People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Review

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Mastery of Writing: 2 out of 5

Characters: 3 out of 5

Plot: 3 out of 5

Uniqueness: 3 out of 5

Enjoyment: 2 out of 5

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is a fun and fluffy story that despite the cute romance and quirky situations, was an overly sweet novel that left a bit of a toothache after reading.

Booktok has been going crazy over Emily Henry’s books, so I had to go ahead and give them a read. Romantic comedy has never been one of my regularly frequented genres, so Emily Henry became my introduction to this new obsession. I was in the mood for a light-hearted low-stakes book, and I can confidently say that this book did not disappoint that expectation. Opposites attract is among one of my favorite tropes, so I was very excited to give this book a read.

This story follows two Poppy and Alex-two college friends who consecutively take an annual summer trip together. Alex and Poppy are friends-nothing else. Over time, their friendship has deteriorated, and Poppy has one last trip to try and fix it. This novel features descriptions that will make you want to take a nice vacation, opposites attract and friends to lovers tropes, and of course, a little bit of steaminess to cleanse your palette. In my opinion, it’s the perfect light-hearted read for your beach trip. However, if you are wishing for something with substance, I would recommend looking for a different book.

The writing style of this novel was a bit of a disappointment. I felt like I had to drag my eyes across the page to reach the finish line rather than feeling pulled by the story and the mastery of the writing. I felt like I had to finish the book because of the hype around it but struggled with interest. Additionally, I felt as if the novel was about 150 pages way too long. Many dead and uneventful scenes would have made this read a lot better by cutting from the novel. Things were dragged out quite torturously. I am a slow-burn lover, but this was in no way shape, or form a slow burn. This was excessively unneeded writing.

The author also implemented the use of flashbacks throughout this story. My opinion on flashbacks is somewhat wary, mainly because I feel like they are often misused. In this case, flashbacks were misused.

As for the characters, I felt as if they were extremely flat. Neither Poppy nor Alex struck me as a character I was rooting for. I felt like the characters were quite selfish and uncooperative. I was not supportive of their motives, and when things went wrong, I didn’t feel any sympathy for them. I found their personalities quite annoying. As for their romantic chemistry, I had a hard time really shipping Poppy and Alex together. The tension between them was themed around selfishness and the inability to maturely communicate.

—-SPOILER—--

When Poppy and Alex finally fell in love, I was almost exasperated rather than satisfied. The frequent flashbacks and the awkward tension had me knowing that the two had a romantic interaction in the past, so the huge reveal was not a shocker. I felt aggravated at their relationship, and was bummed that the two characters didn’t seem to grow as friends, as a couple, or as individuals except for getting laid towards the end of the book. I am personally not interested in seeing static characters perform privileged or mundane tasks, so this was not of my liking to me.

—-END OF SPOILER—------

My biggest problem with this novel was the feeling of fakeness it had. This novel seemed to be one whose biggest plot points were ones of privilege and carefreeness. Reading a novel about taking lavish and fun trips around the world while complaining about not being happy because of the inability to properly communicate is of no interest to me. The main characters were extremely selfish in their actions and dialogue, and I couldn’t relate to nor fully support them as the novel went on. I was uninterested in their happiness as a reader. I felt like the draw of the book was the mere aesthetic and vector art style cover.

While I enjoyed this book to an extent, I couldn’t help but feel a false sense of enjoyment throughout the novel. I still am not sure if I enjoyed it or if I am convincing myself I enjoyed it because “everyone else did.” In the end, I wasn’t the biggest fan of People We Meet on Vacation, and am a little let down by the hype surrounding it.