Another new author to me and another author I now love. What a seriously beautiful story.

Maya decides to surprise her long standing boyfriend, David, when he is on a business trip by visiting him as it is her birthday. However, she didn’t bargain on him losing his phone and when the person who finds the phone inadvertently tells her David is cheating on her she ends up chatting to the anonymous person who is kind and friendly. He decides to make her day special as no-one should be unhappy on their birthday, right? But that day changes both Maya and the unknown guy she’s been speaking to. Will she ever find out who he is? And will she find herself along the way? You must read this amazing book to find out.

Well, what an amazing story by Olivia Lara. By chapter 4 I was already loving the feeling of the book, it felt so magical, and it started making me feel really good while I was reading it. It is only the second book EVER to make me throw my head back and laugh out loud, that is an achievement in itself. I really understood Maya, especially all her over analysing and over thinking every situation. I also really liked Celine, what an all-round lovely lady! By about halfway through I was certain I had figured out who Max (the anonymous guy) was and I was right however, this defo did not spoil my enjoyment of the book. I was desperate for Maya to find out who he was too and was constantly on the edge of my seat waiting for her to figure it out. I was so happy when she finally did.

I had no choice but to award this book 5* it literally gave me all the feels and I’m so very sad that I’ve finished it. Brilliant, just brilliant Olivia Lara.

Thank you to NetGalley, Aria & Aries and Olivia Lara for my advanced reading copy. Due out 2nd September 2021.

I've read quite a few romance novels in the last couple of years. I like to mix my genres up a bit and I've read some great romance book....and some not so great ones. I'm pleased to say that this was a really great one!

I don't think the blurb quite does the book justice. After reading it, I was expecting to have the whole book be about this day where the main character is guided by the mystery Lift driver. But really, that's just the start of the book and honestly, I think it gets better after that.

We see Maya really question her life choices in the time following the encounter with the mystery man. She realises that there are a lot of things she's not happy about and so makes some serious changes, including trying to find out just who that guy was.

The setting of this book, Carmel-by-the-Sea in Monterey, California, was really well described and just a great place to have this story unfold. I could picture it really well in my head despite never having been there or knowing anything about it.

I really liked the characters too; Maya was a sympathetic and likeable character whose growth was rewarding, Ethan was interesting too and I liked how he turned out to be totally different to what Maya expected. The supporting cast of characters in Carmel, particularly Celine, were wonderful too.

The plot was fairly predictable; maybe its because of the amount of romance books I've read recently but I could see what was going to happen pretty far off. It didn't diminish my enjoyment of watching the events unfold though.....its all about the journey and not the destination.

And if there's ever an endorsement of a book, I think its these two things.

Firstly, I couldn't put this down. I read about 1/3 one day, and 2/3 the next (part of it whilst I was supposed to be working, sssshhhh!).

Secondly, I finished this and immediately added the author's first book to my Goodreads TBR. This book was just what I needed at the minute. I've just been so swamped with life stuff recently and felt a bit bogged down and the escapism and enjoyment that this book had to offer were just the ticket. Its good to know that I've got another book by the author on the back pocket for another day.

You arrive in San Francisco to surprise your boyfriend only to find out a Lyft driver has his phone and you aren’t the girl he just dropped off with your boyfriend. That’s how Maya’s birthday turns out-not the surprise she was hoping for. When she reveals to the driver that it’s her birthday the driver takes it upon himself to plan a day of activities for her until she has to catch her flight back home. While she texts with him throughout the day, something changes for Maya and she wonders if it does for him as well. As fate would have it, they don’t get to meet. However a year later after finding out her story is being published by a local author she arrives back to the site of her magical day looking for answers.

This book gave me warm butterfly feelings while reading it! Maya’s determination to find her mystery man and get her answers is inspiring especially because she’s taking a giant leap of faith. I can’t blame Ethan for how he acted- you have to protect your sources especially with matters of the heart. This was a very quick read with short chapters. The plot is engaging and all the characters are so well balanced for the story.

