What Happens In Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon follows Danika Dorfman, a young woman in her 30s who is seemingly aimless in life; she doesn’t have a clear passion or purpose and feels lost. She gets the chance to relocate to Amsterdam for work, after an office romance that went sour led to her getting fired, and takes it as an opportunity to get a completely fresh start. Things get a little rocky for her out of the gate, and she’s left to figure out how to hack it in this new country – until she crashes into someone she used to know on her ill sized bicycle.
Wouter van Leeuwen, the Dutch exchange student Dani’s family hosted when they were teenagers, runs into Dani by way of bicycle crash (he was the victim). Thinking he would never see her again after he returned to his country after the exchange program ended, is shocked to see his high school sweetheart is right in front of him. Though their relationship didn’t exactly end well, he’s happy to see her. After catching up with her and finding out her fresh start has been anything but fresh, Wouter might have a solution that will benefit both of them: marry Wouter in exchange for a place to live and an extension on her visa, and Wouter gets the deed from his family to keep his home. Seems like a win/win but will this choice be a mistake for Dani or is this another risk she’s willing to take?
Dani spent her whole life thinking she was supposed to live up to some imaginary standard solely because of how she was her parents’ “miracle baby” and so she never really found her place or figured out who she was. In a way, she kept herself safe by doing what she was “supposed” to do by pursuing a career track that felt like what she should do vs what she actually wanted to do. She ends up being sheltered in more ways than one, though her parents treating her like a breakable glass didn’t help. From her being sheltered by her parents, I can identify with that. Her knowing that she had her parents worry about her, while annoying to her, was also her safety net which held her back from really figuring herself out.
Dani was brave in moving to a completely new country on her own without much of a plan and while she claims it had nothing to do with her puppy love romance with Wouter when they were teens, I don’t fully believe that. That’s another thing – Wouter’s text to her when they were teens – as much as I would also very much run on spite, Dani let other people’s perceptions of her dictate her life, which contributed to her feeling aimless vs finding her passion or purpose.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. As mentioned, Dani was brave to start over somewhere completely new where she didn’t know the language or anything. Dani rekindling her friendship and relationship with Wouter was cute too. The more I think about it, the more this story felt like it was more about Dani finding herself than it was her romance with Wouter. Obviously, their relationship is part of the overall plot, but the story lies in Dani making choices for herself, setting boundaries, and finally doing something she finds enjoyable with her career.
