Being able to master weaving romance with religion and mental disorders seems like a giant feat, but Rachel Lynn Solomon did it perfectly. I cared for these characters from the get-go and felt for Tarek when he just wanted to be loved and wanted to comfort Quinn when no one was understanding her needs. Such a marvelous story.

I was so excited to get an ARC of WE CAN'T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS because I loved Solomon's last two books, THE EX TALK and TODAY, TONIGHT, TOMORROW. She writes sweet, sexy romances about Jewish characters with imperfect lives. There is very little Jewish rep in both YA and adult romance so it's wonderful to see a writer consistently doing that.

This one is a YA romance about a girl named Quinn who works for her family's wedding planning business. She plays the harp but doesn't find much joy in it and isn't looking forward to a life working in weddings. The love interest is Tarek, whose family's catering company works Quinn's family's weddings. Tarek is into big grand gestures and documenting his "perfect" relationships on social media, which is in direct conflict with Quinn's anti-romance stance.

Quinn has a relationship with boys and sex unlike one I've ever read about in YA before. She keeps her relationships entirely physical and anytime the guy shows any romantic interest in her, she bolts. Quinn is a fun character and Tarek is sweet, but I didn't totally buy into the root of her trauma, and Tarek's characterization similarly fell flat for me.

That said, this is a sweet, quick read. It was a bit cluttered, I think, but Quinn is interesting and fun, and Solomon is a skilled writer whose prose shines in this book.

This book has so much going on and yet it is SOLID and delightful. There are heavy themes like mental health, medication, parent separation, pressure to continue in the 'family business,' insecurity, and LOVE (which is reallllly stressful, when you think about it.) Solomon uses her adorably unique, well-crafted characters as a vehicle to tell the story of a girl afraid of love and heartbreak, of letting someone in enough that they might hurt you, of telling the people you love how you feel because you are afraid of breaking them all. She taps into that strange balance of "this is who I am" and "I have no idea who I am supposed to become" that many high schoolers straddle. Tarek has a character arc of his own, and I applaud Solomon for crafting an honest, imperfect, adorable baker boy that is still growing and learning (as he should be at 19 years) instead of a perfect, dreamboat, has it all together (what guy under 26 really does, anyway?).
I really enjoyed the arc that Quinn goes through in this book and I enjoyed the HFN ending. I also enjoyed seeing appearances from Neil and Rowan from Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.
Thanks so much for this ARC. Can't wait to get this in our library for the fall.

This is one of Rachel Lynn Solomon's best books yet! I've been such a fan of her YA and adult romances so far, and this one took everything I've loved about the others to a new level. Tarek and Quinn were such interesting, complex characters with a wonderful history and chemistry together. The representation of mental illness, particularly OCD and depression, was handled so well and felt very honest, as did Quinn's examination of her relationship to Judaism. Most of all, though, this book was fun! I enjoyed the wedding setting and watching two sort-of-friends-sort-of-more figure out their real feelings for each other and pick apart the way the each view love and romance. This was a thoughtful, super entertaining YA that made me eager for whatever Solomon writes next!

Sign me up for anything by Rachel Lynn Solomon! Her character-driven stories never disappoint and We Can't Keep Meeting This Way is another read that fills my need for unique and realistic contemporary YA. Quinn comes from a family of wedding planners and is trying to figure out where she fits in to the business. The son of caterers, Tarek, is a boy she's known for a long time, but has complicated feelings towards. Quinn and Tarek's backstory is a key piece in their slow-burn, rocky road to figuring out what they are or could be. And while the romance is part of this book, I appreciate that both Quinn and Tarek are busy with other players in their lives, working through identity development and pursuing interests that don't evolve around each other. Solomon is a thoughtful writer that gives readers comprehensive characters to root for, unique story lines, and, always, that complicated element of love that she twists throughout. Another memorable read!

