Oh my gosh I loved this book so much! It's sweet, it's heartfelt, it's funny and real and caring, and it's so darn cute and romantic. Quinn is such a fantastic main character and I loved the way the book talked about her OCD and anxiety in such a real way. Also, the Jewish representation in this book brought me so much joy and the way it's woven into the entire book and with Quinn herself is so fantastic. Tarek is an amazing character as well and swoon-worthy romantic interest and I absolutely loved his and Quinn's budding romance but also their honesty with each other about mental illness, family, religion, and love. It all felt so genuine and I loved all the different characters. This has definitely become a new favorite YA book for me and one that I look forward to recommending to everyone I know!

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This releases 6.1.21!!

This book encapsulates the stress of figuring out who you are after the point when the world tells you that you should already know; the stress of being a teenager, working for your parents, figuring out your dreams, and what love feels like.

Quinn just graduated high school and is still on the path to become a wedding planner with the rest of her family. Her crush from last summer, Tarek, is back from his first year at college and their pull towards each other is undeniable. But Quinn is constantly confronted by the constraints on her life and her lack of knowledge about, well, most everything. So she starts doing things for herself to see where that leads her, to find her happiness.

Rachel Lynn Solomon ticks all the good contemporary YA boxes for me:

✅Character perspectives that differ from my own - Quinn and her family are Jewish, with different levels and connections to Judaism. Tarek is Egyptian American and Muslim.

✅Character living with (and normalizing) something - Quinn has OCD/Anxiety and Tarek experiences depression.

✅Animals - Lady Edith Clawley, a cat

✅Excellent food - now I need to find and try zalabya!

✅Unique summer jobs - wedding planner! (As someone who has wedding planned a few weddings, all of this element was spot on), and

✅Confronting parents about their blind spots and having adult conversations with them.

This is another great story from a wonderful writer with a lovely voice and perspective. -Ford

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There is a lot to like about this book, even some parts to love:

Sex-positivity for high schoolers. Diverse characters with backgrounds, sexual preferences, and religious upbringings. Normalizing mental health and its meaningful and necessary presence in our lives. Parents not being the perfect demi-gods we place on pedestals as children. (I believe in this one with my whole being). All of these are great and important and handled in a lovely way.

I liked Tarek for a variety of reasons, he is sensitive and open, and he puts her needs and emotional well-being before his own quite a few times. He likes “non-traditionally masculine things,” which I wish were not a bonus point, but that isn’t a character flaw of his, as it is a societal flaw to assign meaning when there is none.

I didn’t find Quinn compelling. I found the storyline about a person with OCD important to read. I also believe that younger audiences benefit from reading stories that validate their choice not to know at eighteen how to spend the rest of their lives. There is so much pressure placed on us to have all the answers all of the time, it’s nice to have a lead not know.

And yet this story didn’t draw me in. I floated in and out of it. I’ve come to expect to be submerged into a Rachel Lynn Solomon world and this one didn’t grab me. Didn’t pull me in so completely, that I had no choice but to keep reading.

You should still read it. Maybe it will make you long for Seattle summers or orgasmic wedding cake or the summer after high school, maybe it won’t. But you should still try and let me know how you felt because your feelings are valid and you should always share them. -Sky

What I loved deeply about this book was not the romance, though that was wonderful, but the tackling of been 18 and having no idea what you want to do with your life. Solomon includes a thoughtful honest portrayal of the ups and downs of family relationships and getting ready for college. A bonus for one of the more accurate descriptions of OCD I've seen in a book. This book walks the fine line of being funny and sweet, yet serious at the same time. I would recommend it for anyone who isn't quite sure what their next steps are or wants an honest portrayal of teen love in all its messiness and anxieties.

Another really enjoyable read from Rachel Lynn Solomon, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

This YA follows Quinn, a high school senior in the summer between high school and her first year at UW, as she tries to make sense of what she wants to do with her life, and of course a boy that she's liked for a while, but maybe they just aren't a good match.

We Can't Keep Meeting Like This is a really enjoyable YA romance, but it's also more than that in the way that it deals with mental illness, how to have conversations about what we want in life, the difficulty of family pressure, and how complicated it can feel finding yourself as a teenager - particularly when it feels like everyone around you has it all figured out.

