Review: You and Me on Vacation, Emily Henry

I didn’t expect to find a new favorite book of the year so late in 2022 and yet, here we are. You and Me on Vacation has been fairly hyped in the book community, so obviously, I was nervous to read it. Yet. Here I am, knowing this book will forever be a favorite of mine. Check out my full review below!

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry
Published by Penguin UK on July 22, 2021
Genres: adult, contemporary, romance
Format: Paperback
Buy on Amazon, Book Depository, Bookshop, Blackwell's
Goodreads

Two friends. Ten trips. Their last chance to fall in love...
*Also known as People We Meet On Vacation*
12 YEARS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again.
11 YEARS AGO: They're forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.
10 YEARS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver. Poppy holds his hand the whole way.
7 YEARS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.
2 YEARS AGO: It all goes wrong.
THIS YEAR: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:

sexual content, alcohol consumption, animal death (mentioned), pneumonia, death of a mother (mentioned), bullying (mentioned, in the past), anxiety/panic attack.

There are no spoilers in this review.

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I ENJOYED…

☂️

• Alternating between past and present, You and Me on Vacation follows Alex and Poppy as they first meet at university and now, as they’ve moved on without each other in their lives. You know me: I ADORE stories built between flashbacks and present time, I always think it allows you to so deeply understand characters and their relationships, I LOVE IT. There, I was hooked by that storytelling right from the beginning, wanting to know what happened in both timelines.
• The characters in this story have my entire heart. Emily Henry manages to craft characters that jump off the page, that are so real, so deeply flawed and so, human, it just made me want to sob. I very much loved Poppy, bubbly, fun, excited and always ready for spontaneous adventures versus Alex, a little more cautious and discreet, but absolutely wonderful. I adored them both and loved how their different personalities clashed.

• This book is friends to lovers EXCELLENCE, honestly. It’s right here at the top of my list. This has everything I adore in this kind of romantic trope. The deep knowledge of each other, the way you know what makes each other tick, the way you can hurt each other the deepest, as well. I loved loved loved seeing how profound their relationship was, how WAY back they go and how deep their feelings ran, after so, so many years knowing each other. The tension was ON POINT, the slow-burning, yet long-coming romance was ON POINT and I loved it, okay.
• The banter, the chemistry, this was SO MUCH FUN okay.
• Even if this book is primarily a romance and therefore, primarily focused on Alex and Poppy’s relationship, I really appreciated the inclusion of Poppy’s job. It was really interesting to see her hesitancy about it all and I found her growth, her wanting to find her own happiness in that field again, SO good to follow, as well.

OVERALL

☂️

If you’re a fan of contemporary romance AND the friends to lovers trope, read this book. I swear you won’t regret it. I adored it and am going to scream about this forever.

FINAL RATING : 5 stars!

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📚 Books similar to You and me on Vacation that I’d recommend:

• Check out Beach Read by Emily Henry
• More friends to lovers romances in YA books here!

Did you read You and Me On Vacation, or do you want to? Any more adult contemporary romances recs for me? Let me know in comments!

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