Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you’re probably familiar with (and watched) both Heated Rivalry and People We Meet on Vacation. I know I have. And as someone who read both of these books years ago, I have a lot of thoughts about them and adaptations as a whole.
In one of my classes recently, my professor was discussing the idea of fidelity in adaptations, which refers to how closely a film or show follows its source material. A good adaptation, by many people’s standards, is one that stays true to the original text, representing its characters and story accurately on screen. The writers are able effectively convey the essence of the source, allowing viewers to recognize the original work in the adaptation. With that in mind here are some of my thoughts on how well Heated Rivalry and People We Meet on Vacation did as adaptations.
‘Heated Rivalry’
Heated Rivalry has become a cultural phenomenon, whether you were watching from the very first week or caught on after the show fully aired, everyone was talking about it. And it was seemingly out of nowhere — the book, while being popular, didn’t have Emily Henry or Ali Hazelwood numbers. And the show itself had unknown actors fronting it and didn’t have distributors outside of Canada until very close to the premiere. So how did it blow up? How did it escape containment? I think that all lies in how good an adaptation it is.
Fans were able to see a cast and crew who care so much about the work of Rachel Reid and wanted to do their best to put that on screen for viewers. In so many early interviews, you can see that Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams understand Shane and Ilya to a T. When viewers see the love that goes into an adaptation, it makes them excited to watch it, and it makes them trust the people working on it because they can see the care that’s gone into making something good.
The show itself, coming from someone who has read both Heated Rivalry and Game Changers (Scott and Kip’s book), is kind of perfect. The changes made to better fit the screen were clearly done with careful intention. Jacon Tierny, who wrote and directed all the episodes, obviously studied the material and worked to enhance Reid’s work. The fact that so much of the dialogue was ripped straight from the books goes to show that Tierny cared about getting the show right. I think another big factor as to why the show worked so well is that no one on the Heated Rivalry set expected to become the next big thing; they were doing it for the love of the books and the love of the message they sent.
‘people we meet on vacation’
Ever since Henry announced that her novels would each be getting adaptations, fans have been on the edge of their seats waiting for them to start rolling out. People We Meet on Vacation, or PWMOV, was the first to get its moment in the sun. When the casting was announced, I was a little unsure about it, not because Emily Bader and Tom Blythe are untalented, but more because they didn’t have that Alex and Poppy look. When the movie finally dropped, I was sat. It also helped that PWMOV is my least favorite of Henry’s novels, so I wasn’t going in worried about the movie being a bad adaptation of a book I really care about. But I loved the movie on first watch.
Some of the details were a little fuzzy, but as I watched, the book came back to me. The coloring was stunning, and I loved Bader and Blythe’s chemistry. Some parts felt a little out of pace but overall, I had a great viewing experience. I laughed, teared up, and just felt so happy watching it. I quickly gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd and see many rewatches in my future. It wasn’t until I got online and saw what other people had to say that I realized the movie actually missed the mark in a lot of ways.
For starters, the character of Alex is almost nonexistent. His backstory with his mom dying in childbirth is so pivotal to his relationship with Poppy. A lot of people have said Bader was acting circles around Blythe, but honestly, he was acting with what he was given. With Poppy’s character, we also miss out on knowing about her home life; her parents are hoarders, and her brother makes her house chaotic. These things are fundamental to both characters and make them who they are. In leaving them out, you create these flat characters who the audience isn’t able to understand the reason behind their various actions throughout the movie. Another big miss was the third act break up and reconciliation, because they don’t feel earned. We see in the present time, there isn’t much tension between Alex and Poppy, and the viewer doesn’t get why the Linefield, Ohio of it all is such a big deal. Overall, there was so much missed from the book that could’ve made the film amazing, and a lot of people have voiced that it would’ve been better as a show to give more time for each vacation to truly shine. I think the movie could’ve shined but this is where being faithful to the source material comes into play — I don’t think the writers did a good job of translating the book to the screen.
is the book better?
I think that the book will always be better. It’s the original source material, and unfortunately, no adaptation is ever going to do a book justice 100%. But this is where the conversation of adaptations gets kind of messy because we’re seeing books get adaptations left and right, and a lot of the studio’s choices are just not going to do well in that process. If they’re struggling to get contemporary romances correct, how do they think fantasies are going to do? And it’s extremely frustrating as a consumer to see these studios essentially look for popular books they can make money off of, and turn them into shitty adaptations because they know the fans will watch it anyway and they’ll make their money regardless. The difference in adaptations like Heated Rivalry and PWMOV is that Tierny reached out to Reid about getting the rights for her books. He was a huge fan, and that comes across in the show he created. With PWMOV, on the other hand, yeah, maybe the people who worked on the set liked Henry’s book, but you can tell the same care wasn’t there.
There are a lot of people who think just because something is adapted doesn’t mean it has to be perfect and hit all the marks. Those people also don’t read the books, but hey, I’m not here to judge. My thing is, at that point, why are you adapting a book if you have no interest in sticking to the source material? At that point, just create an original work and do what you want with it. Why constrain yourself to living up to the expectations of an already formed group of fans when you don’t have to if you don’t want to?
I think a lot of adaptations are going to be compared to Heated Rivalry from now on. We’ve already seen it with PWMOV, because the audiences see what they could have had, and now aren’t going to be accepting any less. And in 2026, I know we have at least three more big adaptations coming our way that I will be unfortunately sat for, but will also be judging harshly on how good their fidelity is. What’s the point of art if not to critique?