ARC REVIEW: The Meeting Point – by Olivia Lara

Title: The Meeting Point
Author: Olivia Lara
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: September 2nd 2021
Publisher: Aria
Finished reading: July 2nd 2021
Pages: 368

“Yes, my characters all lived happily ever after, but I don’t see anything wrong with that. There’s enough sadness in the world as it is.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Aria in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

There was just something about the blurb of The Meeting Point that caught my attention immediately… While I’m not a fan of the whole cheating element, the promise of a chance meeting and a bad situation turning into something positive made me want to read this romance story anyway. And it turned out to be quite a cute read with both a bookish element and a fantastic setting. Sure, there were things that didn’t work for me that well, but as a whole I’m having a feeling fans of the genre will enjoy this one.

First things first, and let’s talk about the positive. I still LOVE the premise of The Meeting Point with Maya and the mystery driver connecting via texts. Such an original idea, and I also loved reading more about the itinerary the driver created for Maya just so she wouldn’t be alone on her birthday after finding out about her boyfriend. The Carmel setting was just perfect for this story and it sounds like an absolutely charming beach town I wouldn’t mind visiting myself… The descriptions definitely helped creating the right backdrop for Maya’s adventure both in past and present. Furthermore, I also liked the friendships created during this story and the cute factor of the plot in general. As a bonus, this story also has a bookish angle! Not only are both main characters writers, but there is a book that plays a big role and snippets of it are even shared within some chapters.

BUT. I do have to say that there were also things that didn’t work all that well for me. First of all, this story is so SO predictable! I basically guessed the identity of the mystery driver almost right away, as it is so blindingly obvious, and the fact that Maya doesn’t see it at all can get very very frustrating. And while I did like the chemistry between Maya and Ethan, as a whole their interaction felt a little tainted and too cliche. Oh yes, we have not only a love triangle, but also insta-love to deal with… The first not my cup of tea, the second not exactly credible, and especially when it’s also combined with a slowburn romance angle. How could you describe a romance story as insta-love and slowburn at the same time?! I’m still not sure myself, but that is definitely what’s happening in The Meeting Point. As for the characters… I wasn’t too convinced by Maya herself, as she could get quite self-centered and while she likes handing out advice, she doesn’t seem to want to listen when other people want to help her. Seeing the story (mainly) through her eyes made the story feel a tad one-dimentional, and I would have loved to see more of Ethan’s POV. The secondary characters were lovely in general, although not as developed.

It took me a while to get a proper feel for the writing, but once I did The Meeting Point turned out to be quite a fast read and entertaining enough despite the elements that didn’t work for me. As a whole, this turned out to be a solid romance read if you don’t mind a predictable plot and an insta-love trope.