Rachel Lynn Solomon did it again.

Her latest romance is a lesson in taking risks and pushing yourself outside your comfort zone.

We meet Dani as she embarks on a new life in Amsterdam after a bad breakup and losing her job. She's a woman on the verge of something... she just doesn't know what.

Dani is trying to find herself, her passion, and her purpose. On a whim she ended up across the globe from her family alone in Amsterdam.

Her accidental meeting with an ex who knew here before she started making herself small triggers the angst and romance of the plot and also forces Dani to confront things she's let dictate how she behaves in life for too long.

Dani and Wouter aren't perfect and they don't have a perfect journey, but Solomon infuses it with the perfect dose of sweetness, humor and spice.

The biggest pro to the book is the description of Amsterdam. Rachel Lynn Solomon so accurately describes the magic and kindness the city has to offer. I get wanting to drop everything to move there!

It was so fun reading this book as I was in Amsterdam on a work trip for a week.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel much chemistry between the couple and the FMC wasn't my favorite.

meh this book was alright. Cute but nothing special but I can see other people loving it a lot more than I did.

<b>"I don't want you to think you have to rescue every distressed American you come across." A twitch of his mouth. "No," he says. "Just you."</b>

🌷THINGS AND STUFF🌷
-first love
-second chance
-forced proximity: he lives upstairs. entirely separate entrance
-quiet care taking
-marriage of convenience
-he falls first
-mental health rep
-there’s only one room with only one bed scattered with the reddest rose petals forming the shape of a heart
-sunflowers
-stroopwafel
-#IsThisAKissingBook open door

Thank you berkley romance for the advanced copy

The perfect Spring read. I really enjoyed this one and am very grateful for the opportunity to check it out early. Thank you!

3.5 STARS!
I was really looking forward to a fun romance and, in many ways, the author delivered on that promise. I love a second chance romance story. It is my favorite trope, I think.

But this one just hit a little funny for me. I can’t really put my finger on it other than the female lead was so indecisive and frustrating in many ways. She was groomed to not take chances and she leans on other people for approval. In a lot of ways, she was a bit clueless.

But balance those flaws with the main male character. He was so sweet and so deeply in love with her. I just love what they had together and in the past.

Solomon has written some beautiful romances that I truly have enjoyed completely. What Happens in Amsterdam is a love story of the city in many ways. If you love to be swept away by the atmosphere and the setting, this is a wonderful book for that.

The connection between the two main characters is strong, but the female lead just didn’t do it for me. I thought she was too weak for him. Regardless, their love story is sweet and steamy, and if you love a rekindled romance, Solomon tells a wonderful story.

I don’t understand the compelling need for authors to destroy something in the third act. This isn’t angst. This is soul-crushing somebody. He just brushed it off, but it was not cool and not needed.

Rachel Lynn Solomon will always be an auto-buy author for me. I've loved every book of hers that I've picked up. They always hit me with an emotional, swoony, and sexy love story. What Happens in Amsterdam was a beautiful story of finding yourself and finding love (again). Dani and Wouter were the cutest and really had me in my feels. Such a perfect, warm and fuzzy read.

This book is one of those light-hearted feel-good romances that I like to read after reading a heavier book. Dani is going through what a lot of people in their 30s go through...doubt. She is uncertain of the decisions she is making in life and goes for broke when deciding to apply for a job in Amsterdam. Once in Amsterdam, she runs into an old boyfriend and that is where this book really starts.
I do not usually love a marriage of convenience storyline but I did feel like it worked in this book. There was so much chemistry between Dani and Wouter that I believed in their love story. I really enjoyed the backdrop of Amsterdam and I being someone who knows nothing about Amsterdam now want to visit and experience all the things. Overall a very enjoyable lighthearted book.