Rating 4.5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @ariafiction for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I liked this story overall. It gave me You've Got Mail vibes, which I love. However something about the writing style just confused me at times. Particularly the text exchanges are just italicized and no way to know who is saying what. It was slow to start for me, but picked up at the 30% mark.

It did give me butterflies a few times and the meeting through text trope is becoming one of my favorites! Also I loved the small town in California, I wanted to visit there and the little cafe so much.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I liked the premise of this book because it reminded me of You've Got Mail, one of my all time favorite movies. I liked the supporting characters, but I never felt connected with the main character. I loved the setting of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and I now very much want to travel there sometime. Overall it was a fine, sweet romance.

Maya tells stories, she writes them about people in the street, her coworkers, people she meets in Starbucks. Any one. And they are always love stories. When she has tried to get them published, publishers have said they're too soft, too sappy, why do they always have a happy ending? But Maya thinks the world is harsh enough, why shouldn't they have happy endings? Because her career never took off the way she wanted, she is working as a junior reporter in a dead-end underground magazine and when her big break comes on the one weekend she is supposed to be reigniting her own love story with her longterm boyfriend, she has to go. When it gets botched by an uptight author, she loses her job and still decides to go to California to surprise her boyfriend. However when she gets there she can't contact him and is told by a taxi driver accidentally that he is cheating on her. When she discloses it's her birthday and she is devastated, the taxi driver, Max, feels awful so decides he wants to try and make it up to her by sending her on her own adventure in the Bay Area. Throughout they day, they text and they feel connected through the screen. Maya is convinced this is her love story. When they agree to meet at sunrise, she shows but Max isn't there. David is however and he promises her that everything is lies. He loves her. So she goes home. But she is never the same. Almost exactly a year later, she finds out a book is being published telling HER STORY. From Max's point of view. Apparently, Max's friend is a somewhat well known author and he wanted to tell the world. Can Maya go back to California to convince Ethan to tell her who Max is?

I really enjoyed this story which I'm shocked about, I usually don't like romance stories. Although I found the ending of this overly predictable and Maya's hallmark way of becoming everyone's fairy god mother a little cheesy, I still really enjoyed reading this book. This was the type of book I could imagine sitting beside the beach and chilling out with a cold drink and enjoying. This story is nice, the characters are good and seemingly well developed and it lacks that weird energy that most romance novels have where the woman is powerless without a man. Overall I would recommend this book.

This book was so much fun and absolutely perfect for a summer read! I devoured it in two sittings becasue it was just so good and I had to know how it ended.

Maya was a brilliant main character and while some of her decisions were dubious I just loved watching her change over the course of the book as she learned more about herself and became more and more comfortable in Carmel. Ethan was a great character too and I liked that we were able to get his perspective on the story closer to the end as it was all winding up towards the end, plus he was flawed and he changed too. Something that I love to see. Celine and all the other residents of Carmel were wonderful characters too and I thought the way they all touched Maya's story was wonderful, plus they all felt like their own characters with plots of their own, not jsut side characters in the main plot of the book.

The plot itself was brilliantly written and I thoroughly enjoyed the direction that the story took after the part advertised on the blurb had come to pass. I was hooked as I watched Maya try to find out who her mysterious Max, a great Gladiator reference if I may say so myself, even though I figured it out about halfway through the book. I also really liked that every little character had some sort of plotline that got fulfilled in some way and I really enjoyed how it all got concluded becasue that final chapter was so sweet and I just loved reading it so much.

Olivia Lara has such a wonderful writing style. She is funny and serious and can really just make the characters come to life off of the page. I just absolutely loved it all so much and I am definitely going to check out her other books!!

The premise of 'The Meeting Point' by Olivia Lara held much promise for me. The concept of meeting via text and the unfolding of a romantic relationship sounded wonderful! However, the story in the blurb only lasts for about 20% of the book... The rest of it is a slow slog through a predictable relationship lacking any spark or chemistry.

Maya plans to surprise her boyfriend during his trip to California, only to catch him out cheating on her. She finds out through David's abandoned phone, recovered by a Lift driver who attempts to cheer up Maya with a magical day in Carmel by the Sea (Google this place - it does look beautiful!). I couldn't quite believe it but Maya decides to forgive David and STAYS WITH HIM FOR ANOTHER YEAR!! Only when a book with a similar storyline to her day of wonder is being set to be released does she drop David and vow to find 'Max', her dreamy Lift driver.

