The Meeting Point By Olivia Lara is a whole lot of fun. It definitely has “You’ve Got Mail” vibes but in an updated and cool way. It’s full of humor and heart, and I enjoyed this very much. The setting is beautiful, and it definitely sounds like a place I’d love to visit. It has that charming, quirky small-town feel that really speaks to Maya, and I can see why. The author gives such vivid descriptions of the homes, the ocean, and other charming and unique places, and it really made this idyllic coastal setting come alive. Her boyfriend is cheating on her, and she is informed of this by the Lift driver who found his phone and saw him getting a little too cozy with some blonde. I was completely in from the get go. If there’s a writer character or a book subplot involved I will probably love it and that was the case here. I loved Maya so much that when the first half finished I actually yelled at my Kindle so against her decision I was. oof, I had a lot of trouble getting through this book - i almost dnf at 30%, but pushed through and ended up skimreading a lot of it instead.

At least, that was what our main character, Maya, thought before she definitely had a magical, over-the-top and once-in-a-lifetime encounter which was worthy enough for a book written about it. I loved the friendship between Maya and Celine! She was honestly such a sweet person and i liked her a lot for letting Maya stay with her. What if the Lift driver who finds your cheating boyfriend's phone holds the directions to true love? The humor and heart in this book are evident throughout the entire book. I loved Maya and Ethan and couldn’t wait for them to be together, but it took some time! I loved the old movie “You’ve Got Mail” and this book has a similar story, but updated. Thank you to The Write Reads Blog Tours and Aria Fiction for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.Maya falls in love, at the same time as us, with an exceptional man who will know how to make her happy. Maya wants to surprise her boyfriend who’s presently across the country in California on business. It’s Maya’s birthday and her surprise is making a last minute trip to join him. Only it doesn’t go as planned. When Euan and Ruth set off with their young daughter to live in Bahrain, it is meant to be an experience and adventure they will cherish. But on the night they arrive, Ruth discovers the truth behind the missionary work Euan has planned and feels her world start to crumble. Far from home, and with events spiralling towards war in nearby Iraq, she starts to question her faith – in Euan, in their marriage and in all she has held dear. Maya decides to surprise her boyfriend by traveling from New York City to San Fransisco for her birthday. When she arrives at the airport in San Fransico, she can’t get a hold of her boyfriend on the phone, and instead, she reaches his Lyft driver who inadvertently spills that her boyfriend was cheating on her in a text.

Maya is a woman who got lost over the years, her day of discovering Carmel was a trigger, as much by the city as by the exchanges with the stranger of the texts. This day has shown her everything she misses by continuing to live a life that does not suit her. As for the lift driver ... he made me melt with his messages, he helps a woman he doesn't know, he offers her the keys to happiness without expecting anything in return, he has a sense of humor... The characters are charming as well. I love Maya! She’s on such a journey of self-discovery and is really finding out who she is and what she wants in life. She grows a lot throughout the story, and I enjoyed her journey. Ethan, the writer who wrote the story of her day with Max, is so thoughtful and fun. I liked his sense of humor and his strong relationship with his sister. I also like that some of the minor characters also find their happy endings. There are so many charming characters in the story, and to see them find happiness too is lovely. At the centre of the novel stand the neglected children: their afflictions tacitly accuse both eastern and western societies. Euan's disregard for wife and child is answered by his wife's casual abandonment of their child, as she pursues a love affair. The Meeting Point is eloquent about the sacrifice of children. At its heart is Genesis, a book common to Christianity, Judaism and Islam: the expulsion from the garden, the heart-breaking story of Abraham and Isaac. At the airport, she calls him, but he's not the one answering, it's a lift driver who does. She discovers thanks to this stranger that her wonderful boyfriend is cheating on her. The stranger on the phone feels sorry for her and generously decides to help her overcome her disappointment and have a wonderful day. The two of them text each other, he advises her on places to visit, where to eat, where to relax ... Olivia Lara offers us a sublime postcard from Carmel-on-the-Sea, a small town very popular with writers, full of charms that she describes wonderfully, she makes us want to visit it. Thanks to a man whose identity she does not know, she has a magical day, the best she has had since a very long time, a day that will change her life. Over the text messages, they get to know each other, they make each other laugh, exchange their feelings ... They therefore decide to meet but ... For unclear reasons, this meeting does not take place. And it is soooo frustrating !I loved discovering the first day from the point of view of the lift driver. Although it wasn't a big surprise, it was still super cute. No sex scene here, just seduction, tenderness, humor ... The birth of love, the discovery of the loved one.

Finally, I can say that The Meeting Point, wrapped up well. I love the twists and turns the story takes, even though some parts are predictable, I was okay with it.

I loved Maya’s journey of self-discovery, taking risks to try and find out what she really wanted in life. The love story was predictable (which rom-com isn’t?) but I still enjoyed the journey there. The Meeting Point is a skilful piece of craftsmanship with an emotional charge that is both cathartic and moving. It will stay with you.’ Can you fall in love without every seeing or speaking to someone? Is it a truer connection because you've gotten to know one another without the physical aspects coming into play? Will you know that person when you finally meet them? Or were you just caught up in the moment for one day and it really wasn't anything special? These are only a few of the questions that are floating around when she decides to return to Carmel, California a year later to try and find the mysterious Lyft driver that acted as her tour guide. Unfortunately, they opted not to exchange names that day so she only knows him as "Max" which wasn't his real name. How will she find him?