People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

4/5 stars

This is everything I dreamed it would be AND MORE.

The story follows two best friends, Alex and Poppy who have been best friends for a little over a decade. They have nothing in common. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

First things first, Alex and Poppy's relationship is literally my dream. To have a best friend that knows you better than anyone and is simply your person is all anyone can ask for. And the way that Emily Henry portrays this friends-to-lovers trope is just freaking fantastic. I feel like everyone's dream is to find their best friend who also happens to be their significant other and Alex and Poppy's relationship is the embodiment of that dream.

Their romance was a slow burn, but it was because their romance was held off that I felt like I knew the characters for so long. Emily Henry crafted characters that were so genuine and had so much chemistry. The fact that they are polar opposites, wanting completely different things from life yet they work so well together and love each other so deeply for so long. A relationship like that with someone is just a complete dream (if not your dream, it's my dream).

I don't want to spoil too much, but towards the end of the book Poppy gives this incredibly heartfelt and kind of quirky speech at the bar AND IT HAD ME CRYING FOR LIKE AN HOUR. Jeez. Probably one of the best rom-com speeches I've read/heard.

Anyways, all I have to say now is that I love Emily Henry and I will definitely be reading more of her work in the future.

"I'll never belong anywhere like I belong with you"