Review: We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This

Title: We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 8, 2021
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in business together for years: Quinn’s parents are wedding planners, and Tarek’s own a catering company. At the end of last summer, Quinn, a skilled harpist, confessed a crush on Tarek in the form of a rambling email—and then he left for college without a response. She’s been dreading seeing him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing
the harp for her parents’ meticulously planned weddings. 

After witnessing so many grand displays of romance, she’s become jaded, and while her parents assume she’ll join the family business after college, she wants to forge her own path, even if she has no idea what that might be yet. 

When pastry-chef-in-training Tarek shows up at the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. As Quinn’s parents push her to take on more responsibilities, she’s thrown together with Tarek more often than she’d like, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman. Their wedding hijinks spark a tentative new friendship, though she can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth about his silence and opens up about her own fears.

Maybe love hasn’t been the enemy—and maybe allowing herself to fall is the most honest thing she’s ever done.

Review:

Quinn Berkowitz’s family has a wedding planning company. They often work with Tarek Mansour’s family’s catering company. At the end of last summer, before Tarek went to college, Quinn sent him an email telling him that she liked him. But they haven’t spoken since. Now, he’s returned for the summer, which is Quinn’s last summer before she starts college. She’s nervous about seeing Tarek again after sending her email. Quinn has trouble believing in love when she’s seen her parents struggle in their marriage and seeing marriages fall apart after the weddings. She doesn’t want to follow her parents’ dream for her to work at the family business, but she’s scared to admit that to them. Since her family is also busy planning her sister’s wedding, Quinn gets more involved in weddings, which also pushes her to spend more time with Tarek. Being so surrounded by love and romance, Quinn has to figure out if she’s finally falling in love.

I loved Quinn’s character development throughout the story. She had a valid reason for being suspicious about love. She had experienced the marriage problems her parents had when she was a kid, and she knew that not all of the weddings they planned ended in forever marriages. Quinn also had to figure out what she wanted to do in life. She knew she didn’t want to do the same work as her family, but she didn’t know what would make her happy. This is a relatable theme for an older young adult book.

One aspect of this story I really appreciated was the discussions about mental health. Quinn had OCD and anxiety, and Tarek had clinical depression. Their mental health was discussed openly and honestly, but it wasn’t a big deal. They both sought treatment in therapy and medication, but it was just a small aspect of their characters. I liked that this was a casual part of the story. Quinn and Tarek didn’t make a big deal about their mental health because it didn’t take over their lives. I appreciate this kind of representation because it shows that you can struggle with your mental health, but with proper treatment, it can be properly managed.

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This is a fun summer young adult romance!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Have you read We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This? What did you think of it?