How Emily Henry Sneaked onto My Non-Romance Reading List

Emily Henry’s work has been a surprise to me. For the record, romance novels are not my genre, but I have to confess that both ‘Beach Read’ (Berkley Books, 2020) and ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ (Berkley Books, 2021) gave me positive reading experiences. What got me I guess was the emotional and psychological level that was drawn under the surface of what gives the essence of a romance novel: the Reader gets a glimpse into what traumas the characters carry and live with and what influences them in their decisions for or against their happiness. 

Poppy and Alex are likeable characters – it’s the story of their friendship that evolves during their summer vacations since college and their struggle to keep this relationship in the safety of the friendship zone and not move forward to anything risky, like revealing their true feelings for each other despite the fear they feel: the fear to lose the other one, the fear whether their true personalities are loveable enough. 

Poppy the travel blogger, main character and narrator of the story is having an artistic crisis, being burnt out by all the travelling alone for a living, and living alone for the sake of her career – a crisis that leads to confronting herself with some tough questions about what she feels and where her priorities are and whether she is finally ready to grab and hold on to happiness. Alex, the high school English teacher, loyal friend to Poppy since they first met in college and became close friends until recently also comes to a turning point in his life when they meet again for the wedding of Alex’s brother. The trip brings them back together (while recalling memories of past holidays they had had) and eventually they can’t bear the tension and end up confessing their true feelings towards each other – which was obviously love. They have to face their fears and overcome their self-defence mechanisms for the sake of happiness, and realize what is worth sacrificing or giving up for it. 

I’m not saying that romance will conquer my reading list from now on, but I think that Emily Henry has definitely earned a place on it with whatever she comes up next.