We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Pub Date: Jun 08, 2021 by Simon & Schuster BFYR
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SYNOPSIS
A wedding harpist disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings in this effervescent romantic comedy from the acclaimed author of Today Tonight Tomorrow.
Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in business together for years: Quinn’s parents are wedding planners, and Tarek’s own a catering company. At the end of last summer, Quinn confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email—and then he left for college without a response.
Quinn has been dreading seeing him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing the harp for her parents’ weddings. When he shows up at the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. Tarek’s always loved the grand gestures in weddings—the flashier, the better—while Quinn can’t see them as anything but fake. Even as they can’t seem to have one civil conversation, Quinn’s thrown together with Tarek wedding after wedding, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman.
Quinn can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth about his silence, opens up about her own fears, and begins learning the art of harp-making from an enigmatic teacher.
Maybe love isn’t the enemy after all—and maybe allowing herself to fall is the most honest thing Quinn’s ever done.
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DISCLOSURE
I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book from the Publisher. Rachel Lynn Solomon and I are mutuals on social media. All opinions are my own.
Initial Thoughts 🧠
Before re-branding myself as a book blogger, I completely thought that I outgrew YA books and I’m glad that I was wrong because We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This has joined other books in a special place in my heart.
Rachel Lynn Solomon is one of the authors whose books I’ve been meaning to read for so long. See, when I was on hiatus, I never completely left the book community and was still active on Twitter from time to time. I’ve added all her books in my TBR but this was the first one I’ve read. I guess it’s more than safe to say that I fell in love with her writing.
We Can’t Keep Meeting Like this was downright enjoyable, swoon-worthy, and definitely a perfect summer read!
An Ensemble of Loveable Characters
When a book has characters that are complete opposites of each other, there’s a big chance that I’ll pick it up. Bonus points if one of them is a hopeless romantic. Well, folks, Tarek Mansour is a big hopeless romantic. On the other hand, Quinn Berkowitz is more cynical when it comes to love.
From the get-go, I enjoyed Tarek and Quinn’s encounters and their chemistry. And I guess I was rooting for them early on because it wasn’t hard to fall in love with their characters. Although, I have to admit that I related to Tarek more than I did with Quinn. I saw a little bit of me in Quinn, in terms of figuring out her future plans and finding her passion. Meanwhile, Tarek is a food science major like me and he definitely reminded me of my college days. His struggles just felt too close to home and I felt a sense of kinship to him.
While the story was in Quinn’s POV, I love how the author managed to create compelling and layered characters surrounding Quinn. The supporting characters were just as loveable as the main characters. I adored the Mansour’s and Tarek’s parents had the epic love story, which makes perfect sense that Tarek likes grand gestures, and rom-coms so much. I enjoyed Julia, Quinn’s best friend, and Noelle’s romance in the background too!
Pursuing Your Passion
If anything, I think We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This’ main message is finding yourself and pursuing your passion.
Quinn and Tarek’s respective families both run a business. The Berkowitzes run Borrowed + Blue, a wedding planning service; while the Mansours run a catering company so yeah… they kept meeting like that. 😂 Both Quinn and Tarek are working in the family business, but one is less enthusiastic compared to the other. While Tarek pursued his passion for cooking and developing recipes, Quinn felt stuck helping out and playing her harp at weddings. Until she comes across a harpist who helped her find her way back to music.
I love how well-executed this aspect was in the story. Quinn and Tarek both suffer from mental illness: Quinn has OCD, while Tarek was diagnosed with depression. In my opinion, both characters and the depiction of mental health were tackled well in the story. Quinn and Tarek being open with each other helped develop their relationship, despite the rocky start.
A Classic Friends To Lovers
As I mentioned earlier, I loved the chemistry between Quinn and Tarek. They have established history together since they were friends until Tarek left for college and Quinn was left hanging after her confession. The pacing of their relationship was so well done too! And I love the subtle and little actions they do for each other. Though, mostly it was Tarek’s doings, despite his love for grand gestures. Gosh, I have a soft spot for hopeless romantics!
Since Quinn doesn’t believe in romance, Tarek had been pretty patient with her. I’m truly a sucker for friends to lovers. Well in this case it was more like friends to friends with benefits to lovers.
Overall Thoughts 💡
Yes, even though I’ve only read one book, I’m now a fan of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s writing. I can’t wait to read her other books soon!
We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This is a beautiful story of second chances, with a well-balanced mix of funny and emotional scenes that will surely hit your heart. It’s full of characters that you’ll surely root for!
The big stand-outs for me are the realistic portrayal of mental illness, as well as the journey of seeking out your passion.
Do I recommend this? Hell yes!
If you like a good friends-to-lovers romance, balanced with flawed and realistic characters, and maybe just weddings and summer romances in general, make sure to pick up this book!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Lynn Solomon is the bestselling author of The Ex Talk, Today Tonight Tomorrow, We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This, and Weather Girl. Her romantic comedies for teens and adults have received praise from The New York Times, NPR, and Entertainment Weekly.
In high school, Rachel sang and played keyboard in an all-girl band, and she was once part of a group of people who broke a Guinness World Record for the most natural redheads in one place. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in journalism, she worked for Northwest media outlets such as The Seattle Times and KUOW Public Radio.
Originally from Seattle, she’s currently navigating expat life with her husband in Amsterdam, where she’s on a mission to try as many Dutch sweets as possible.
Let’s Chat! 💬
Have you read any of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s books? Which one is your favorite? Also, share your favorite books that tackle mental illnesses or mental health!
I enjoyed this a lot as well. Thank you sa budol! Hahahahhaa
What a great review and I am so glad you enjoyed this one — especially since you thought you grew out of YA! I don’t really read a lot of contemporary but this sounds like a great book, especially the mental illness rep.
This is probably one of my favorites for 2021 so far!
I love a classic friends to lovers trope and this one sounds like one I’d like to read. Thank you for sharing your review.