A romcom book that got me out of a reading slump

Fellow Book Readers,

 

In a reading slump and need a simple but engaging romcom? You are at the right blog! 

People We Meet on Vacation by author Emily Henry is the book that you can just pick up and start reading, and you will not even realize how far you have read this book until something important or just nature's call knocks at your door. 

The book follows the characters Poppy and Alex. These two are stark opposites of each other, and this can be seen when they first meet each other at the university too and ssumed that they would never get along with each other, but I guess fate (or the author), had other plans for them and just shoved them to share a car as they came back from their respective homes, which was surprising to see that they were not as far from each other as they thought, unlike their personalities. From then on, a bond was formed, and what started was a friendship that would span over a decade with one vacation for a week every year till things would get complicated as the love that they shared with/for each other wasn't just platonic anymore.

Poppy Wright was a character who can be described in terms of how loud, filled with wanderlust, spontaneous, or wild-spirited she was in her approach towards life, her fear of vulnerability, or her slight issues with feeling out of place; I couldn't help but see myself in her. As for Alex Nilsen, he's the kind of being that I, at times, aspire to be (also aspire to be with), with how structured his life was, how he sought stability, and introspecting through life with a sprinkle of dry humor.

There characters are seen growing through well-penned narrative delivered by the author as they transition from college-goers/ budget travellers to adults with successful careers, Poppy establishing herself as a Travel writer, and Alex becoming a High School English Teacher in their hometown, Linefields, though Poppy started feeling a little lost and unhappy as Alex, the only perfect constant in her life, started fading away after there trip to Croatia in which they kissed each other and realised (more like Poppy truly realised, Alex has been fawning over her for the past decade) that what she actual felt for him was not actually platonic but something entirely else but due to the fear of ruining their frienship, they left the matter at that, leaving each other too for 2 years, with no contact. 
After everything that went down, Poppy wanted to take another chance in mending her relationship with Alex. They went together on one last trip, or rather, attended the wedding of David, one of many brothers of Alex. 
Things happened, hot Palm Springs was very hot (but it was genuinely hot, though; read the book to know). They talked, stuff happened, they fell out again, and then when they got back together, there was nothing in their world that could break what they had, have, and always will have. 

The thing that I liked about this book was the fact that the characters were so nicely sketched, blending so easily but in a quirky and beautiful manner that you can actually, and believe me when I say actually, imagine how they must be behaving. Another thing that I liked was just how starkly contrasting their personalities were, but when they were together, the difference became the least of the concern. However, whenever they were together, it was like them against the world. How Alex, who hated social interactions with all his might, always used to go straight to the bar, just because Poppy liked sitting at the bar. How dramatic they got with each other, how ridiculous their antics were, and how vulnerability played a big but almost unnoticeable role in their relationship.
As for what I disliked, there's not much, except how at a few points I felt that Poppy was using Alex or just Alex being a complete simp for her, like it at times felt too much but not entirely...? 

So, this was my take on this book, I took, like a day to finish this book, I absolutely liked it, is a light hearted, funny book and is a genuine 8/10 for me.

(P.s. The book is now getting adapted into a movie by netflix though, I am rather scared that they might ruin this fabulous book like they did with some others, so fingers crossed!)

Appreciate you for spending time here,

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Aditi

(Read Poets Society)