I'll be shelving this book for now and hoping to come back to it in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to read. Hoping to be at a better place to read this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the published for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

An excellent second chance romance about two academics who unexpectedly reconnect and find love. Great cover design as well.

this felt like alot of them just wanting each other and not alot of character development or plot development. the parts they were together were nice but i felt as though the apart sections of the novel didnt add to it

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

While I wanted to enjoy Meet Me in Madrid, as an avid sapphic romance reader, it was unfortunately just not a good fit for me. The pacing felt somehow off to me, which pulled me out of the story bit by bit, until I was struggling to finish reading. I did enjoy the chemistry between the two leads, but it was not quite compelling enough to pull me through finishing this book.

I wasn't OMG Amazed by this, I happened to read several better books around this time period and this wasn't a standout

This one ended up not working for me, but I think other readers might enjoy this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Meet Me in Madrid.

Unfortunately, I could not finish this book. I really liked the main character but I could not get hooked on the story. I will still recommend to those looking for sapphic romance.

This was really slow to start. I'm not sure what it was but it took a second for me to really get into, but once I did boy was I hooked. Such a wonderful whirlwind romance that had me swooning.

Give me the romances that take me around the world - loved it! Atmospheric, fun and sexy. I couldn't get enough.

This book was just so good! I really loved it so much. I can't wait to continue recommending this book. Thank you for letting me read and review this book.

I rarely ever give up on a book, but the writing quality of this one is so bad. It reads like very basic, first or second time trying to write fan fiction. No consistency in physical locations, clothing being worn, or time passing. I couldn’t go on.

While I was intrigued by the plot of Meet me in Madrid and am always here for a sapphic book, I found it to be a bit lacking.

I loved how diverse the cast was but had trouble differentiating the voices and personalities of some of the characters. Especially between the two leads, it was honestly hard to tell whose section I was reading at some points.

I had some issues with the storytelling elements and choices in general throughout the book. Such as there being just one random Esther chapter for no reason, as well as characters never mentioned before suddenly exist and are a source of conflict even though they were apparently existent the whole time but barely mentioned?

The plot itself didn’t really move at all for the entire book. Barely anything happens and I had a very hard time focusing. The most exciting parts of this book were the sex scenes, which were very good, but otherwise this was a very bland read that I had to force myself to finish.

Trigger Warnings: Alcohol, sex, racism, mention of cancer in side character, coming out, past death of a parent, cheating, homophobia, drugs, suicide, cursing

Representation: Queer, Lesbian, POC, Bisexual, Jewish, Gay

Meet Me in Madrid is the story of Charlotte and Adrianna who must balance their romance and careers across continents. Charlotte, a museum courier, travels for work while she tries to become a professor, her dream job. Adrianna, an art historian, lives in Madrid while she does research. The two start a long distance relationship until their careers threaten their love.

I absolutely loved this book! The story is great and I couldn’t put it down! I loved reading about adult women in a relationship and thriving in their fields! I loved reading about adults and their continued struggles with their professions. I also really enjoyed learning about life and professionalism through a POC lense.

Overall I felt the story had great pacing and fully developed characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the instalust but also the chemistry that the main characters had. My only wish is that the scene with James and the boss was expanded more, it felt very rushed. I would’ve love to seen more of that because I felt it was more important than the book makes it seem.

I wanted to love this book, but it lacked chemistry (there was sex, but no chemistry) and it was very slow, as far as pacing..

All the elements were there but it just didn't work for me.

When Dr. Charlotte Hilaire finished her graduate program with honors, she never thought that three years on she’d be stuck as an assistant curator who spends most of her time couriering artwork instead of teaching at a liberal arts institution. However, when she finds herself stranded in Madrid where the illustrious Dr. Adrianna Coates is currently residing, Charlotte can’t help but be grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with her brilliant former crush. Adrianna was an intimidating inspiration as Charlotte’s dissertation advisor at Yale; now that Adrianna is teaching at UCLA and with a prestigious sabbatical fellowship to finish her book, Charlotte feels even less like her peer.

Yet, as accomplished, elegant, and daunting as Adrianna is, the instant connection and passion she and Charlotte share quickly crosses any perceived divide between them and, after three intense days, both women are determined to build upon their brief time together. Unfortunately, working in different countries isn’t the only obstacle to transitioning from white-hot fling to enduring romance. When their separate career ambitions place their fledgling relationship in jeopardy, Adrianna and Charlotte must reexamine what they value most.

Meet Me in Madrid is billed as a “sexy, sophisticated romantic comedy,” but I’m hard-pressed to figure out how (unless lots of sex automatically equals sexy) because there is no comedy—romantic, comedy of errors, or otherwise. I suppose sophisticated fits as both women are urbane, educated, and slightly snobbish in their dress, mannerisms, and entertainment pursuits. It’s just difficult to align the instalove with sophistication as presented here. Charlotte supposedly goes from contentedly single to barely able to get up in the mornings once home, and after only a week of being together, when Adrianna mentions extending her sabbatical, Charlotte spirals into despair and assumptions that Adrianna doesn’t care about her. Charlotte’s emotions become so intense that she gets sick to her stomach and panics at the thought of not seeing Adrianna or a missed text (among other things). Her angsting only ratchets higher and twists her up more throughout the story, as apparently discussing feelings with one another isn’t the done thing for these two sophisticates.

