Book Review | The Meeting Point @WriteReadsTours

Time to switch it up with a bit of romance to end the week.

The Meeting Point
Olivia Lara

What if the Lift driver who finds your cheating boyfriend’s phone holds the directions to true love?

‘Who are you and why do you have my boyfriend’s phone?’

‘He left it in my car. You must be the blonde in the red dress? I’m the Lift driver who dropped you two off earlier.’

And with these words, the life of the brunette and t-shirt wearing Maya Maas is turned upside down. Having planned to surprise her boyfriend, she finds herself single and stranded in an unknown city on her birthday.

So when the mystery driver rescues Maya with the suggestion that she cheers herself up at a nearby beach town, she jumps at the chance to get things back on track. She wasn’t expecting a personalised itinerary or the easy companionship that comes from opening up to a stranger via text, let alone the possibility it might grow into something more…

Amazon | Goodreads

This was kind of the perfect dose of escapism for me, I love a light-hearted story that can carry me off to a fabulous setting and the setting in The Meeting Point is fantastic a seaside town full of character. What makes it even better is that it turns out to be a real place so I will be adding it to my list of places I would like to go.

The story is at first kind of an intriguing one, Maya ends up on a day out planned by a stranger but it is actually a brilliant day and has me wishing that I could have a spontaneous day out that I don’t have to plan and if there’s someone cute behind the planning even better. I liked that Maya took a chance on it and that she had a lovely day and didn’t overthink what she was doing too much because it was nice to go along for that journey.

It does in all honesty get a bit too predictable as we venture further into the story, usually that wouldn’t bother me because I find a lot of romance is that way but the enjoyment is the bumps in the road to the happy ever after, however with this book, I think it was the complete ignorance by Maya that really caused the issue. Everyone can see which way the story is going and she didn’t even question it, the fact that it didn’t cross her mind even to be dismissed felt unrealistic and ended up making the dramatic bumps in the road a bit lacklustre for me, I wasn’t as invested by that point.

Having said that I did enjoy Maya’s adventures in Carmel on her second visit, the characters were all lovely, I do wish there were more Celine’s in the world, and I liked that Maya did nudge a few of them in directions they might not have taken. I also enjoyed getting to see the ups and downs of the relationship between Maya and the writer and it was so nice that Maya writes love stories for people, I just loved how much positivity there was radiating from this book it is exactly the kind of thing my cynical wee heart needs now and again.

If you are looking for a fun and uplifting story full of characters that you want to hug and with a gorgeous small-town setting then The Meeting Point is the book for you.

As a child, Olivia not-so-quietly ‘observed’ (AKA bothered with countless questions) her grandfather — who worked for the biggest publishing house in Romania — edit hundreds of books. And when he wasn’t editing, he read. Everything, all the time. Just like her father, who wrote short sci-fi stories, and was set on building the largest library she’d ever seen and her mother who’s never found without a book…wherever she goes. Her love for words came naturally, and after studying marketing, communications & photography, Olivia worked as a journalist for a newspaper and news television network in Romania.

An unapologetic citizen of the world, she spent a few years in Greece, Sweden, France, before settling in sunny California with her photographer husband and young daughter, where she works in marketing and writes. Oh, and let’s not forget the ever-growing menagerie that completes the family: Pumpkin, the Maine Coon mix, three black cats and a siamese kitten.

When she’s not writing or thinking about writing, she reads (across genres), watches old movies and collects vintage books, vinyl records, and eerie paintings. She loves traveling (and can’t wait until she can do it again, safely), swimming, biking, hiking and of course, photography.

SOMEDAY IN PARIS, her debut, published by Aria Fiction/Head of Zeus in May 2020 became a B&N, Apple, Kobo and Amazon Top 100 Bestseller and was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2021. Her second novel, THE MEETING POINT, a contemporary romcom set in Northern California, is set to be published as an e-book on September 2, 2021 and in paperback in December 2021 in the UK and March, 2022 in the US.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook