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abby_can_read's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked this "friends to lovers" situation -- college friends with a slow burn. I enjoyed this book. I struggled to get into, but once I got in, I was hooked. I liked the two timelines -- one with the flashbacks and one in the present day -- and I liked seeing how their feelings and relationships changed over the years. I liked the pacing. The characters were alright and their relationships were interesting with how they changed over the years. The plot was decent despite being predictable.
Graphic: Sexual content and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying and Grief
Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy
persephone09's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent
savvyrosereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Alex and Poppy are polar opposites but best friends who take an annual Summer Trip together…until one summer goes wrong and they stop speaking for two years.
Yes, it’s true, I’m finally back in my Emily Henry era and this time I refuse to stop until I’ve finished her entire backlist. Fortunately, that’s no hardship, because I’m convinced EmHen is one of the genuinely great writers of our time. Her prose is so beautiful and her stories are so meaningful, and I absolutely devoured this book.
I do wish these doofuses had just TALKED TO EACH OTHER more and sooner, but overall this was so good, their chemistry was so engaging, and there were also so many laugh out loud funny moments that I had a great time. Absolutely highly recommend!
CW: Mentions of death of parent; past bullying
Moderate: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying
isxelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
also i think this book made me knock down my love for friends to lovers by few good pegs.
ugh alex. after that first trip, this man was GONE. HIS WHOLE LIFE has been about her since that moment. ugh. this man watched her fear of being pregnant by some other guy NOT EVEN HIM. NOTHING had even transpired between them yet. AND HE GOES OUT and gets a FUCKING VASECTOMY. idk if it was emotional cheating but god did it feel like it. good thing he realized and ended things with sarah immediately
this might be the only book where i would have actually liked an epilogue that included
them having kids.
some of my highlights and quotes below
“He goes on, quiet and controlled once more. “I want all that stuff my brothers have,” he says. “I want to get married and have kids and grandkids and get really fucking old with my wife, and to live in our house for so long that it smells like us. Like, I want to pick out fucking furniture and paint colors and do all that Linfield stuff you think is so unbearable, okay? That’s what I want. And I don’t want to wait. No one knows how long they get, and I don’t want ten more years to go by and to find out I have fucking dick cancer or something and it’s too late for me. That stuff is what matters to me.”” - Alex Nilsen
““You could have always looked,” he says in a low voice. “Just so you know.”
“Well, you could’ve too,” I say.
“Trust me,” he says. “I did.””
“God, Poppy, of course all of it was because of you. Everything is because of you. Everything” - Alex Nilsen
“I’ve been trying to stop loving you since that night you went inside to make out with the pothead water taxi driver.” - Alex Nilsen
““No,” he says, “what it makes me is someone who was embarrassed to still remember exactly what you were wearing the first time I saw you, and what you ordered once at McDonald’s in Tennessee, and who needed to preserve some small measure of dignity.”” - Alex Nilsen
““I meant it, and I knew I meant it,” he says. “It wasn’t an impulse. I knew for years that I loved you, and I thought about it from every single angle and knew what I wanted before I ever kissed you. We went two years without talking, and I thought about you every day and I gave you the space I thought you wanted, and that whole time I asked myself what I’d be willing to do, to give up, if you decided you wanted to be with me too. I spent that whole time alternating between trying to move on and let you go, so you could be happy, and looking at job postings and apartments near you, just in case.”” - Alex Nilsen
“I’m not a vacation from your real life,” he says. “I’m not a novelty experience. I’m someone who’s been in love with you for a decade, and you should never have kissed me if you didn’t know that you wanted this, all the way. It wasn’t fair.” - Alex Nilsen
““I’m afraid of you realizing I bore you. Or meeting someone else. Or being unhappy and staying. And . . .” His voice catches. “I’m afraid of loving you for our entire lives, and then having to say goodbye. I’m afraid of you dying, and the world feeling useless. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep getting out of bed if you’re gone, and if we had kids, they’d have these horrible lives where their amazing mom is gone, and their dad can’t look at them.”” - Alex Nilsen
Minor: Bullying
gracescanlon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Still, adorable, and I’m a little mad about it. How can the thing keeping these two apart be so DUMB, but the book be enjoyable enough to earn 4 stars? Ugh. I’m annoyed at myself for seeing this book’s glaring flaw and liking it anyway, and I’m annoyed with Ms. Henry for charming me enough to do so.
4 stars — begrudgingly.
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
bookswithbethx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Death of parent
celestepaed's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Animal death and Bullying
abidavisf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
You and Me (People We Meet) On Vacation is a beautiful tale of love, found family, friendship and, dare I say it, millennial ennui. It teaches its readers that there is more to life than the goals we are taught to aspire to in our life, that, though we’ve been taught that these things will bring happiness, it is 1. not a failure to not achieve them and 2. they are not the only thing that can make your life worthy and your presence valuable.
Poppy and Alex have a piece of my heart, and they always will.
Moderate: Bullying, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
redhothabanero's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying and Sexual content
laura227_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent