You know Nora Stephens. She’s Cameron Diaz in The Holiday, Katherine Heigl in 27 Dresses, and J Lo in The Wedding Planner. She’s a dang-good-at-her-job gal who lives in a quirky apartment and is unlucky in love but just needs to meet the man who’ll break through that tough exterior. But that Hallmark Channel-esque romance hasn’t happened for her. Instead, she’s found herself consistently playing the role of the big city girlfriend who gets dumped when the other two characters find each other while rehabbing a struggling vineyard or bringing an old school dairy farm into the 21st century. But Nora’s sister, Libby, is determined to change that narrative. She designs a girls’ getaway to just the kind of small town described in the romance novels Nora deals with as a literary agent. There, she continues to run into Charlie Lastra, a book editor from her NYC life who’s the exact opposite of the burly man she’s supposed to fall for but may be exactly right for her.
Looking back, I gave People We Meet On Vacation too high of a rating. I gave it 4 stars when it was more like a 3.25 star book. I think it’s because I loved the idea of it. A new take on When Harry Met Sally and the friends-to-lovers trope, with all the right intentional clichés. I also think I wanted to like it because Henry’s previous novel, Beach Read, actually got me to enjoy the chick lit genre. Here’s the good news: Book Lovers is much more like Beach Read than it’s like People We Meet On Vacation. And, also, like Beach Read, this one is meant for bibliophiles. If you enjoyed Beach Read but felt a smidge let down by People We Meet On Vacation, this is probably a good one for you.
4 out of 5 stars.
Pair with: Summer shandy
Peaches to Apples 