Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Spoiler
Siege Etiquette - Katie Cotugno3 stars - kinda odd but sweet. Main character a bit of a bitch but kinda likeable because of that. Wolf (shit name) kinda wishy-washy but between them I was interested and found it a little heartbreaking.
Print Shop - Nina LaCour
5 stars - always been interested in this author but never had a chance to read anything by her before. Worth the hype, judging by this story. Not as interesting as it could've been, but very compelling. Simple but elegant. Barely any plot but nice writing.
Hourglass - Ibi Zoboi
3 stars - I'm not sure what I was supposed to have got from this one in regards to her finally meeting someone she's interested in in the hometown she's always been so desperate to escape just before she gets her chance to escape. Unless the point is that maybe she won't get to go but that's not so bad because she has a love interest now? Abrupt ending means we don't even find out if she asks him to prom. But the other stuff - with the best friend who's a douche - was good. Felt like the meet cute part was an afterthought.
Click - Katherine McGee
5 stars - bit of action and excitement, some decent back story and a cute couple with some good chemistry. Not sci-fi enough to distract but very realistic sci-fi.
The Intern - Sara Shepard
2 stars - forgettable (especially love interest). Very unfocused. I get that her mum just died but Christ, she just got handed an internship most would kill for just because of who her dad is and she's whining about not being worked hard enough.
Somewhere That's Green - Meredith Russo
5 stars - nope, this one was dead good. Short and to the point. Didn't leave you wanting more but was very compelling with good characters.
The Way We Love Here - Dhonielle Clayton
4 stars - very good once it got going. Always a good point that just because it doesn't last forever doesn't mean it's not love. Bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. Good premise about the bands on the finger counting down to love but I liked it when we went even further sci-fi with the visions.
Oomph - Emery Lord
5 stars - legit so adorable. Eugh. But nothing felt shallow. Felt like meaningful emotions. Touched on how hard it is to know if someone likes you or not and how it's even harder when you're a lesbian.
The Dictionary Of You And Me - Jennifer L. Armentrout
4 stars - very very cute. Gotta love a boy blusher who's trying to be confident and smooth and is actually super nervous. Very shallow story otherwise though! Could've been shorter.
The Unlikely Likelihood Of Falling In Love - Jocelyn Davies
3 stars - little dull, not enough actual romance in regards to the meet cute. Too focused on the statistics. They meet but we don't much see their chemistry.
259 Million Miles - Kass Morgan
3 stars - sweet enough protagonist and a vaguely adorable love interest even if she was a little manic pixie dream girl. Seems a little weird to me to pick her for the mission when she panicked so badly in the fire situation. Also to reason that since she fancied and therefore got along with our protagonist that she would get along with a similar personality guy on Mars is just wonderfully dumb for scientists. If it's that obvious that they're alike, would she not resent the guy on Mars? The viral video part was an odd side plot, and the ending with him filming a response video was kinda cliché. But I did love our main characters interactions.
Something Real - Julie Murphy
4 stars - sweet enough and a decent premise (The Bachelor). Protagonist and love interest were interesting and had decent chemistry. It's a little bit of a shame that they didn't end up telling Dylan he was such a wanker though. And a shame the episode was scrapped altogether instead of being aired.
Say Everything - Huntley Fitzpatrick
2 stars? Maybe 1? - weakest story. When your dad conned hers out of all their money, why would you take her to her old house that your family moved into post-conning? Jesus Christ. Very unlikable love interest. Telling the story in the second person worked to make me feel less involved in the story, which is probably the opposite of what the author intended. As a result I never connected with the protagonist. Never found out anything about her like if she still lives with her parents and sister now they're broke or whether something even more tragic happened. Don't even know for sure if she works all the time at the diner to make money for her family to live on or just to support herself. I guess putting this exposition in whilst using the 'you' style would've been awkward? Then don't use second person. Might've worked a lot better without it. But the love interest was still horrible. Bad premise.