This book isn't just a fun YA romance with a likable MC, it's also a really solid coming of age story that covers many of the struggles teens have in their lives outside of romance.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book to review.

Thank you thank you thank you to Rachel and Simon Teen for sending me an eARC of this!

I'm a huge fan of all of Rachel's books, and each one is so different from her others they're perfect for different moods. We Can't Keep Meeting Like This is the perfect summer read!

Quinn Berkowitz is a harpist, working with her older sister, Asher, and her parents for their wedding planning business in Seatle, Borrowed + Blue. Now that quinn has graduated high school, she's expected to go to UW, study business, and help out her parents more. But it isn't what she wants, and she doesn't know how to tell them.

In walks Tarek Monsour, her ex-best friend and ex-crush. Last summer, she confessed to him over email after he left for college following a big fight. When he never responded, Quinn gave up. Now that he's back, all of these feelings are coming to the surface, but Quinn doesn't want love, doesn't believe in romance and all the frilly things attached to it.

Gosh, where do I even begin? First of all, the rep for all of Rachel's books is always top notch. The Berkowitz family is Jewish, and the Monsours are Egyptian-American. This was fun and sweet, and so down ot Earth. I loved the sex positivity, the chemistry between Quinn and Tarek and all the discussion surrounding trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life and whether certain romantic gestures are just performance.

This also discusses parents separating, and what that can do to the rest of the family, especially younger kids. So many of the themes of this book just really hit me, and as usual, Rachel did it eloquently! The wedding stuff was fun, and you probably don't want to read this on an empty stomach! Definitely recommend this amazing book!

Oh my god, Rachel never disappoints with her books.

WCKMLT swept me off my feet and I don't even know how to begin talking about it!
First off, I absolutely loved Quinn and Tarek. The representation of OCD and anxiety in Quinn felt very true to me and as someone with anxiety I could really relate to her. I absolutely loved reading the book through her point of view, it kept us interested and took the plot along very well. I just see myself being friends with Quinn because she has such a huge heart and is such a precious conflicted child.
Tarek on the other hand was an interesting character to try and understand and I loved reading about his character arc regarding mental health issues. He seemed such an honest and genuine person and as a romantic I really adored him. Taken together, Quinn and Tarek's romance had me weak at the knees. It was never perfect and both characters had their own issues to sort but I love who the author constructed their narratives. Both of them had gone through some valid experiences that had shaped their thoughts, behaviours and feelings and it was sort of rewarding to watch them work through it all, put in the effort and mend their relationship.
This book is just absolutely brilliant and has all of my freaking heart <3

I read We Can't Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon in one sitting! This book has all of the magical elements of a young adult coming of age story that pulls at my heartstrings. We follow Quinn the summer before she starts college. Her parents placed her in business classes to prepare her for a career of working in the family wedding planning business. However, Quinn doesn't feel passionate about wedding planning but hasn't told her family in fear of causing any conflict. She's also crushing on Tarek, who she's known for years as his family owns a catering business. However, Quinn is a pessimist when it comes to love and has a hard time opening herself up in fear of heartbreak.

There's so much I loved about this book. I really appreciated the candid conversations around mental health including anxiety, OCD, and depression. It was refreshing to see therapy mentioned multiple times in a positive manner, which should be in more books! Quinn's challenges felt authentic as she tries to discover what she really wants post-high school. I loved that this was an own-voices Jewish story and really appreciated reading about customs and Quinn's thoughts about her identity. It was interesting to follow Quinn on her messy self-growth journey throughout the book as she works through conflicts with those closest to her. I adored Tarek and his passion for baking!

This story is perfect for fans of Once and For All by Sarah Dessen and Save the Date by Morgan Matson.

Rachel Lynn Solomon is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint. It follows Quinn, who is the daughter of wedding planners that are expecting her to study business so she can join the family wedding business after college. Last summer, she confessed her feelings for her friend, Tarek, over email after he left for college, but received no response. Tarek is a hopeless romantic, while Quinn doesn’t really believe in love. When Tarek comes home from college for the summer and works for his family’s catering company, Quinn has to work alongside him.

