CW: infidelity

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Maya is about to celebrate her birthday, so she goes on a trip to surprise her boyfriend on his business trip in California. Except... when she texts him, he isn't the one replying. When she asks who it is and why they have her boyfriend's phone, he says, "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." Instead of wasting the trip, the Lift driver makes recommendations for a journey to cheer Maya up on her birthday, and she decides to follow along. She might not be as upset about her cheating boyfriend as she expected to be, though she can't figure out why...

Though the story starts out rough for Maya, this one catches you fast. It was more complex than I expected, but completely mesmerizing. There were so many great supporting characters! Towards the middle, I had a feeling about how things would play out, but it was still fun to read to the end. A great unexpected love story!

The Meeting Point- Olivia Lara @olivialara.writes

This was an unforgettable story filled with sweep you off your feet romance, hope, true to life characters.

The kind of book that give you the good snuggly feels, and uplifts you.

Maya has not much going on for her thanks to her crappy job, she takes a vacation on her birthday to surprise her boyfriend David and goes to California, but David has left his phone in a Lift car. She is texting the driver who incidentally reveals that he has been cheating on her, she has no plans or money, so she decides to stay at the airport.

Continuous texting with the Lift driver lifts up her spirits on her birthday and she finds herself sightseeing and exploring Carmel on low budget, she is enjoying bonfires, and bike rides but doesn't get to see who the person she has an instant connection with is!

They decide to meet each other but fate has other plans, and Maya doesn't even know the name or number of this person she calls Max.

After one year, an incident makes Maya fly back to California to find out who the person she has had an instant connection with is!

The writing was very lucid and you fly through the chapters, there were many endearing characters like Alisa and Celine who you fall in love with.

I find myself at odds with the Insta Love but it works for this book.
One can definitely guess who Max is midway in the book but the end chapters did surprise me. The book keeps one hooked throughout and explores ample of emotions through Maya and Max. I loved the ending and the journey for Maya.

This is perfect for the fans of You've Got Mail and The Ugly Truth. Be sure to add this to your TBR's. 👌

“The Meeting Point” is a heartfelt romantic comedy that will warm your heart and feel optimistic about romance.

Firstly, I loved the concept of the story. Maya’s worst day turns out to be her best as she interacts with Max, a virtual person who shows her around Carmel. While we can see who the mysterious Max is from a mile away, early on, the book is still enjoyable. The author has a beautiful style for writing romance, and it was cute to see how they interacted with each other. Moreover, I loved the way the author describes touristy places. If the author were in real estate, I would probably buy a mediocre house from her thinking it was a fairy tale castle. The way she describes the locations and how Maya experiences, like cycling or going to the beach and other attractions, is simply adorable.

I loved the chemistry between Maya and Ethan. Maya is a lovely character, albeit she does come across as over-emotional and impulsive at times. Ethan is adorable, and I could completely relate to his standpoint. The author also focuses importance on supporting characters like Celine and Aaron, who I also found charming. I loved Celine and Maya’s friendship and how welcoming she is towards her. I also liked Maya’s company with Alisa and thought even David made the story enjoyable.

Overall, I enjoyed reading “The Meeting Point” and thought it is a charming contemporary romance. I would surely recommend this to anyone who loves the genre or is in the mood for a nice romantic feel-good story.

Wow, I just finished The Meeting Point and I have a serious book hangover! You know the type where you are so invested, it comes to a end, you have to go back to real life and all you can think about is the characters in the book and where they are right now. That is me right now! I honestly don't know which book to go to next!
Maya decides to surprise her boyfriend who is in San Francisco on her birthday and things don't go to plan. She goes to the airport to wait for her return flight to New York and then the excitement starts. Maya has a memorable birthday, with a travel guide she doesn't actually meet but the ending just doesn't work out. After this, Maya returns to her life in New York but she cannot settle for this life anymore. She decides that she is going back to Carmel by the Sea to try and find out who the mystery texter from that day actually is. Maya has named him Max and decides to go and revisit all the places she went to that day, in the hope that she will eventually hunt him down.
It is a story not just of romance but of self discovery and you can see that Maya is thriving in her new surroundings while she hunts the mysterious Max.. She makes so many new friends and the description of Carmel by the Sea is just amazing, it makes me want to book a ticket and go myself, right now!
You have to read this book, it really is just wonderful. The only drawback from reading it, is having to follow it by something as good, this is going to be difficult! I am so envious you get to read it for the first time!!
Thank you to Netgalley, Aria & Aries and Olivia Lara for allowing me to read this book as an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Meeting Point is a sweet story about two strangers who fall in love before they even meet. It’s also about finding yourself, taking risks, and never giving up on your dreams. I loved the characters and the many messages about love and friendship this story had for us.

