A review by thereader222
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

2.0

I didn’t really like it at first but it slowly grew on me, cute and sweet moments are my kryptonite. The representation is so awesome to see, I have never heard of xe/xem and e/em pronouns before, and the fact that the author uses e/em I think it really shows an honest representation of discovering yourself and your identity. Then again, I’m not trans so you can take this whole review with a grain of salt since this is about a trans boy, especially what I just said because I don’t actually know if it’s accurate (it just seemed more authentic coming from a trans person). At first Noah annoyed the crap out of me, but it got better. Maybe I just blocked out all his annoying attitude, but there were many times I was reminded. He could be so self centered, particularly with Becca. Though they have been besties for a while, most of their interactions are quite negative with Noah having little regard for Becca’s feelings and troubles. Minor spoiler: they are still besties in the end, but she is definitely more forgiving than I would have been. I really loved the development of Noah’s relationship with Drew and Devin and how they influenced the other. It was cool realizing their true selves and feelings alongside Noah and made for some great drama (which I am all here for). Also, I loved how awkward they could be (particularly Devin). As someone who gets awkward around people I’ve just meet, I felt seen in many scenes where characters get flustered and question if they are or aren’t friends, or maybe something more. It does feel like Noah could have “saved” things sooner but he is a dumb teenager so it’s kinda realistic he’s fighting tooth and nail to keep his precious blog afloat. I think the little snippets of blog post throughout the novel were fine, it does feel kind of unnecessary as what the blogs convey is said a second later in the actual writing. Also, I don’t know why Noah needed his stories to be real, which is essentially the main catalyst of the book. Like most representation in media is made up, like in books or movies, so I can’t see how so many people would be mad about his stories being fake if it’s a normal occurrence. Or if he did want real stories, why did he wait so long to ask for submissions publicly, the fake stories would have also seemed more believable. Overall, I had a good time reading, especially as we got to towards the end, it satisfied my silly little romance desires. There are some things I find questionable, in the sense that it isn’t completely realistic. It was fine but Noah was such a turd, I think Devin would have made a more interesting main character.