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musingmiranda 's review for:
Meet Cute Diary
by Emery Lee
I went into this book with super high expectations, but I am a little conflicted over how I feel about it. I buddy read this one with my friend Abbey, and we both pretty much had the same reaction to it.
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee is a fun and heartfelt rom-com that follows sixteen year old Noah Ramirez who runs Meet Cute Diary, a blog collecting stories of trans meet cutes and happily ever afters. Noah puts a lot of effort into the blog, but this is all suddenly at risk of falling apart when a troll reveals that all the stories are fake. In an attempt to save the blog, Noah meets Drew who is willing to fake date him to prove to everyone that the blog stories are real. Noah and Drew start to develop real feelings, but Noah soon discovers that his relationship does not quite match his romantic notions about love and romance.
Lee’s writing is very easy to get into and fast paced. He does a great job at hooking readers and getting them invested in the story itself. The author is very skilled at writing funny and witty scenes and characters as well. I really liked how this was balanced with other common themes like trans joy. Exploring gender and sexuality through writing is another one of Lee’s strengths. These conversations and topics were so relatable and hard hitting.
One thing I really hoped for more of was character development. Characters can be messy and flawed. Teenagers are messy and flawed. It is perfectly understandable that Noah is this way. He often comes across as very rude and entitled. I do not mind this as a whole. The thing I did not like about this was the lack of development. No one is suddenly going to become a better person overnight. Noah does not owe anyone anything and acts exactly like many teens do. As the story progressed, this did make it a little harder to root for him. I think maybe I just wished for a little more by the end of the story. I did really love how confident he was about being worthy of being loved. I absolutely loved Devin’s character though!
I would definitely still recommend Meet Cute Diary. I know so many people who have loved this book recently. I am glad I read it and cannot wait for Emery Lee’s next book.
*Content warnings from the author*
- Graphic: emotional abuse, panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship
- Moderate: cursing, transphobia, vomit
- Minor: bullying (mentions of a pre-book occurrence), suicide attempt (mentions of a pre-book occurrence), alcohol, drug use, racism
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee is a fun and heartfelt rom-com that follows sixteen year old Noah Ramirez who runs Meet Cute Diary, a blog collecting stories of trans meet cutes and happily ever afters. Noah puts a lot of effort into the blog, but this is all suddenly at risk of falling apart when a troll reveals that all the stories are fake. In an attempt to save the blog, Noah meets Drew who is willing to fake date him to prove to everyone that the blog stories are real. Noah and Drew start to develop real feelings, but Noah soon discovers that his relationship does not quite match his romantic notions about love and romance.
Lee’s writing is very easy to get into and fast paced. He does a great job at hooking readers and getting them invested in the story itself. The author is very skilled at writing funny and witty scenes and characters as well. I really liked how this was balanced with other common themes like trans joy. Exploring gender and sexuality through writing is another one of Lee’s strengths. These conversations and topics were so relatable and hard hitting.
One thing I really hoped for more of was character development. Characters can be messy and flawed. Teenagers are messy and flawed. It is perfectly understandable that Noah is this way. He often comes across as very rude and entitled. I do not mind this as a whole. The thing I did not like about this was the lack of development. No one is suddenly going to become a better person overnight. Noah does not owe anyone anything and acts exactly like many teens do. As the story progressed, this did make it a little harder to root for him. I think maybe I just wished for a little more by the end of the story. I did really love how confident he was about being worthy of being loved. I absolutely loved Devin’s character though!
I would definitely still recommend Meet Cute Diary. I know so many people who have loved this book recently. I am glad I read it and cannot wait for Emery Lee’s next book.
*Content warnings from the author*
- Graphic: emotional abuse, panic attacks/disorders, toxic relationship
- Moderate: cursing, transphobia, vomit
- Minor: bullying (mentions of a pre-book occurrence), suicide attempt (mentions of a pre-book occurrence), alcohol, drug use, racism