Title: What Happens in Amsterdam
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Year Published: 2025
Genre: Romance, contemporary
Setting: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Bruges, Belgium
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
What Happens in Amsterdam: A Blurb
Dani Dorfman hopes that her move to Amsterdam will shake things up. She’s in a bit of a rut in life, being fired from her job following a nasty breakup, and she hopes that her new job at a tech startup will help direct her.
Instead, everything descends into chaos during her first few weeks. She runs into Wouter, the Dutch exchange student who broke her heart in high school. Her startup goes under, leaving her without a job. The reality of moving across the world–and leaving everyone and everything she knows behind her–catches up with her.
Yet Wouter proposes a solution that may benefit both of them: a marriage of convenience. With time ticking before she needs to go home, Dani accepts his proposal. This thrusts them both into a situation in which they must figure out where they stand now, and how they can go forward together.
My Thoughts
I wanted to love this story, especially because it was about starting over again in a European country. Instead, I think that’s why some parts fell a little flat for me.
First off, I loved the descriptions of Amsterdam. It’s somewhere I’ve wanted to travel to for a while, but still haven’t gotten the opportunity. Solomon definitely moved it higher up on my list! She has such detailed, colorful descriptions that are written with so much love that you can tell she adores the city and is intimately acquainted with it.
I loved seeing the adaptation process on paper
Another thing that I loved was how she actually talked about the logistical steps of transferring to another country and getting married to a citizen there. Most relocation stories don’t include this, and it is a painful reality for those of us who have been through it. Or, if the timeline in the book is accurate for the Netherlands, maybe not painful there. But in Italy? This article only starts to cover the difficulties and prolonged timeline of waiting for the permesso di soggiorno. Anyway, I appreciated the fact that she gave a realistic look at that aspect, even if the speed of the process made me jealous.
The way that Solomon outlined the adaptation process also hit close to home, and I was happy that she included it. I found myself smiling as I read, thinking, been there, done that. From culture shocks to messing up directions to really starting to view a new city as your own, she documented it well.
And the cast!
The supporting characters were also great. I loved that each of them, like well-crafted characters, really did have their own lives going on outside of the main characters’ struggles. Once again, Solomon did a great job bringing the city, the moving process, and the cast to life.
What Didn’t Quit Land
I will say that if I hadn’t been through the process of getting married to a citizen of a European country as an American, I probably wouldn’t have had such strong feelings. And granted, they are two totally different countries, one known for efficiency and one notorious for the complete opposite. But still.
The entire plot of What Happens in Amsterdam centers on a marriage of convenience. For me, the reasoning for the marriage is still a little shaky. I get that it was supposed to be a crazy, impulsive decision, and maybe it’s just my rational brain talking. But why on earth would you marry someone where you had a bad falling out to inherit a house/stay in a country? Again, it’s probably me being old fashioned and having suffered through the process to immigrate/marry for love. Seeing someone (fictionally, mind you) decide to get married and do it in two weeks, super easily, without tracking down a million documents, getting apostilles, and dealing with embassies, made me crazy.
The characters didn’t fully work for me
Beyond my grudge about the logistics and intentions of the marriage plot, I just didn’t buy it. Neither Dani nor Wouter ever really grew on me, and I found the chemistry to not be fully there. All of the stuff with Dani’s family also felt like it could have been resolved by communicating better, which, in all fairness, is generally true in romance novels.
My final hangup about What Happens in Amsterdam was Dani. I usually like imperfect characters, and I appreciated the fact that she was trying to change her life. However, a lot of her character still felt a bit immature and whiny. It seemed like there was a lot she could have been doing to help herself. This isn’t unique to this story. I’ve seen this a ton in contemporary/romance books lately, and unfortunately, she felt like another weak/frustrating FMC to me. Did she grow by the end? Absolutely. Did I wish for a little bit more? Also yes.
A final bright spot
One thing I did love about her, however, was the fact that she actually was putting in the effort to learn Dutch. Learning the language is super important when you move some place new, and it was great as a reader to learn a few Dutch words.
Overall, a decent read
In the end, while it wasn’t my favorite travel/expat story, it was still overall enjoyable. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to learn a bit more about Amsterdam, pick up some Dutch words, and experience a second chance romance. If you loved Love and Gelato as a teenager, this one might be for you.
Have you read What Happens in Amsterdam? Let me know what you thought!
Image Credit: Image by eXplorationEtoile from Pixabay
