Ever since I managed to get an eARC of Beach Read back in 2020 I have been loving Emily Henry’s books, so in 2021 I requested You and Me on Vacation thinking I would read it straight away… but I did not. I fell a little bit out of reading romance last year and just wasn’t in the mood for it until recently. Now since then, Henry’s Book Lovers has taken booktok and bookstagram by storm and got me back into wanting to read romance, so I picked up a copy of You and Me on Vacation and decided to pick it up. And I am kicking myself for not picking it up sooner.
You and Me on Vacation is about Poppy and Alex, two best friends who made a pact to take a holiday together every summer. We follow them over the years as they learn about one another and make memories together, their bond deepening. But two summers ago it all went wrong and they stopped talking, but this summer they have the chance to go on one final trip and rekindle their friendship… or maybe more.
I adored this, what starts as ‘enemies’ and I use that in the loosest of terms as they just don’t like one another off the bat, turns to a deep and beautiful friendship which turns to more. It had some of my favourite tropes and themes, and was a really intriguing story that connected you to the characters. It made me laugh and cry, and I am so gutted I didn’t pick it up sooner, because it has to be my favourite of her books so far!
I loved the way it was told from Poppy’s perspective, with us having a flashback to their previous trips every other chapter. This growing dread of what was bound to go wrong as they move through towards that fateful trip two years ago, especially as Henry does so well to build up their friendship in the flashbacks, that when crossed with the awkwardness of them in the current time you are left questioning, what went wrong? Can they come back from it? I just think that she had such a good balance between the tension in the present and the lightheartedness of the memories, it just built perfectly throughout the book.
Although I liked it being told from Poppy’s perspective, I would’ve liked having some of Alex’s perspective because it would’ve been really interesting with how different they are. But also, because throughout the book you were so unsure of his feelings and thoughts, all the while being given Poppy’s internal panic over the situation. However, I really do think that because we didn’t get Alex’s POV it did push me through the book quicker because I was desperate to find out what had happened and what would happen.
I honestly think there was a good amount of angst within this, the angst of broken friendships, of yearning for the other person, of wishing that things could go back to normal… just *chef’s kiss*. But mixed with Henry’s witty characters and the banter between them it wasn’t too much, so it settled really well with me, it was just addictive! And I have always loved a bit of yearning, it just always gets to me in fiction!
I also knew just from reading the first page that I wanted to annotate this one, and I was so glad I did! Henry’s writing just really hits home for me sometimes, and there were so many times that I just found myself relating to Poppy, which really made me want to annotate even more. I found that she was able to articulate some feelings that I have so well, because it really helped me think them through on reflection.
Overall, I adored this book. Poppy and Alex were just so well written, and they also felt really realistic, as if they were actually people that you knew. It just felt like such a genuine connection, which I loved because one of the things that takes me out of a romance sometimes is the thought that ‘this would never happen’ etc, but I didn’t get that at all with this one. It has to be my favourite Emily Henry book so far, and I’m really intrigued to see what she does with her new book Happy Place. I can’t wait to see what the characters are like because I think they are definitely the selling point of Henry’s books!
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