#TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour Review: The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Incredibly cute. Definitely a comfort read!

Thank you so much to The Write Reads, Aria Fiction, and Olivia Lara for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary digital copy and media kit!

Purchase this book (affiliate link): Amazon

About the Author

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.

Keep up with Olivia: twitter || instagram || facebook

Review

Book CWs

For a list of warnings, tropes, and representation for this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com.

Premise

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…

Come on this 5* journey to love, laughter and back again, perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Josie Silver and Sally Thorne.

Review (No Spoilers)

I’m going to be honest, when I read the blurb for this book, I had no idea what the heck it was about. I signed up purely because Dave doesn’t do many romance novels and I’m always down to read some romance. That being said, I’m incredibly happy that I joined this tour. The Meeting Point was lovely from start to finish, and it was the exact type of book that I needed right now.

These past few weeks of my life have been absolutely chaotic. In fact, my original date for this tour was August 31st, but Dave was kind enough to give me an extension. I was a bit worried that my poor mental state would stop me from reading this in a timely manner, but I read the entire thing in one sitting! The writing style is both very readable and very light. I easily flew through the pages and never felt like I had to force myself to continue.

In addition to the light and comfortable writing style, the plot itself was also very cozy and nice, which is something my currently-emotional self deeply appreciated. I can definitely see this book becoming one of my go-to comfort reads in the future. Since, like me, you might be confused about what the blurb is about, let me give you a brief non-spoilery summary of the premise. Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you wish.

The Meeting Point follows Maya, an almost thirty year old woman, who has been with her boyfriend for around 5 years. When Maya flies out to try to surprise him for her birthday, her texts are returned by a Lyft driver who has not only recovered her boyfriends lost phone, but has also just seen him in the arms of another woman. In a twist of events, Maya and the driver end up texting throughout the entire day as he leads her on an impromptu text-driven adventure. Maya soon realizes that she’s not as sad about her cheating boyfriend as she should be. In fact, this new and exciting connection with this unknown man is leading her to believe that she’s been missing out on life, love, and happiness. But will she ever find out who he is?

The only real reason I rated this a 4.5 (really a 4.25 I think) instead of a 5 was simply because so much of the plot relied on lack of communication/unnecessary secrets, which is one of my least favorite things. Maya spends basically the entire book not telling people the truth for no good reason. The “plot-twist” was also very predictable and I felt like it should have happened earlier but was once again pushed far back in the timeline because of unnecessary secret-keeping. Regardless, I still found the story to be incredibly captivating and romantic. I’m not even a fan of insta-love, but this book might have actually changed my mind. I read it while my partner was at work and the cuteness level made me miss him immensely. (Rob, can we go on all of the romantic dates now please??)

I received a digital arc for the blog tour, but you best believe that I am going to get a physical copy as soon as I can. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a light read, as well as fans of outrageously cute rom-coms. The Meeting Point just came out this past week, so be sure to pick up your copy today!

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