Overall, this was definitely enjoyable and cozy. I am a sucker for a second chance romance and this was a cozy one. This also felt like a love letter to Amsterdam and starting over on your own. There was a lot to love in this one. Both characters have obvious differences with the typical romance characters which makes them even more lovable and makes the readers root for them to figure it out and get together. While there are definitely things to love, this was t my favorite story. The background for the previous relationship was definitely laid, it did not necessarily make the relationship deeper. I can understand them being young and there was some dumb, immature reason for them not to be together, the problems and relationship seemed to take a back seat to describing Amsterdam. It didn’t add to the relationship and seemed to distract from the story. Overall, this was a fine not great read.

Thank you NetGalley for this review copy.
I have loved all of Rachel Solomon's books and this one slapped as hard as the rest of her works!

Oh man how I wanted to love this one. I absolutely loved the concept – a woman moves to Amsterdam for a fresh start, and crashes (literally) into her ex-secret-boyfriend from high school. He lived with her family as a foreign exchange student and they fell hard for each other but had to keep it under wraps. They had a difficult breakup, with him sending a short text once he had returned to Amsterdam after his program ended. More than ten years have passed since these two spoke, and the last thing they expected was to run into each other in the middle of the city!

The idea for this story was absolutely there, but sadly sadly sadly the execution did not work for me. The relationship felt really underbaked. While this is only told from Danika's point of view, I felt like we could have gotten to know Wouter better. I think that would have helped tremendously in my understanding of his actions. His reasoning behind sending the breakup text was lukewarm and just did not measure up. I loved what I saw of him, but I was left wanting more – and not in a good way, in a way where things felt like they were missing.

Oftentimes Danika's actions did not make sense to me. She flip-flopped a lot or ruminated on the same things again and again where things got repetitive. There were a few things that seemed too easy for the character. Like there wasn’t enough struggle. There were too many coincidences in a row to be believable.

I did enjoy learning more about Amsterdam and the city’s history. I appreciated how the author wrote about Danika’s depression and struggles with mental health. I’d not really heard of masking depression symptoms in the way Danika does in the book, so that was interesting and I appreciated that perspective.

Overall, I feel like this book wasn't quite done. Like the writing and editing processes ended too early. It’s not bad by any means and there were things I enjoyed, hence the 3 star rating. But, in the end, I think it needed more development for it to reach its full potential.

It was so fun to read a romance set in Amsterdam. The city really felt like a character in the novel. And the themes of belonging and home worked really well with the setting. It asked the question, what if we feel at home somewhere other than where we were born. Furthermore, this story really grappled with the difficulty of second chance romance. The characters had very real reasons to mistrust each other based on their teenage relationship. But the chemistry and kindness between them (of course) eventually became bigger than their resentments and misunderstandings. I would love to read more romance novels like this!

What Happens in Amsterdam is a second chance romance/marriage of convenience story. Wouter is a Dutch man who was an exchange student in the US, hosted by Dani’s family. They fell in love but they were only 17, and when Wouter moved back to Amsterdam he broke up with Dani over text. 13 years later, after no contact between them, Dani moves to Amsterdam and accidentally reconnects with him. There are definitely some moments where you need to suspend reality and not think too deeply about what’s happening. Also tolerating Dani’s family was really tough at times. They were the worst. Despite a few little things I loved this! Amsterdam was the star of the story and now I’m dreaming of going back.

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to ARC read this title! Releasing May 2025.

This is such a lovely story about that "midlife crisis" you get when you hit 30. A look into the doubts, anxiety and how we compare ourselves to those around us, question the things we haven't achieved.
Dani is stuck - having lost her job, boyfriend and her mind in the span of a week, she decides a big change is needed. Dani moves to Amsterdam. Having fallen in love with it from the descriptions and memories she had from the cute exchange student she fell in love with at 17. Taking this massive leap, Dani meets a lot of obstacles - none as surprising as running into Wouter, the exchange student who broke her heart over a decade ago. More surprising is when her Visa is at risk, Wouter comes up with a plan that helps them both.

Second chance romance & “my wife.” tropes just do something to me!!! Oh wow, I am so in love with Dani and Wouters beautiful journey to finding themselves and each other again. I need to go to the Netherlands now!!! This book is all I can think about now.