The Department Of Dead Love - Nicola Yoon
3 stars - eh. Not a very good premise here either. If you don't know why your relationship has ended, that's probably why it ended, I figure. Relationship between protagonist and love interest was sweet enough but otherwise not a great story. Kinda shallow considering the odd dystopian setting.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not a terrible book, but you can feel how YA it really is in every single story. The snippets were too short to give you any real sense of depth or closure, but the writers consistently tried to approach complex issues they didn't have space for. I expected a fun, lighthearted distraction read and got overwrought teenage angst. Might've appealed more in a different mood, but wasn't what I was looking for over the summer.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
“All love ends,” she says.
“Maybe,” I say. “But it has to start somewhere.”
[b:Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet|33503607|Meet Cute Some People Are Destined to Meet|Jennifer L. Armentrout|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492664131s/33503607.jpg|54264531] was, definitely, a cute anthology. It was full of short stories about cheesy romance, exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately for me, most of them were too cheesy and cliché I was praying god for them to end. Some of them, though, were just super cute and fluffy. Few of them were extremely good, with the perfect combination of cuteness, romance and story. I'm only going to mention the last ones, but you must know these were the only ones with a high ranking of mine. The rest of them achieved between one and three stars, so it was clear that I wouldn't give this collection more than three stars.
My absolute favorite ones are The Department of Dead Love by [a:Nicola Yoon|7353006|Nicola Yoon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1411143980p2/7353006.jpg], mostly for the incredible world building; and Oomph by [a:Emery Lord|6553850|Emery Lord|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1351103384p2/6553850.jpg], which I think was the most realistic and believable romance of all the anthology, besides being one of the cutest stories on Earth. The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by [a:Jocelyn Davies|2313312|Jocelyn Davies|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471015965p2/2313312.jpg]and Somewhere That's Green by [a:Meredith Russo|10963089|Meredith Russo|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1461009502p2/10963089.jpg] were also two super enjoyable good stories.
One thing I didn't like was that some of the stories seemed to have forgotten the main theme of the book, first meets! The main reason I picked the book was for this, and all my love for fate/destiny/etc stories, so I was very sad when some of the authors cheated :( I was very glad to find f/f representation, though I would have liked a little more of diversity.
Verdict: a very cute collection but, with very few exceptions, forgettable. Recommended for people with romance fever and high glucose tolerance.
It’s early, I know. We’ve only just met. But this might be a love story
This was such a cute, heartwarming book. The stories and characters were diverse, the meetings were really sweet, and I genuinely found myself smiling hugely or "aww"-ing aloud at most of the stories. Nothing bad to say about this collection! And I loved the queer representation.
My Review(s):
I am not a huge fan of anthologies, most of the time I find the stories long and there is always going to be ones that I don't enjoy. So unless I know a lot of the contributors, I don't usually pick it up. This was the book of the month for TheBookBoundSociety and I thought I would give it a shot. Overall, it was a cute read. I enjoyed a number of the stories, but was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a m/m meet cute (as was shown on the cover). The stories weren't too long, though I felt some of them could have been longer in all honesty.
Since this is an anthology I am going to review the stories individually as I read them and let you know about my favourites and least favourites. Beware of spoilers, I'm not sure I'll be able to review such short stories without giving somethings away.
Story One: Siege Etiquette by Katie Contugo (Hailey + Wolf)
Rating: 1/5 stars
I'm not a fan of the second person tense used in this one, it's hard to be the 'you' of the story when you're nothing like this main character. I just didn't like this relationship starting between them and the fact that there's cheating involved. It didn't feel like a cute meeting to me, Hailey wasn't exactly the nicest to Wolf, and the whole prospect of it being forgotten by the time she sees him again, well it's a bit odd.
Story Two: Print Shop by Nina Lacour (Evie + Lauren)
Rating: 2.75/5 stars
Okay this story was going really well until the end and WE DONT GET TO SEE THEM MEET. Why are these stories so short for? I want more and I want to see how this actually went. And I'm just confused by the end, what happened between them and why is Evie explaining to her how they met? I did like where this was going but I wanted more :'(
Story Three: Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi (Cherish + Mamadou)
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
I guess I really misunderstood the point of this anthology. I thought there would be more /meeting/. This one, again, was really short. A lot shorter than Print Shop, and I'm not really sure it felt like there was any sort of connection between the two of them. Most of the story was Cherish trying to figure out what she's going to do after high school, mixed in with friend drama. The meet cute what just kinds thrown in at the end-maybe if he'd taken her to the prom there would've been more there.
