Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Meet Cute Diary

i enjoyed this for the most part! if im being fully honest tho, noah bothered me quite a bit and i felt like the whole diary thing + noahs whole like Love Expert Thing to be a bit over the top and kinda silly. anyway devin was like the coolest character and i Mainly cared about em tbh!

yeah devin was probably the part the felt the most well done to me, eir character was interesting and i really like that

eir being nonbinary was treated very normally, especially considering e changed eir pronouns several times thoughout the book. every time, even when talking to other people, noah just corrected them on their pronoun use and nobody did or said anything weird about it, which was super super refreshing to see, especially considering the way people respond when people are questioning their gender and either change their mind completely or change their pronouns (which devin does talk about eir experience with, though it wasn't something we see on page). i loved that eir being nonbinary was something that they had the space to explore without any harrowing transphobia to deal with (mega appreciate that as a trans reader).

i didn't like how drew's whole "omg im not gay noah's just special <3" thing was never addressed tho, and i know that part of the thing was that drew wasnt like. good for him, but also that really fucking sucks and it was just thrown in there. and as a trans guy that sets off Mega alarm bells about like. not actually believing noah is a guy and/or being Weird about him being trans. idk

um unfortunately i also felt a bit frustrated w the way gender and sexuality was talked about? calling people "masc" and "femme" as an equivalent to men and women, especially in the context of gay men = likes "masc" people. its so frustrating to run into this perception of like: men (automatically masc), women (automatically femme), and nonbinary people are grouped like based being "masc" or "femme" instead of their gender ? its like people just repackage the same shit in PC Inclusive Language instead of thinking about what any of it means? its so frustrating to see that peoples framework around gender is still stuck in this man/woman = masc/femme dichotomy that really doesn't account for anyone who falls outside of that, Including "binary" men and women who happen to be gnc (especially gnc trans people lol). i mean its also so weird to me to try and put nb people essentially back into the binary based on whether they present masc or femme?

(spoiler for tangential rant! not actual spoiler)

and take this with a grain of salt, but i personally think that this idea of ultra-exclusive, hard-cut boundaries about sexuality is such a bad idea.... like the idea that youre only gay or a lesbian if you exclusively like (implied: cis) men or women and you cant like..... be either of those things if you are nonbinary or like nonbinary people is so wild. when are people gonna get that being nb is not a distinct third gender that people are or arent going to be attracted to ? like how do you know that the person youre interested in isnt nonbinary? and being nb for one person may be completely different for another.

idk like the idea of separating sexuality into these ultra specific categories of who and when and how and why youre attracted to someone is really unhealthy, and i think ultimately it just separates people into so many tiny categories that you end up being separated from people who are ultimately similar to you (and isolating yourself tbh!). plus the idea that sexualities are inherently exclude nb people is so messed up, like some people still think trans people as a whole are/should be excluded from most sexualities and its soooooo. i mean fucked up obviously, but it also feels very dehumanizing to me personally and i can imagine its especially isolating for nonbinary people. and like ok if trans men/women are included but nonbinary people arent its. still not trans inclusive lol

and obviously i cant stop people from calling themselves whatever they want, and if it feels good and right to them, all the power to them, but i seriously feel like people are put through much more stress trying to figure out where they belong when being gay/straight/bi is treated as if its strictly binary and like they are inherently not included. (also super not a fan of people saying being into men/women and nonbinary people means you are bi, as if nb people are again, their own Third Gender and cant be straight/gay/lesbian ?)

anyway again its all very personal and these are just my thoughts! but it bothers me the way people continue to push the same views on gender, just repacked to sound more progressive and neutral!!! this is a tangent but yes <3

(tbh this is probably more of a 2 but. whatever!)

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bookshelvesandtea's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-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

I didn't like the MC, but I mean at 16 most people aren't that likeable anyway. I'm sure I was a selfish asshole at that age too. The whole tumblr drama is very realistic but also everything I hate about that website.
Devin however was an absolute dream. E is the best character in the entire book and honestly only thing that made all the selfish teenager tumblr cancel culture drama worth it for me.

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puttingwingsonwords's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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offonmyown's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was so cute! I loved the trans rep and I really loved the voice of this novel. Just a good, solid YA contemporary.

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cheesepuppy's review

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hopeful inspiring 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

Cute cute cute! This book is so dang cute! Blog posts, texts, and letters all add depth to an already adorable story.

Before I even started the book, I just knew I was gonna love it. If I hadn’t been sure, the dedication would’ve solidified it.

To everyone who’s ever felt too mixed, too Black, too queer, or too trans to have a happily ever after — here’s your permission to make your own

Trans, gay, bi, ace, androphilia, lesbian all in one story! Never did I think I could find a book with such good queer representation and so much of it. Finding realistic and deep representation isn’t always easy.

LOVED how smooth the transitions were with pronoun changes. This is the first book I’ve seen with a characters that use xe/xem/xyr and e/em/eir

I had high hopes for Emery’s debut book and they delivered! I will forever be a fan of their work.

Some quotes I enjoyed:

Infinite gender map (pg 225)

“You don’t want kids?”
“Why would I want something I have to pay for that’s also pretty much guaranteed to give me clinical depression?” (Pg 236)

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haileynelson's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

4.5

The Meet Cute Diary is such a fun coming of age YA romance book. I loved how Emery Lee wrote the main character’s, Noah, growth internally and with the people close to him. The world Noah lives in, the characters he interacts with, the conflicts he faces, and joys he encounters were all written very well keeping everything grounded in reality. I think everyone can find something relatable in this book and I would definitely recommend this for your next read.

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