What I loved: Danika moving to Amsterdam to find freedom from the pressure she felt at home and her strength and perseverance when things got tough. I think a lot of readers will resonate with the feeling of being behind, falling short of overly high self-imposed expectations, heartbreak we thought we were over. So much about Dani and Wouter’s love story made me swoon! Also loved that her birthmark was mentioned in passing but wasn’t her central challenge.

What I didn’t love: Dani wearing a sweater to the courthouse wedding.

This escapist romance was just what I needed on a rainy weekend. Dani and Wouter fell in love as teenagers when he was as a foreign exchange student in America. After breaking her heart and returning to Amsterdam, Wouter seemed to have moved on with his life. Dani, however, felt as though she was floundering through life. After an embarrassing public breakup, she opts to take a job overseas in -of all places- Amsterdam. The two crash into one another (literally) and begin to rediscover what they were missing. I loved both of these characters, and I identified with Dani’s constant desire to live up to her “potential.” Her journey of self discovery and the descriptions of Amsterdam were inspiring. I loved this one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc.

What Happens In Amsterdam is my favorite contemporary romance I've read in a very long time! It has everything I love in a book - second chances (done right), marriage of convenience, only one bed, no true third act breakup, mental health representation and a slew of diverse characters. Danika was such an inspiring FMC and I related to her struggles myself as I was also a preemie who now struggles with imposter syndrome. Her reconnecting with Wouter was early on in the story and I loved seeing them open up to each other throughout the story with their past and current worries, their memories of each other during high school and how seamlessly Dani fit into Wouter's life. The side characters were incredible, including Iulia, Roos, Phoebe, Maya and Wouter's mother & grandmother. I really have nothing but GREAT things to say about this book. Absolutely no notes except extreme admiration and obsession with this story!!

Thank you to Berkley, NetGalley & Rachel Lynn Solomon for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

Another beautiful read by Rachel Lynn Solomon! And now I must go to Amsterdam because it sounded amazing! 🌷

This is a second chance, marriage of convenience and close proximity kind of romance. I ate every single second of it and loved the love story between Dani and Wouter. Wouter was THE perfect book boyfriend who really put in the work to get a second chance.

The description of the scenery of Amsterdam really made this book so enjoyable to read. Like hi! When can I go? I also liked that the author gave us a glimpse into their relationship when they were teenagers and really made it this sweet memory, even when it doesn’t end well. While miscommunication is never my favorite to read, this one was easy to forgive because they were so young.

I also liked the representation of having a wine stain birthmark, without making it such a major plot point in the storyline. The spice was a bit mild, giving it a 2 🌶️ out of 5!

Some of my favorite moments: the first run in, Dani falling in love with Amsterdam, the trip to the conference, the trip to the Red Light District, the epilogue.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Rachel Lynn Solomon delivers another swoon-worthy romance with What Happens in Amsterdam, a heartfelt, humorous, and spicy second-chance love story set against the charming backdrop of Amsterdam.

Dani Dorfman is stuck—fired from her job, unsure of her future, and unexpectedly relocating to a foreign country. Just when she feels completely lost, fate intervenes in the form of Wouter van Leeuwen, her former high school love and Dutch exchange student. Their reunion is anything but simple, especially when a marriage of convenience offers them both a much-needed solution. But as their arrangement brings them closer together, old feelings resurface, making Dani question whether this new chapter in her life is just another mistake—or the beginning of something real.

Dani and Wouter have undeniable chemistry, and their journey is filled with humor, tension, and plenty of heartwarming moments. Solomon expertly balances romance with self-discovery, creating a love story that feels both passionate and deeply personal. The vibrant Amsterdam setting adds an extra layer of charm, making this novel the perfect escapist read.

For fans of Solomon’s previous books, What Happens in Amsterdam delivers everything you’d expect—compelling characters, sizzling romance, and just the right amount of humor. If you love second-chance romances with a marriage-of-convenience twist, this book is an absolute must-read.