The trend of me being head over heels for Rachel Lynn Solomon's books continues. This has all of the charm and humor of the previous stories while managing to discuss more serious topics like mental health and relationships. As someone with generalized anxiety disorder, her thought spirals and amplified feelings rang true to my experience. Adding in the element of a wedding planning business made everything feel more romantic and led to some hilarious moments. Overall big fan, and RLS? You made it grand.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

I recently fell in love with Rachel Lynn Solomon’s The Ex Talk, and I was thrilled that I got the chance to be a Jewish own voices reviewer for We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This. I was emotional over how “seen” I felt by The Ex Talk, but that was even more true for me in this book.

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This centers around Quinn Berkowitz, whose parents run a wedding planning business that they expect her to join when she graduates from college. She doesn’t quite know how to tell her parents that she would rather pursue a different career. Her parents have worked for years with Tarek Mansour and his parents, who run a catering company. Tarek is a hopeless romantic who will do his best to shake Quinn of her disillusion with romance and the wedding industry.

Quinn is appealing as a main character precisely because she is not perfect. She loses track of time and forgets to screen an art gallery for her parents; she worries that she will never be able to find true love; she can be clumsy. These flaws end up making her easier to like because she is never put on a pedastal. She is easy to relate to and root for. Not only did I want her to realize that she is worthy of love, but I wanted her to figure out her career aspirations as well.

I am so grateful to Rachel Lynn Solomon for delving into both Quinn and Tarek’s mental health issues. As someone who struggles with many of the same issues, it was so important to me to see them discussed. There are so many misconceptions about OCD that I so appreciated the descriptions of Quinn’s experience with that diagnosis. Tarek also asks Quinn questions to try to better understand what she’s going through, which is not only empathetic on Tarek’s part, but useful for readers who don’t understand OCD.

The fact that Quinn and Tarek are able to discuss their experiences dealing with OCD, anxiety, and depression also shows that they trust and support each other. Quinn initially assumes that Tarek never responded to an email she sent confessing her feelings for him because he didn’t feel the same way. However, she learns that it was because his depression had left him unable to respond in the way he wanted to. This is an important reminder that you never know what someone is going through unless you ask.

There are so many moments that made me especially appreciate reading this book as a Jew. I’ve been intentionally reading more books with Jewish representation lately, and I love that Rachel Lynn Solomon makes her characters’ Jewishness an important part of their indentities. The brunch where the Berkowitzes joked about being “bad Jews” while eating bacon feels so real to me. (However, this Jew will add that not following the laws of Kashrut doesn’t make you a “bad Jew” even though I have definitely had those feelings before).

As a major foodie, I loved the descriptions of the food that Tarek cooks. I wanted to eat the macarons and wedding cake (and everything else) that he bakes throughout the novel. The way he relishes Quinn’s reactions to his food is so sweet. It warmed my heart that Tarek made her a mug cake because he knows she loves them. As someone whose love language is feeding others, I can definitely relate.

I am so grateful that I had the chance to read We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This, and I’m already looking forward to reading my next book by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

There are many things to love about We Can't Keep Meeting Like This.

The book is filled with earnest characters, who strike a chord with me because they feel so real, in dialogue, in action and in reaction, in thoughts they have, in fears they share. It's excellence, every voice in this book. I love the family element of the book, for both Quinn and for Tarek, as they work as part of the "family business," and what kind of a toll that takes on them, especially as weddings and love are that business. I loved Quinn's cynical attitude juxtaposed with Tarek's grand idea of love, both stemming from their parents. It's the stuff that rom-coms and excellent YA books are made of.

What sets this book apart from the crowd is the diversity that gives the characters their world-views.

I loved learning about who Quinn and Tarek were in their religious upbringings, because it helped color their decisions and their devotion to their families. I loved the inclusion of OCD, anxiety, and depression and the real way it's portrayed between them. There's a point in the story where Tarek asks Quinn what she's feeling as she checks her purse for her keys, and her explanation to him is one of the easiest breakdowns I've ever heard of the OCD thought pattern. It's brilliant writing. I also loved Quinn's bisexual best friend's side love story, as it was really sweet and it was really cool to read Quinn's encouragement of Julia. And I liked seeing flawed parents who step up and admit their flaws when called out on them.

