Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - People We Meet on Vacation

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

720 reviews

packiliveshere's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

lmm0's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

FORMAT: Combo of physical & audio, narrated by my favorite, Julia Whelan

RECAP: Poppy & Alex are total opposites but have been best friends since a college ride home, sharing one vacation every summer—until a trip 2 years ago ruined everything. Now, stuck in a rut, Poppy knows her last real happiness was with Alex & convinces him to take one final trip, one that she's hoping will fix things. But unspoken truths still stand between them. What could go wrong?

REVIEW: I've come to the conclusion that anything Emily Henry comes out with will be a 5 star read for me. Was this one of my favorites of hers? Nope. Was it still written beautifully, making me laugh and smile and fall in love with the characters? Yep! This book is perfect for readers who enjoy feel-good, funny stories about friends finding their way back to each other & falling in love slowly (friends to lovers trope), all while traveling to exciting places. I also want to mention the dual timelines aspect, as I know some readers don't care for that.

Content Warnings

lovelymalrin's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

My first Emily Henry book. Was a really slow start but oh it just built and built. There were tears (from me and the book) there was growth, there was so much earning. Loved both the main characters and found the both really relatable despite the fact that they were so different.
Really enjoyed, can't wait to read more of her books.

Content Warnings

grumpyreading's review against another edition

4.0

funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

👙 People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry 👙

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poppy and Alex were best friends, despite having nothing in common. Until two years ago - when everything was ruined and they haven’t spoken since. Poppy has everything she should want, but feels stuck, and knows the last time she was truly happy was her last trip with Alex. Trying to fix things, she’s convinced him to take one more vacation together and try to fix everything.

I read this a few years ago and didn’t love it, but I can’t remember why! It was before I started reading romance so maybe I just wasn’t into the genre. On my re-read, I really enjoyed it! I quickly remembered it when I started reading, and was immersed in the story. I feel like I didn’t fully connect with Alex, but enjoyed the characters and the plot and the setting of Palm Springs. I feel like the dual timeline gave me a good background and insight into the characters that let me understand why they were how they were now. I do wish I felt the chemistry a bit more, but overall enjoyed this book and the funny writing!

Read this if you like:

friends to lovers
dual timeline
second chance romance (ish)

Vibes: 👙⛱️✈️🌴🧡

Song that matches the vibe: Cloud 9 by Beach Bunny

Full review including content warnings on my StoryGraph.

Content Warnings

nowakatie's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A fun romance palate cleanser, and now I’m mad I don’t have a hot boy best friend from college who wants to travel with me and is also secretly in love with me. Took me a while to get into fully because I knew exactly where this was going from page one, but the journey to get there was enjoyable.

Content Warnings

prairieraven's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Cute little story and a relaxing read. Witty, heartfelt and a few places where I definitely had second hand embarrassment for the characters. People We Meet on Vacation is a good fit for readers who enjoy romantic comedies, travel stories, missed connections, and Norah Ephron films or readers who are looking for a relaxing slow burn romance.

Content Warnings

and_so_it_goes's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have mixed feelings on this. I loved the middle, especially the hints of serious topics like Poppy’s childhood and midlife crisis and Alex’s childhood, but the fairy tale conclusion disappointed me. They just went to therapy off page and had no conclusion about their different life goals. Saying “they are each other’s home” is not enough for the conflict. The conflict which was why they weren’t together at all. I expected Alex to have some sort of arc about actually not

wanting kids. He cries thinking about her dying in a miscarriage and also later mentions he could be a horrible father after he loses her. And Poppy just says that he still got up in the end with his mother, she wouldn’t be any different. Alex went to therapy but the only conclusion was him being with Poppy. Poppy quit her job due to her arc, which I did like, but he never had to re-evaluate any of his goals that stopped them from being together in his, besides his aversion to being happy.

I liked that Poppy and Alex aren’t the best people in this, especially with their exes. They are weird for each other, but I think the ending and the third act break up ruined this for me. A time skip was risky and they needed to actually talk more. What actually happened in Croatia was also not a

big deal from what it was setting up to be. I would’ve thought the pregnancy incident would be more impactful instead of a kiss.

Content Warnings