THIS BOOK MADE ME SO VERY HAPPY!!!

I read this book at the perfect time. It took me away to a beautiful town by the sea where the people are friendly and the houses are quirky. A place where a woman whose heart shoud be shattered learning that her boyfriend is a cheater but instead she finds herself stepping out of her boundaries to connect with a stranger on a level she never expected. But things take a turn & a year later she realizes she is not living the life she should be. She ditches the boyfriend, ditches the job that only brings her sadness and decides to hop on a plane to find the stranger who gave her the best birthday without ever meeting him. What follows is her quest to discover the identity of the mystery LIFT driver and see if the connection made over multiple text and 50 questions will be just as profound when they finally meet. Sometimes what you want doesn't always come easy and along the way lessons will be learned about what her heart really wants.

I cannot praise this book enough. It really brought me so much joy.

Thanks to NetGalley & Aria and Aries for an ARC. Voluntarily reviewed.

I absolutely adored this book! The character development was awesome, I loved each one of them. This is a super fun, fast paced story that is guaranteed to draw you in.

Thanks to netgalley and the author/publisher for letting read an advanced copy.

What I loved about this story was it was about a writer who writes happily ever afters for everyone she meets but she hasn't found hers yet.

This was a pretty unique story but what happened was pretty predictable.

It was a very nice romance but I felt like there could have been less chapters, some chapters could have been combined.

Overall, it was a pretty fun read.

Thank you to Net Galley, Aria Fiction and Olivia Lara who very kindly provided me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had pretty high hopes for this book because the concept sounded really interesting but honestly the book fell a little flat for me. I found the characters difficult to like and I had a hard time getting invested in the story.

I loved the whole idea behind this book but for me I think that it just needed a bit more development and less writing in the middle section of the book but more at the end because I think that the ending felt a bit rushed.

I liked some scenes with the main characters and certain parts to their personality but overall I found them difficult to like. However, I did enjoy the side characters.

If I had to sum this book up in one word it would be ‘ok’. I wasn’t blown away by anything in this book everything was just ok. I think that it had a lot of potential because like I said I really loved the concept and I actually really enjoyed the first few chapters of the book where Maya experiences the previous year but it went down hill from there for me.

I did find this book really predictable, like pretty much as soon as we were back in the present I had figured out the entire plot which was a bit disappointing and took away some of the enjoyment of reading it for me because I had guessed everything correctly.

However, as always this is just my opinion so you could read this and enjoy it much more.

My thoughts




Narrative and Plot




The Meeting Point is a cool summer breeze that takes you along the ride. For me, I came back to this book after taking a break from reading in general. That might be a factor, but the story had just the right pace. I know, some people don't enjoy the carefully constructed conflict of 'people not revealing the secrets'. However, it is part of the story here and you can forgive the characters for the not so realistic choices they make.

The plot is your, "will they get together or not" love story. But it is endearing and adorable to say the least.





Characters and Conflicts




Even if the situation and the location seems quite dreamy, the characters are fundamentally relatable. Their fears, regrets and dreams make them believable. Both Maya and her mysterious man go on a journey of their own in terms of opening up their hearts and taking chances in life.

The conflict is bittersweet. On one hand, you want the love story to kick start and on the other hand you don't want the beautiful journey to end. However, towards the end it felt a little bit stretched. It didn't drag the plot, but at some point, as a reader you would go, just say what's on your mind!









Conclusion

The Meeting Point is a perfect summer beach read. Just throw caution to the wind and give in to that suspension of disbelief theory. You will have a fairy tale love story at your hands.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Let me start this off by saying, my goodness, did this give me that warm, fuzzy feeling! This book was like a warm hug and I adored it.

We start the story following a young woman named Maya. Maya is having a bad day. She’s just been fired from her job and, when she flies to California to surprise her boyfriend on her birthday, she discovers that he’s been sighted necking with some strange blonde woman. But, what started out as the worst birthday of her life morphs into the perfect, fairy tale day when the Lift driver who broke the news about her boyfriend leads her on a guided tour (via text message) through a beautiful sea-side town. Could this chance encounter be Maya’s ticket to what she has been missing?

Uuuugh, this was so cute! I loved the feel of this book, if that makes sense? It just settled in my happy place and had me smiling throughout most of it. I loved Olivia Lara’s writing. It has a way of drawing you into the story and it’s incredibly readable! I flew through this book in just a couple of days and was a little sad when I reached the end of the story.

