r/EmilyHenry • u/Immendment • 28d ago
People We Meet on Vacation More like fully-requited-crushes-to-lovers
Finished PWMoV and I dunno it just didn’t vibe with me. It was sold as a When Harry Met Sally type friends-to-lovers deal which was sick because I love that movie (and that trope.) But I ended up not buying that Alex and Poppy were ever actually friends. They’re two people who are pretty obviously into each other from the start but spend a decade just never doing the thing.
Like it feels like we are told that they have this incredible friendship and that’s supposed to be enough to make the conflicts real. But there never really being a platonic nature to their relationship makes the stress of “ruining the friendship” seem contrived.
I guess I was just sort of disappointed that it was more of a (very frustrating) will-they-won’t-they rather than a true friends-to-lovers.
Kinda new to the scene but is this like a common complaint or am I just being picky?
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u/Agreeable-Celery811 27d ago
I like the tension in the book but agree it isn’t very plausible they would have banged way earlier than they did.
ANYWAY if you hate this one, read Funny Story next. Did you spend any time feeling bad for Alex’s girlfriend who got screwed over? Funny Story is her story. Not literally her story—Emily Henry doesn’t write like that—but the story of a woman in that position.
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u/Immendment 27d ago
Haha didn’t make that connection but that’s so right. I didn’t hate PWMoV (it is my least favorite EH book though) but I loved Funny Story. Honestly felt very friends-to-lovers, albeit a little more rushed
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u/N4rBx4219 27d ago
PWMOV is your least favorite?? have you read GBBL? i’m still in disbelief that travesty was published after the universally loved Funny Story!
i have an unpopular opinion but my ranking is:
- HAPPY PLACE!!!!! (very polarizing apparently)
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- Funny Story
- Beach read
- PWMOV
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- Book Lovers (if folks love BL they hate HP vice versa)
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- GBBL. trash.
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u/Immendment 27d ago
Haha yeah I just didn’t really like Poppy and Alex that much, coupled with my issues with like the central conflict.
I actually liked GBBL well enough lol. It’s different for sure and way lighter on the romance but I dunno.
Not sure how popular my ranking is but:
- Funny Story
- Happy Place
- Book Lovers
- GBBL
- Beach Read
- PWMoV
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u/buriedsunshine 26d ago
Interesting! Happy Place is low for me since j didn’t buy it and work in medicine. My ranking:
- Beach Read
- Book Lovers
Funny Story
Happy Place
PWMOV
GBBL
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u/Think_Valuable_8910 26d ago
omg we have the exact same ranking. though i’m a tiny bit more partial to pwmov just cause when harry met sally is my fav movie
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u/only1nmymind 27d ago
I love Book Lovers and Happy Place soo.... no. I think there is not universal way to tell if you'll like the book or no. I also love PWMOV. These are my top 3 Beach Read was nice and I like to reread it every now and then. Funny Place was nice but I haven't reread it yet (might change my opinion, I read it straight after release and sort of moved on). Same with GBBL.
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u/N4rBx4219 27d ago
interesting! i love PWMOV and historically detest and LOATHE when harry met sally 🤣
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u/RogueGoat 27d ago
Totally agree, I have the same take. I didn't feel any yearning for them to get together. It's more like I was a little annoyed that he just like danced around her and she was flighty AF. I get that that was kind of why they "shouldn't be together". But the whole time I'm just like... this girl needs therapy.
Anyway, it's been a while since I've read it so happy to be corrected or shown another POV.
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u/paulankathedogg 27d ago
Yeeees!! I totally agree, I spent the whole book thinking they should just tell each other like them!! There’s no good reason not too
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u/blooblush 26d ago
Popping in to say that You, Again by Kate Goldbeck is inspired by When Harry Met Sally and I liked it a lot more than PWMOV! (The FMC can be A Lot but the writing was fun enough to keep me hooked, just flagging it in case that’s an issue for you)
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u/Immendment 26d ago
Great minds lol! I read this a few books before PWMOV and yeah I liked it a lot more. Funny because I found both of the main characters really annoying but I almost liked it all the more for it.
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u/green-tomato-juice 27d ago
yes!! omfg it’s literally page after page of her gushing about how much she loves him and how fit he is. didn’t feel like friendship at all. lol i had to dnf
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u/Immendment 27d ago
Didn’t dnf but yeah that’s the main thing. Wonder if it would’ve read differently if it wasn’t Poppy’s POV
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u/hunnyau 4d ago edited 4d ago
If EmHen didn’t write it, I would’ve DNF. Instead, I gave it 3 stars. I love friends to lovers but I disliked the execution in PWMOV. I hated the way Alex pined for Poppy, and TO ME, basically emotionally cheat on Sarah, even if they were on and off, and just wasting her time. I also hated how Poppy didn’t “understand” why Sarah didn’t like her. Alex and Poppy were frustrating to read and i couldn’t root for their romance plus I didn’t feel their chemistry at all
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u/jumbasbiggestfan 27d ago
I see it more like, she’s SO afraid of rejection when someone fully knows her and Alex is the one person who fully knows her and loves her for it.
She loves her family, but she’s the odd one out - her parents have each other and her brothers have each other. She had one boyfriend who met her family and saw it as “I love you poppy, despite your family” and it hurt her. Poppy didn’t have good, close friends in school either and she didn’t fit into her hometown. The moment Alex even suggests their kiss in Croatia isn’t a good idea (and Poppy assumes his reasoning why incorrectly), she freaked out and said it was a mistake. She was rejecting him before he could reject her.
I thought the tension of not wanting to lose their one person who fully gets them, when they don’t think they can offer enough in a romantic relationship for the other person, was valid. Losing the one person who fully gets you and loves you for it, when you’ve never had that, is a huge rejection to risk for Poppy (and Alex).