REVIEW: "You and Me on Vacation"/ "People We Met on Vacation" by Emily Henry

Hi readers! How are you?
I've promised we've kept writing something in English too and what better occasion than write about a book I've loved so much?
I'm sure you already know Emily Henry, writer of ya and adult fiction, fantasy, sci-fi and contemporary novels, but in case you don't, I really suggest you not to loose this book.

 

Title: You and Me on Vacation (People We Met on Vacation)
Author: Emily Henry
Publishing Date: July 8th 2021 (May 11th 2021)
Publisher:  Penguin UK (Berkley Books)
Pages: 368 (384)
Price: 9,72 €

Plot: TWO FRIENDS
TEN SUMMER TRIPS
THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE

12 SUMMERS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again.

11 SUMMERS 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 SUMMERS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver.
Poppy holds his hand the whole way.

7 SUMMERS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.

2 SUMMERS AGO: It all goes wrong.

THIS SUMMER: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

You and Me on Vacation is a love story for fans of When Harry Met Sally and One Day. Get ready to travel the world, snort with laughter and - most of all - lose your heart to Poppy and Alex.

Review: 

Rating: 5 stars! ⭐

** I've received this arc copy in exchange of an honest review. So, first of all thanks to @prhinternational and @netgalley for the free book, that was, of course, one of my most anticipated release of the entire 2021! **

 

This book kept me hanging until the very end!

Last year I fell in love with Beach Read and since then I knew Emily Henry would become one of my favorite contemporary authors. I was right, because "You and me on vacation", (I'm honest, I prefer the "People We Meet on Vacation" 's title) is even more amazing.

I was a little bit nervous to read it due to my high expectations, but like when you find the right pair of shoes for you, all it took were just few pages to be immediately tangled in this new story.

If I adore Augustus and January, I have to admit Poppy and Alexander stole my entire heart, Poppy with her sparkling joy and Alexander with his kindness and steadiness, quiet but with a witty humor I find so lovely. In fact, they are both lovable and so supportive with each other I wanted to hug them most of the time.

The story follows them through two lines: we have the present situation, where we don't know what happened two years ago to divide them, and Poppy is trying to find a way to be newly inspired in her work and to be happy again, thing that seems to be related to Alexander's absence in her life. So, she plans a vacation not sponsored by her work (without telling Alex) and, taking advantage of one of his brother's wedding, she  invites him to join her, so she can remind him the old times she misses so much and she hopes he hadn't completely forgotten. The other line follows flashbacks that take the readers in the past, from the first day they met to every single vacation they had together, in an intricate network of beautiful places, people met randomly, laughs, pillow talks and moments so full of emotional tension that I hold my breath more than once. As such, you see the present's events and gradually understand better their backgrounds as individual and together. The flashbacks are little flashes, of course, but they show the important moments of every occasion and, in a certain sense, they easily become a memory the reader will cherish too.

Besides the entertaining way this author has to write a story, I think the key of this book is the way we can see and even feel how Alex and Poppy's love for each other grows and takes root during all those years, even if they live in different places and have made different life's choices. That love is so full that fills the readers too (and moved me more than once), but it doesn't seem enough to make that jump to change things between them, blocked by different fears Alex and Poppy consciously and unconsciously have.

Bad timing, other people in their lives, wrong ideas about what the other may or not feel in return.. all reflects how sometimes life could be easier and without so many turns and twists if we just could be able to make that right step, to say and explain what we think or feel, so we can prevent misunderstandings and hurt. However, life doesn't flow like this, in an idyllic and perfect way. Sometimes we need more time, sometimes we make mistakes, we fix them, it's human. Sometimes, we need really to understand ourselves before being capable to be honest with the others, even with the people we love or care the most. This story is a reminder that even if we can do or say something wrong, sometimes the solution is not going back before that, but change the prospective and understand what the real problem is.

More than that, to quote Alex and Poppy, this book "speaks to me!" I totally understand the loneliness that characterizes them: the feeling to be alone even in a group of people, where you can't find a real connection because, no matter how hard you try, they still consider you different (or laugh at you behind your back) and, at the same time, the necessity to always behave good and responsible because that's what other people expects you to do, expectations that make you stuck in a figure that in a certain way describes you, but not entirely fits with your person. It's something that hurts, a lot, but that doesn't mean you have something wrong. Even more, it doesn't have to stop you to find your happiness and it doesn't mean that, out there, there isn't someone that will love and appreciate you entirely, someone you can be yourself with, without fears or restrictions about what they could think. Maybe it needs time, but we have just to jump and take the risks, if they're worth, so we can find our true "home".

So, I think I'll talk endlessly about this book (and if you have read it, PLEASE, write me because I would love to chat about it!!), but the simple truth is that at the beginning of the book Emily said "This book is for you", and it really is.

If you ever read this little review, thank you, Emily. I've laughed, I was moved and I became so much  affectionate to those characters, because they're so concrete I can figure them in real life with their strength and weaknesses, and just as they are, they don't deserve anything but happiness.

 

Thanks again to @prhinternational and to you, readers, if you found the time to read it until the end! Have you read it? Will you? Let me know! 💓

- Chiara