Review: "Meet Me in Berlin" by Samantha Valentine

Meet Me in Berlin by Samantha Valentine
Published May 2024 via Sapphic Stories Publishing
★★★★

More than a decade ago, Casey and Holly met in Berlin. They had two weeks, and then they fell out of touch—with only a half-serious promise that they could meet again. Same time, same place, same day…however many years in the future. Now, each woman is at a pivotal moment: Holly’s career takes an unexpected turn, and she’s realizing that her three-year relationship with Tom is not what she wants out of romance; Casey is thriving at work but regretting saying ‘yes’ when Eva, her social-media-influencer girlfriend (now fiancée), proposed…and livestreamed it. What Holly and Casey still have in common: they can’t get the other out of their mind. They’ve both done their best to move on, but without real success—and so they both find themselves on flights to Berlin, from opposite ends of the world.

This is one of the better romance novels I’ve read in a while. I always have a bit of trepidation about self-published books (even if an author has hella talent, they might not be willing or able to invest the same level of resources for editing, proofreading, etc., that a traditional publishing house can provide), but the desire to read a romance novel set in Berlin won out, and (o happy day) the book exceeded expectations (and, per the author’s notes at the end, did receive multiple layers of professional editing). Berlin ends up being a relatively minor part of the story and setting, but the character development is really interesting. I sort of love that in their initial relationship, Holly moves way too fast (or, starts talking about moving way too fast), and Casey freaks out. It’s realistic, but also, it’s something where 1) Holly sees that it’s too much and 2) they end up talking about it (…eventually). That’s reflective of the rest of the book, too: the characters sometimes make mistakes, but they talk about them—Holly and Casey talk about things; Casey talks with her family and friends; Holly talks with her family and friends; said family and friends aren’t afraid to deliver a verbal smack on the upside of the head when (vaguesauce to avoid spoilers, but Casey, I’m looking at you) actions don’t align with best practices.

I’m on record many, many times as disliking unredeemable villains, and I was afraid for a while in Meet Me in Berlin that Eva would be one of those villains. Tom hits a nice balance; he’s a good (if uninteresting) guy, and maybe in another context he’d be the right long-term person for Holly…but that’s not the context in which she finds herself. Eva is…less palatable…and gets pretty awful at times, but even she (to say nothing of her family) is given some complexity and room to grow, and that’s always what I want from romance novels’ stock of cartoonishly evil exes.

Two things readers should be aware of (with a spoiler warning): first, if you take a hard line about cheating in romance novels, this might not be the one for you. I prefer my characters to be interesting and realistic rather than squeaky-clean and innocent, so mostly I just found it interesting to watch how it spun out, but…know thyself and thy reading preferences. And second, there ends up being a fair bit more about grief (and declining loved ones) in here than I expected, and it packs a punch, especially if that’s something you’ve spent more time than you’d like thinking about. (I’m curious about the author’s first book now, but I understand that there’s also quite a bit about grief there, so I may pace myself.)

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.