It was first published as a romance novel on May 11th, 2021 and now five years later it was released as a Netflix original movie on January 9th, 2026 starring actors Tom Blyth and Emily Bader, making it author Emily Henry’s first book adaptation.
As a very big Emily Henry fan, who read People We Meet on Vacation around when it first was released in stores, I was very excited when I heard about the upcoming movie adaptation in the fall. I took it upon myself to try and see if the movie was worth the hype, since Netflix has had their fair share of hit-or-miss movies the last few years.
If I have to be honest, this book was my least favorite out of Henry’s 6 published romance/fiction books. After watching the movie, though, I think I have realized how much I underappreciated the book when I first read it. Before I get into my thoughts on the movie, here’s a little summary of the plot.
The movie that made me believe in Netflix
Poppy Wright is an adventurous, fun and spontaneous person, and Alex Nilsen is basically the complete opposite. The best way to describe them is magnets: opposites, but stick together surprisingly well.
After finding out that the two of them both grew up on different sides of the same town, they are pushed together on a road trip from their college in Boston, all the way back to Linfield, Ohio. When the trip doesn’t start off the way either of them imagined, it creates tensions between them. However, despite their many, many differences and fair share of awkward moments the two of them formed a very unlikely friendship.
When Poppy gets a job as a writer for a travel blog, she takes this as the perfect opportunity for her to see the world, and take her best friend with her. Now they have agreed that every summer, for a week, the two of them will go wherever Poppy’s job takes her. A chance for uptight Alex to finally have some fun and let loose, and a chance for Poppy to spend an amazing week with her best friend
Though, after almost ten years of vacations together, something happens that could potentially ruin their friendship forever.
Now it’s two years later, and Poppy is still a writer for the same travel blog, but she has not been in contact with her travel buddy since their “falling out”, which neither of them is ready to touch base on. But when Alex’s brother’s wedding date starts coming closer and closer, Poppy has to decide whether or not she is ready to face her former best friend.
Poppy now has to form a plan:
- To pretend that her job is sending her to Barcelona, where the wedding is
- Hope that Alex doesn’t find out she’s there to see him
- Try and relive what it was like to be on vacation with Alex
- And finally…try to win her best friend back
After their quick reunion at the airport, things aren’t clicking the way it used to with them. It’s like they are strangers who have yet met eight hundred times before. Now both of them have to find out if they can remain friends, without other… feelings getting in the way. Or could these feelings potentially ruin everything between them?
Listen to me… always read the book first!
Even though I did really enjoy the movie, there were just a lot of aspects from the book that were left out. It made me wonder if Henry was even involved in the shooting, even though she did take part in being an executive producer for the film.
There were just those little moments that really made the characters who they were, and are just so essential to their story… and it just felt like these moments were being overlooked or just forgotten about all together.
Author Emily Henry actually spoke up about this in an interview with People Magazine,
“There’s been changes there too, but there were things that I really wanted to make it in and we didn’t know if they would, and Brett found a way to make it work. But the things that were lost, I feel like they’re still in the book. They’re always going to be in the book.” Henry states, regarding her feelings on the changes that were made from book to movie.
This actually made me view my thoughts on the movie a little differently, even though the viewers didn’t get to experience some moments on screen, they could always open up the book because it’s true, it will always be in the book. That’s why I think that people should read the book before they watch the movie because, even Henry herself wishes they could have added these details into the film.
Also if someone is a very big Tom Blyth fan, they shouldn’t get too excited when it’s time to watch the movie. Let me just say, for being a main character, why did it feel like Alex was a side character in his own story? It’s like they took the boring characteristic a little too seriously. And because of this it was a little hard to like the character Alex at all, due to the lack of effort that was taken into writing his on screen character. In the book though, Alex shows a little more personality, but it still seems like the author spent so much time focusing on what Poppy was going to be like, that there was nothing left for Alex.
To be completely honest, when I was reading the book I didn’t want them to end up together, or even remain friends at all. Though there were moments where their friendship was endearing or fun to read about, I never actually thought they fit. Despite the book, the movie showed chemistry that I felt I didn’t really get to see while reading, and this made the movie a little better in my opinion. It’s different trying to imagine two people’s emotions, than getting to actually see them.
There are also just so many more adaptations from books coming out this year or have already been released such as titles like The Housemaid, that is already being shown in theaters, or The Love Hypothesis, which is coming later this year. Knowing this, after watching the movie has really stepped up my expectations for future films that will be based on, not just romance novels but other books in general.
All and all, People We Meet on Vacation is the perfect pick for a fun and easy watch. Let’s just say, romance movies are back, I might now have a little bit more faith in the future of Netflix after watching it. This is the most re-watchable movie that has been released yet, the Times even said something pretty similar.
“…when the credits roll on People We Meet on Vacation, you might find yourself wanting to give the book another read”, wrote journalist, Sharron Carlin, in a movie review published in TIME magazine.
Take this as a sign to get the best of both worlds and enjoy the wonderful writing of author Emily Henry, and also a fantastic film, which can be watched now on Netflix