The love story is charming and fun. It begins in such an unusual way and initially develops through texts. They have such chemistry, and their back and forth is so fun and witty.

Highly recommend this one to all

The Meeting Point is a cute love story!

What would you do if you flew across the country to surprise your boyfriend only to find out from his Lift driver that he’s cheating on you?

In The Meeting Point, this is what exactly happens to Maya. She uses this opportunity to travel to a town the Lift driver suggests and throughout the day she gets to know the Lift driver while exploring this city through text messages.

The entire story I was cheering Maya and Max on. And the suspense to finding out Max’s true identity excited me, especially since you could tell who it was.

The Meeting Point is a great reminder that one decision, one day can change your life and outlook on life.

Thank you Netgalley and Aria for the opportunity to read The Meeting Point for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, It was fun, quirky and romantic which made it the perfect book to lose yourself in.

I must admit that the first chapter I wasn't overly sure I was going to enjoy it but stick with it because it doesn't take long at all to hook you in and once it does you don't want to put it down.

Maya started off the story not knowing what she wanted or standing up for herself but was incredibly likable and I found myself hoping for the best for her, But when her dream weekend away goes wrong she finds a stranger by the name of 'Max' stepping in to save the day, I really enjoyed this element and the 50 questions getting to know you game where they both start to realise that they would like to meet each other.

Whilst some of the story was easy to guess what would happen it in no way detracts from the story, I would absolutely recommend The Meeting Point to anyway who wants to escape in a great story!

I read this book as part of the blog tour hosted by The Write Reads. Special thanks to Aria Fiction for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 2.5 stars

So it turns out my opinion about this book is going to be quite an unpopular one, at least based on all the reviews I've seen of others who've read it. I read Olivia Lara's debut last year and I enjoyed it well enough to want to read more of her books, and I think I had very high expectations, especially after seeing how much everyone has loved it. Sadly, this one really didn't work out for me! I'm definitely in the minority with my feelings so I would encourage you to check out other reviews and also to try the book for yourself if you're really curious because it does have a cute concept!

The majority of the book is set in Carmel by the Sea, which sounds like a really charming and picturesque little coast town and reading this book made me want to visit it ASAP! I would love to retrace Maya's steps in the town and of course, to Big Sur and all the other places in between. It wasn't hard to picture the story and locations come to life! I wouldn't necessarily say this was a small town romance but it had the vibes and it leant the story some comfort and charm that I think (generally) worked well with the concept.

I don't think I've ever read a romance involving a Lyft driver and I thought that it was quite a romantic and serendipitous sort of idea that, as a hopeless romantic, I was completely sold on! They also played a game of 50 questions, which I love the idea of and it reminded me of the experiment where couples ask 36 questions that can potentially lead to love. I thought there were some really sweet and funny moments in their banter while they played the game and Maya explored Carmel by the Sea for the first time. That said, even though this started well, it only took a few questions for Maya to already start feeling strongly for our mysterious driver and it rapidly became 'instalove'— a trope that I'm not fond of. It just never feels realistic to me and sadly, it was no different here. I also thought the romance itself wasn't helped by the characters or the somewhat plodding storyline.

Despite being almost 400 pages, not a lot happens and the story moves along at a crawl because of the repetitive nature of Maya's monologue. I often found myself feeling bored and I started skimming pages towards the middle of the book. Having read the author's debut last year, I found that the same issues I had then were also the same now. There's a lot of telling and not enough showing and that made it harder to connect to the characters and their emotions, and to feel invested in the romance. Ultimately though, it was the characters themselves that I had the most trouble with, and particularly with our heroine, Maya.

