𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴 follows Tessa and friends who are in an elongated bachelorette party for her sister and they've decided to find Tessa a boyfriend against her wishes. So she enlists the help of Myles, the guy she's been crushing on ever since she can to Greece every summer.

- ~ -

The story is stupidly embarrassing.

I loved the Greek culture and cuisine incorporation in the book as well as Myles and Tessa's childhood crush come true aspect.

But the reason behind whatever went wrong towars the end and why Tessa was being forced to go on dates she didn't want to was so stupid for four grown adults it was laughable and not in an actually funny way.

- ~ -

3.62 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I chose to read this rom-com after becoming acquainted with Meghan Quin previously through a short story she had written and which I enjoyed. This is a fun and entertaining escapist read with plenty of humour, emotion, and drama. Tessa Doukis arrives at the family's usual holiday location of Santorini, planning to spend vacation time with her twin sister, Roxane, and long term friends, Clean and Lois before Roxane gets married. She has been looking forward to it, she is the socially awkward twin who stays in the background, the one no-one notices, her clothing designed to ensure her presence catches little attention.

However, she finds herself the target of the machinations of her sister and friends, based on a long ago forgotten deal, their hopeless, unhelpful, useless, truly problematic jinks and plans to introduce a man and love into her life. This has Tessa doing all that she can to avoid their shenanigans, and she finds a critical ally in Myles Cirillo, a man whom she has known for a long time since childhood, and who she had feelings for. Myles has returned from spending time in the United States, so their paths have not crossed recently, and he makes the perfect partner for Tessa, although he faces his own family issues too.

Tessa and Myles relationship develops with plenty of banter, their attraction to each other is a joy to observe as they try to dodge the obstacles in their path. There are wonderful descriptions of the beautiful location. Whilst there is plenty of light hearted hilarity, there is serious exploration of the dynamics of family relationships and the issues that can arise. I did find elements of Roxane and the friends behaviour a little on the juvenile side, but overall it did not mar my reading experience. I can recommend this if you are looking for a break from reading darker material and if you are simply looking for a funny and entertaining book. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Vacation Wars was such a delight! Tessa is back at her family's annual vacation spot in Greece for her twin sister's wedding. While there, her friends embark on a somewhat well-intentioned, but mostly misguided, quest of finding her a guy that does not go as planned as she instead ends up connecting with Myles, the guy at the resort who she has had a crush on for more than half her life.

This was a story of friendship, growing up, moving forward, and the twisty turns that love and life can take. Tessa is an eccentric but self-assured main character, and Myles is a Greek god-like cinnamon roll of a hero. I laughed, I stanned, and I had a great time. I highly recommend this latest Meghan Quinn for a super fun beach read!

Big thank you to Meghan Quinn, Montlake, and NetGalley for gifting me with an ARC to review. I loved it!

I usually like Meghan Quinn's books - they are humorous and fun, sometimes a little over the top, but I couldn't get into this one. Didn't end up finishing it.

MQ sets about quite the trip as she takes us on vacation to Greece… the beautiful white and blue that we all know and admire (from afar)!

Tessa and her family have been vacationing to the Anissa resort since she was six. It’s always been their get away. So since her twin sister Roxane is getting married, they decided to have a girls trip ahead of the wedding festivities. But it is not as relaxing as Tessa expected it to be. Roxane, and their friends Clea and Lois have enabled war against Tessa when they’ve tried to set her up with some whackadoodles because of a contract they made in high school.

Myles is the son of the owner of Anissa’s. He’s always had a crush on Tessa from afar. As has Tessa. But other than a few small interactions, they never really had conversations. Circumstances lead them together to be allies against the vacation wars. Tess has to up her game, and Myles is the perfect one to help with that.

Myles and Tessa quickly become aware they want to be with each other - not just to fulfill their fantasies but to make things a reality. They’re such a beautiful couple.

Tessa was such a selfless character that Roxane often took advantage of that for her own accords. But it shows how close they are as twins to be able to overcome their differences, along with Clea and Lois.

As always, you won’t be disappointed in a contemporary romance by MQ!

Myles is back on Santorini after studying hotel management and working in the US but his father,. well, his father won't recognize that. But Myles and Tessa, who is on the island for her twin's pre-wedding party, recognize each other. She had a crush on him when she was a teen but now she's about to turn 30. Can she get through the silliness surrounding her sister's party and find meaning with Myles? Can he convince his family he's the one to take the resort into the future? This is as trope-y as it comes but it's got a good heart AND it's set on Santorini. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

3.5 stars

I’ve been loving Meghan Quinn’s books over the last year or so but I just really didn’t connect with this one. It started off really slow and the main couple (Tessa and Myles) were the only likable characters. Everyone else was pretty annoying. It took so long for Tessa and Myles to finally get together, and of course we had the third act breakup. They just didn’t get a whole lot of time together as a happy couple. I also didn’t love the “vacation wars”. From the beginning you could tell her sister was being mean and I couldn’t stand it.

