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People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Romance

People We Meet on Vacation

BOTY FINALIST

Each year thousands of members vote for our Book of the Year award—congrats to People We Meet on Vacation!

3peat author

Emily Henry is officially a 3-time author at BOTM, which is a pretty big deal!

Early Release

This is an early release that's only available to our members—the rest of the world has to wait to read it.

by Emily Henry

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Quick take

For fans of When Harry Met Sally, a story of two fools in love who might be the only ones who don't know it yet.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Happy

    Happy

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_LightRead

    Light read

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Quirky

    Quirky

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_Writerlife

    Writer's life

Synopsis

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. 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.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

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Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of People We Meet on Vacation.
People We Meet on Vacation

PROLOGUE

Five Summers Ago

On vacation, you can be anyone you want.

Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself.

In your day-to-day life, maybe you can’t even bob your head to the radio without being embarrassed, but on the right twinkly-light-strung patio, with the right steel drum band, you’ll find yourself whirling and twirling with the best of them.

On vacation, your hair changes. The water is different, maybe the shampoo. Maybe you don’t bother to wash your hair at all, or brush it, because the salty ocean water curls it up in a way you love. You think, Maybe I could do this at home too. Maybe I could be this person who doesn’t brush her hair, who doesn’t mind being sweaty or having sand in all her crevices.

On vacation, you strike up conversations with strangers, and forget that there are any stakes. If it turns out impossibly awkward, who cares? You’ll never see them again!

You’re whoever you want to be. You can do whatever you want.

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Why I love it

I ate a block of tofu from a stick in Kyoto, and it dripped down my shirt. My husband was bumped by the crowd and nudged me in the back of my shirt with his enormous greasy sausage—also on a stick—and we got the giggles. When you’re traveling with your favorite person, a few stains don’t matter. People We Meet on Vacation is a collection of in-joke travel memories. It’s equal parts hilarious and shockingly tender.

Poppy and Alex are complete opposites. But miraculously, they’re also best friends, and ever since college, they’ve taken an annual summer vacation together. From the scrappy low-budget trips of their early days to the upscale getaways made possible when Poppy lands her dream job at a travel magazine, their friendship has survived it all. Then, something happens in Croatia, and they don’t speak for two years. Now stuck in a rut and desperate to regain her love for travel, Poppy invites homebody Alex on one last trip: a messy shoestring affair, like the old days. Can she mend this rift between them and win back the heart of her best friend—and dream man?

I’m in awe of how well Emily Henry accomplished something so complex: the complete history of a friendship, told across the vacations they shared. You’ll find your heart aching even as you laugh because Poppy struggles to conceal the depth of her wild love for her straight-laced Alex. It’s a decade-long slow-burn, but this one last trip, and its final destination, is worth every little side alley detour.

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Member ratings (72,045)

  • Kim P.

    Venice, FL

    I would give this infinity hearts. Loved this book and will forever keep this book. Loved the characters and everything about it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

  • Vanessa R.

    Bethel Park, PA

    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ *chef’s kiss* oh my god Emily Henry did it again. I LOVE Poppy and Alex’s banter. I laughed, I teared up. This is a modern “When Harry Met Sally...”. My heart needed this book at this time.

  • Keely B.

    Oregon City , OR

    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I couldn’t get enough of this book…I read it in less than 24 hours, if that says anything. If you’re a hopeless romantic you need to read this book. It was an easy read that left me smiling

  • Eileen P.

    Middleboro, MA

    Couldn’t put this book down!! I really want to have drinks with Poppy and Alex, as I feel like I know them. This is an easy-reading “beach read” but there’s so much more once you dig deeper. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

  • Tiffany C.

    Skowhegan, ME

    Adorable love story that made this enemies to lovers gal think that maybe friends to lovers isn’t so bad after all! The’ witty banter had me laughing out loud and the characters were A+. 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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