I don't like to say negative things about heroines in romances because they're always judged the harshest, and over the years I've come to appreciate flawed but realistic characters. However, I really struggled to like Maya! She's judgmental, entitled and so bitter. She didn't have the smoothest path over the last few years but I just didn't understand her thought process and reaction to things. She hated Ethan before even meeting him because he wrote a story that she felt was hers. As he's a popular romance author this story got published and she's extremely bitter about it because it was "her story first". Her reaction to the whole thing was so petty and immature and… W H Y? I also didn't like how she refused to take responsibility for the decisions she made whether that was in her past and her present. She also becomes a 'fairy godmother/saviour' type of character as she pushes people together through various situations and credits herself for giving them a 'happy ever after' that she has created in her head. It was a bit much? Suffice to say, her character made it very difficult for me to enjoy the story.

While I wish I could say that our hero was a lot better, we didn't really get to know him. He's a famous author, twin to Celine and is divorced but we don't get much depth from him. I guess he seemed like a nice enough bloke, but what we do learn of him is from Maya’s POV and again it’s a lot of telling and not showing. We're told "he can be silly and funny" but his expressions are always blank or severe, and Maya can’t even tell what he’s thinking or feeling 90% of the time. It made it difficult to care about him and to understand his motives or what drives him.

Overall, I guess you can say I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would! The idea sounded really fun and cute, plus, I loved the coastal small town setting, but the writing wasn’t compelling and I cared very little for the characters, and as a result, I wasn't sold on their romance.

Maya is just trying to do something fun and spontaneous on her birthday by surprising her boyfriend but what she finds when she texts him is that he forgot his phone in a Lift when he got out of the car with a beautiful blonde. A blonde that isn't her. Stuck in San Fransisco, she decides to make the most of the trip with the help of the Lift driver that still has her boyfriends phone. He doesn't tell her his name, so they decide on Max.
He guides her to a little place called Carmel by the Sea, in hopes that she has a little bit of the sunshine she deserves in her life rather than this pain. He has her go to his favorite places and he texts with her all day. Getting to know each other without never setting eyes on one another. The question comes into play "can you fall in love at first text?"
Just as she is suposed to meet "Max", her boyfriend David comes and finds her and tells her that she has it all wrong. He was working all day and the Lift driver was lying to her. She looks around for Max but he never shows and she goes home with David.
Fast forward a year later, Maya is miserable. She has been living with David but she can't stop thinking about Max. She decides she needs a break and goes back to Carmel because she hears about a book coming out that is their story! She sets off to find the author and to see if she can ask him to introduce her to his friend that inspired the story.
This story was adorable. I fell in love with Maya and Celine and Carmel, but I really fell in love with "Max." The twist is something you see right away ( I did at least), and I found myself wondering how Maya was so blind to things that were right in front of her face! I wanted to shake her a few times. I also couldn't understand the motives behind "Max" at times, but at the end it all came together.
Thank you to Olivia Lara, Netgalley and Aria for an early copy!

The Meeting Point follows Maya whose life looks perfect from the outside but in reality is falling apart. She has a seemingly perfect job and boyfriend but a phone call from a mysterious taxi driver throws a spanner in the works. After catching her boyfriend cheating the mystery driver leads Maya on a scavenger hunt across the town which is tragically cut short. A year later after returning to her disenchanting life Maya decides its time for a change and sets out to find the mysterious Max and ends up finding a lot more excitement along the way…
Overall The Meeting Place is a super fun and easy read perfect for summer! I guarantee you’ll devour this super new rom com.

The Meeting Point is a contemporary romance and features Maya who after discovering her boyfriend is cheating starts up a text conversation with the lift driver who finds her boyfriend's phone. She feels a connection with this man and a year later tries to track him down. The plotline is fairly simple but still felt a little overdone at times and I wasn't overly fond of either of the main characters honestly, they both just seemed overdramatic and too quick to jump to deception. So much of this novel could have been solved just by people talking, and most of the time there was literally no valid reason for information to be withheld.

Some of the characters like Ethan's sister were hilarious though and I appreciated every scene she was in. The opening chapters of the book were very cute and I just wish that that vibe has been sustained throughout.

This was an easy, light read, and a decent way to pass an afternoon.

Thanks to Netgalley for an Arc of this in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks NetGalley for the arc of The Meeting Point!

