to your face with its exciting trips and lovely pairing of Alex and Poppy.
I hope you like this book and do let me know if you’ve read it. I would also appreciate recommendations for books of any genre.