I also really loved the sex positivity in this book, something we don't get enough of, especially not in YA. It's okay to have sex, talk about orgasms in mixed company, and to talk with a partner about needs and wants and disappointments in sex. I think the more that the target audience reads dialogue like this, and situations like this, the closer we get to normalizing these conversations all around.

Quinn was a wonderful character to spend time with while she decided who she wanted to be, what she wanted to do, who she wanted to do it with, and how she'd accomplish it. I think that more YA books need a Quinn, someone realistic, flawed, and honest with a big heart and lots of great things that will bring joy and comfort to a reader.

And I was a huge fan of seeing characters from Today Tonight Tomorrow pop into the story. I love when authors create their own universes where other characters can drop in and out, giving us a glimpse into what they're doing now.

Thanks to @netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I absolutely loved this book! Rachel Lynn Solomon is one of my very favorite authors and this book did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the family dynamics and the romance was great! The love interest was a great character and I loved their journey. I also enjoyed the Jewish representation and the way the main character struggled with figuring out what faith means to her.

There were many things that were great about this book. The characters were well developed and the conversation was honest and real. The pressure from the outside (parents) and within were very honest. You could feel the characters frustration and anxiety. I think many people will relate.
My only issue was the lack of action. There was a lot of self reflection. I prefer more situations that reflect emotions. That’s just me though. I think most readers will love this book.

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This follows Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour, whose families have been together in business for years. Quinn’s parents are wedding planners who are determined to have Quinn follow in their footsteps, planning her entire life for her from the moment she starts playing the harp at their weddings; Tarek’s family owns a catering company and for years Quinn and Tarek’s paths have crossed and a friendship has evolved. When Quinn confesses her feelings to Tarek in an email right before he heads off to college only to be left on read for the better part of a year, the already romance cynic Quinn knows not to fall in love—or trust in it—ever again. Safe to say that things between Tarek and Quinn are frosty when he returns for his semester break and wants to rekindle their friendship.

A lot of things have changed in that one year—Quinn has no interest in playing the harp anymore, doesn’t want to take over her parents’ business, and Tarek seems different too —but one thing has stayed the same: they’re on opposing sides when it comes to love. Tarek, who’s enamoured with weddings and grand gestures, and Quinn, who thinks love is a sham, keep clashing. But as they keep being thrown together wedding after wedding, Quinn can’t deny that the feelings she had for Tarek still linger…and maybe love isn’t the enemy she thought it to be, after all.

This was my second dive into Solomon’s books and I can safely say, that woman knows how to write. We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This is an unputdownable YA rom-com with incredibly fleshed-out characters, painfully relatable conundrums, and a romance that puts Sleepless in Seattle to shame (yes, that’s an insider reference to Quinn’s and Tarek’s love story).

Let’s get right into the biggest and best part of this book. The portrayal of love—in all its infinite ways from platonic to romantic love—is beautifully illustrated in We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This.

Tarek’s indomitable belief in true love and the importance of romantic gestures is beautifully juxtaposed with Quinn’s (well-earned) cynicism and general disbelief of love’s ability to last. On the one hand, you have this guy that would go to the ends of the earth for his partner, and on the other, a girl who has been in the wedding business for ages, knows the divorce rate of those people who paid for splashy weddings and who, on top of all of that, worries her parents’ marriage will fall apart if anything rocks the boat. Quinn’s stance on love and the journey she goes on in this book was riveting and I could relate to her mistrust so much and I loved that even when Tarek came up with grand gestures, she didn’t just go along but actually told him that she wasn’t about that. Their relationship has its ups and downs, and relatable struggles, but their communication was truly a joy to follow—not to mention the sizzling chemistry and fun banter they’ve got going on.