As soon as Maya started calling the Carmel day 'the best day of her life' and vowed Max was her true love did I realise why readers get so frustrated by 'insta love'. The connection felt by Maya is just so rushed it is unrealistic. The twist as to the identity of her lovely 'Max' is also blindingly obvious but takes Maya far too long to cotton on.

Overall, I unfortunately did not enjoy this one. The lack of depth, spark or excitement left it falling flat for me. Also, let's hope the blurb is fixed before publication - I feel like I've been mis-sold PPI! 2 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara follows Maya Maas. Who after getting fired from her job decided the best way to spend her birthday was to fly out to California to surprise her long-term boyfriend with a visit. What Maya doesn’t expect is a stranger to text her off of her boyfriends lost phone. Maya is left crying in the airport after her boyfriends Lyft drivers reveals to her that her boyfriend has been cheating on her. To cheer her up, the stranger helps Maya plan a day full of fun adventures and the two have a connection over text that Maya could never have dreamed of.

This book was enjoyable yet frustrating at the same time. Maya was oblivious to the obvious around her that I was internally screaming over her judgmental views of Ethan. It was an easy, quick light read. The predictability became frustrating. From the very beginning of the book, it was easy to spot what was happening and how the book was going to end.

I did like the chemistry between Maya and Ethan I thought that was really well written. and the studying of the book was so beautifully described. Being a native to Northern California, I was able to visualize perfectly Carmel by the Sea.

Overall I vacillated between giving this book a 3 or 4-star rating. I’m sticking with a three because the predictability and the overall frustration of the main character were more than I could handle. I would recommend this to somebody looking for a quick light hearted Insta love romance book.

Thank you, Net Galley and Aria, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After reading and loving Lara’s Someday in Paris, I was excited to jump into The Meeting Point. And it did not disappoint. I was swept away to Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA and into the lives of Maya and Ethan. I loved the premise of this story and the heartwarming journey it took me on.

“Love, because it is the only true adventure.”

After finding out her boyfriend is cheating on her, Maya spends an unforgettable day on an adventure planned out by a Lift driver. She only communicates with him via text but it is apparent they have made a deep connection. But circumstances find her back in NY and a year later she is still determined to find the Lift driver that has consumed her thoughts and her heart.

This adventure is filled with lots of romance, fun characters, twists, and an incredible setting. It was fun, light, and clever…full of humor and heart. I loved being transported and lost in this adorable story.


Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK REVIEW: The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara
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SUMMARY: Maya Maas is in California to surprise her boyfriend when her life is upended by a rideshare driver. The driver relates that her boyfriend left his phone in the driver’s car when his hands were preoccupied…with another woman! Shocked and angry, Maya plans to spend a sad day alone at the airport, but the driver decides to treat Maya to the best day she’s ever had—without ever meeting her in person.
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This was a cute romantic comedy with strong You've Got Mail vibes (i.e., enemies to lovers but also secret lover pen pals)! There were several things I really liked about it: the idea of a life-changing date day, the slow burn romance between the two heroes and the picturesque coastal California setting. I thought the story was well-told and the characters well-developed, and I loved the strong female friendships between both Maya and her BFF and Maya and her new boss/roomie.
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However, I did find Maya’s unreasonable reactions throughout the book to be frustrating. Later on, Maya finds out that her driver shared the story of their amazing day and that his romance author friend will be publishing it as a novel. For her to be so angry that the author “stole” her life story and insisting that she should have been consulted—when no one knew who she was—was ridiculous. She expressed anger in a childish way and stormed off whenever anything didn’t suit her. I felt her characterization somewhat marred this otherwise charming book.
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Come for the sweet tale of two people finding one another; gracefully disregard that the heroine is a bit of a drama baby.
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Story/Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Maya’s Character: ⭐⭐⭐.5
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The Meeting Point will be available beginning 9/2. Thank you to NetGalley, Aria and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A story within a story is what we get with this tale.

