★★★☆☆

They meet – and the story’s over.

Quick Summary

Meet Cute is a collection of stories written by different authors on the premise of meeting your next partner or soulmate for the very first time. Every story is different; some are taken place in present-day time, some are in the future, some are in a seemingly different world. You never know when you will run into “the one,” so some stories were everyday occurrences and in some, it seemed like fate intervened. From high school kids meeting at a party to college students headed for outer space, every story brought the rush of meeting that feeling for the first time.

Review

I loved the concept. I settled myself in with a box of tissues nearby, ready to experience a multitude of different feelings. I knew what it felt like to have your cheeks grow warm accompanying a neverending smile at the sight of someone that caused your heart to fly out of its chest. I knew the anguish and despair of being apart from one another and laying awake at night wondering if they were thinking of me too. I expected to experience these feelings through the eyes of the main characters, but the stories fell flat. They felt rushed, anti-climatic – I disliked that the tales often came to an abrupt stop. In many, there simply wasn’t enough time to flesh out the main characters and become familiar with them.

With that said, there were a couple of gems I really enjoyed. The two in particular that left me smiling were The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton and The Dictionary of You And Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout. The Way We Love Here had an incredible amount of worldbuilding in just a few pages, and definitely tugged at my heartstrings (and possibly the tear ducts). It was the story of a boy and a girl living on an enchanted island where the gods gave humans the ability to know who their potential loves were from the natural rings on their fingers. Just from Dhonielle’s writing style alone, I plan to check out her other work! Meanwhile, The Dictionary of You And Me was exactly the kind of meet-cute I would love to experience in real-life. A girl working in a library forms a friendship with a mysterious caller that never returns overdue books, and sparks fly when they eventually do meet.

I will give Meet Cute props for inclusivity; it was great to see the representation of LGBT characters sprinkled throughout. From a transgender coming-out high school romance to two girls bonding over Twitter, it was refreshing to experience different perspectives.

Overall, I give the book three stars because it really had potential, but I wish I connected more with many of the stories.

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