When I saw WE CAN'T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS was Rachel Lynn Solomon’s next release, I knew I’d be picking it up. After all, I loved her last one, THE EX TALK. Though this is much different, I still enjoyed it. Quinn has worked for her family’s wedding planning company for as long as she can remember, and while the expectation is that she’ll one day work full time for it, she’s not sure she wants to. But Quinn is having a hard time coming clean with her family because she doesn’t know what she wants to do. Quinn was a very confused character. She didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life, and hindsight tells us that’s to be expected at her age. But when you’re in that stage of your life, the pressure to feel like you have it all figured out is nearly unbearable. Then there’s Tarek, the caterer to who Quinn confessed her feelings over an email after he left for college. And now that summer is here and Tarek’s back, things have taken an awkward turn. And there’s also that time years ago when her mother was gone for six months, then came back, and the family never talked about it.
I loved Quinn’s hobby of playing the harp. It was so different and interesting, as the author included a lot about the making of harps. It was also something Quinn wasn’t sure she enjoyed anymore, as her hobby had been exploited by her parents, who insisted she plays the instrument at the weddings they planned. But when she meets a woman who is a legend when it comes to playing the harp, it sparks something in Quinn that she hasn’t felt in a long time. And it was nice to see her have something in her life that she enjoyed.
This is Quinn’s final summer before college, and she’s never felt more lost. She gets so caught up in her own issues that she forgets her friend might have her own, and she’s so focused on keeping everything to herself that she doesn’t realize she has allies. And when she and Tarek finally sort of make amends and take things further than they ever have, lines get blurred.
Quinn’s sister was a character I liked. Even caught up in her own wedding, she still was there for her sister. But she was excited about joining the family business, making Quinn feel worse and putting even more expectation on her. I liked her parents, too. They were a bit overbearing and Quinn felt it hard to talk to them, but it was clear they loved their daughters and wanted the best for them.
There was a lot of growth with Quinn’s character. She finally learned to speak up (even if her first attempt could have gone better,) and the way she viewed relationships with boys really evolved throughout this story. She really learned to see outside of herself, and I thought she had a great character arc. And one last plug for Tarek, who was sweet as could be and had infinite patience with Quinn.
I thought We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This was a fantastic YA Contemporary read, and fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon will eat it right up!
A wedding harpist disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings in this effervescent romantic comedy from the acclaimed author of Today Tonight Tomorrow.
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 confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email—and then he left for college without a response.
Quinn has been dreading seeing him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing the harp for her parents’ weddings. When he shows up at the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. Tarek’s always loved the grand gestures in weddings—the flashier, the better—while Quinn can’t see them as anything but fake. Even as they can’t seem to have one civil conversation, Quinn’s thrown together with Tarek wedding after wedding, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman.
Quinn can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth about his silence, opens up about her own fears, and begins learning the art of harp-making from an enigmatic teacher.
Maybe love isn’t the enemy after all—and maybe allowing herself to fall is the most honest thing Quinn’s ever done.