People We Meet on Vacation | A Book that Satisfies Wanderlust

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

Alex and Poppy may be polar opposites, but they’re best friends. Most of their friendship is long distance, but every summer they go on a week-long vacation. That is, until two years ago when their vacation was ruined. Poppy convinces Alex to take one last vacation together to make things right again. Can she fix everything in just one week? 

I was so excited when I received this ARC from Berkley. It was a wonderful escape. Who doesn’t love a book that satisfies their wanderlust? The story alternated between Alex and Poppy’s current trip and all of their precious ones. Along the way, you see how they’ve never crossed a line that would threaten their friendship, including exploring a romantic relationship. You are also figuring out what caused them to stop talking in the first place.

The buildup to romance was good and I did appreciate “watching” Alex and Poppy develop over the years, but the story was a bit slow for me. The alternative timelines was creative, but added a lot of length to the book (some chapters were extremely long). Ultimately, readers get to see the two for one week every year and in that time span, both an amazing vacation and character development must happen. When their relationship finally began to really progress I was relieved. Overall this was a solid friend-to-lover romance, but one that could have been pared down for me.