A review by kapbanana
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I'm so sad that I didn't enjoy this book :( I was really looking forward to a cute trans romance. While the queer rep was lovely, the main character and overall story were not. I did not like Noah. He came across as immature and selfish. Too often he was so self-centered and rude, I couldn't understand his actions. Because of this, his characterization felt unbalanced. For example, early in the book he gets upset when his parents freeze his credit card (or rather, a credit card they lent him) after he spends over $400 in one week. For me, this event set the tone for his character throughout the entire book; he's just super entitled and unreflective.  Further grating, he continuously makes harsh assumptions/judgements about others. I don't mind unlikeable characters, but in this case, I didn't enjoy how Noah was written. Idk. Perhaps this a "me thing" rather than the Meet Cute Diary's problem. 

The other issue I had with the book was the plot. This might be a problem of expectations, but I was expecting a cute contemporary romance, not a mostly toxic relationship with a little bit of romance sprinkled on at the end. From the beginning, it was pretty apparent that Drew is a douchebag. So spending some 300+ pages watching Noah and Drew date was frustrating. 

In terms of plot, I also didn't understand the whole controversy around the Meet Cute Diary tumblr blog. I liked the idea of it (making a story around an online trans positive blog), and the interspersing of blog posts and comments was fun, but the actual controversy felt unrealistic and underdeveloped. Why can't Noah just say that the posts are made-up stories? How does dating Drew actually help his blog? Who was behind the initial call-out blog and later published accusations? I honestly thought this whole controversy would play a more central role in the story, but it ended up never really being addressed and eventually just fizzling out. In the end, the plot just wasn't engaging enough for me to overcome my annoyance with Noah. Plus, the pacing felt disjointed.

I will say, Lee is a great writer. While I didn't like Noah and the plot wasn't what I hoped for, eir writing was easy and enjoyable to read. I think I'll give eir work another try on the next book.
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