Quinn, beyond her issues with love, also struggles with her family’s plans for her in this book. Already sick of playing the same songs on her harp at every wedding, she doesn’t know how to tell her parents that she doesn’t want to study business at college and certainly does not want to take over the wedding planning business once she graduates. I loved how, not only through her friendship with her best friend, but also her sister, Tarek, and a professional harpist, Quinn got to explore what she wanted to do with her life and learn how to stand up to her parents.

It is incredibly hard to talk about the parts that I related to most in this book and that made it the unforgettable read that it was without spoiling pretty much everything you get to slowly unpack as a reader, so apologies in advance for vague descriptions. Solomon explores mental illness and seamlessly includes discussions about OCD and depression in the story. Quinn has been dealing with OCD and comorbid anxiety for years and though she is no longer in therapy for it, she still takes medication and experiences compulsive moments. While mental health plays a key role in the story, it doesn’t take over the narrative. It is an important part of Quinn’s identity and the way she lives her life but it’s not the focus. Somehow, this representation meant all the more to me because of that and I think anyone who’s ever dealt with or lives with a mental illness knows how hard it is to not let it define you and this representation was so refreshing because it showed that it doesn’t have to.

Another thing that struck me as really well done was the way Solomon integrated religion into this book. Quinn’s family is Jewish, yet they don’t adhere to all of the rules, such as when Quinn’s sister’s fiancé becomes a more prominent part in their lives and her sister starts eating kosher, this causes Quinn to think about the way even these “non-traditional ways of keeping with tradition” bring her family closer together. Similarly, Tarek is Muslim and while he doesn’t adhere to all of the traditions, he still values the role they play in his relationship with his parents. While I can’t speak for the authenticity of either of those religions, I do want to point out how thoughtfully these beliefs were interweaved in the story and how it showed such a wonderfully modern way of appreciating these traditions and what they mean to people.

Beyond all those wonderful aspects, this book also was a lot of fun—there’s hilarious banter and super awkward encounters, not to mention the disasters that happen at the weddings Quinn and Tarek attend. Despite the sometimes heavy subject matter, this story was also lighthearted, fluffy, and entertaining!

Throwing a disillusioned wedding harpist together with a diehard romantic baker, We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This is a funny, thoughtful and vulnerable exploration of what it means to love and let love, even when the odds seem stacked against you.

Representation: Jewish MC, Egyptian American LI, queer side characters, OCD, and depression

Content warnings: Discussion of depression, discussion of parental separation.

Firstly, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! (Which I received as part of Rachel Lynn Solomon's street team, the Raincoats.)

WE CAN'T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS follows Quinn, a jaded wedding harpist whose parents run a wedding planning business, and Tarek, a hopeless romantic/talented baker whose parents run a catering company. Quinn confessed her feelings for Tarek in an email, and he never responded. However, after they're thrown together through various weddings--from saving a cake, to filling in for a wedding party, and more--they start to realize that they're falling for each other.

I loved the exploration of mental health throughout the book, both from Quinn living with her OCD and Tarek being open about depression. Quinn and Tarek's romance was also done wonderfully. (I mean, this is Rachel Lynn Solomon, after all.)

However, Quinn was difficult for me to like as a character. The reason that she's jaded happened ten years ago. Her jadedness here seemed excessive, which, unfortunately, led me to being frustrated in how she handled her relationship with Tarek.

Overall though, WE CAN'T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS is a sweet rom-com that I think a lot of people will enjoy.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this! I've definitely fallen off reading YA as much as I used to (just casual aging things) but because I loved THE EX-TALK (an adult contemporary by this same author) I thought I'd dive back in to another book from her. And this is exactly the sort of YA I'm still so happy to read. While this is a romance, it's also so much more complex, as our main character deals with OCD and anxiety, abandonment and commitment issues, questions about her future, and how she relates to the people in her life. I loved all the discussions about what it actually takes to make a relationship (any relationship!) work, and that while romantic stories definitely have value, we need to make sure that we are really seeing the people we love and what they need. This is a slightly older YA, too, with the MC being 18 and out of high school, and her love interest having just finished his freshman year of college. Overall, I really enjoyed this and think lots of readers will get so much out of it!

