The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to the What Happens in Amsterdam Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on July 18th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 07/18
18th: chapters 1-5
19th: chapters 6-11
20th: chapters 12-15

Week of 07/21
21st: chapters 16-21
22nd: chapters 22-end


PARTICIPANTS
~ Sophie
~ Leslie

I'm up through chapter 11 at this point.

This took a while to set up the premise, but now it is chugging along. I'm not sure if it was intentional in making Dani looking more "not together", but the situation with the start-up had the writing on the wall all over it. Maybe it was wishful thinking trying to manifest itself. But I am invested in finding out why Wouter would have sent what he did years ago. I'm also eager to see how the meeting with the parents/grandparents goes, what will happen for her employment possibilities, when her parents will find out, on top of seeing how the romance progresses.

Sorry I’ve been so MIA 🫣 I’ve almost caught up…

Chapters 1-11

It sounds like Dani had a lucky escape with Jace, it seems like moving to Amsterdam is going to be a good fresh start. I like what we’ve seen of Wouter so far, but I’m hoping we get more flashbacks so we have a clearer picture of what went down, what led up to Wouters text. Speaking of the text, that was brutal right? Or am I crazy? It kind of felt like a personal attack. The proposal was pretty quick, I would’ve liked more of a foundation before that happened.

I like the realness of the characters, as if they were someone you’d meet out and about in your day to day life, from Dani’s port wine stain and mental & physical health struggles, as well as Wouters thinning and grey hair. What I’m trying to say, is the characters aren’t superhumanly beautiful.

Chapters 12-22

Meeting the inlaws (or at least half of them) was relatively successful. I do hope that Dani confronts her parents not only about her marriage but about her feelings about how they’ve coddled her as it seems to be weighing on her. The post it notes were very cute, and I do feel a romantic spark, but I feel like there could be a little more, it’s like their potential isn’t being fully explored.

What an ending! The confrontation with the parents was a bit meek, but thankfully the other side characters made up for that. But after all was done, I really felt like there was another love story for Dani - with Amsterdam itself. The love that Solomon shows for adoptive city really showed through.