#BlogTour | The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara

Hey guys,

I’m excited to speak about a romance book by a new author who has shown so much potential in her work. I’m looking forward to reading her other books soon.

This blog tour is brought to you by The WriteReads Tours. If you want to know what the other bloggers are up to, you can check out their schedule here.

About the Book

Title: The Meeting Point • By: Olivia Lara

Publishing On: September 2nd 2021 • By: Aria Fiction

Pace: Medium • Pages: 368 • Age: 16+

Standalone • Genre: Contemporary Romance

Song: Don’t Forget Where You Belong by One Direction

Buy Book: Amazon US • Amazon UK • Book Depository • B&N • Indiebound

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…

Come on this 5* journey to love, laughter and back again, perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Josie Silver and Sally Thorne.

ADD TO GOODREADS

I received an eARC of this book from The WriteReads Tours courtesy of NetGalley. All thoughts and ideas expressed here are my own. Thanks a ton to Dave and The WriteReads gang for letting me be a part of this tour.

• Happy in made-up worlds

Maya was a happy, go-to person and lived in a world of stories and dreams. She gave a story to those she knew or met randomly and wanted to see them happy, at least in her head.

She likes writing, but she never thought about publishing her work until she returned from Carmel by the Sea. When she planned her getaway for her birthday, she didn’t plan on going to Carmel. After feeling terrible about learning that she was being cheated on by her boyfriend, she didn’t want to ruin her day and chose to go on an adventure, for a day, by herself in this dream of a place.

Carmel was a small city with cozy coffee shops, restaurants with a perfect beach view, friendly crowd. It was her first time visiting Carmel, but thanks to Max (the mysterious Lift driver), she could explore the city easily. She could have used google maps, but she trusted Max’s words and kept following his instructions. If this book wasn’t a romance, then this situation could have gone ten times worse.

Maya and Max kept texting back and forth the whole day she was in Carmel. She kept telling him how beautiful everything in Carmel was, and he kept recommending more places to make her feel happy. Initially, they didn’t want to meet each other and take the fun of the game, but by the evening, Maya wanted to see him badly and thank him for everything.

If they had met that day, then everything would have changed. As they didn’t meet, Maya feels nostalgic about Carmel and the guy who let her have that adventure even after a year. She wants to find him. She wants to know his real name and meet him. But as fate wouldn’t have it, she has to face trials before finally meeting him in person.

I think Maya fell for Max even before she met him. She was confused if it was a crush or infatuation. And when Ethan came into the picture, she was left with more questions, with no answers at hand.
Ethan was a calm guy. He never reacted to others like with Maya. She hated him. He stole her story, which belonged only to her and Max. She was angry at him for writing their story despite him being friends with Max. But the only access to Max was Ethan, so she had no other option than to try to be friends with him.

They made a perfect duo even when they were fighting. They bickered about everything, and the only person to keep them from killing each other was Ethan’s twin sister, Celine.

Maya has to break her walls and let Ethan in her life if she has to meet Max. Because that is her only chance to see him. We get to see how that turns out in the book, and there’s so much traveling and bickering involved. So you have a lot to look forward to.

• Profoundly Good People

Celine was the buffer between Ethan and Maya. She was a hardworking person and loved her twin. She was generous in allowing Maya to stay with her and work at her cafe.
Everyone needs an Alisa in their life. She was not just the best friend to Maya but a sound voice in her life. She lives in England but always made time to chat with her. She never shied away from saying her thoughts to Maya and made sure to listen to her side of the story as well.

• A hopeless romantic’s hope

Maya was playing cupid all the time in the novel. If we can ignore her personal life, everyone she’s tried to help have found love and happiness. Her mind never stopped thinking about others, and she wanted to see them happy. After her onde-day adventure in Carmel, she stopped writing stories. Coming back to Carmel revived her love for writing and helping others find love.
She draws inspiration from these stories she imagines in her head and wrote them in her diary. I’m just relieved that none of her matchmakings went disastrous because that was a possibility she didn’t account for. A hopeless romantic indeed.

• Walls on Imagination

Maya never stopped writing because of her trip to Carmel. She felt stuck in life, being in a relationship and job that lost its spark, so she wanted something different. That one day in Carmel made her feel alive more than years combined. She wanted to relive it again.
One of the cons of getting to know the best things in life is that you need to find them again. It has to either be something similar to that feeling or more than that, and it’s never easily found.

• Saccharine and all

The Meeting Point is a story of two strangers who found love by chance. It’s a summer romance that takes you on an adventure to Carmel through its vivid description and the characters who have many surprises in store for the reader.

There were many shifts in the story that I didn’t expect, and it changed the pace every time it shifted. Maya took a risk in following her heart. She was searching for a guy without a real name or address. It’s interesting to see how one day can alter one’s life drastically through Maya’s story. She hoped and believed in finding her story, and that was rewarded in the end.

Brave is making a decision when you have multiple options and although the one you choose might be the riskiest, it’s what you know deep down in your heart is the right thing.

TW // Cheating Partner, Divorce

About the Author

Born and raised in Romania, in a family of book lovers and storytellers, Olivia studied marketing, communications, and photography, and worked as a journalist for a newspaper and news television network.

An unapologetic citizen of the world, she spent a few years in Greece, Sweden, and France (which will always have a special place in her heart), before settling in the US. Olivia now lives in sunny California with her photographer husband and daughter, where she works as a marketing executive and writes. Oh, and let’s not forget the ever-growing menagerie that completes the family: Pumpkin—the hyper-active Maine Coon-orange tabby mix, three black cats: Shadow, Pepper, and Salem and the newest addition, a siamese kitten, Frumpy.

When she’s not writing or thinking about writing, Olivia reads (across all genres), watches old movies and collects vintage books, vinyl, and eerie paintings. And if she’s out and about, she’s either taking photos, riding a bike, or trying to take photos while riding a bike (not a good idea!)

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 Fantasy Novel Award in 2021. Her second novel, THE MEETING POINT, is scheduled for publication as an e-book on September 2, 2021 and paperback on December 2, 2021.

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