I will say, though I love Maya, there were so many moments when I wanted to shake her! Her tendancy to focus on the romantic stories she imagines for complete strangers but ignoring her own not-so-great love life just made me want to groan so much. Especially moments where she would take behavior that you know she would never let a friend or loved one accept. But that’s the way of it, isn’t it? People can be great at being supportive and fighting for others, but completely awful at standing up for themselves. It was great watching Maya grow as the story progressed. As for our mysterious Lift driver, I have to say, at the beginning, I was a little creeped out by him 😂 Probably because I’m old and cynical and was like “This man is legit going to murder you, Maya…” But my cynical, little heart was won over in the end and I love how everything turned out!

Not gonna lie, though, I think my absolute favorite thing about this book is that magical birthday Maya spends in Carmel at the very beginning of the book. Mostly because that sounds like the perfect day to me! I love the ocean, I love quirky small towns, and the food all sounded so good, omg 🤤 The author really brings this town and the day to life, so much so that I felt like I was actually along for the adventure. Also, the idea of someone giving you a spontaneous guided tour over text just sounds like fun. This part just showcases the best of the writing that made me enjoy this book so much.

Final thoughts: This was such a sweet read and definitely put a smile on my face. This deals with some rough topics, but the payout is well worth it. Though Maya felt a little weak as a main character at first, I loved getting to watch her grow and learn and experience joy. The writing is incredible and will make you feel like you’re a part of this mysterious adventure! If you’re looking for a fun, fast romance that will gives you heartbreak, summer romance, and warm fuzzies all in one story, I think you would enjoy The Meeting Point!

THE MEETING POINT was a cute and light read that was fun, but very predictable.

I liked the characters a lot, but after their initial meeting, this book is their INDIVIDUAL stories, not a romance showing a relationship grow.

This isn't a bad thing. It's the story structure of Sleepless In Seattle. But it's not my cup of tea.

You have to enjoy insta-love and then the characters' long journey to reconnect. And that is going to work for a lot of readers. Just not for my tastes.

I freaking loved this book! It was such a comfort read for me! I could not put it down until I had read every word! It had such 90s-early 2000s rom-com movie energy and I was sold! I loved the characters. I loved the relationships. I loved the story. I loved it all. It could be predictable at times but I loved that about it. It's what made it feel so comforting and familiar like a warm blanket. But I also felt like the story was fresh! I will always have this on my shelf and come back to it time and time again.

Maya flies to San Francisco to surprise her boyfriend and finds out he is cheating on her. A local car ride share driver, Max, sends her Carmel-by-the-Sea to enjoy a special day before she flies back to New York. As Max and Maya exchange texts throughout the day a love connection is made, but this is real life and they never meet...

One Year Later

Maya finds out that the story of her day in Carmel is being published in a romance novel and she returns to track down the author so he can lead her to Max. She will discover herself on her path to love and a true HEA just like she writes for her own characters.

This is a sweet slow-burn romance set in the beautiful Bay area. All the secondary characters are charming and it would be great to read another story centered around any of them in the future.

Recommended for: contemporary romance novel enthusiasts

Content warning: cheating

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really enjoyed this book. It had such a unique plot and I was hooked from the beginning.

She has just arrived in California from NY to surprise her boyfriend but when she texts him... someone else texts back. Turns out he left his phone in a LYFT drivers car... when he was busy kissing another woman in it! Have I mentioned it's also her birthday! She spends the next 24 hours texting back and forth with this stranger as he provides her with adventures to do. At the end of her trip they decide the meet in real life.... but things don't go as planned. Now we wonder if they'll ever find each other again or if this 24 hours was really as incredible to each of them.

I found this book so romantic, Ill admit there were parts that could have verged on creepy (you'll know what I mean when you read it) in another story but for this one it wasn't, it was purely romantic. Read this book if you like missed connections, second chances and a romance like nothing else you've read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria Fiction for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions remain my own as always.

rating: 3 stars
this book was really cute! though it took me a while to get into the story it was an enjoyable enjoyable light read. I don’t really like the insta-love trope so that’s probably why I didn’t like this book more. the characters were lovable and nice to read about. the setting was great to read about and I felt myself wanting to visit there. this book was just a heartwarming book to read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Aria and Aries for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review

I was conflicted about how to rate The Meeting Point, but I ended up settling on 3 stars. Although I loved the first half of the book – and it was undoubtedly 5 star material which had me kicking myself for not being a bigger romance reader! – the second half of the story ended up disappointing me.

At the beginning, The Meeting Point follows Maya as she is led around Carmel by the mysterious Lift driver on the other end of her phone. We get to live through her reaction to discovering David’s cheating ways – disappointment, but not as much disappointment as she was expecting to feel – while feeling the same levels of hope and wonder at the chance to start her life again in her late 20s. I’m currently in my mid-20s, and it sometimes feels as though my life is mapped out in front of me, so it was nice to put myself in Maya’s shoes and imagine ‘what if?’.