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This is many things; it’s funny, it’s charming, it’s a love letter to rom coms and wedding season and Seattle, but what truly makes it shine — and what has cemented it on my favorites list is its exploration of breaking away from predetermined paths, standing up for yourself, and its honest mental health representation. I really wish I’d gotten to read a book like this when I was younger, but I’m so so glad that We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This exists now.

Rachel Lynn Solomon has a knack for writing characters that feel so relatable, and three dimensional. They’re messy. They’re funny. They’re real. They’re a little unlikable and also so easy to love. Whether that’s Rowan and Neil, Shay and Dominic, or Quinn and Tarek, I’m constantly blown away by how all of Solomon’s characters feel like real people I know and love. When we first meet Quinn, she’s cynical and bitter — we soon come to learn why she doesn’t believe in love. I don’t usually love cynical characters, but I really adored Quinn. It really was easy to empathize with her, and see why she viewed the world the way she did. I loved following her journey, watching her come into her own, and to break away from her family path and tradition.

As a love interest, I loved Tarek — I loved his love for romance, his optimism and good heart. I found him to be incredibly charming, and earnest and just good. It was evident how much he cared for Quinn, even before they got back together. I’m a sucker for tropes (Which tropes, you ask? All of them) and I loved the childhood friends to lovers aspect of this — and the hopeless romantic/cynic pairing. Quinn and Tarek truly complimented each other well, and while I was anticipating the conflict, and the getting back together, they had such chemistry and I couldn’t help but root for them as a couple.

I was utterly fascinated by every character in We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This — I just couldn’t get enough of them. I wanted to know more about Quinn’s family, about Tarek’s, about their friends and the people they meet along the way. Each of them played a special role in Quinn and Tarek’s journeys, and what I wouldn’t do to find out more about them.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I absolutely adored We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This, and will be recommending it highly to quite literally everyone I meet.

This was a great read! I enjoyed this author's previous books, and this was one just as good. Quinn Berkowitz's family runs a successful wedding planning business. It has long been central to Quinn's identity and her relationship with her family. But as she looks toward college, she is not sure that the path that has been set for her -- through business classes to the family business -- is the right one for her. This is complicated because the son of one of main vendors her family business works for is someone Quinn once had feelings for, and maybe still does? Over the course of the summer, Quinn must confront what she wants, and what that means for her relationship with those closest to her. I very much enjoyed the main relationship between Quinn and Tarek, and how the book treated issues of mental health. Strongly recommend!

After recently finishing her adult romance, "The Ex Talk," I was definitely excited to read her latest NA slash YA book, made more exciting by the premise. Here, Quinn is a teenaged wedding harpist who's disillusioned with love and helps out with her folks' wedding planning business, while hopeless romantic and king of the grand gesture Tarek works for his family's catering company. So, naturally, their paths keep crossing. Last summer, Quinn confessed her crush for her longtime pal in an email but never heard back before he went off to college. When they see each other again, they clash for sure. After they keep getting thrown together at wedding after wedding to save the day from potential disaster, Quinn realizes her feelings might not be over him just yet. It's such a quick, fun, and cute read that gives off Sarah Dessen vibes to me. It was a tad predictable by the end only, to get the HEA, but other than that part, it wasn't too predictable for a teen romance, and I did quite enjoy it.

I was hoping this book would be more in the vein of The Truth About Forever (catering) and Save the Date (wedding) but the potential whimsy and delight that could arise from those situations were replaced by too much drama.

