What if the Lift driver who finds your cheating boyfriend's phone holds the directions to true love?
'Who are you and why do you have my boyfriend's phone?’
'He left it in my car. You must be the blonde in the red dress? I'm the Lift driver who dropped you two off earlier.'
And with these words, the life of the brunette and t-shirt wearing Maya Maas is turned upside down. Having planned to surprise her boyfriend, she finds herself single and stranded in an unknown city on her birthday.
So when the mystery driver rescues Maya with the suggestion that she cheers herself up at a nearby beach town, she jumps at the chance to get things back on track. She wasn't expecting a personalised itinerary or the easy companionship that comes from opening up to a stranger via text, let alone the possibility it might grow into something more...
I'm delighted to hosting the ultimate blog tour for The Meeting Point today, many thanks to Olivia Lara, Head of Zeus and The Write Reads for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel, received through Netgalley.
My reading habits tend to be quite dark and I don't read many romance novels, which is strange because I love romantic films. Every so often, however, I enjoy something more cheerful than my usual fare and The Meeting Point caught my eye.
Maya's life at the start of the book seems to be, if not the stuff dreams are made of, then at least ticking along unremarkably. She once dreamed of being an author but stung by the blunt critiques she received, she became a journalist instead and now lives and works in New York City. Her boss is a dictatorial bully but although her professional life looks less than assured, she has at least planned to surprise her long-term boyfriend, David by flying to meet him in California for her birthday.
Of course, her impromptu trip quickly turns sour and little time is spent bringing her to this point. She discovers David's infidelity through his Lift driver who inadvertently gives the game away when replying to her text. What happens next might be a little far-fetched but if Meg Ryan can fly across the country to meet a man she's just heard on the radio, why shouldn't Maya agree to spend the day following the itinerary texted to her by that same Lift driver?!
He suggests that rather than spending a miserable birthday at the airport, she takes the bus to Carmel-by-the-Sea instead. They continue to text one another, soon developing a comfortable, flirtatious rapport as they fire questions back and forth; even at this stage of the book, it's not hard to see where this is leading. What is also evident is Olivia Lara's love of Carmel and she captivatingly brings it to life. I particularly enjoyed Maya's walking tour of the fairytale cottages there and couldn't resist a quick look at Google Maps which confirmed the excellent sense of place rendered here.
Obviously, the course of true love never did run smooth and so Maya and the man she has named Max have their potential romance put on hold for a year. Maya clearly isn't happy and hasn't been for some time but she is usually an unassertive, circumspect woman and so really needs a push to get her out of the rut she is in. It comes in the form of surprising news from her friend, Alisa and as a consequence, she decides to go back to Carmel.
This part of the story constantly brings to mind the unfailing sentimental charm of Hallmark movies. The truth is obvious to readers far more readily than it is to Maya but although her path to love might be clearly signposted, it's such fun waiting for her to get there. There are the inevitable barriers and misunderstandings before the happy ever after but before that point, Maya makes her presence felt in Carmel. Her romantic daydreams and matchmaking are either saccharine sweet or delightfully endearing, depending on your viewpoint but it does capture the essence of romantic fiction beautifully so I personally quite enjoyed her gentle meddling, even if it is a bit cheesy.
I read The Meeting Point in a few hours and it was a treat to be transported to a place which so epitomises everything that is uplifting and entrancing about romantic fiction. Yes, it's corny and entirely foreseeable but it left this cynical, dark crime fiction reader with a smile on my face and you can't say better than that!
The Meeting Point will be published in ebook in the UK by Head of Zeus on 22nd September with the paperback to follow on 9th December. It can be pre-ordered from bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones, Kobo and Amazon or from your favourite independent bookshop.
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About the Author
An unapologetic citizen of the world, she spent a few years in Greece, Sweden, France, before settling in sunny California with her photographer husband and young daughter, where she works in marketing and writes. Oh, and let's not forget the ever-growing menagerie that completes the family: Pumpkin, the Maine Coon mix, three black cats and a siamese kitten.
When she's not writing or thinking about writing, she reads (across genres), watches old movies and collects vintage books, vinyl records, and eerie paintings. She loves traveling (and can’t wait until she can do it again, safely), swimming, biking, hiking and of course, photography.
SOMEDAY IN PARIS, her debut, published by Aria Fiction/Head of Zeus in May 2020 became a B&N, Apple, Kobo and Amazon Top 100 Bestseller and was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2021. Her second novel, THE MEETING POINT, a contemporary romcom set in Northern California, is set to be published as an e-book on September 2, 2021 and in paperback in December 2021 in the UK and March, 2022 in the US.
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