you and me on vacation by Emily Henry

36th book of 2021

Release dates: July 8th 2021

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin UK to send me a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Reading period: Apr 23th 2021, Apr 30th 2021, May 01st 2021 – May 02nd 2021

Summary

TWO FRIENDS
TEN SUMMER TRIPS
THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE

12 SUMMERS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they’ll never speak again.

11 SUMMERS AGO: They’re forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.

10 SUMMERS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver.
Poppy holds his hand the whole way.

7 SUMMERS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.

2 SUMMERS AGO: It all goes wrong.

THIS SUMMER: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

Rating

Review

I am sad that I didn’t like it as much as I would like.

The concept of this story hyped me when I read the synopsis, especially that it’s about travels at a time that it’s difficult to do so. Also, I like that you will see the relationship between Poppy and Alex evolves through those journeys.
However, the execution wasn’t for me. I wasn’t fond of all the flashbacks that alternate with the present moments; they put me off of what is happening now. I was interested in those past trips at the beginning of the book, but I found that they became redundant at the end and didn’t add a lot to the story.
Moreover, Poppy always talks about the trip from two summers ago without telling a lot, so you have a “suspense”. Sadly you quickly understand what happened, but the whole story doesn’t appear before a long time in the novel.

I liked one element in the book, but Emily Henry is a good author for that, and it’s the characters. I like the complexity of them, how they revolve around each other. I am a big fan of the character’s backstory, and here I was served. They are profoundly human. Even if I didn’t like their behaviours, you want to understand them by knowing more about them and who they truly are. I like that you have complex characters stories intricated to this main story.

I can only advise you to read this book to see if you like it, but I know that many people liked it a lot more than me, so go ahead and see yourself.

Liz.