Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet
Jennifer L. Armentrout (Goodreads Author), Sona Charaipotra(Goodreads Author), Dhonielle Clayton, Katie Cotugno, Jocelyn Davies(Goodreads Author), Nina LaCour (Goodreads Author), Emery Lord (Goodreads Author), Katharine McGee , Kass Morgan (Goodreads Author), Meredith Russo (Goodreads Author), Sara Shepard (Goodreads Author), Nicola Yoon(Goodreads Author), Ibi Zoboi (Goodreads Author), Julie Murphy (Goodreads Author)
Published: January 2nd 2018 by HMH Book for Young Readers
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:
Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of “how they first met” from some of today’s most popular YA authors.
Readers will experience Nina LaCour’s beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard’s glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon’s imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno’s story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.
This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.
I read this book back in January, and I am just now getting around to writing the review of it. Woops. This was my first anthology in a long time, and it took me awhile to get used to the short story format. Once I did though, I really enjoyed most of these stories. Below I will break down my thoughts on each story without giving much away and my rating for each one.
Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno ★★★
As the very first story of this anthology, I thought that it was alright. The MC was kind of the stereotypical queen bee, at least that was what she seemed like at the beginning. We get more of her backstory, or the reason why she puts up a front and then I felt for her and understood what she was doing. Although, I don’t know technically if how she and the guy meeting is considered cute, and plus she already knew him from school.
Print Shop by Nina LaCour ★★★★
I thought this one was very cute. The MC starts working at a print shop, and she thinks she will get to learn how to make all these fabulous prints but they just want her to help with the social media aspect. She spends the entire day helping a disgruntled customer (mainly via twitter) and when they finally meet it was super cute.
Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi ★★★
I don’t really remember much about this one, except that the MC’s best friend is pushing her to go to a dance and then she finally decides to go. She spends most of the time looking for a dress at this one store, and then finally decides to go to this African American shop that customizes clothing to their clients specific needs. The meeting in this story was super brief and I thought it was okay.
Click by Katharine McGee ★★★★
This is about a program that sets you up with your perfect match. The main character goes on a date with this guy who she matched with, and accidentally leaves her phone in the taxi. So they spent the whole date looking for her phone and getting to know each other. This story was cute, but not very memorable in my opinion.
The Intern by Sara Shepard ★★★
This story is about a girl who is forced to intern at her dads company. Since her mom died, she has been very angry towards everyone and standoffish. Since no one wanted to deal with her they make her “babysit” a celebrity who wants to tour the city. Their tour kind of had a date like feel, and out of everyone who tried to talk to her, he was the only one who made her talk. This story was alright, but not very rememberable in my opinion.
Somewhere That’s Green by Meredith Russo ★★★★★
This story has two different points of view. Nix the transgender who just got permission to use the girls bathroom at school, and Lexie the girl who is petitioning to have Nix’s access removed. They are both in the school play and Nix doesn’t hold back any of her feelings while Lexie tries very hard to stay in the shadows. One night at a party Nix finally confronts Lexie as to why she is getting her bathroom privileges revoked when Lexie doesn’t even know her. The characters in this story was very well written and you understood both sides of the story. The way things were resolved was great and it wasn’t something I expected to happen.
The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton ★★★★★
This story is set on an island where all the citizens believes in soul mates, and that the fates tells you when and who your soul mate is by these magic bands that appear. The main character spends the story wondering if soul mates is even a true thing or even worth it. Then she saves a guy from the ocean and they go on this journey down different paths that could happen in the future. I thought this story was right on the money with being cute. It had just the right amount of fantasy elements thrown in for me to really enjoy it.
Oomph by Emery Lord ★★★★
This story is about two girls stuck at the airport and how they pass the time. Their banter and flirting was super cute and seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Makes me wish my meeting of my SO was just as effortless.
The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout ★★★★★
Ah, I really loved this one! This story is the start to my ideal YA contemporary book. If the author wrote a full length version, I would buy it immediately and then try to find a book signing close to me. A volunteer at a library spends her time reshelving books and calling people who have books that are overdue. One person she has been calling for awhile now to remind him to return the dictionary he borrowed. The outcome of this story is exactly what every book nerd wished would happen to her.
The Unlikely Likelihood Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davie ★★★★★
This story was super cute! A girl in AP Stats has to an end of the year project. While on the train on the way to school she happens to look up and see this guy, so she devises a project on whether or not it was love at first sight. I loved this story for how innocent it was and I was totally invested in whether her project worked or not!
259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan ★★★★
This story was a little bit unexpected. The main character in this one is trying to run away from his problems by trying to get selected to be a participant to colonize Mars. He and this girl are stuck in a room or 24 hours to have their personalities evaluated for compatibility. The way this story ended was a bit sad, but empowering at the same time.
Something Real by Julie Murphy ★★★★★
This one has a Bacheloresque feel to it. Two girls are competing to win a date with a musician that everyone loves. Just like every reality show, they are pitted against each other. As they start to learn more about each other, they start to feel bad about competing against each other. Of course the musician is a jerk, so the girls don’t think twice about leaving. Their personalities in this and back stories were really well thought out and I wanted them both to win a date with the celebrity!
Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick ★★
I don’t really remember much about this one, other than the fact that it was super weird and not romantic whatsoever.
The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon ★★★★★
They picked a great story to end this anthology. I loved everything about it! After a recent break up, a guy goes through the system to try to get a do over so that he can figure out how it went wrong. This story opens up at the last department, and he has to tell his whole story over again to this girl who gets to determine if he gets a do over or not. After telling his story and getting to know the girl, the guy has to figure out if it will be worth it or not. If Nicola Yoon decides to write a full length version of this story, I would pick it up in a heartbeat!!
So out of a possible 70 stars, I gave this book 57 stars. Which is about 81% or a solid 4 stars in total.
Sam's Little Corner 