Our main character Maya is a journalist (although she's always dreamed of being a 'real' writer) and let's just say that luck hasn't been on her side recently.

After discovering that her long term partner is cheating on her via a LYFT driver who she doesn't actually get to see face to face.

Not the sort of surprise she had in mind when she planned on travelling to San Fransico.

But as bad as things seem in that moment, this could actually be fate giving Maya a nudge to make a change. This is when the mysterious driver offers to take her on an adventure in Carmel-on-Sea all by the median of text.

Risky, maybe but sometimes its worth taking a leap of faith especially when this will become a day/night that neither of them will forget.

So much so that they both re-tell this moment to themselves by writing their story.

Fast forward one year and life has become mundane again. Still with her maybe cheating boyfriend, Maya makes the decision to break free. And after reading a story that sounds rather familiar to the one she lived through just one year ago, this means re-visiting that picture perfect small town, with the hope that she might find the one that got away.

What if the Lift driver who finds your cheating boyfriend's phone holds the directions to true love?
This is an utterly adorable and light-hearted read.

Filled to the brim with humour and heart, you'd be hard pressed not to fall in love with both the characters and their surroundings.

Olivia does a fantastic job when it comes to describing Carmel-On-Sea. I automatically went to look it up to see if it was a real place and discovered that yes it is and it is just as gorgeous as the author writes it to be.

Mix that in with a cast of loveable characters that added an extra depth to the tale with their own backstories, and I felt as though they all sort of found themselves along the way. I got a real sense of joy when reading certain parts, as if these were old friends that had just shared their happiness with me.

Although the ending was in no way a surprise to me, sometimes as a reader that's exactly what you need, that expected happy ending, you know the ones that simply leave you with a satisfied smile.

The Meeting Point is a charming romance and I for one would like to see more love stories from Carmel-On-Sea

Oh man, I really wanted to love this book. The premise seemed so cute but it just didn't deliver for me. It featured a few tropes that aren't my favourite and had some pacing issues. I just don't think this one was for me, but definitely a quick summery read for those looking for it.

The Meeting Point point drew me in with some great romance staples - a great meet cute, texting, mistaken identity, banter, somehow both instalove and slow burn. Maya is a writer at heart who finds herself unexpectedly in a new place. Our hero Ethan is an accomplished writer. I liked that the majority of the book is written in Maya’s point of view but you get a glimpse into Ethan when we read his novel. However for me the plot pacing was disjointed, on some level it is supposed to be a surprise who is Maya’s “love interest” but I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say it’s quite obvious for the whole book who that is. I also think it adds in too much of a “love triangle” element and I didn’t enjoy. I did however like the writer’s having romance in general in common, the beautiful scenery and some of the fun dates sprinkled throughout.

It is so easy to get attached to what we know, what we are used to, or simply not getting out of our comfort zone just because we are made to believe we don't have what it takes or can't find better options.

That is not true. We can do better than we are told, and deep inside we know it.

I enjoyed so much reading this book, carefully going through its pages, I didn't want to miss anything, I didn't want to finish it. I needed to read more of that encouragement. I needed to be reminded of that lack of bravery that we are so used to have.
To the readers, sometimes we need to be selfish.
To the author and team, Congratulations!

Simply wow! I never expected to enjoy this so much. I enjoyed every minute of Maya's journey when she leaves her bad relationship and heads out for an adventure to find if she can find her true love. I did identify Max right away and I don't think the author wanted to keep his identity hidden from the readers but the wait for Maya took forever with so intense soul-searching. Poor Maya had to go through so much to finally realize who she really loves.

Maya has this amazing day with Max just via texting the entire day but doesn't know who Max is and so heads back to her life in New York. But a year later, she decides to leave everything and go search for Max in California when she finds her perfect day was coming up in a book by Ethan. How is Ethan connected to Max and does Maya get to meet him finally in person?

Such a cute and delightful romcom!

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the gifted copy of The Meeting Point! All opinions in this review are my own.