Maya has an awful day at her job but has a scheduled trip to surprise her boyfriend. When she arrives at the airport she can’t get ahold of him. Finally she hear back but it’s the Lift driver with her boyfriends, Davids, phone. He spills the beans that he was all over a woman in the back of the drivers car. What a way to make a bad day worse! And to top it off- it’s Maya’s birthday! She considers getting right back on the plane but the driver suggests a location to visit nearby. She spends the bus ride texting him in a game of 50 questions. Then he spends the entire day texting her where to go next. They develop a fast friendship and sweetness in their texting. They plan to meet in the morning but David shows up.

David and Maya try to continue their relationship for a year until David (very lamely) suggests they get married. Maya can not go through with it; she’s miserable in every aspect of her life. Nothing has been the same since that magical adventurous birthday. Her best friend tells her a book is being released about that very day of her life. Maya is angry and decides to return to the town to investigate. She needs to know who the mystery man is, if their love was real and why he never showed up the morning they were to meet.

We follow Maya on this journey of self discovery as well as watch her on some new adventures. There was a bit of predictability to this story but I still couldn’t put it down. I read it in less than 24 hours (which is no small feat with two little kids). I loved trying to figure out who Maya’s love was (even though I was pretty sure I knew). It made me think about what I would do in her shoes. So bold to quit your life and follow your heart after only one day of bliss. Id love to read the next part to Maya’s story! I also loved that a chunk of this story was about an ARC and authors! Id definitely read anything Olivia Lara writes!

The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara would make an adorable romantic comedy! Maya flies to San Francisco to surprise her boyfriend and while trying to get ahold of him, someone else answers her text. He is a Lyft driver and her boyfriend left his phone in his car when he and his “girlfriend” were given a ride. Maya is devastated to learn her boyfriend is apparently cheating on her. With the help of her new friend, the Lyft driver, Maya decides to enjoy her birthday by taking the bus to the small beach town, Carmel by the Sea.

As Maya spends the day texting with the Lyft driver, she has the best day of her life and completely forgets about her cheating boyfriend. Just as they are trying to meet, things go off the rails and Maya spends the next year in love with a man whose name she doesn’t even know. One year later, Maya takes charge of her life, and heads back to Carmel to try to find the one that got away.

Even though I figured out who the mystery man was early on, I enjoyed the characters and couldn’t wait to find out how his identity was revealed. All I kept thinking throughout the book was what a cute movie this would be!

Oh man, I got sucked into this book and could not put it down!

Plot Summary: Maya Maas travels from NYC to California to surprise her boyfriend but when lands at the airport and tries to reach him she is shocked to get a response from him previous Lift driver who lets her know that he left his phone in the back of the Lift after being dropped off with a pretty blonde whom he was all over. Obviously this doesn't sit well with Maya. To add insult to injury -- its Maya's birthday! The Lift driver who Maya calls "Max" gives Maya instructions for this beautiful little town close by where she can have a great day to herself before returning to NYC. Max and Maya spend the day texting each other as he sets up a personalized itinerary for her. An unexpected ending to her trip leaves her longing for her exchanges and the Lift driver so o year later she returns to the little town to see if there if she can find what she has been looking for in life and in love.

Review: This book was so much fun. I was never sure where the story was going next. While the ultimate ending wasn't a surprise, the twists and turns to get there kept me engaged and turning each page wanting to know where this story would take me. At one point Maya says "he didn't ruin the magic, he created it" and man does Olivia Lara create some magic with these beautifully written characters and intriguing story! I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a fun, engaging love story.

After Maya gets fired, she flies to San Francisco to surprise her boyfriend is cheating on her what a duck head. Maya day couldn't get any worse right luckily the cab driver is a sweetheart and a great tour guide.

This is a lovely light and fluffy romace and I would highly recommend it.

I'm not a great romcom fan. I like them alright, but I like more com than rom. Just my funny quirk. I wasn't sure about this when I started, but I'm so glad I took a chance on it.

There is romance here. That's not a secret; you can tell almost as soon as you start reading what's going to happen. It's all the bits around the romance that I really enjoyed. (And I'll give Olivia credit, the scene I was expecting from about a quarter of the way in didn't happen! No spoilers, but I was really surprised and impressed, it was a great twist.)

I adored the friendships Maya made, and how she became the town's fairy godmother, making connections and putting people together in ways that really helped everyone. It takes a special kind of person to notice other people in that way, and Maya was really good at it. I can't wait to see that town after she's lived there a few years!

