Book Review: Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet

Hey everyone! June (and therefore summer), is just around the corner so this week I'm writing about a book I first read last summer and absolutely adored. With the business of school, exams, and extracurriculars I haven't had that much time to read lately so I picked up Meet Cute again, and read all the short stories again here and there, whenever I had time, and they are still just so good! Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet is an anthology by several well-loved young adult authors, including some TBF alumni! Here's a summary:

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 Katherine 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 anthology warms my heart and both times I've read it, it just brought the biggest smile to my face. But most of these stories weren't just cliche little snippets, but instead were based on diverse and real main characters who you want to root for throughout their tale. From several characters of color to a surprising amount of LGBTQ+ love stories, (with many of these stories being #ownvoices!) this anthology was refreshing and it just so nice to read about real people.

But the main reason I have gone back and reread so many of these stories is the memorable and sweet stories themselves. This anthology is full of incredible writing and characters, and many of the concepts of the stories themselves are so good I would read a whole book based on them. I think just about anyone could find at least one story in this anthology they'd love, even if one or two aren't your cup of tea.

Here are my favorites:

• Print Shop by Nina Lacour (so adorable and so so funny, I've loved everything I've ever read by Nina Lacour)
• Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo (while the love story was very sweet, this story was also just so beautiful and so important, I 100% recommend) 
• Oomph by Emery Lord (this is probably the cutest story I have ever read, Emery Lord nailed the characters and writes incredible dialogue, I probably have reread this one the most)
• The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies (I may not be the biggest math person but the main character using STATISTICS was so good and cute, I don't think a smile left my face in this one)
• The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon (this concept and the worldbuilding in this story was Fantastic and I would've read a whole book in this world, plus I love Nicola Yoon's characters so that's a plus)

All in all, if you're like me and have been up to your ears in studying and work, or if you could want a story to match the sunshine as we come to summer, I would recommend Meet Cute to just about anyone. See you all next month!

-Claire

Meet Cute features stories by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Dhonielle Clayton, Katie Cotugno, Jocelyn Davies, Huntley Fitzpatrick, Nina Lacour, Emery Lord, Katherine McGee, Kass Morgan, Julie Murphy, Meredith Russo, Sara Shepard, Nicola Yoon, and Ibi Zoboi.

Find it here:

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