Story Four: Click by Katherine McGee (Alexa + Raden)
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
I really liked this one, I am a big Black Mirror fan and this short story gave me that vibes. It was like a combination of Hang the DJ and Be Right Back. This was more what I was expecting from these stories, it was a good length and it was a cute meet. Raden was a cutie and I definitely wouldn't mind messing up my click date to end up with him. It was a cute story, but the BM reminders are what I enjoyed most about it.
Story Five: The Intern by Sara Shepard (Clara + Phineas)
Rating: 3/5 stars
This was a sweet story, I like that we got some background into both of the characters in such a short time. I enjoyed how without realizing it they were helping each other. It was a bit cliche I felt but cute nonetheless
Story Six: Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo (Nia + Lexie)
Rating: 4/5 stars
Ahh I loved this story so much. It was a great, powerful story, not just about them meeting but about them staying true to who they are. Both of them are depicted as very brave, young women and it was a really excellently written story. I finished this one and I'd definitely be curious to see how the rest of the story plays out.
Story Seven: The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton (Viola + Sebastian)
Rating: 5/5 stars
The first story to get me so close to tears. I loved this story and the magic elements wrapped up inside of it. I love the soulmate plots and this one was no exception. I just want them to be happy together, is that too much to ask? I've never read anything by this author before, but this just increased my excitement for The Belles when it comes out this year.
Story Eight: Oomph by Emery Lord (Jo + Cassidy)
Rating: 4/5 stars
This story was very well cute and quirky. The airport is a cliche place to meet but this story makes it not feel that way. I loved their playfulness and the cute Marvel references. It wasn't what I expected from such an odd title to be honest. I was expecting two people to run into each other, but I like the idea of finding your 'oomph'. This was a meet cute in my eyes
Story Nine: The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Moss + Tyler)
Rating: 3/5 stars
This was a cute story but I could tell that as soon as Quiet Hot Guy was introduced he was H. Smith. Moss was a kinda boring main character who likes Christmas a lot and addresses the fact that she is cliché? I thought Tyler was great though, he was a quirky and fun guy. It was a meet cute, more so than some of the others as they hadn't actually met face to face yet. I liked it for sure, not one of my favourites though.
Story Ten: The Unlikelyhood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davies (Sam + Dev)
Rating: 2/5 stars
This one was a bit strange for me? I thought it was weird she was kinda stalking him for her statistics project. And I thought it was weird the teacher would go along with that, even if she was his favourite. But anyways, I don't math so I can't judge too much on that part. I can say they were both very committed to seeing each other on the subway, though I'm not sure it was love at first sight... Sam liking bagels reminded me of a certain friend (*coughs* she knows who she is..)
Story Eleven: 259 Miles by Kass Morgan (Philip + Evie)
Rating: 3/5 stars
So this is the first short story from the male's POV and I was expecting a m/m short story-so I'm a bit disappointed by that. I love that these aren't all your standard contemporary short stories, the science fiction esque addition to this one was really nice! I enjoyed it a lot. I feel bad for Philip though, he didn't get his space dreams . I liked the dynamic between the pair and how she motivated him to make a video of his own. (Bonus points for having a character named Tessa).
Story Twelve: Something Real by Julie Murphy (June + Martha)Rating: 3/5 stars
This was not what I was expecting in the best way. Ack the dating show aspect was a bit weird for me, I think it's super corny and I'm so glad that wasn't the way this meet cute went. It felt like a bit of a poke at shows like those and I found that very amusing. The characters were definitely real and I was glad neither of them went crazy on the other to win this date. Dylan was definitely not worth fighting over.