It also doesn’t help that most of the page time allotted to the MCs as a couple is them having sex/sexting/Sex Timing. They rarely have conversations about their relationship status, their feelings (besides being horny), etc. Instead, Adrianna occasionally muses reflectively and compares her feelings for Charlotte to her previous experiences, while Charlotte obsesses about it in her inner monologues—A LOT. Her street cred as an Independent Woman™ is also a bit hard to swallow as Charlotte admits that both of the achievements she’s made in her career are inspired by her desire for Adrianna. She credits wanting to impress Adrianna as the reason her dissertation earned honors and being near Adrianna as why she puts everything into her interview. Mind you, most of Charlotte’s insecurity in herself stems from not obtaining a professorship and a) the job is basically everything she wants, b) openings are few and far between, and c) no one is beating down her door with offers. There is no reason she shouldn’t give her best in the interview regardless of Adrianna being in the picture; thus, Charlotte doesn’t come across as a determined, sophisticated thirty-something, but as kind of whiny and driven more by her libido than self-motivation, especially compared to Adrianna.

Frankly, I just didn’t believe in the viability of or care about their HEA. The entire relationship takes place over the course of a few months and a few in person meetings comprised of a handful of days after a month or so of separation. I know that the running joke is that lesbians meet one day and move in the next, but I just didn’t buy the depth of feelings beyond intense sexual chemistry and basic compatibility. There is no real connection building with one another to support their coupledom; Charlotte and Adrianna spend more time talking to Adrianna’s friend Esther about their relationship than with one another. To me, this imbalance is partially due to the uneven prose that is a bit awkward in its construction—from unnecessary and/or redundant descriptors to sentence fragments that end mid-thought. The transitions can be abrupt, the dialogue is clunky (especially conversations the MCs have about being BIPOC women in a world dominated by cis-het white men), and the pacing is hampered by concocted drama. There’s also an introduction of an “awkward quasi-flirtation” and relationship that feels shoved in. It seemed like a poorly done intro for a book for another character, but no, it’s just there. Maybe it’s supposed to illustrate that even rich, white women presented as entitled, conniving, and mean can be targets of harassment (as if that needs to be stated) and promote female solidarity against the patriarchy that forces them to see one another as competitors, but as written, its inclusion seems unnecessary and forced.

Additionally, as important as being racialized women of color is to Adrianna and Charlotte, their experiences, and the obstacles to their career achievements, the story mostly addresses it as anecdotal asides and commiserations the MCs make to one another. There is one plot relevant episode that is handled well and written in such a way that even the character involved knows its impact will be profound. Yet, the aftermath is handled with such a lazy deus ex machina that it trivializes the issues the MCs discuss. While I like that the characters are academics and the snippets of Adrianna’s research, there is little else for me to enjoy in Meet Me in Madrid. However, for those interested in insta-love, the woes of long-distance relationships, and lots of sexy times (with a few instances of dreadful dirty talk), there may be more here for you.

I found this book pretty well grounded in real life, but also had some sexy moments that kept me entertained enough to finish it out. Both MC's were women of Color, which I thought was wonderful, and they both seemed to know who they were. This book was more about managing career goals and a long distance relationship, rather than "finding yourself" or getting over a bad relationship.

There was a bit of an age gap between the two characters, but it didn't really play into the story at all. They also obviously have a history back from college, but they didn't interact as much as that description implies. They were more like acquaintances.

I did find the pacing to be a bit slow at times. Particularly because they spend a lot of time apart, so it lagged for me in those chapters.

Overall, it was between 3.5-4 stars for me.

This honestly wasn't my favorite, even though I was extremely excited for this book based on the premise. After The Love Hypothesis, I was excited for another story set in academia, and I'm always looking for good wIw love stories, so this had seemed like the perfect story for me. But, from the setup to the writing to the characters, there wasn't really anything about this story that grasped my attention and held it. Charlotte and Adrianna fall into things a little too quickly, and then they're long distance for a long time, and there just wasn't a lot of interesting events happening. I wanted to get on board with the discussions on race in academia, but even those didn't quite hold me.

DEBUT A courier for an art museum, Charlotte Hilaire is stuck in Madrid thanks to a blizzard, and she risks contacting her secret crush from Yale graduate school, who happens to be on sabbatical there. Art historian Adrianna Coates offers Charlotte her guest bedroom to wait out the storm. The two quickly move from catching up on the past several years to having a brief but intense affair before Charlotte heads back to New Haven. Both Charlotte and Adrianna know they have found their match, but can they make their relationship work at such a great distance?

VERDICT Debut author Lowell doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties that Charlotte and Adrianna, who are both Black queer women, encounter in their professional and personal lives, making this a mature, honest, and erotic romance that will have readers admiring what these two smart and determined women accomplish.