The descriptions were great as well. The town sounds amazing and I'd love to visit sometime, to retrace the story and see the landmarks. (Assuming it's really a real place? I'm almost afraid to check just in case it isn't!) It really did sound like such a perfect day. (Apart from the bike tour, but that's just me!)

Overall I'm really glad I tried this. The romance didn't over power the other elements, it was fun, it was sweet. I'd definitely try another novel by Olivia. And I can't wait to see the Hallmark movie of this - I've been trying to decide who'd play everyone, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

This is a wonderful, warm romance which would transfer brilliantly to the big screen. The ‘meet cute ‘ premise works so well in this story of Maya, and I loved getting to know her through the text chat she has with her mystery man. Her hopes and fears are so clearly defined as she bears her soul in this perfect romance read.

Maya is having the most terrible day of her life when she's fired from her job, and finds out that her long term boyfriend has been cheating on her. She's practically jobless and homeless on her birthday. The lift driver who informed Maya about her cheating boyfriend is now determined to help Maya make her birthday better. He suggests that she go to a nearby city, Carmel-by-the-sea. Maya is reluctant at first for obvious reasons and then decides to just go and hops on a bus. The lift driver, whom she decides to call Max has planned her entire itinerary and plays the tour guide virtually through text. What Maya didn't expect was that her worst birthday would turn out to be the most magical day of her life.
I loved this book! I didn't expect to like it so much while I into first few chapters because I hate the idea of vacation romances and all, but this book turned out to be so good, so unique and so so so much beautiful. It's definitely my best read for this month.
The plot of this book was totally unique and quite unpredictable. So unpredictable and so much of slow burn romance that I literally read this book in one sitting. I was so much dying to find out who Max is and when I finally figured out who he is, I couldn't keep this book down because I had to make sure that Maya and Max end up together. I love those books which have these little connections and coincidences. Maya and Max were surely a match made in heaven.
My rating: 4.75/5 Thank you to Netgally for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Meeting Point
Olivia Lara
Pub Date: September 2, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley and @ariafiction for an eARC of The Meeting Point in exchange for an honest review!

Maya’s boyfriend is in California for work and it’s her birthday, so she decides to surprise him and make a weekend of it. When she lands and texts him, instead of her boyfriend, she’s texting with the Lift driver, who accidentally spills that David was with another woman. Maya confesses it is her birthday and Lift driver helps plan an amazing day through text with Maya. Exploring Carmel with ‘Max’ giving her instructions and recommendations, Maya has the greatest day and part of that is her interactions with ‘Max’ and they plan a meeting point.

Will this day of texting with her cheating boyfriend’s Lift driver be the the happily ever after Maya is looking for?

Ugh, I feel like I could have gotten toothache this story was so sweet. It was fairly predictable, but I enjoyed the story and the characters so much, it didn’t take away from the reading experience at all. It wasn’t just about a love story but Maya figuring out what made her happy, developing new friendships and getting back to writing. Figuring out what the twist was did lead to some frustrations with the characters and the choices they were making, but ultimately their journey to the happily ever after was well worth it!!!

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The Meeting Point is an adorable story that left me with a hopeful feeling every time I picked it up. It's a delightful summer read, and everything it promised to be.

Plotwise, it's a unique and unpredictable adventure. Girl tries to surprise her boyfriend on her birthday and ends up having a fabulous trip to a lovely seaside town and pretty much falling in love with a guy she never met. Then there's a twist that I never saw coming that made the second half of the book so much more enjoyable and interesting!
(Though I have to say there were two twists that were quite easy to predict and I can't believe Maya didn't even consider them!?)

The characters. For once, in a romance novel, the male love interest isn't perfect, how refreshing! I really liked all the characters. Maya, especially, because I could connect to her much more than I expected, and really understand all her choices. Ethan was a nice surprise, kind of lovely, but also very down-to-earth as a character, and I loved all their little adventures. It was the kind of spontaneity we all want in a relationship.

This story really tells you to put yourself out there, for a partner, job, or something else. To not be afraid to try, or get hurt, and to work on your own happiness. Be adventurous and open-minded.

The writing style threw me off a bit at the start; it's not too descriptive, more focused on the character's inner monologue and story progression kind of style, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Meeting Point. It's a quick and easy romance that will make you feel happy, hopeful, and a little like taking a trip to the beach. Perfect for hopeless romantics!