I have been on a run this year with marriage of convenience romance novels. By my count, Rachel Lynn Solomon’s What Happens in Amsterdam is my fourth of the year, following Two Friends in Marriage, In a Jam, and In a Rush. I read In a Jam on vacation in Amsterdam which is part of the reason why I decided to read What Happens in Amsterdam, the other being two very enthusiastic reviews of it from people I trust on Goodreads – one of which shouted out the quality of the audiobook (she was right – its great).
It was nice to read this book and be able to rely on my memories of the various locations and foods to sink into the story world. The narrator, Elizabeth Lamont, also did a great job with the Dutch accent. For 85% of the book, I loved the second chance romance between Danica and Wouter. Solomon crafted an intriguing backstory – Wouter had been an exchange student and lived with Dani’s family when they were 17. They broke the rules and dated and were each other’s firsts in many ways. In the way of teenagers in love they had planned and hoped to stay together, but after his return to the Netherlands Wouter broke things off via text. We are with Dani in this is a single POV story, so we are emersed in the ways that heartbreak has affected the way she has handled her romantic life over the course of the intervening 13 years.
Now 30, Dani feels stuck. She had a job in a field she is good at but basically fell into, and her mental health has had ups and downs over the past several years. She feels as though she hasn’t found her thing, the thing that will justify her “miracle baby” status having survived being a micro-preemie. She decides to give herself a fresh start following being fired from her job and finds herself a new one in Amsterdam and relocates from L.A. From here, things spiral and because this is a Romance novel she runs into Wouter (literally) and a tentative friendship is broached. From there the reasons for the marriage of convenience enter the fray, and it’s a great example of the way that trope can work.
Then there’s what happens at 83% and had me put the book in the freezer for a bit. Throughout the book Dani hasn’t been dealing with her relationship with her parents in an honest way about anything. Then, when they show up, Dani blows everything up spectacularly. The depth of this and how it pairs with the ever dreaded late in the third act break up (which, some might not think 83% is too late, but I do) where Wouter gets thrown under the proverbial bus in a way that I just did not enjoy at all. Solomon writes her way through it, but Dani’s grovel wasn’t strong enough for me, and the book lost an entire star rating for me because of it. So, this is a 3.5 rounded up based on the strength of the audio.