Quinn has just graduated from high school and is spending her last summer before college continuing to work for her family’s wedding planning business. Disillusioned by love and struggling with her anxiety and OCD, she begins to think about her future and what she wants, instead of accepting what has been pushed upon her her entire life.

I’m appreciative that YA novels take such strong stances in the name of mental health, because teens need to know that they’re not alone, and that they’ll be okay. In a general sense, it was refreshing to read about our two main characters being open with each other about what they deal with on a daily basis. However, I became exhausted with Quinn and her obsession with her parents separation...that lasted six months...when she was eight. There should have been a scene with her therapist because how has she spent 10 years of her life without closure on this?

Bright spots: I enjoy the consistency of Solomon making her characters Jewish, and that she explores varying degrees of how they observe their faith. Secondly, her pop culture references are always fire (John Oliver! Fleabag! Ladybird!) Lastly, I thought it was cute that Tarek was the most romantically inclined of the two. We need more young men embracing romance.

I will continue to read Solomon’s work because I am a fan. This one was a bit of a miss for me.

I love Ms. Solomon’s brilliant works so much! She nails both of adult and young adult genres and creates sweet, sensible characters you easily connect and writes remarkable stories of them.

However this new book is a little different from her previous works. I loved her choice to approach sensitive subjects like mental diseases including OCD, depression and diversity issues including race, religion and LGTBQ.

Those parts of the book and centering the story around two families work on wedding planning business were creative strengths of the book.

The realistic approach of MCs’ problems about adjusting themselves to be part of the adult world, the pressure they felt, their observations about their role models which shaped their opposite approaches to the romance were well developed.

As our main character Quinn is sarcastic and cynical girl who hardly believes in romance because of her parents’ 6 month long separation process, Tarek is hopeless romantic who can write a book about creating unique grand gestures because he’s raised by extremely romantic couple who met under the Eiffel Tower reminds us of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters’ meeting at Empire State Building at Sleepless in Seattle.

The book is centered on two topics: Quinn is about to leave for the college and feels pressure of her parents who want her chase the same career choices they’ve made and work in family business which she doesn’t truly want to involve but she also doesn’t want to hurt their feelings.

The other topic is her unrequited feelings about her long time crush and one of her best friend Tarek who left for college and ghosted her after she told her true feelings via an email. And now Tarek is back to work at their parents’ catering business in the summer which means they will stuck with each other throughout entire summer at several vivid wedding ceremonies including Quinn’s sister Asher.

I have to admit: I found Quinn dislikable and whiny. She’s suffering from OCD which is troubling for her to deal with her insecurities but I didn’t find her problems so hard to deal. She may deal with family issues and come clean with them and her immature attitudes around Tarek were also annoying.

I didn’t find their love story so intriguing like other characters the author created. Because the love story is not the main part of the book. This is mostly Quinn’s self discovery: it’s most about how she sees the inequality around genders, sexes, religion, race, how she looks for her passion, how she wants to explore her self.

Tarek was lovely, sweet, romantic and more mature part. He deals with his own issues, trying to get approval of her loved ones but he was more sincere one of the relationship from the beginning.

Overall: it was still good reading with thought provoking, genuine, realistic approach to the young adult problems which earned my four stars. ( it would be five if I resonated with the heroine )

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon&Schuster Children’s Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Excellent charming book about a teenage harpist who doesn't really believe in love even through she works in the wedding industry with her parents. Fantastic characters and banter that I adore in all Rachel Lynn Solomon's books. Absolutely recommend to anyone who enjoys YA novels and love stories.

First of all: I like the representation in this book. LGBTQ+ , racial diversity, religious diversity, neurodiversity, and honestly just seeing a romantic lead with a skin condition was refreshing.

This was a bit more graphic than I am used to seeing in YA novels but it's important to acknowledge that many teens are doing these things.

I felt like the second half of the book was a little rushed as was the main character's big realization. I would have liked a bit more of a smoother build up. Otherwise a quick and enjoyable read.