You and Me on Vacation: The ultimate friends to lovers romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Beach Read

Poppy and Alex come from the same small town in Ohio but first meet at college 12 years ago. She's an extrovert who can't wait to travel the world. Alex loves khakis and always drives the speed limit. Although they loathe each other initially, they become friends and develop a routine of having a Summer break together. They grow up, Alex becomes a teacher in their home town whereas Poppy becomes a travel blogger and lands her dream job for an aspirational travel magazine which pays for her to travel the world looking for new and exciting holiday ideas. Two years ago in Croatia Poppy and Alex had a falling out and have barely spoken since, Poppy has come to realise that without Alex's friendship the rest of her life has no meaning, or perhaps that she has achieved all her dreams and still isn't happy. So she reaches out to Alex to persuade him to go on vacation with her once again, trying to recreate the excitement of when they travelled on a shoestring. Told from Poppy's POV in alternating flashbacks to previous holidays and the present day holiday we see how these two opposites became friends and see whether they can make it something more. I really enjoyed Beach Read so when the publisher offered me an ARC of Emily Henry's new book I jumped at the chance. I thought I was clever to see that this felt like One Day meets Normal People, and then this morning I thought it had a bit of a When Harry Met Sally vibe. Then I saw that the book's blurb specifically mentions two of those books so maybe I'm not so clever. The only problem is, I've seen One Day and Normal People and When Harry Met Sally and this didn't bring anything new to the table for me. Two people who hide their feelings because they are afraid of losing a friendship, one last chance to make it right, developing a deep bond when the issue of sex is taken off the table. I liked it, but I didn't love it (and how many times have I said that line in the past 12 months) and the book contained a pet peeve of mine, where one character goes 'all in' and then issues an ultimatum to the other character - you have thought it through to the nth degree and reached a decision, maybe over weeks or months, and you want the other person to just on the spot get on board or get lost? Gah! Makes my blood boil. Anyhoo, I think this would have worked better for me if it wasn't hooked on Alex and Poppy's annual holiday, if it had been told in flashbacks from Poppy's visits home for the holidays perhaps? I still enjoyed Emily Henry's writing, it was just the story itself that didn't work for me this time. I was invited to read a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

as always, painfully real and lovely!

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