Dani has lost both her job and boyfriend. She needs a change, even if that means moving the halfway across the world to Amsterdam. With a job at an unreliable company and a flooded apartment Dani is second guessing her move. Then she literally runs into her old high school flame Wouter, the exchange student her family hosted. Dani can’t believe her luck. Especially when Wouter offers her an apartment that is much better than the flooded dungeon. After Dani gets settled and past the awkwardness of having Wouter as her landlord, he comes to her with a proposal. Of a green card marriage. He can inherit his family’s house once he’s married and Dani would be able to take the time she needs to find a job without the worry of her work visa. Since Dani desperately wants her own journey and isn’t ready to return to the states she agrees. As Wouter and Dani present themselves as the newlyweds they are, the two get to know each other as adults. Old feelings surface and vulnerabilities come to light. What if someone finds out about their sham wedding? Are they really doing the right thing?

I really connected with Dani feeling the pressure to have life figured out by her thirties. Also having experienced anxiety and panic attacks myself, her mental health struggles are relatable as well. Rachel Lynn Solomon once sweeps us up in a sweet and complex romance with a lasting impression.

What Happens in Amsterdam is a second chance romance between Danika and her family’s former Dutch exchange student, Wouter. After Dani’s life in L.A. blows up, she takes a leap of faith and moves to Amsterdam. When things begin to go wrong there as well, Dani crashes into her high school boyfriend and former exchange student, Wouter, who offers to help her out. To ensure Wouter can inherit the house he loves and Dani can stay in the country, they decide to pursue a marriage of convenience.

Rachel Lynn Solomon has become one of my favorite romance authors over the past few years. This means that What Happens in Amsterdam was one of my most anticipated new releases of 2025. I tried to temper my expectations, but after Business or Pleasure, they were pretty high.

What Happens in Amsterdam has a plot that picks up relatively quickly. Despite being a romance novel on the longer side, it never felt like it dragged. However, Wouter’s proposal is very sudden and surprising. It felt kind of random. They never discuss a marriage of connivence beforehand. He simply plows right through. What fell flat for me was the romance. I wanted more build up and development of emotions. This is a recurring issue that I have with second chance romances. I frequently find that they lack the full emotional development you find in a strong romance because there is an underlying off-page history between the characters. As a result, the feelings between characters are often a given and told rather than shown. Unfortunately, What Happens in Amsterdam falls into this trap as well, and therefore, the romance does not feel authentic.

I was slightly disappointed by Solomon’s depression depiction in this novel. It was not as encompassing as the depiction in Weather Girls. Since Dani’s depression was something mainly happened in the past, it did not play as big of a role in the story. In fact, it almost felt like a plot device, resulting in weak representation of depression.

As for the characters, I found Dani and Wouter to be fairly well developed. But there was little to connect with the characters on since the city plays such an outsized role in their story. In addition, there was a serious lack of chemistry between the pair. I this can partially be attributed to the romance’s lack of depth, as discussed earlier.

What was done super well in What Happens in Amsterdam is the setting of Amsterdam. Solomon fully made the city a character in this novel in a visceral way. I do not think you can read this novel without it leaving you filled with wanderlust. I had to promptly remind my spouse that I still want to be an expat.

Overall, What Happens in Amsterdam was a decent romance that suffered from lackluster protagonists and a relationship without much depth. This novel is however a love letter to Amsterdam. I would recommend it, but I prefer Solomon’s previous books over this one.

This was such a fun book and I loved the emotional connection between danika and wouter.

thank you to berkley publishing group and netgalley for an arc

This was just okay for me! I love a second chance romance, but this felt more like a tourism blog than a romance novel. I understand the author lives in Amsterdam so she was talking about things she loves but I truly could not read one more architectural detail.

This book is for the hopeless romantics and the late bloomers. Let Dani be your guide🌷

I’d also venture to say if you’re a small town romance girlie where you love a town having character energy, Solomon’s descriptions are exquisite. Everything from the timeless charm and allure of Amsterdam to the rough realities of navigating a foreign country allowed me to visualize the story easily.

Let’s talk about our sweet FMC. Dani’s fear of complacency and willingness to brave out of her comfort zone with every new experience from trying street food to moving halfway across the world had me championing her from the get go. Her determination was so admirable. I love how she maintained her romanticism for Amsterdam, even when challenges provided every opportunity for disillusionment.

AND WOUTER- YOU SEXY BALDING LOVELY MAN. If you searched “yearning” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of this man with his precious glasses and heart eyes in between. His support for Dani was so beautiful to witness. Realizing where she’d been handled as too fragile for all her life, he was the first to give her the space to make her own decisions and treat her as an equal. And he’s a dog dad- I would die for George Costanza.

