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A review by nickoliver
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was a bit disappointed, tbh. I appreciated being able to read a book about a trans character without also having to deal with severe transphobia (there was transphobia in this, too, but it didn't feel as heavy as in some other books I'd read), but the main character Noah made a lot of my reading hard. It was refreshing to have a character who was quite self-confident about the way they looked, but he was also very entitled and self-absorbed (though the latter was challenged later in the book). Plus, his views on romance were confusing, and he moved way too quickly.
Moreover, the whole thing about the Diary made little sense to me. First of all, the way the meet cutes were written was very juvenile, sometimes over the top cheesy, and it always amazed me that people even believed him that they happened? They were also all very clearly written by the same person, tbh. Honestly, I didn't understand why he even did that Diary in the first place. Like, I get wanting trans people to have hope that there was love waiting for them too, but by publishing stories he invented, wasn't he making it seem like it was actually hopeless?
Secondly, I didn't quite understand how pretending to be in love with a boy would prove that he didn't write all the meet cutes himself? Just because he himself had (supposedly) a happy ending didn't mean that everything that was ever published on his blog couldn't be complete hogwash, and it was weird to me how everyone just believed him about himself and Drew, even though it couldn't have been more obviously fake (the timing, the way he wrote about it, etc.). I also found all the Tumblr asks Noah got very annoying, because they usually all said more or less the same thing (usually, they asked him to post more about himself and Drew and mentioned that he didn't answer asks a lot anymore) and just made it seem like Noah didn't care at all about his blog, which obviously portrayed all his desperate tries to save it in a ridiculous light. I felt like the whole story line around the Diary wasn't developed enough; there was too much left in the dark.
What I did like about the book was Devin, specifically the way eir struggle with eir gender was explored. E changed eir pronouns several times, and I kinda liked that? It did happen very fast - I would've preferred it a bit more spaced out, tbh -, but I loved the way Devin and Noah talked about it, and how supportive Noah was. I haven't read many books yet with characters who use neopronouns, so this was nice. Devin was generally a great character, though e also kind of didn't feel as fleshed out as I wanted em to be? It was obvious e were going to be Noah's endgame, but I always felt like there was something missing there. The same goes for Becca. Both she and Devin were present in the story but often seemed to disappear behind Noah a little.
It took me a while to finish this - longer than I expected -, but that had less to do with the book and more to do with my current obsession of Our Flag Means Death that made me want to read more about queer middle-aged people in love and less about teenagers. So it's possible the reason I couldn't get quite as immersed in this as I'd wanted was because of that. Though I would've had the issues mentioned above nonetheless.
Moreover, the whole thing about the Diary made little sense to me. First of all, the way the meet cutes were written was very juvenile, sometimes over the top cheesy, and it always amazed me that people even believed him that they happened? They were also all very clearly written by the same person, tbh. Honestly, I didn't understand why he even did that Diary in the first place. Like, I get wanting trans people to have hope that there was love waiting for them too, but by publishing stories he invented, wasn't he making it seem like it was actually hopeless?
Secondly, I didn't quite understand how pretending to be in love with a boy would prove that he didn't write all the meet cutes himself? Just because he himself had (supposedly) a happy ending didn't mean that everything that was ever published on his blog couldn't be complete hogwash, and it was weird to me how everyone just believed him about himself and Drew, even though it couldn't have been more obviously fake (the timing, the way he wrote about it, etc.). I also found all the Tumblr asks Noah got very annoying, because they usually all said more or less the same thing (usually, they asked him to post more about himself and Drew and mentioned that he didn't answer asks a lot anymore) and just made it seem like Noah didn't care at all about his blog, which obviously portrayed all his desperate tries to save it in a ridiculous light. I felt like the whole story line around the Diary wasn't developed enough; there was too much left in the dark.
What I did like about the book was Devin, specifically the way eir struggle with eir gender was explored. E changed eir pronouns several times, and I kinda liked that? It did happen very fast - I would've preferred it a bit more spaced out, tbh -, but I loved the way Devin and Noah talked about it, and how supportive Noah was. I haven't read many books yet with characters who use neopronouns, so this was nice. Devin was generally a great character, though e also kind of didn't feel as fleshed out as I wanted em to be? It was obvious e were going to be Noah's endgame, but I always felt like there was something missing there. The same goes for Becca. Both she and Devin were present in the story but often seemed to disappear behind Noah a little.
It took me a while to finish this - longer than I expected -, but that had less to do with the book and more to do with my current obsession of Our Flag Means Death that made me want to read more about queer middle-aged people in love and less about teenagers. So it's possible the reason I couldn't get quite as immersed in this as I'd wanted was because of that. Though I would've had the issues mentioned above nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Transphobia, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicide attempt and Bullying