I don’t know that I would recommend this book. Would still definitely recommend the author!

Meghan Quinn fans will be delighted in her latest standalone novel: Vacation Wars. Filled with laugh out loud moments, emotional lines and memorable characters, this was a hit!

Tessa's sister and friends have given her an ultimatium: find love on this Greek island. She's finally turned thirty and they will NOT give up on their pact. Luckily, Tessa has a friend in swoony Miles, her childhood crush that she used to swoon over at the resort year after year. Miles has his own issues with his dad not accepting his life choices and feels Tessa will be his one bright sport. What is wrong with them both playing some light hearted pranks on the other girls? Let the vacation wars begin.

This has everything you want in a rom com; the silly moments, the heartfelt ones, the little moments, the family drama and all the feels in this jet-setting story. Set in the picturesque city of Santorini Greece at the resort they have been visiting since they were kids, Tessa is here for the wedding of her twin sister and hopes she might she her childhood crush again. Unbeknownst to Tessa, Myles (aka her crush) has also been secretly hoping to see her again and is determined to work up the courage to get to know her. When Tessa’s sister and friends team up against her because of a childhood contract, Myles offers his help in the battle of wits and the two of them really get to know each other. Is the connection they feel something really real or is it just for the fun of it.

Gosh! Myles and Tessa were just the sweetest together. Myles made Tessa feel seen and that she mattered when she’s always felt like she’s been living in the shadows overlooked. Tessa truly found herself in Greece and with Myles in a way she never expected and her encouragement and support of Myles gave him the push to have the hard conversations with his dad. I would love to see this story play out on the big screen.

Rating 4.5 stars rounded up


Thank you @meghanquinnbooks @amazonpublishing and @netgalley for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

I literally had no idea what this book was about when I requested it on Netgalley. I just saw "vacation" and "Santorini," and I was hooked

What I liked about the story the most was the one on one time between Tessa and Myles. We know that they've been crushing on each other since they were children but never really interacted until the previous vacation where they shared a moment. So initially, that leads to Tessa spouting all kinds of word vomit, and Myles just enjoying the heck out of Tessa being flustered.

But unfortunately, there are two things that took a lot out of the story for me...

The author did a lot of unnecessary descriptions and explanations of things that did nothing to contribute to the story. Don't ramble to me about the side character's life or things that happened in the past that hold no use in the present.
It truly took so much pacing out of the read that it almost had me dnf'ing.

The other situation was the war/pranking with the sister and their friends. I love a good prank, but the sister's constant pestering regarding Tessa's love life started to irk me and just made their "war" pretty childish and annoying.

But ultimately, Myles is what pulled me through this story. I wanted to know more about the situation with his father and how he and Tessa were going to tackle the topic of long distance.

I'd still recommend it as a fun read if "very descriptive writing" is your thing. It is cutesy and entertaining in a "beach read" kind of way :)

*𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯-𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

TBH I didn't like Tessa at first, but as the book went on I really liked her. I loved watching her journey to being a confident woman. I absolutely love Myles & Tessa's meet cute! It was fun seeing their courtship, while also anxiously wondering what was going to happen next with Tessa's friends and twin sister, Myles' dad, and even Toby (who I'd love to see matched up in another book!). There were lots of laugh-out-loud moments, lots of romance, and lots of moments that pulled at my heartstrings. Definitely another winner by Meghan Quinn!

I have read many of Meghan Quinn books and this one is easily one of my favorites. It had a slow burn with just the right amount of spice. Tessa is sweet, corky and awkward but in a funny entertaining way. She kept me laughing all throughout the book. Miles is understanding, supportive and loyal to everyone around him. I loved the way he supported Tessa through all the things that was going on with her sister and friends. Miles is my new book boyfriend.

Between the family drama and the relationship that developed with Tessa and Miles it had me hooked. It was a fast and fun read for me as most Meghan Quinn books were. I did think that the pranks that Roxane preformed on Tessa were really immature and childish. I felt so embarrassed for Tessa. Cleo and Lois were great supporting characters. The relationship between all the girls was very relatable. As we get older we usually do drift away from our childhood friends. I am hoping that Meghan Quinn will come out with a book based on Toby's love story.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
Tessa and her outgoing twin sister Roxane are in Santorini with their two best friends before Roxane’s wedding to Philip. But instead of celebrating and having some girlie fun, the three friends gang up on Tessa and remind her of their childhood pact to step in if any of them are still single at 30. The three find loads of opportunities to ridicule Tessa, but all it does is drive her closer to her years-long crush Myles, whose father owns the resort.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
My favourite part of this story is how Myles acknowledges his own feelings for Tessa despite them being equally cringeworthy to hers. He stands by her through the ups and downs even when Tessa leaves Greece to go home. The silly childhood pact just doesn’t work for me, and the friends and Roxane seem so insensitive, it’s hard to believe Tessa would put her own happiness aside to keep them happy. It’s a story that asks you to set aside these aspects and just accept the plot 😉

A beautiful, funny destination romance about two star crossed lovers that spend their childhood circling each other, watching from afar, until this one final vacation in Greece for her sister's wedding starts a new chapter for them. It's an endearing story of love, respect, acceptance, and always finding a way, even when it seems impossible. I loved them both to death, and this is definitely one of my favorite by the author. You won't want to miss it!

