:INFO
The Friends-to-Lovers Novel That Made Me Cry on a Train
People We Meet on Vacation alternates between the present and annual vacation chapters spread over ten years. The structure is what makes it work: you see the friendship and the slow shift underneath it before either character names what is happening. Emily Henry is very good at the specific emotional cost of wanting something you are afraid to want. By the time I reached the final chapters I was crying on a commuter train and did not particularly mind.


:NOTE
The friendship is more convincing than the romance. That is a compliment.


:QUOTE [quotetype:plain, subtitle:Emily Henry]
Every year was a year with Alex in it. Those were the best years I had.


:JOURNEY
Reading People We Meet on Vacation
5 Best choice
4 High stakes
5 Emotional center
5 No shortcuts

:POLL
Do you think the alternating timeline works better in romance than in other genres?
Yes it allows emotional buildup that linear narrative cannot achieve
Sometimes, when the past and present are equally compelling
Rarely, I find alternating timelines disorienting in most books
No, I prefer linear narrative in romance