And the mouth on this man!! Their chemistry is what I burn for in a second chance romance. Their history of firsts and the opportunity to relearn each other as adults had me squealing. I’d say for quality and quantity of spicy encounters this gets book 2 exceptional chili peppers.

Honestly reading this book as I turn 30 on Sunday felt cosmically aligned. It was a healing balm on an open wound where I fear I’m too far behind as I enter my next decade. “I don’t have to have everything figured out at thirty, or forty, or fifty, or ever. Isn’t that the whole point of being human? To always be growing and learning and changing?”

Thank you Rachel Lynn Solomon for so clearly pouring your heart into this beautiful story. I didn’t know what to expect going into this book but I never expected to have my heart handed back to me so gently, so eloquently and with care. And thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this arc in exchange for my honest review. May you get all of George Costanza’s doggy smooches.

This was cute! I flew through it, though found myself not fully connecting to the characters. I connected just fine with the leads in Today Tonight Tomorrow, so I think it was more of a "me" problem (maybe I'm just a teen in a grownup's clothes). I loved the setting and that it wasn't overly done? I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I've read a few books that took place overseas (to me) and it was just a little too cheesy. I love Rachel Lynn Solomon, so would've loved this no matter what!

Danika and Wouter have known each other since he was a high school exchange student with her family in LA. They were also in a forbidden-by-the-exchange-program relationship, navigating young, heady love and their first everythings. And then, just like that, Wouter broke up with Dani through a text message once he was back in Amsterdam. Now, in her thirties, Dani needs to escape a bad break-up and getting fired and finds herself impulsively applying to jobs in Europe and accepting one at an Amsterdam start-up. After a hellish first week when her rental basement apartment floods beyond repair and the job itself is in danger because the company has no money anymore, she crashes into who else but Wouter (literally, with her bicycle). And he might have (unorthodox) solutions to her problems, and she’d also be helping him out. I’ve not read too many marriage of convenience stories, and second chance romance can be tricky, but I was willing to give it a try. I have to admit that this wasn’t my favourite book by her, despite the parts I enjoyed, and I especially struggled in the final third.

3.75 stars - This was a very cute and tender romance. I have always enjoyed Rachel Lynn Solomon's writing and this really was no exception. The general story was fun and felt fresh and I liked both of the main characters.

What I Liked: I loved Wouter, he was so sweet and tender and everything about how he cared for Dani was just too precious. The post it notes were adorable. I will forever love a good forced proximity and marriage of convenience trope and this one was a lot of fun. I also loved how this book genuinely made me want to visit Amsterdam, everything about how the city was described was so beautiful and made me itch to travel. I liked Dani a lot too, her growth throughout the book was good to see and I appreciated

What I Didn't Like: Th middle of the book fell a bit flat for me and the lack of communication was frustrating at times. Not only was the explanation about what happened when they were teenager feel a bit ridiculous the complete unwillingness Dani had to even consider their relationship could be long term wasn't my favorite.

Overall, I still really liked this book and would absolutely recommend it for a quick sweet romance. Thank you to Berkley Romance for the eARC - all opinions are my own!

This book seriously had me dreaming of packing my bags and heading to Amsterdam, like immediately. I loved how the plot blended 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴/ 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 and 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 romance tropes in a refreshing way! Although a cute, cozy romcom, I really appreciated that the plot wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Dani, who is 30, decides to start fresh and move to Amsterdam, where she is met by a flooded dungeon basement apartment, a new job that quickly leaves her searching for another, and running(biking) into the man that broke her heart years ago. The picturesque descriptors, the slowburn turned spicy romance, and the support characters had me so happy I got to read this one, as per any Rachel Lynn Solomon books! Seriously such the perfect book for springtime!

This book is the reason I love second chance romance!!!

Definitely RLS’s spiciest book to date (yes, even more than business or pleasure) and gave me allll the feels!! I saw someone say she put the LUST in WANDERLUST and that is fully accurate. Thought it was adorable and while not fully a perfect five star read for me I enjoyed every second of it. I can’t pinpoint what exactly I would’ve needed to make it five stars, but you know, vibes.

Audio is the absolute way to go for this read! The narrator is perfect and expresses every emotion so well. There’s also SO MUCH DUTCH I honestly would’ve been lost and stressed trying to learn and pronounce everything on my own 😵‍💫. The audio version makes it so much more digestible.