Meghan Quinn is a treasure, I will forever automatically read any book of hers! Loved being abroad again for this one!

OH I LOVED THIS BOOK! I was hooked from the beginning with the original prologue that had me laughing and was the perfect introduction for Myles and Tessa. Vacation Wars is easily my favorite Meghan Quinn book now, tops all the others, and I could keep reading Myles and Tessa life forever. Tessa’s ramblings we’re some of my favorite things about this book, they were hilarious and oh so random I couldn’t see them coming. Myles and Tessa crushing on each other since they were children was so sweet, but since I’m not a friends to lovers fan, I loved that these two met officially for the first time as adults and connected then. Their connection was instant and amazing, the kind one would wish for, as it was healthy and honest and just perfect.

The Vacation Wars were hilarious to begin, but I also love how that was the tension and angst of the book, rather than Myles and Tessa’s relationship. This book was a story about sisters and friends as much as it is a romance, as the girl’s relationship was hard to read at times, had my crying, and also had me envious as they adapted to their new life circumstances.

I’ve been reading Meghan Quinn for years now, and each book is better than the last, I can’t wait to see what other stories she’ll tell in the future!

Vacation Wars is a book that made me itch to travel. Its also a very long book that at the beginning I found a bit difficult to get into, however I did perservere and found it to be an enjoyable albeit frustrating read. Especially regarding Tessa and the “Bulge”. That nickname made me laugh….ALOT!
There were some moments that had me shaking my head and some rather entertaining ones too. I do feel that Tessa has quite the conundrum in finding that special someone, however she needs to question with who/where her loyalties lie!
The sibling rivalry, the vacation vibe and the friendships but also the family dilemmas combined made it a good read!

Tessa is excited to spend time with her sister and her friends in Santorini before her wedding. However. when her sister decides to help Tessa find a man chaos ensues. Whilst Tessa tries to avoid the men that her sister is trying to set her up with she ends up spending more time with her childhood crush Myles.

I really enjoy Meghan Quinn's writing; her books are so much fun. I liked the main characters and thought they made an excellent couple. This book had a good mix of romance as well as family drama. This book had summery vibes which I really enjoyed. This book had the classic Meghan Quinn humour and I loved it.

Overall I really enjoyed this and if you are looking for a romance to read to get you in the mood for summer this would be perfect.

Vacation Wars is a new romcom from Meghan Quinn. It is fun and what you expect from Meghan. It has her humor with romance, drama and fun.
Every year Tessa and her family vacation at this resort.Tessa, her sister and friends have a pact. If they are not married by thirty, they can set each other up. As Tessa is the only one single, that’s exactly what they want to do.
Enter Myles. Tessa’s secret crush from prior years at the resort. He is the owner’s son. Going through drama with his father. The two are fun together
Myles has returned to show his father he can run the family business.
Get ready for some comedic Meghan scenes from Tessa as she tries to not be a funny mess in front of Myles. She is fun and quirky. The two had great chemistry and complimented each other well.
Vacation wars is a slow burn, quirky romance. I enjoyed it. Perfect for a vacation or beach read.

I wanted to like this book and thought it had a lot of promise, but honestly the characters drove me crazy and almost had me DNF-ing multiple times while reading (at 12%, at 32% and at about 50%). I kept going to see what the amazing ending was that made other people up their star ratings, but the ending didn’t make it any more tolerable.

Tessa and Myles have been on each other’s radar for years and end up teaming up to mess with Tessa’s twin sister and her best friends during their trip to Greece. These two together were the best part of this book - really sweet together and I enjoyed the slow burn aspect of their relationship but also enjoyed how deeply they got to know each other over a short period of time.

That being said, Tessa’s twin sister Roxane and their two best friends Clea and Lois were the worst, especially when they were all together. They let a childhood contract dictate their lives for YEARS, were overbearing, pushy and just plain rude to each other over and over again. I felt bad for Tessa at first but realized she’s just as bad as all of the others, never sticking up for herself until she’s absolutely backed into a corner and just going along with everything the other girls did/said. This representation of a female friend group in their 30s was honestly difficult to read and did not paint any of them in a good light.

The ending was fine but everything that happened and was resolved (too quickly if you ask me) did not outweigh all of the negative, awkward and irritating things that happened before. I’m a little disappointed I stuck with it until the end.