BOTM: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

If the author’s name sounds familiar that is because Flair’s Book of the Month pick for July comes from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry. Henry’s books have been featured on Bustle, Buzzfeed, Oprah Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly—giving her a platform to tell incredible stories about the impact of love, life, and family on everyday people. A self-proclaimed donut enthusiast, this American writer knows how to pull readers in with her incredible characters. “Beach Read” was an international bestseller and her newest masterpiece, “People We Meet on Vacation” has completely stolen our hearts. If you have loved any of her other books or are looking for a great read this summer, we highly recommend taking a virtual vacation and diving into this 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.”

― Emily Henry, “People We Meet on Vacation”

This fun travel-themed novel centers around two protagonists, Alex and Poppy, who are first strangers, then acquaintances, and ultimately best friends. The story is set over ten summers, summer vacations to be more exact, and takes readers through the duo’s entire friendship. They are polar opposites, with Poppy being an outgoing and confident free-spirit who dropped out of university to pursue her travel writing career, and Alex being an introverted polo-wearing Ph.D. holding English teacher. It seems impossible that they would want to spend one day together never mind a decade, but their differences are what attract them to one another and the cliche “opposites attract” definitely applies here. 

“Tomorrow we will love each other a little more, and the next day, and the next day. And even on those days when one or both of us is having a hard time, we’ll be here, where we are completely known, completely accepted, by the person whose every side we love wholeheartedly. I’m here with all the versions of him I’ve met over twelve years of vacations, and even if the point of life isn’t just being happy, right now, I am. Down to the bones.”

― Emily Henry, “People We Meet on Vacation”

“People We Meet on Vacation” follows an unconventional plot, jumping from the present to the past telling the story of the two friends starting with how they met in university to the present time where there is an unspoken rift between them that keeps readers questioning just what happened to these besties. Will they travel together again? Will their friendship be mended? How exactly did a trip two years ago ruin everything between them? Each chapter not only explores the relationship between the friends but is a coming of age story where adults are forced to make decisions that affect the rest of their lives, will Poppy and Alex make the right ones? As readers learn more about Poppy and Alex they also take vacations with them from the United States to Europe laughing at the travel experiences that are all too relatable.

“Maybe things can always get better between people who want to do a good job loving each other. Maybe that’s all it takes.”

― Emily Henry, “People We Meet on Vacation”