A review by lizanneyoung
Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory

2.0

 

This is one of the Amazon Original Stories in the Improbable Meet-Cute collection. I haven’t read anything by the author before, but have wanted to, so this again seemed like a great way to start. Daisy loves this pastry shop on her corner, but the guy running it, Harris, seems less-than-friendly. It isn’t until an earthquake rocks their city that the two actually have a real conversation for the first time.

This doesn’t really feel like a meet-cute to me. They’ve known each other and of each other for several months, but they don’t actually talk until they are sheltering in place during an earthquake. It’s a cute premise, but not a meet-cute the way the other novella I read in this collection was. 

In addition to not feeling like a meet-cute, the story felt one note to me. He’s so grouchy and scowly to her that she doesn’t even want to go to his bakery anymore, despite how much she loves the pastries. But, an earthquake finally gets him to talk to her and explain that? And she is just totally chill now knowing this information and doesn’t really take any time to process it. It feels like what was once a full-fledged novel that’s had several key chapters smashed together to create a short story.

A bit of a bummer for me, but I like the ideas flowing and where it could go, so I can’t wait to see what the author does with a full-length book.