Reviews

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

Only show reviews with written explanations

ashley_mrose530's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was a cute little romance story, but there were certainly some things that put me off.

I will say that it had me at the beginning with Drew. I thought he and Noah were kind of cute together, but then the thing with the blog started happening and I got the worst thought in my head which never actually got revealed to be true at the end. I thought Drew might turn out to be the one who started saying the blog was lying and all fake. I'm pretty sure that's what the book was hinting at when Drew told Noah that he figured out he was the admin, but then it was never confirmed by the end which was kind of a let down. I really felt like that whole situation didn't have much resolution and was a bit disappointing for me. Drew and Noah basically had a fight about Drew not letting Noah have some space and then they just never talk to each other again? If Drew actually had feelings for Noah, he would have tried to reach out to him again and even if he didn't, I still think they needed some type of resolution because that just felt very much forgotten by the end of the book.
Anyway, when Devin came into the picture, I felt so much better about em. The two of them were clearly meant to be the love interests and Devin is so much more supportive and accommodating to Noah. I thought they were so cute together. E was probably my favorite character in this book even though e didn't have much characterization beyond being the love interest. We didn't really know anything about em to the point that Noah was trying to figure out a gift to give em and I couldn't even think of anything because e had almost no personality. And yet e was my favorite character in this book, if that tells you anything about the others.
Which brings me to the main character, Noah. I could not stand him for most of the book. He was so entitled and spoiled and selfish the whole time. He had no empathy for anyone else and didn't even think of anyone else but himself. He did get a little bit of growth at the end but it still wasn't really shown to us as readers. He should have been the one to make the scavenger hunt for Devin and showed how sorry he was to Becca, his supposed best friend (even though she was trying to get with a terf??? What kind of best friend does that??? "But I talked to her and she's not actually like that" is not a good enough excuse to even be talking to someone who seemed to actively harm trans people let alone your trans best friend!). Or at least, he definitely should have done something to show that he was starting to change and not be so self-centered.
I guess the main thing I did like about this book was the chemistry between the two actual love interests. They had me feeling for them and rooting for them to get together which is probably the most necessary part of a romance book, but the rest of it definitely needs some work.

kit15742's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bluebeereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

While I enjoyed this a lot the first time I read it, re-reading it now made me question some things about it. I'm all for a mixed-race trans boy on his quest to find love in a cute rom-com. Those who know me even a little bit, know that. But what irked me this time around was the main character. I just really really did not connect with him at all. He's very self-centered and quite frankly, annoying too?

I still love the diversity and representation in this book, don't get me wrong, and the premise is fantastic. The MC just really put me off this time around.

thebookberrie's review against another edition

Go to review page

I really feel for this author and wanted to like this but wtf??

Meet Cute Diary is about a boy named Noah who runs a popular blog called Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans meet cutes. The only problem is that Noah made them all up. What started as a fantasy of a trans boy afraid to come out has turned into hope for countless trans readers. When a troll exposes the blog as fake, Noah scrambles to fix it and his method is to prove all the stories are true. With the help of a cute boy he just met named Drew, they decide to fake date and show the world love is real.

This is... a book!! A book I wanted to like a lot but wow I sure didn't. The book starts off with Noah being a completely entitled ass and doesn't get any better. The entire concept of this book SOUNDS cute but when you think about it for longer than half a second, it doesn't make any damn sense.

He runs a blog full of fake stories that people just... took as real? Every story was the same, ended with the same line, and wasn't even very long and yet this blog was so popular that it supposedly worldwide? It is faked as running on anonymous submissions but Noah just makes everything up as a creative writing exercise and I'm screaming because it would have been 10 times easier to just take submissions from people than make all this up???? Postsecret eat your heart out.

FINALLY at the end of the book is when he gets a real submission and it was just so funny like literally no one ever tried to submit before?? When it gets exposed as all being from Miami it was such a joke because this is an online tumblr who would ever assume that? This isn't called "Miami Meet Cute Diary" but okay. How does the internet work? Oh yeah not like that. Comments are called replies btw.

Then the solution to saving the blog is fake dating some random dude. Uhhh what. They go around taking pictures together and pretending for no reason when no one is around. I get they wanted to be real dating very soon after but it was the worst example of the fake date trope I have ever seen. How does the romance for the owner of the blog prove anything, please. It was all so dumb I just simply can't with this.

There is having confidence and then there was whatever the hell Noah was on this entire book. His entitled attitude was ridiculous and I wanted to fight him behind a Wendy's parking lot. He treats everyone around him like shit, especially his best friend. He blows through $400 in one week on ice cream and rideshares and acts like such a shit when his parents are like uhhh no get a job. Absolutely obnoxious and for what? He hates on his brother's girlfriend for no reason. (Of course she turns out transphobic later but with his magical powers, he already knew!!) I did like that this was a book with a trans MC that wasn't full of hate crimes though!

The romance was so disappointing. Like I said, the fake dating was trash and then it gets thrown away for another romance anyway. So what was the POINT of all that??? Both of the love interests had similar names so call me confused.

I must repeat how I wanted to like this but unfortunately I did not.

thestickwitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I found it a good read. I think I liked Cafe Con Lychee better but this was still really good. If you have teens or know any teens looking for a cute (non spicy obviously) LGBTQIA+ romance book I would definitely recommend Emery Lee and their books. It’s a got a little drama. Some cute moments. And ways to find ones self and acceptance.