He's tall, quiet, and eager to see the library. I'm short, loud, and hoping someone comes by and invites us to a real party.
You and Me on Vacation
by Emily Henry
Genre: Romantic Comedy
About: Poppy has always loved travelling; she can be whoever she wants to be on the road, and befriend totally random strangers. But it's going on vacation with her best friend, Alex, that soon becomes the highlight of every year. Until something happens one summer trip between them and two years past before they speak again.
The Good
This is so charming and lovely to read. The two main characters are very well fleshed out and their chemistry feels real. I really enjoyed the pacing of this novel as well; we jump from the present vacation to their past ones, counting down from their first vacation together to The Croatia Trip - the trip that caused them to stop speaking to each other for years. This is very well written and I found a lot of the dialogue genuinely funny to read. I particularly loved how this book reminded me of the romance in A Daughter of Smoke and Bone (in its tone and the personalities of Poppy and Alex, aka Karou and Akiva). Obviously the two stories are very different but it has the same quirky humour and a similar dynamic between the lovers that was very endearing to me.
The Bad
I feel like a lot of romance novels these days are overcompensating for how toxic this genre used to be. Thankfully the trend of boys watching the girl sleep has mostly gone and being obsessed with someone to the point of not having friends or a life outside the relationship is no longer painted as true love. However, in place of this we now get characters who are so over-the-top considerate of each other's feelings. The relationships morph into something akin to therapy and no one is allowed to be an asshole for one tiny, regretful second. This book has a few of these moments and it pulls me out of the romance because I just think: god, can they not have a single bad take or say something deliberately hurtful for one human moment? Must we be kind and considerate at all times to the people we're in love with? I know that sounds monstrous, and of course you never want to hurt the person you love most in the world, but I can't help rolling my eyes at these (otherwise very good) romance novels that have paragraphs and paragraphs dedicated to understanding exactly the other person's POV and 'correcting' any possible bad takes a reader could think a character might be having. Just let them be assholes for a moment and we'll forgive them later.
The Somewhat Iffy
The two main characters each have a whole psychological profile and are really well developed. Even their parents are given pretty well defined personalities and this further aides our understanding of Poppy and Alex. But it's the siblings and the friends that feel very thrown in. There are no substantial side characters for me and none of the people they meet on vacation are very memorable. In fact how some of them pop back into their lives years later read a little cheesy and unrealistic to me.
Overall
Buttery, warm and - almost - perfect, to quote Poppy. The romance is super cute, we travel to some great places and I thought the way the story switched from past to present time worked really well.
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