Book Review: We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Quinn doesn’t believe in the things rom-coms are made of. Maybe it’s because of her parents business as Wedding Planners has made it seem repetitive, or because her own love life has never been picture-perfect, but the idea is soured in her mind. Only, she knows what she felt for Tarek Mansour was something real and true. His family own a catering company, and have worked with her family for years. Tarek is her opposite, believing in grand gestures of love, of confessing his love at massive public scales of affection. But after their wires get crossed—Quinn thinking Tarek was in love with another girl, wanting her opinion on another grand gesture—they have a fight and stop talking. Only, Quinn writes him an email, confessing her feelings. But Tarek never answers, goes off to college, and they don’t talk for months.

Back in town and looking begrudgingly cuter than ever, Tarek shows up at the first wedding of the summer, throwing Quinn through a loop. They agree to rebuild their friendship, but it gets off to a rocky start. Only, when Tarek confesses the real reason he never replied to her email, tensions ease and they slip into a better, truer friendship. But that friendship slowly turns into something more, and Quinn and Tarek find themselves becoming more than friends. Even though it’s clear Tarek wants Quinn, she feels herself holding back from the idea of love, disillusioned by it ever since her parents split for six months when she was younger and never told her why. Plus, they want her to join the family business like her older sister, but Quinn can’t think of anything worse. She starts working for Maxine, a woman that makes harps, after Maxine sees Quinn playing her own at a wedding. The lies, the repressed feelings and changing life in general hit Quinn at full force, everything hanging in the balance. She has to decide once and for all: be honest about what she wants, or lose herself.

Overall, We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This was out of this world incredible. I didn’t want it to end. Quinn was such an honest voice (as most of Rachel’s main characters are) and I adored the way she wrote Quinn and Tarek’s connection. Their romance was everything you could wish for in a rom-com. The handling of OCD especially was a hit for me. As someone that takes medication for it and has had it for over a decade, the feelings and actions spoke true, and it was so refreshing to have that characteristic in Quinn that I have in myself. The familial relationships were frank and tender. I loved how Rachel wrote how Quinn felt her life was changing, with her older sister getting married and becoming someone new, to her best friend going away to college and starting a relationship. It had that coming-of-age, my-life-is-changing-so-much feel that I know will speak to many young adults. If you’re looking for a swoon-worthy, delectable and raw book with that Solomon magic touch, this is it. Five stars always and forever.