However, the second half of the novel follows Maya’s return to Carmel after she discovers a local author named Ethan is releasing a book based off of her magical, life-changing day. Ethan – a bestselling romance novelist – adapts his friend’s story into a novel, and Maya feels cheated that her tale has been stolen from her. Not only that, but Ethan refuses to tell Maya who the mysterious ‘Max’ is, making it feel impossible for Maya to ever have her happily ever after.

This was where things started to fall apart for me. I found it all unbearably predictable, and I wanted Olivia Lara to get on with things! I was rooting for the main couple, but I wanted to see more of them together as a couple, rather than slowly but surely finding their way towards each other. If you’re a fan of a slowburn romance, this is the one for you, but as a romance newbie this was a bit too much ‘slow’ and not enough ‘burn’.

I enjoyed the wider cast of characters, but found them far too interchangeable. Their voices weren’t too distinctive to me. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to reading a spin-off story following Ethan’s sister Celine on her journey to becoming a car mechanic, because she was a lot of fun to read!

Unfortunately The Meeting Point wasn’t the one for me, but if you’re a romance reader who enjoys slowburn romances, books about books and gorgeous beachside settings, this is definitely going to be a new favourite for you.

Maya is not entirely sure what she’s doing or what she wants, totally stubborn and stuck in a rut. She is a journalist, a job she hates and secretly writes love stories about the people she watches. So on her birthday she jumps on a plane to surprise her boyfriend only to discover with a little help from a Lift driver and a lost phone that he’s a cheating rat. All is not lost though and her worst day is about to become her best when the driver persuades her to take a trip to Carmel by the Sea and play a game of fifty questions.

So how come a year later she’s back with the cheating rat, more miserable than before and still unaware of the real identity of driver Max and why he disappeared on her.

Ever find a book that’s just so you it’s like the stars aligned? One that you wanted to gobble up greedily and yet slowly savour at the same time. This was mine! Is it a little bit sappy? Yes it is. Is it a little bit obvious? Yes it is. But you know what I don’t care one iota. It’s got everything I want in a good romance.

I wrongly assumed the setting was fictional as it’s just so fairytale perfect until I read the acknowledgments. I feel like I know the place intimately and if I am ever lucky enough to find myself there then I plan to visit every stop from Maya’s perfect day.

Max the mysterious Lift driver is everything I thought I wanted in a book hero but like Maya my head got completely confused with the appearance of author Ethan Delphy who is about to publish Max and Maya’s story much to Maya’s disdain. Determined to find out how he knows about their day and if he can help her find Max she heads back to Carmel and integrates herself into Ethan and his twin sister Celine’s lives.

All the characters in this book are a joy, best friend Alisa is always there for her even when the time differences between Carmel and London should mean otherwise. Celine who runs the cafe and gives her both a job and a home is warm and welcoming and I feel I know her and all her customers. Then there is mysterious Max and enigmatic Ethan, polar opposite in her feelings towards them but both are there with her. One in her heart and the other in her face.

Romantic perfection!

The Meeting Point was such a cute book! The day out that starts it all was adorable and had me invested in the main characters from the start.

Maya discovers her boyfriend is cheating, then embarks on a spontaneous adventure guided by a mysterious Lift driver. After the perfect day real life comes crashing in and Maya goes back home. A year later Maya finds out famous romance author Ethan has written the story of her perfect day (apparently the Lift driver is his friend) and she’s angry. This leads her back to where it all began in the hopes of tracking down the author so she can give him a piece of her mind, also hoping he’ll give her a way to contact the driver.

There’s a café full of wonderful side characters, including Ethan’s sister Céline, who Maya befriends. A lot of the book takes place in the café which helps with the small town feel, especially as Maya gets to know the regulars and even starts matchmaking.

Maya is also a writer and aspiring author. You can expect a lot of banter between Maya and a certain romance author Ethan.

I gave The Meeting Point 4/5🌟 Thank you Aria & Aries for my free review copy. #TheMeetingPoint #Netgalley

This is the only book I've read by Olivia Lara, but I am so excited to read her other one! I LOVED this book. Yes, it's predictable, but it is so sweet, and I read it extremely fast because I couldn't wait to see what happened. The characters are cute, and I just fell completely in love with them. I really needed a sweet little romantic story right now, and this was the perfect one. I will definitely be recommending it to friends, and I can't wait to read more from Olivia Lara.