When Maya decides to surprise her boyfriend in California, she is devastated to learn that he is cheating on her from a stranger. Now she is alone in California on her birthday. Luckily the "Lift" driver who found her boyfriend's phone has an adventure planned for her. As this mysterious man leads her around an adorable beach town, Maya can't help falling for him.

**Warning: mild spoilers ahead!**

I really enjoyed the first half of The Meeting Point. It is a quick read and there is great tension created as Maya waits to meet the mystery man. However, once it is revealed that he followed her at a distance the whole day, this story lost its charm. I can suspend belief that she would follow his instructions but it seems weird that she is not creeped out about him after learning that. It's also pretty obvious who Maya's mystery man really is so the end dragged out a bit.

You know… I really wanted to like this book. I read it right after The Charm Offensive which might have been where I went wrong. (Thanks NetGalley, for this ARC too.) I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive. I thought the representation in so many different areas was fantastic. It was fun, funny and sweet. I had similar expectations going into The Meeting Point and was sorely disappointed.

The Meeting Point is about a woman named Maya who finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her after he leaves his phone in a rideshare car and the driver mistakes Maya for the woman who was actually with him that night. She’d been with her boyfriend, David, for several years and decided to go and visit him in California on one of his “business trips.”

When she gets to the airport, after not hearing back from many missed calls and texts, she gets a message from David’s phone asking if she was the blonde in the red dress he was with last night when he was in the car. Maya is a brunette who was at home in Brooklyn at the time. Safe to say, she had a lot of thinking to do.

Instead of wasting her one day on the west coast, which was her birthday no less, she spends the day talking to the very nice Lift driver who gave her directions all around a small town called Carmel by the Sea. They talk all day and night, while she goes to places he recommends like diners, the beach and even a party. But as the night comes to a close and they plan to meet up at dawn the next day, David shows up. Maya is looking for her mystery man who was supposed to be there at the same time but he never shows. So she goes back to New York with David.

I won’t spoil any more than that but I knew from the moment that happened, I wasn’t going to like the rest of the book. I don’t do well with second chance romances. I tried it with The Good Luck Charm (which you’ll see words about soon) and tried it here. Luckily, this wasn’t a second chance romance. But the fact that she even offered David a second chance to begin with, threw me off. It made me feel like Maya was a pushover and wouldn’t stand up for herself, which was my exact issue with A Second-Hand Husband.

The rest of the book was filled with miscommunication tropes and I’m not a fan of that either. It’s very frustrating to me how they would keep beating around the bush and running out of time to say things, or cutting each other off so no one could ever get a full explanation out. I was so frustrated for most of this book because the signs were so clear as to who the mystery man was and it felt like Maya was purposely ignoring those signs.

From a writing standpoint, a lot of this story felt very much like telling and not showing. I don’t know why it felt so overwhelming to me here but it did and hindered my experience much more than I expected it to. I guess this book could be considered a slow burn but it was just way too slow for me. 2.5 stars. If you want to give it a try, this book will be available on September 2, 2021.

The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara is a sweet romcom that follows Maya as she’s looking for a Lift driver she fell in love with after spending a perfect day “with him”

This was a fast paced read, I really liked that you don’t have to wait long for Maya and mystery Lift driver Max to start interacting and I loved that we don’t get to see much of David, he just seemed obnoxious and horrible to be honest!
Getting to know Maya throughout the story and following her one year later when she’s back in Carmel-by-the-Sea looking for Max was so much fun! The setting was beautiful, the people were so nice and I really loved how inspired Maya felt surrounded by all of them. I loved the relationships she forms and the places she visits with wonderful company.

I’m keeping this review spoiler free but I will say this — even if I figured what was going on early on, I really enjoyed the journey and I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cute romcoms with likeable characters, swoony moments and a little bit of banter.

Keep an eye out for this one, it’s out on September 2nd!!! 🗓

✨Thank you to the author, NetGalley & Aria for an eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own. ✨

This review will be posted closer to publication date on my Instagram account: @bm.bookish.girl

Such a cute and romantic story set in such a beautiful location! I love the bond that forms between Maya and Max and it didn't feel rushed at all. This book felt like such a classic Rom Com and I am so here for it!