I love to read books and I mean read them the old-fashioned way not on e-reader but to hold it in my hand. You just can’t beat the feel of a book in your hand. So you can imagine who excited I was to be chosen by BirchBloggers to receive an advance copy of The Vacationers by Emma Straub.

Whether or not you are traveling for a holiday, a weekend away or a day at the beach I have got the perfect read for you.

When the book opens we find the Posts and their family friends Charles and Lawrence, are on their way to Mallorca for a two-week vacation. Franny and Jim Post planned this trip prior to a personal scandal that has cost Jim his job and wrecked their relationship. They feel that this time away might help them repair some of the damage that has been done to their marriage and determine if it can even be saved. Sylvia a teenager is about to head off to Brown University and her brother Bobby and his older girlfriend Carmen seem put together on the surface, but fears about financial stability and long term commitment are bubbling beneath the surface. Then you have Franny’s best friend Charles and his husband Lawrence hope to get their minds off the wait for the adoption agency to call.

While on vacation the families continue to just pretend things are fine, they eat and enjoy themselves and keep an eye of Sylvia’s Spanish tutor. Once they leave the island, they have had more than enough time to come to grips with the doubts and fears they have been hiding and do not want to admit to even themselves.

Emma Straub does a great job at of showing us each character’s experiences. We see how they deal with all of their problems even at times if they are getting on our nerves and how they are confused regarding their changing lives we see the they all have some humanity in them and we need to view. Each character has a gentleness that is exposed so beautifully that we can relate and in some ways feel their pain.

Straub brings the Post family vacation and all the drama to life using a smooth, clear prose and a dash of comedy to make us what to love this family. You will love this novel, that will give you insights into the complications of family life.