People We Meet on Vacation
About the book
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
This was my last Emily Henry backlist novel, and I’d been sort of putting it off because I was sad to have finished all of them. But with the movie adaptation coming out, I knew it was time!
Overall, of course, I had fun with this book and liked it. (IMO, it’s impossible not to have fun with one of Henry’s books.) I think this book may have some of her best banter! It’s also deeply emotional and has one of my favorite endings of hers.
The thing that kept this one from being a favorite is the way the book toys with the reader by dangling the question of what happened two summers ago over our heads for the entire book. I wouldn’t mind it for a few chapters; I recognize that’s a method to moving the plot forward and enables us to jump back and forth in time every other chapter. But I thought it was drawn out too long — by the time we “arrived” at what actually happened, I had pretty much inferred and it didn’t have much of a punch.
One other thing some people may want to know is that there’s less spice here than we’ve come to expect from Henry — it’s by no means closed door, there’s just a bit lighter touch. I didn’t mind that; just an observation that I think is interesting, as this is one of her earlier books.
Still, another solid EmHen complete, and now I have to join the rest of the world in waiting for her next pub day!
Content and trigger warnings
Sexual content
Death of a parent
Pregnancy scare
Alcohol/drug use