Story Thirteen: Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Emma + Sean)Rating: 2/5 stars
I am definitely not a fan of second person tense in novels that aren't 'choose your own adventure' esque. This story was weird, and kinda creepy. If I was Emma I would've ran when the son of the man who took my family's fortune brought me to my own house that they now live in? It just seems all to weird to me.. but that's just my opinion on the matter. He seemed to have good intentions, but yeah, I just couldn't get past that.
Story Fourteen: The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon (Thomas + Gabby)
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This story was absolutely amazing, thank you Nicola Yoon for ending this anthology with this story. It reminded me of Adam Silvera's More Happy than Not in a way and the cuteness between was my favourite. It had a dystopian vibe to it that I enjoyed, and the what if's of If science could truly tell us the statistics behind love and relationships. I'm glad that Thomas decided not to give up ten months of his life and choose to live on with the new possibilities
I am not a huge fan of anthologies, most of the time I find the stories long and there is always going to be ones that I don't enjoy. So unless I know a lot of the contributors, I don't usually pick it up. This was the book of the month for TheBookBoundSociety and I thought I would give it a shot. Overall, it was a cute read. I enjoyed a number of the stories, but was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a m/m meet cute (as was shown on the cover). The stories weren't too long, though I felt some of them could have been longer in all honesty.
Since this is an anthology I am going to review the stories individually as I read them and let you know about my favourites and least favourites. Beware of spoilers, I'm not sure I'll be able to review such short stories without giving somethings away.
Story One: Siege Etiquette by Katie Contugo (Hailey + Wolf)
Rating: 1/5 stars
I'm not a fan of the second person tense used in this one, it's hard to be the 'you' of the story when you're nothing like this main character. I just didn't like this relationship starting between them and the fact that there's cheating involved. It didn't feel like a cute meeting to me, Hailey wasn't exactly the nicest to Wolf, and the whole prospect of it being forgotten by the time she sees him again, well it's a bit odd.
Story Two: Print Shop by Nina Lacour (Evie + Lauren)
Rating: 2.75/5 stars
Okay this story was going really well until the end and WE DONT GET TO SEE THEM MEET. Why are these stories so short for? I want more and I want to see how this actually went. And I'm just confused by the end, what happened between them and why is Evie explaining to her how they met? I did like where this was going but I wanted more :'(
Story Three: Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi (Cherish + Mamadou)
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
I guess I really misunderstood the point of this anthology. I thought there would be more /meeting/. This one, again, was really short. A lot shorter than Print Shop, and I'm not really sure it felt like there was any sort of connection between the two of them. Most of the story was Cherish trying to figure out what she's going to do after high school, mixed in with friend drama. The meet cute what just kinds thrown in at the end-maybe if he'd taken her to the prom there would've been more there.
Story Four: Click by Katherine McGee (Alexa + Raden)
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
I really liked this one, I am a big Black Mirror fan and this short story gave me that vibes. It was like a combination of Hang the DJ and Be Right Back. This was more what I was expecting from these stories, it was a good length and it was a cute meet. Raden was a cutie and I definitely wouldn't mind messing up my click date to end up with him. It was a cute story, but the BM reminders are what I enjoyed most about it.
Story Five: The Intern by Sara Shepard (Clara + Phineas)
Rating: 3/5 stars
This was a sweet story, I like that we got some background into both of the characters in such a short time. I enjoyed how without realizing it they were helping each other. It was a bit cliche I felt but cute nonetheless
Story Six: Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo (Nia + Lexie)
Rating: 4/5 stars
Ahh I loved this story so much. It was a great, powerful story, not just about them meeting but about them staying true to who they are. Both of them are depicted as very brave, young women and it was a really excellently written story. I finished this one and I'd definitely be curious to see how the rest of the story plays out.
Story Seven: The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton (Viola + Sebastian)
Rating: 5/5 stars
The first story to get me so close to tears. I loved this story and the magic elements wrapped up inside of it. I love the soulmate plots and this one was no exception. I just want them to be happy together, is that too much to ask? I've never read anything by this author before, but this just increased my excitement for The Belles when it comes out this year.