Wouter is a GEM of a book boyfriend. SO sweet and soft and literally just a boy. I loved him so much. And Dani is so relatable as she’s looking to be more independent and adventurous after a bad breakup. The Amsterdam setting made everything THAT much better and had me itching to book a flight sooner rather than later.

RLS’s books keep getting better and better and I can’t wait for whatever comes next!

Read if you like:
🌶️ medium spice (3/5)
💍 marriage of convenience
🥹 second chance
👀 forced proximity
🗣️ he teaches her Dutch with post it notes all over their house (and during a massage where he points out different body parts 🥵)
😭 he calls her “lief” which means sweetheart
🛏️ one bed

📖 Bookish Moments:
I LOVED this book! One of my favorites of the year—I read it in one sitting!

Dani completely won me over. Her identity crisis about being “the miracle baby” and not living up to expectations—it’s clear she’s quietly carrying a lot. And her hobby-hopping? Painfully relatable. She’s got this slightly chaotic Type B energy that made my Type A soul twitch a little, but she’s genuinely lovable.

Wouter was a delightful surprise—awkward, respectful, observant, and totally gentle with Dani. His dog is adorable, his sister is a girl’s girl, and his family were so welcoming. Every interaction showed how much he paid attention to Dani. The sticky notes around the apartment 😍 The way he took care of her when she had an asthma attack was so sweet. 😌 Consent king behavior all the way.

🧡 What You Can Expect:
Marriage of convenience
Second chance romance
Consent King
Mental health rep
Dog dad MMC
Serial hobbyist FMC

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Short synopsis: Dani leaves her life in California behind when she gets a job at a startup in Amsterdam. She (quite literally) runs her bike into Wouter, who was a foreign exchange student in their home.

My thoughts: I loved the atmosphere of being in Amsterdam, It made me want to book a trip to see the tulips and eat the yummy food. Dani immersed herself fully into the culture and language. She was all in, especially for someone who’d been held back their whole life. I also really loved how her birthmark was discussed as beauty (as it should be). It’s the things about us that are unique that really create individual beauty and I love how that was represented in the book.

Something about this just didn’t quite work the way I wanted it to. I don’t know if I wanted a dual pov, but I just didn’t really feel the chemistry or connection between the characters. They did finally learn to communicate with each other, which was a plus but overall it was lacking for me.

Read if you love:
* Marriage of convenience
* Second chance romance
* Amsterdam
* Riding bikes

What Happens in Amsterdam
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Pub: 5/6/25
3.5☆

#gifted @BerkleyRomance #BerkelyPartner

Dani Dorfman has somehow made it to her thirties without knowing what she wants to do with her life. So when an office romance ends poorly and gets her fired, she applies for a job in Amsterdam, idly dreaming of escaping the mess she’s created, but never imagining she'll actually get it.

Except she does. By the end of her first week in Amsterdam, she’s never felt more adrift or alone. Then she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend—and suddenly life is blooming with new opportunities.

Wouter van Leeuwen was a Dutch exchange student Dani’s family hosted, a forbidden love that ended in a painful breakup. Years later, there’s still sizzling chemistry between them, and okay, maybe a little animosity. More importantly, Wouter needs to be married to inherit a gorgeous family home on a canal—and when Dani's job falls apart, she needs a visa. As the marriage of convenience pushes them together in unexpected ways, Dani must decide whether her new life is yet another mistake—or if it's worth taking a risk on a second chance

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this second chance romance. I’ve never visited Amsterdam so it was fun to be mentally transported there with Dani and Wouter. All in all an entertaining read with beautiful rep. It was just more like than love for me but definitely check it out for yourself.

What I enjoyed:
💐 Second Chance Romance
💐 Amsterdam Setting
💐 Forced Proximity
💐 Mental Health Rep
💐 Jewish Rep

Thank you to Berkley Romance and PRH Audio for the gifted copies.

As a former and soon-to-be (again!) expat, I’m always drawn to books set in other countries. This is what caught my attention about Rachel Lynn Solomon‘s newest release, What Happens in Amsterdam. I’ve been wanting to read this author for a few years, and this novel looked like the perfect, wanderlust-inducing place to start.

When Dani’s life in LA implodes, she makes the seemingly impulsive decision to move to the Netherlands. But things quickly go wrong, and just when she’s at risk of losing her work visa, she (literally) runs into her ex-boyfriend, Wouter. He’d been a foreign exchange student at her house, but then he moved back home and they haven’t seen each other since. Now, he has a proposal: a marriage of convenience, both so she can get her green card and so he can inherit the family home. But will these newlyweds actually fall back in love?

