Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Meet Cute Diary

I was not immediately hooked because I didn't like Noah all that much. He is careless with his parents' money, a problem which is only barely solved. Thankfully his other flaws gave him a place to grow from. As Noah started to face consequences and learn from them, I got hooked on Meet Cute Diary. He has a problem with boundaries, rash decisions, and living in the real world. All realistic for a teen and all of these helped to build the story. Noah is lucky to have a good support system and learns not to take it for granted.

For every queer Tumblr kid (past and present), Meet Cute Diary is going to feel like a familiar setting. The site functions are described well, the users are painfully real, and Noah's stress over follower numbers really took me back to high school. Emery Lee handles world building in a way that connects for both those in-the-know and those that aren't. E seems to be very good at world building in general. I have never been to Colorado, but I could understand what the summer camp, mountain, bookstore, and more were like. I could step into Noah's summer and didn't want to leave any more than he did.

I know there are others out there, but this is the first contemporary YA romcom (my favorite genre) that I've read with a trans main character. I've read some in the genre by trans authors, but it makes me happy to read about a trans teen finding love, especially with a genderqueer love interest. By halfway through the book, Noah finds himself in a love triangle. Drew, a fan of the blog, and Devon, his summer camp co-worker. Devon uses the same pronouns as Lee, E/Em/Eir/Eirs. Throughout the book, Noah and Devon inspire each other to be their more authentic selves. For Devon, this includes experimenting with pronouns. Noah never bats an eye. I am a cis person, so it is not my place to rank how well the trans experience was incorporated into the book, but I will say that it made me feel happy and as though everything flowed well.

Remember that messy characters do not equal a messy book. Characters make mistakes which makes them that much more real. For the Tumblr kids and those that want to see more trans love stories, check Lee's book out!

Content Warnings

fynnnnnn's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

3.25

Content Warnings

fanboyriot's review against another edition

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lighthearted 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

5.0

A rom-com about a helpless romantic who falls in love in an unexpected place and with an unexpected person?? With a Trans dude MC and a Non-Binary MC??

♡ Trans Rep
♡ Rom-Com
♡ Great Humor
♡ Friends to Lovers
♡ Slight Angst but with a Happy Ending

This book was adorable with a rom-com worthy ending all the while keeping things realistic. Honestly, it took me a while to get into the story but that might have just been my readers block; however things did improve once Devin was brought into the picture. There were many lovable characters Brian and Becca being on that list, but Devin is seriously one of my new favorite fictional characters eir personality was just so pure and definitely had the: “Lovable Sunshine Character (with Anxiety)” vibes about em. I could literally go on about how much I loved em and how thoughtful e was, such an underrated character.

While the blog posts were formatted really nicely and I enjoyed them being added they were so frustrating to read when the drama with the blog started, I have never wanted to scream at the book more like: “Hush, it’s not like that and it doesn’t concern you stop being so dramatic bestie.”

Noah might have come off as annoying at first but to be honest he was realistic. He was a helpless romantic without an adult (or anyone but Becca and Brian (kinda)) in his life at the time to tell him: “Hey, if you’re trying to force the relationship because this is what you think you should feel…maybe it isn’t true love.” He wanted to believe it was real and fell in love with the idea of being in love. So while it was annoying reading about him finding all this out—it was kinda nice to see a romance book have that realness to it.

I was a bit nervous near the ending, I was a bit unsure how things were going to play out and it took a lot for me not to just read the last page and basically spoil it for myself but I continued on and it was absolutely lovely. The ending was great and it definitely had a rom-com worthy ending and I am for sure going to read more by this author.

To be honest I wasn’t a fan of Drew, he gets a short paragraph because he should be grateful to have that much. He was honestly too clingy, and the author did a good job at giving him just enough of “bad vibes” to know something was up all the while being like “maybe that’s just how he is.” Either way happy not to be dealing with his drama.

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Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

wormiebrains's review

ilweran's review against another edition

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drlove2018's review

caseythereader's review against another edition

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fynnnnnn's review

fanboyriot's review against another edition