My favorite part of this book were the discussions about mental illness. Quinn has OCD, which really isn’t mentioned often in young adult books. She also had great character development throughout the book as she tried to figure out what she wanted to do with her future. Fans of Today, Tonight, Tomorrow will love We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This- there is even an appearance from Rowan and Neil.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher foe this ARC!

In the spirit of Solomon's other books, this new title is fun! fun! fun! As usual, Great premise with a satisfying ending. I appreciate the character arcs and following Tarek and Quinn. Give me more Rachel Lynn Solomon!

While this didn't live up to how much I loved Today Tonight Tomorrow, I still enjoyed this a lot. I really loved so many of the characters, especially Maxine.

Rachel Lynn Solomon has set an enormously high bar for herself. Her characters are nuanced, her romance is believable, and her plots are well-executed. Perhaps it's because I was so impressed with Today Tonight Tomorrow and The Ex Talk that I was a little underwhelmed by this book. In her other titles, the author's characters were flawed and imperfect but still made you root for them and their happy ending. In this title, I found myself wanting to shake Quinn. Her thought patterns felt cyclical and self-destructive throughout most of the book and resolved rather abruptly at the end. I understand that much of Quinn's internal struggle related to her childhood trauma and her OCD, but I still felt like she kept using her past as a justification for causing pain to both Tarek and herself, which I didn't love. I felt that it ended well, but it was a rollercoaster to get there.

Overall, I found this book to be a worthwhile read. It offers a more nuanced picture of mental illness and trauma than is often seen in YA romance, and the emotions it portrayed felt real and intense. Fellow school librarians, I would definitely recommend this for high school collections. The protagonist is a recent high school graduate and has many worries and thoughts that will feel familiar to juniors and seniors ruminating on uncertain futures.

We Can't Keep Meeting Like This was my second Rachel Lynn Solomon book, and I now need to read all of her books because I just adore them! This is my first YA book by Solomon, a genre I don't read a lot of books in, but I never felt like I was reading a YA book with how great the storytelling was.

I loved Quinn the main character, she was so spunky and true to herself and not only was I rooting for her throughout the book, I want to be friends with her as well! This book tackles mental health and I thought it was handled very well and I like the open and honest conversations Quinn and Tarek were able to have about the struggles in their lives.

The diversity in this book was amazing. As a Jewish reviewer, it is always nice to see my religion reflected in a book, but like in Solomon's other works we also meet Egyptian Muslim characters and Queer characters. I love that Solomon really builds this into the characters identities and it is more than just a passing mention.

Thank you to Rachel Lynn Solomon, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was so cute and because of a good dose of cynical and human ‘flaws’ (not real flaws just parts of being human!) it felt realistic and grounded while still being adorable and romantic.

I especially enjoyed the mental health elements, navigating difficult conversations or flops in communication.. I always love when a character is a baker/chef. The harp feature and the push towards sexy eczema — bonuses.

It was a bit long but it’s definitely in the YA camp anyways. This was super well done, hooray I’m looking forward to sharing it with my older crowd.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The author really surprised me how she nailed the YA tone while covering topics like OCD & depression. I LOVED that both the heroine and the love interest were neurodivergent. Never has The Hottie ™️ been a Muslim guy with eczema! I think that's so important to get that real person representation out there. As a sarcastic and cynical Jewish girl, I related to Quinn so well I was a smidge concerned, especially since Tarek was a sweet baby angel who deserved better. However, I just watched Sleepless in Seattle and Quinn was speaking for me! [SHE'S A STALKER!!]
This book was a joy to read, but now I'm off to play Pin the Sweater on Chris Evans

🌟 4.5/5 stars- I think this would be perfect for high schoolers, maybe even late middle school to early college. Great for fans of Emma Lord & Rachael Lippincott

I don't normally read YA, but since I loved The Ex-Talk so much by this author, I wanted to try this one. This book was so sweet and reminded me of what first love feels like. All the stars.