What I Liked:
- Moving to a new country! Dani travels to Amsterdam all on her own, ready to start a new life in a new country. I love stories like this, and this one is done so well. The time zone challenges, endless uncertainty, cultural differences… it all rings true. I’ve lived in both Spain and Peru, so I’ve been there and could totally relate.
- The Netherlands culture and Dutch language! I loved getting to know more about the Netherlands, from their architecture and water management (seriously) to their cuisine and holidays. Dani is also actively learning Dutch, and including words and phrases in Dutch throughout the book made it more immersive. No, I don’t speak the language, but I love a chance to learn while reading fiction.
- Finally a second chance romance without the dual timelines or flashbacks. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I often don’t like second chance romances specifically because of the dual timeline. So I was happy that this book doesn’t rely on that or excessive flashbacks. We get a feel for where Dani and Wouter were at 13 years ago, but those brief memories don’t bog down the narrative at all. Instead, it’s focused on the present, which is how I like it.
- Someone who feels stuck in life, or like they haven’t lived up to their potential. Girl, I hear you. Dani feels like she’s flailing through life, a late bloomer who still hasn’t found her calling. My situation is not at all like hers, but I can relate to those feelings of wanting to find yourself and see success doing something that makes you happy.
- Expanding family and friends. I really enjoyed all the side characters here, from Dani’s family to Wouter’s family to the friends made along the way. They lift up the book even more.

Final Thoughts
What Happens in Amsterdam is such a heartfelt and brave book, and I fell in love with it. This is especially for anyone who likes reading stories about experiencing new cultures and exploring the world, all while finding love along the way. This book has reignited my itch to travel (and, honestly, move abroad again). I’m also extra excited to finally dive into Rachel Lynn Solomon’s other books, starting with The Ex Talk.

“If we couldn’t be together, I reasoned, then at least we could be inseparable.”

This book was a beautiful love letter to Amsterdam, young love, and self-acceptance.

There’s something about Rachel’s books that always feel like a warm hug, and this book is no exception. I felt like I was wrapped in her Amsterdam-loving arms, protected from Dani’s unfortunate bad luck, and thrown into Wouter’s protection and local knowledge.

A slow-burn, second-chance romance filled with mutual pining, nostalgic memories, and love that’s masked by pain due to having been central people in one another’s lives thirteen years ago, Dani and Wouter’s feelings for one another grow (or are recovered!) as you move deeper into the story and fall in love with both the setting and their relationship right alongside them.

“I don’t have to have everything figured out at thirty, or forty, or fifty, or ever. Isn’t that the whole point of being human? To always be growing and learning and changing?”

But like all of Rachel’s stories, it’s more than just the romance on the page. It’s also the love we need to find for ourselves. For our own passions. Our own lives. Our own futures. We get to struggle right next to Dani as she tries to figure out what her life purpose is, and if that’s not relatable, I’m not sure what is.

“You ruined me when we were seventeen, and then somehow I got lucky enough to get ruined by you again.”

I was a bit weary of Wouter in the beginning—especially once I read about how he ended things when they were kids—but WOW does he prove himself worthy. I loved these two together and how they slowly realize they can trust the other to truly be themselves. It’s a beautiful love story that gives me serious wanderlust and puts an everlasting smile on my face.

Pick this one up for:
- Amsterdam setting
- Second chance romance
- Secret relationship
- Marriage of convenience
- A love letter to Amsterdam
- Mental health rep: anxiety and depression
- Found family
- Only one bed
- Forced proximity
- Cameo of Chandler Cohen and Finn Walsh from “Business or Pleasure”

From Weather Girl to What Happens In Amsterdam and every Rachel Lynn Solomon book I've read in between - I am simply in love with her writing and characters!

This one is another of those books I started and was instantly engrossed in the story, the characters, and the lust between them... not caring that it was well past my bedtime, and the rooster would be crowing early! And it sure did - in the form of my eyes opening, and my brain instantly needing to get back to the story!

The flower thread woven throughout made me so happy! The mental health rep was representing! The Dutch-isms brought a smile to my face. The sex positivity that I love Solomon for was so perfect. The character arc blew me away!

Oh! And bonus points for this book having such an amazing audiobook narrator - Elizabeth Lamont was so fun!

Did I have a huge grin on my face as this book finished? I sure did because it was just so good!

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and Berkley for the complimentary copy to read and review.

3-3.5⭐️ When a mutually beneficial arrangement leads two long-lost lovers back into each other’s arms, they must decide if the life they are pretending to have is really the one they want.

I love when books take me on journeys across the globe and introduce me to new settings and cultures. In What Happens in Amsterdam, I was treated to a mini “mind vacation” in which I experienced the gorgeous locale, both through the eyes of our MC and those she meets, and learned a little bit about the Danish culture and language. As someone who suffers from anxiety, I loved the way mental health is approached here, as is always the case with RLS’s books.