Maya leaves New York to surprise her boyfriend, David, in California on her birthday, but little does she know her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Maya calls him and send texts trying to get a hold of him, but David never answers. Finally, the Lyft driver, "Max," who drove David around answers the texts revealing to Maya that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with a Blonde, and she's not blonde. After she figures it out, she's devastated on her birthday no less. The Lyft driver feels very sorry for her and tries to make her birthday the best one yet by giving her tips and places to visit while she's in California. She doesn't know the Lyft driver, not even his name, but she falls in love with him during all of their texts. They finally decide to meet up the next day at a certain bench, but he never shows. David tracks Maya down, and they leave together. A year later, Maya still wonders what happened to the Lyft driver. Why didn't he meet her at the bench that day? When she finds out someone has written a book about that day in California, Maya gets extremely upset because it's her story, not some writer guy who's publishing a book about it. Determined to find out who he is and what actually happened that day, Maya goes back to California on the hunt for that Max. Will she find him and still feel the same way about him once she knows who he is? Will he even remember her?

Follow me on Instagram at readwithcupcake for more reviews and bookish content.

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Aria for the eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you are a hopeless romantic like me who is looking for a light, easy read that will warm your heart and keep you laughing, you'll have to pick up this book on its pub day which is TOMORROW, September 2nd! Because honestly, who doesn't love a good contemporary romance?!

Review:

Everyone has a crazy birthday story, but Maya's might take the cake! Could you imagine getting fired from your job of 4 years and then flying all the way to San Fran to surprise your boyfriend only to find out from a lift driver that he's cheating on you?! However, then imagine that lift driver then acting as your virtual tour guide for the night and blowing your mind through texts by suggesting you to visit all their favorite places and making your birthday absolutely unforgettable. Maya's day turned from the worst birthday ever to the best birthday ever all thanks to this stranger that she texted all day and met by chance and this one night changed and influenced the rest of her life forever.

This book's story is so natural, engaging, and is sure to warm you up inside as you read it. This was my first book by Olivia Lara and I was not disappointed!

I loved Maya and Max’s story. I couldn’t put it down, even knowing how it would end killed me as I just wanted to get there and the suspense was so much.

I loved Ethan, everything about him was perfect. If only real life was like this eh?

However cliche and predictable this way, I still loved every single second of it and would definitely recommend!

I loved this book. I read in one sitting, rather, I stayed up way past my bedtime reading The Meeting Point. I can honestly say this is one of my favourite romance book this year.

The Meeting Point follows Maya, a day dreamer and aspiring author who loves people watching and writing stories about them. This little detail made me so happy because, same!

Olivia Lara’s writing is so easy to get into. It’s flowy and engaging and it made me just keep on turning the pages.

I loved reading about these characters. They’re so full of life and cute. Also, very memorable. I remember I couldn’t stop thinking about them weeks after finishing the book.
The plot of this book is so unique, and quite interesting. I also loved the little twist thrown in the story. It had me on edge and loved how it all wrapped up.

The Meeting Point is a cute, cheesy, happily ever after story that will have you swooning. I know I was. And I definitely recommend.

Thank you to the author, Aria & Aries and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This love story with communication problems was cute, but very predictable. The character/relationship development was weak, and I couldn't work out what either might see in the other. But then maybe I'm just not cut out for insta-love, which is what this story is grounded on. Although the love interest isn't revealed until late in the story, it's glaringly obvious from the get-go what's up - so there wasn't really any twist in it for me. Instead, I felt the unending inner dialogues made the story drag quite a bit - and yet the happy end still felt rushed, due to said lack of character development. Overall, it's okay, but not more than that.

The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara is exactly the kind of book that is highly needed right now. At least for me it was the perfect fit. The pandemic has changed my reading habits extremely, the genres I read most almost switched completely. I see myself reaching for happy and hopeful stories more and more, the exact opposite of what I read before (and hope to read after this all is over) But right now? I’m in love with the atmosphere, it’s so hopeful and happy even though Maya doesn’t have it as easy as one might think when looking at her life from afar.

She seems to have it all. A good job, the boyfriend, an apartment in New York and yet … it’s not as good as it seems which she realizes not only because she finds out that her boyfriend cheated on her but also how life can be in a place like Carmel and most importantly how she can be when she is not stifled by a job she isn’t valued in or a big and busy city but surrounded by kind people and with a goal in front of her.

Maya is a wonderful character to follow. She has been in a kind of stillstand for a long time and her day in Carmel wakes her up a bit. But she still needed one more push to finally go find her happiness.

Her search for Max, the Lyft driver, began anew and she really commits this time. Even though I guessed quite quickly who Max was, it was still very interesting to see how Maya would find out and how everything would play out.

The strength of this novel is the writing style, the hopeful atmosphere Lara created and the fun and kind characters. I really liked the friendships included and also, the small stories Maya creates about all the people around her. I loved how her ability to create these stories mirrows her mental and emotional state.

This is the perfect read to escape reality for a day (it’s a quick read) and dream a little.

Would recommend to:
Everyone in need of something positive and some comfort who loves second chances and reading about someone finding their way.