Book Summary: 

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 Review:

I will start this with a confession – I am a HUGE fan of Rachel Lynn Solomon. From the moment I read The Ex Talk, I was completely obsessed with the way she crafts a story – her realistic and relatable characters, her heartwarming sense of growth, and her humor, which perfectly captures some of life’s most common hurdles. In What Happens in Amsterdam, we bear witness to a deeply relatable journey of self-discovery: finding ourselves, figuring out who we truly are, understanding what we want from life, and grappling with the never-ending ticking clock that makes us feel like we’re constantly falling behind simply because we haven’t succeeded yet.

Dani Dorfman has had one heck of a week! Not only has she lost her boyfriend, but she has also lost her job – both in spectacular fashion. Nonetheless, she’s determined to figure out this crazy thing called life. Deciding to throw caution through a shredder before tossing it into the wind, she takes a job in another country as her way of starting over.

Landing in Amsterdam with hopes for a fresh start, she quickly learns that it might have been wise to check if there was water in the pool before jumping in headfirst. Between a “Dungeon” apartment and a job with a concerning number of red flags, Dani is determined to stay optimistic about her future. That is, until it all comes crashing down – not her future, but her – when she collides on her bike with another cyclist.

Not just any cyclist, though. Dani suddenly finds herself staring up at the boy – now man – who broke her heart 13 years ago. Whether it’s fate or the result of some overzealous bad luck, a café visit and a quick connection provide a solution to one of her problems, as Wouter invites her to rent an apartment in his building. Debating whether her “Dungeon” (now with an indoor pool, thanks to flooding) was really that bad of a situation, she reluctantly takes him up on the offer, viewing it as a temporary arrangement – until the company she works for goes belly up.

When Dani discovers she only has three months to find a new job before she loses her work visa, panic sets in. That is, until Wouter makes an outrageous suggestion that confirms she has absolutely lost her mind: she agrees to marry him. Not for love, of course, but in order to stay in the country. In return, Wouter fulfills his grandmother’s stipulation that he must be married to inherit the apartment building.

Married to her ex-boyfriend, now living in his guest house, and tasked with convincing Wouter’s grandmother that they’re blissfully in love – well, it seems simple enough. Dani just has to make it a year with her heart intact. She survived the crushing blow Wouter dealt 13 years earlier, and despite what her head, heart, and body may be saying as they grow closer, she’s determined not to let herself be that vulnerable ever again.

The biggest appeal of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s work is how I can look at her female protagonists and just get them. I understand where they’re coming from, what they’re going through, and I can empathize with their journeys in life. Dani is probably the one who spoke to me the loudest.

We all go through life believing we’re supposed to hit these imaginary checkmarks that confirm our growth and success. Graduate – check. Find a partner – check. Get that job that defines us – check. Kids, house, 401k – check, check, check. And if we don’t? We feel like we’re failing.

The worst part, especially with social media, is that we can’t even live in our own little world of delusional success – believing we’re doing the best we can. We are constantly bombarded with comparisons, surrounded by sources to confirm that we’re falling behind. We see how our peers are doing on social media, and we can’t help but compare. We can’t help but wonder what we’re doing wrong – because they’ve obviously gotten it right.

For Dani, this pressure was exacerbated by the additional label of being the “Miracle Baby.” So while the rest of us feel the weight of proving our worth and showing we’re something, Dani had the added pressure of proving she was truly worth it. That her life was spared. That she survived. That she was still here, against all odds, to do great things. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of unrealistic pressure that would put on a person. Even the smallest of achievements might feel meaningless when you’re told you’re destined to do something extraordinary.

What I also love is how Rachel writes her male protagonists. They aren’t show-stopping, jaw-dropping, A-list hunks of men who’ve decided to slum it with an “average girl” (and let me be clear, there’s nothing wrong with those kinds of books – I love them too!). Instead, her men feel like everyday people – flawed, real, and just as lovable as someone you could meet in your own life.

Together, Rachel creates a pairing you can’t help but root for – two people who you believe truly deserve all the happiness in the world, despite the odds, the obstacles, and the roadblocks life loves to throw their way. Even down to the physical traits we learn to accept and love but the world insists on criticizing (our weight, our birthmarks, our hairlines) – her characters are extraordinary in no flashy way, making them perfectly ordinary and beautifully real.

On a side note, I tried – I really tried – to remember all the Dutch words, but to no avail. Still, it was so much fun having them sprinkled throughout the story. Seeing the beauty of Amsterdam through Dani and Wouter’s eyes makes you want to book a flight today!

Having personally been to Amsterdam, Rachel reminded me of just how little I truly saw, yet she perfectly captured the breathtaking magic of such a beautiful place (and, of course, the important difference between a coffeeshop and a café!). Even if you’ve never seen a single picture of Amsterdam, the way Rachel describes the history, the homes, and the people makes you feel like you’re right there – eating the food, walking the streets, taking in the sights, and falling in love right alongside Dani.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve read every single book by Rachel, and this is by far the hottest one she has written! Business or Pleasure was pretty steamy, but it had absolutely nothing on this one.

What made it even more beautiful, though, was the second chance between two people who discovered all of their firsts together, reuniting 13 years later – blending the old with the new as they rediscovered one another. Those moments were some of the most touching and charming parts of the book. Yes, they were hot and captivating, but they were also incredibly moving, reverent even, and they remind us that while life moves on – bringing new discoveries, new passions, and new memories – our hearts never truly forget.

When our souls are bound with another, they instinctively recall what matters most. Despite the heartache and disappointment, those bonds keep the rawest emotions pure. And by some miracle, if we are able to experience them again, it makes us feel whole.

I don’t know if it was Rachel’s intent, but by the time I finished, I felt like someone had wrapped me in a hug and reminded me that it’s okay not to have life all figured out. Whether we are happy in love, where we are living, or what we are doing for a living  -it’s rare to have succeeded in all three. Most of us are just trying to figure out one piece of that trifecta.

We may be happy with where we are living and who we’re with but hate our jobs, or we may love our jobs and the place we call home but haven’t yet found the person who feels like the missing piece of our heart (if that’s something we even want). And yet, we all feel that looming deadline, that ticking clock, reminding us with every movement of the minute hand that we’re falling behind. But are we? Are we failing at life, or are we being completely unrealistic about the timeframe we’ve given ourselves?

That’s what Rachel so beautifully emphasizes in this book: there is NO timeline. Whether you’re thirty, forty, fifty – as long as you’re still above ground, breathing, doing, and being – you have time to figure it out. There’s no magic answer, but there’s also no wrong way to go about it.

Some of us need to try many different things to discover our passions, and that’s okay. Some of us have to love and lose to learn what we want for ourselves and from others, and that’s okay, too. Some of us have to live in many different places to find where we belong in the world, and again – that’s perfectly fine!

We need to learn that it’s okay to do things our way, in our time, and to trust our process – not the process of others or what we’ve been conditioned to believe is the “right way” to live our lives.

What Happens in Amsterdam is like a comforting rub on the back and a soothing pat on the head – a reassuring reminder that life is what we make of it. If we feel like we’re heading in the wrong direction, there’s nothing stopping us from turning around and trying another path. It reminds us that we can take the batteries out of the clock and move at our own pace.

It offers reassurance and hope while validating our feelings and concerns. Most importantly, it reminds us that we can be brave even when we’re scared, we can be strong even when we feel lost, and we can do anything – as long as we’re okay with getting it wrong a few times until we find the path that works best for us.