Quinn and Tarek are excellent characters and their romance has depth and nuance. I love the world the author created and the fun setting. Quinn in particular was a realistic, sharp girl. I love how this book deals with the pressures of impending adulthood. All in all it was an excellent read

Honestly this book took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting the subject matter to be as in-depth and emotional based on the cover and synopsis, but wow was this book incredible. With YA books there tends to be a trend where teenagers have bribing but superficial issues and when a book dives deep into issues like mental health, they tend to go overboard making elaborate scenes that are over exaggerated to the point where a reader cannot connect with the story. This author does an amazing job bridging the gap by capturing the internal struggles of Quinn and Tarek with a perfectly crafted dialogue that both a person with mental disorders and those without can understand and empathize with in situation.

I feel as society wants us to sweep issues like anxiety, depression, and OCD under the rug or chalk them up to issues that can be easily solved, but what this author does is open the conversation to start addressing these topics. This book is an inspirational and incredibly moving educational book on mental illness that is both captivating to read as a YA and adult.

At times Quinn’s actions took its toll throughout this book. She was so stuck on her ideals and ways which inhibited her from opening herself up to new experiences and challenges. There were moments throughout the book where Quinn softened her rigid ideals and opened to the possibility of a future she envisioned and this so where I could connect with her. I knew she was capable of finding a happy medium between the life she was expected to live versus the ones she desired because she had the proper tools in place, it was just the road to the realization was at times hard to read.

The beauty of this story is its imperfect nature. There’s no perfect ending to a happy ever after, it’s messy with complications that create challenges with a huge learning curve and I think the author captured that message beautifully within this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC

Trigger warning for OCD, anxiety, depression, mentions of parental separation
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WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS is a YA contemporary that follows Quinn, whose parents are wedding planners, and Tarek, whose family runs a catering company. A year ago, Quinn confessed her feelings for Tarek via email just after he left for college, and Tarek has been radio silent since. Now he’s back home for the summer, and they keep bumping into each other at weddings. When Quinn learns the truth about why Tarek ghosted her, she realizes that she can’t keep denying herself the freedom of love and growth.
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Rachel just doesn’t miss. Really. Her stories are filled with love, banter, growth and hope. They’re sex positive and packs with representation of all kinds. Judaism is especially important to her stories, as Rachel herself is Jewish. There’s a great discussion in this book about how Quinn struggles with her guilt of not feeling Jewish enough at times and how identifying as something can mean something different to everyone.
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There’s also a wonderful discussion about the struggles of OCD, anxiety and depression with a positive message about the benefits of therapy, medication and hard work, while also keeping it realistic in the fact that these are mental illnesses and they don’t simply vanish for you to live happily ever after, the end. I can only speak to the anxiety and depression rep here, and I felt that both were handled with care.
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I appreciated Tarek’s maturity, and I respected Quinn’s journey of finding herself and her passion. The pressure of being young and feeling like you need a plan directly from senior year is so difficult and stressful. I think they balanced each other well.
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There’s something for everyone in Rachel’s books, and WCKMLT is no exception. I closed WCKMLT feeling happy and hopeful.
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4.5 stars, WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS by Rachel Lynn Solomon is available June 8, 2021!
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Thank you to Rachel, Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review.

I read We Can’t Keep Meeting like this as an #ownvoices Jewish reviewer. Quinn, a recent high school graduate works for her family’s wedding planning business playing harp, among other duties. As much as her family is in the business of lover, her parent’s 6 month separation when she was 8 years old makes her mistrust relationships and all the lovey dicey stuff. Her family has used Manoush catering for years and she has grown up with Tarek, their son who is all about big romantic gestures. Last summer she declared that she “likes” him in and email, and never got a response. Which added to her antiromance sentiments. But, this summer he’s back and one thing leads to another. I loved how mental health was discussed in this story and how Quinn addressed how she felt about her Jewish identity, and not really feeling Jewish enough, especially as her sister begins to be more observant. What a complex and fun YA romance.

Is Rachel Lynn Solomon actually Erato, Greek muse of love poetry? Who knows? (Rachel, if you are, *wink wink* don't worry, I won't tell). WE CAN'T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS is a beautiful story of reluctant love and allowing yourself to open up to the possibilities of getting hurt, but also getting so much more in return. Also, when we see certain people...I gasped. Grab your copy if you love Rachel Lynn Solomon's books!