I am not always a fan of the marriage of convenience trope, but I liked the twist the author puts on it. I am also a fan of second chance romance, so its inclusion here, combined with the fake marriage, was so fun and wonderfully flirty. And if you are a fan of the spicy romance book, this book is off the hinges spicy at times.

So why the 3-3.5 stars you may be asking? While all of the ingredients were there for a five-star read, I just could not fully connect to Dani and Wouter, and as a result, it didn’t knock my socks off (that’s a pun in reference to her last book that in fact did knock my socks off). I would have liked to see more of their relationship building, in a way that felt more slow burn and authentic.

🎧 This is fun on audio, thanks in large part to the Elizabeth Lamont’s “Dutch accent”, but it does get a bit cloying after awhile. I recommend either reading solely on audio, or rotating back and forth between the physical book and the audiobook.

Read if you like:
▪️second chance romance
▪️marriage of convenience
▪️forced proximity
▪️mental health rep
▪️spicy romance
▪️Amsterdam setting
▪️Jewish rep

Thank you Berkley Romance and PRH Audio for the advanced copies.

Thank you Berkley Romance for the free book and thank you PRH Audio for the #gifted listening copy! #BerkleyBookstagram #BerkleyIG #berkley #berkleyromance #PRHAudioPartner #PRHAInfluencer #WhatHappensInAmsterdam #rachellynnsolomon

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐦
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐲𝐧𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐧
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

𝟒★

I love second chance romance tropes but I’m always hesitant about marriage of convenience tropes, so I was skeptical going into this one. With that said, I really enjoyed What Happens in Amsterdam! I loved Dani’s character from the start and loved how she moved from the US to Amsterdam to start over and then ran into Wouter, her former exchange student and the boy her broke her heart years ago. Now, Dani’s job has fallen apart and she needs a visa, and Wouter needs to be married to inherit a home on a canal, so the two decide a marriage of convenience is the best idea. But as their new set-up pushes them together, maybe there’s more to it than just a marriage of convenience…

I love how we got to experience Amsterdam through Dani and Wouter! I thought the mental health rep related to Dani’s anxiety was done really well and loved how there was also a medical rep related to asthma and Dani’s micro-premie birth status. There are secret tattoos and so much more to enjoy with this one! It’s super cute and I would definitely recommend this if you’re looking for an open door romance.

🌷Second Chance Romance
🌷Marriage of Convenience
🌷Mental Health Rep
🌷Found Family
🌷Forced Proximity
🌷Amsterdam Setting

🎧The audiobook was narrated by Elizabeth Lamont and I can’t wait to listen to more by this narrator! If you enjoy books narrated by Alex Finke, you will love this one! The audio performance was nothing short of amazing! No notes! All the stars!

Posted on Goodreads on May 7, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around May 7, 2025: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on May 7, 2025
**-will post on designated date

This sweet and spicy second chance romance had me ready to hop on a plane and head straight to Amsterdam!

Dani moves to Amsterdam for a new job on a bit of a whim, a mission to find herself and what she really wants to do with her life. Once there, she literally runs into Wouter, the foreign exchange student her family took in years ago who also happens to be her ex. Their lives in Amsterdam quickly become tangled when he makes her an offer for a marriage of convenience that she can't refuse.

Full of fun tropes, steamy moments, and dreamy Amsterdam locales, this book will absolutely give you wanderlust and make you think that maybe a fake marriage isn't such a bad idea. There is a whole lot of yearning and angst in the pages as our pair try to figure out their true feelings, and I was here for it!

Second chance isn't always my favorite trope, but the reason for these two needing a second chance definitely made sense. Their first relationship occurred as teens, and clearly distance would be a major barrier in those years. The hesitation felt by Dani also felt authentic to the story, and I enjoyed her character's emotional arc as she learned to stand up for herself and face hard things.

The audio is narrated by Elizabeth Lamont, whose narration is lively and ebullient, making for such a fun listen. I love when a narrator puts their all into a narration, and Lamont did just that!

♡ Thank you for the free ARC, Berkley Romance and NetGalley.

I enjoyed this heartfelt second-chance romance. The sharp dialogue, believable tension, and hint of vulnerability added welcome depth. Dani and Wouter’s dynamic felt refreshingly mature, and I appreciated how their shared history was woven into the present without leaning on overdone drama. The Amsterdam setting brought warmth and charm throughout. Pick this up if you enjoy second-chance romance, marriage of convenience, or forced proximity.