Poppy and Alex meet in college but assume they’ll never see each other again after that first day. He’s an uptight dork and she’s a wild child.

They discover their hometowns are literally East and West Linfield, respectively. So they decide to caravan home together for the holiday. They know they would never be right for each other (c’mon they’re complete opposites). They enjoy spending time together because there’s no pressure to impress.

When the road trip goes well, they decide to take a trip together every summer. Even though Alex doesn’t like traveling as much as wanderlust Poppy. They’ve been all over : New Orleans, Nashville, Tuscany, Vail, and the fated Croatia trip they keep alluding to.

As adults, Poppy works for a travel magazine and is put on assignment to Palm Springs. She and Alex haven’t seen each other for 2 years since their Croatia trip. She misses him so she reaches out to see if he will join her in Palm Springs and he accepts. He even invited her to his brothers wedding at the end of the trip, conveniently in Palm Springs also.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that these two should be together. They hooked up in Croatia and they both clammed up, worrying this will effect their friendship. Now, in Palm Springs, they hook up again and again, worry about the ramifications.

Chapters alternate between present day and flashbacks to their various adventures.

Things I don’t understand after reading this book:

-why their Croatia trip seemed to be ruined by a photographer who just didn’t want to be alone

-why Alex calls Poppy “tiny fighter”

-why Alex got a vasectomy to avoid getting girlfriends pregnant; I assume he’s heard of other less invasive forms of birth control? I know he’s cautious but c’mon

-Poppy has seemingly only met Alex’s family like twice at most but they seem like they’ve known each other forever

-why Alex and Poppy both feel the same way but hide their true feelings after 12 years

-the title of the book

2.5/5

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Buy on Bookshop.org:

https://bookshop.org/a/96945/9781984806758

Another review of Emily Henry:

Book Lovers by Emily Henry 4/5

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