The novel People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is a romance novel that is written from the point of view of the main character, Poppy, who is a social-media influencer who gets to travel around the world and stay at 5-star resorts as her job.
In the past few years, she has grown apart from her best friend, Alex, and at the start of the book she ponders a phone call to him, deciding to text him instead to catch up. Alex was her travel partner prior to the start of the book, and they would go on all of the all-inclusive vacations provided by her job together. Luckily, Alex and Poppy do catch up and reignite an old friendship with a trip to Alex’s brother’s wedding. Together, they head to California to reminisce on their past and wonder what the future is going to bring.
Henry switches between the past and the future to add depth and interest for the reader as to what will actually happen between the beginning and the end. The theme throughout the book that is illustrated is that a friend will love you despite the extent to which they see your faults. This is prevalent between Poppy and Alex’s friendship throughout the entire novel.
Fear of her friends turning against her is possibly Poppy’s greatest fault. This is because of her paranoia that comes back to haunt her later, making her realize that if she wants something or someone, she has to jump at the chance. This is because her friends only want the best for her, which she needs to realize. This theme is the reason this is one of my favorite books currently, because the building to the climax of this book is my favorite, and very impressive as to how long it takes her to get to the main event at the end of the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a funny romance novel with a twist, especially anyone who enjoys slow-paced, dramatic building to the main climax. However, if the reader is someone who usually enjoys a faster novel with a fast plot, this may not be the book for you. If a reader can endure the long beginnings, the engaging storyline is enough to world-build for the reader and offer a great ending. Overall, I personally loved this book as it was such an excellent mix of humor and a deep-feeling plot.