Story Eight: Oomph by Emery Lord (Jo + Cassidy)
Rating: 4/5 stars
This story was very well cute and quirky. The airport is a cliche place to meet but this story makes it not feel that way. I loved their playfulness and the cute Marvel references. It wasn't what I expected from such an odd title to be honest. I was expecting two people to run into each other, but I like the idea of finding your 'oomph'. This was a meet cute in my eyes
Story Nine: The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Moss + Tyler)
Rating: 3/5 stars
This was a cute story but I could tell that as soon as Quiet Hot Guy was introduced he was H. Smith. Moss was a kinda boring main character who likes Christmas a lot and addresses the fact that she is cliché? I thought Tyler was great though, he was a quirky and fun guy. It was a meet cute, more so than some of the others as they hadn't actually met face to face yet. I liked it for sure, not one of my favourites though.
Story Ten: The Unlikelyhood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davies (Sam + Dev)
Rating: 2/5 stars
This one was a bit strange for me? I thought it was weird she was kinda stalking him for her statistics project. And I thought it was weird the teacher would go along with that, even if she was his favourite. But anyways, I don't math so I can't judge too much on that part. I can say they were both very committed to seeing each other on the subway, though I'm not sure it was love at first sight... Sam liking bagels reminded me of a certain friend (*coughs* she knows who she is..)
Story Eleven: 259 Miles by Kass Morgan (Philip + Evie)
Rating: 3/5 stars
So this is the first short story from the male's POV and I was expecting a m/m short story-so I'm a bit disappointed by that. I love that these aren't all your standard contemporary short stories, the science fiction esque addition to this one was really nice! I enjoyed it a lot. I feel bad for Philip though, he didn't get his space dreams . I liked the dynamic between the pair and how she motivated him to make a video of his own. (Bonus points for having a character named Tessa).
Story Twelve: Something Real by Julie Murphy (June + Martha)Rating: 3/5 stars
This was not what I was expecting in the best way. Ack the dating show aspect was a bit weird for me, I think it's super corny and I'm so glad that wasn't the way this meet cute went. It felt like a bit of a poke at shows like those and I found that very amusing. The characters were definitely real and I was glad neither of them went crazy on the other to win this date. Dylan was definitely not worth fighting over.
Story Thirteen: Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Emma + Sean)Rating: 2/5 stars
I am definitely not a fan of second person tense in novels that aren't 'choose your own adventure' esque. This story was weird, and kinda creepy. If I was Emma I would've ran when the son of the man who took my family's fortune brought me to my own house that they now live in? It just seems all to weird to me.. but that's just my opinion on the matter. He seemed to have good intentions, but yeah, I just couldn't get past that.
Story Fourteen: The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon (Thomas + Gabby)
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This story was absolutely amazing, thank you Nicola Yoon for ending this anthology with this story. It reminded me of Adam Silvera's More Happy than Not in a way and the cuteness between was my favourite. It had a dystopian vibe to it that I enjoyed, and the what if's of If science could truly tell us the statistics behind love and relationships. I'm glad that Thomas decided not to give up ten months of his life and choose to live on with the new possibilities
Props to whoever had the idea to make this anthology of short stories from some of the best YA authors out there about meet cutes. The mute cute is that quintessential factor we commonly see in most YA novels (or love stories in general). I thought this collection was very well done and that each of the authors took up the same amount of space. By this I mean that no one author outshone the others by having a longer short story. The reason why I gave this book a three was that some of the stories were definitely more memorable for me than others, and some just left me with "meh" feelings. I don't know, maybe I'm just immune to meet cutes at this point (I hope not!). I will say that for the ones I liked, I liked them A LOT. Often I'd finish the short story and wish there were a whole book following the rest! Given it all, I felt this book was a smidge too hyped for what it is. It's still wonderful and makes you feel warm and fuzzy, but I was missing something from it that I wish I had gotten.
Star Rating : 2.5 Stars
Meh...
I don't know why I keep trying these YA compilation novels. I'm always disappointed.
At least I didn't buy this one this time.
Meh...
I don't know why I keep trying these YA compilation novels. I'm always disappointed.
At least I didn't buy this one this time.