SIEGE ETIQUETTE Katie Cotugno - 2.5/5 stars

This short story is about a popular girl named Hailey who finds herself locked inside of a bathroom at a party with her boyfriends friend. I liked this story however I didn't really understand the ending. Like there was no outcome really. And how did she end up in the bathroom at the first place,tbh I didn't really understand much of the plot.

PRINT SHOP Nina LaCour - 3/5

This is about a girl called evie who gets a job at this old print shop as one of the workers is going on maternaty leave. This was was definitely better a better story and it did surprise me with the ending. anicely written lgbt story.

HOURGLASS Ibi Zoboi -2.5 /5

This is about a black highschool senior girl called cherish who is 6'5 tall and cannot find aprom dress to fit her size. I liked this one but there wasn't really any romance, which I didn't like.

CLICK Katharine McGee - 4.5/5

This is about two characters Alexa and Raden who are on a date from a new dating app called click when she realises shes left her phone in the taxi. This is my favourite so far! I really enjoyed it and thought I was cute. I wish my online dating would be successful like hers. I also felt the pain about losing her phone as I've lost my phone before and it causes you to panick.

THE INTERN Sara Shepard -4.5/5

This is a story about a teenage girl called clara who is intern at her dads record company. She gets asked to show a client 'Phineas' around town. This one was super cute too. I like the characters and how there was music involved. I really wish we could read more and find out what happens after some of theses meetings. I loved Phineas he was an absoult gentleman.

SOMEWHERE THAT’S GREEN Meredith Russo - 3/5

This is a story about a transgender female called Nia and a girl called Lexie who because of her parents is against nia and her approvale of using the girls washroom which cause the two girls to dislike each other, but then it is announced that they have to be in a play together. I liked this one, not as much as the last two but I felt this one allowed me to understand transgender a bit more which helps in my personal life as one of my best friends is transgender.

THE WAY WE LOVE HERE Dhonielle Clayton- 2/5

This has more of a fantasy element to it. it is about these two Characters viola and sebastian who are from the same island where you have coils permantley around your ring finger and if someone has the same amount of coils as you then there is a chance they could be your soulmate. Meh, I didn't like this one as much as the last ones. I felt that it jumped around a lot.

OOMPH Emery Lord - 3.5/5

This is another lgbt story which features a firl called cass who is flying to newyour for the first time of her own. when she meets another girl called johanna in the airport who is from new york. This one was ok. Kinda cute but nothing special really. The beginning was a little confusing.

THE DICTIONARY OF YOU AND ME Jennifer L. Armentrout -4.5/5

This story is about a girl called Moss who works part time at her local library where she has set itas her goal to retrieve an overdue dictionary back from a library user. this causes her to had daily phonecalls with the user and begins to bond with him. when she finds out who he is.she is shocked. Ok this one was kinda cute. Set in a library perfect! I love how it was based around a book. And the ending was adorable.

THE UNLIKELY LIKELIHOOD OF FALLING IN LOVE Jocelyn Davies - 4/5

This is about agirl called Sam who is the only girl in her Ap stats class in school and when she sees a guy on the opposite subway train to her in the mornigs of school she decideds to base her project on him. This one was cute as well. The ending was super cute. I liked how they both wanted to keep seeing each other

259 MILLION MILES Kass Morgan 4/5

This was about a girl called Phillip and a girl called blythe who has both appled to go on a trip to Mars.to pass the test they must spend 24hours in a small room together. I enjoyed this story but it wasn't one of my favourites as I felt really sorry for Phillip at the end. it was so sad. It was unfair of them not to be honest with Phillip at the end.

SOMETHING REAL Julie Murphy- 3/5

This one is about two girls who are in a reality tv show where they get to compete against each other to win a date with the famous singer Dylan. June is the main character who is the leader of dylans fan group and Martha is still grieving her sisters death. Meh this one was ok. Im not a fan of getting a date on a tv show. i like the ending though.

SAY EVERYTHING Huntley Fitzpatrick 3.5/5

This is about a girl called emma who works at a cafe/diner where she meets a boy called Sean when she serves him an iced tea. This one was good.abit creepy when they pulled up to an abandoned house and he seemes stalkerish at first but i thought it was cute at the end.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEAD LOVE Nicola Yoon - 3.5/5

This is abouta boy names Thomas who goes to see aHeartworker to see what the cause of his break up was with his ex samantha. This one was cute but weird. Like ive never heard of a full on like hospital for broken up relationships. I liked the ending.

Thank you HMH Teen for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Meet Cute is a collection of contemporary stories about cute first encouters turned into romance. Not all people enjoy insta-love but once in a while, you'll want it if you're looking for something fluffy. The stories were hit or miss to me but my favorites were written by Katharine McGee and Sara Shepard (both were new to me authors). Overall, this is a nice and likable collection.

SIEGE ETIQUETTE Katie Cotugno - 1.5 / 5 stars
- We're off on a horrible start. I honestly didn't enjoy the story. It's forgettable and not cute. The heroine was annoying and pretentious and the hero was boring. Just meh.

PRINT SHOP Nina LaCour - 3/5 stars
- Definitely better than the first story. A greatly written lesbian story but it fell too short, I didn't feel the spark between the protagonists.

HOURGLASS Ibi Zoboi - 3/5 stars
- Lovely story with strong characters. I like the angsty vibe and the little drama. The first encounter is good but it's not cute. Potentially, it can be a beginning of a slow burn romance. Like the second story, it's cut short.

CLICK Katharine McGee - 4.5 / 5 stars
- GAAAH! This one is über cute and it's exactly the story I like. I adore the concept (matchmaking) and the plot was greatly build-up. I really like it's written in dual point of view so I get to know more about the characters. Alexa and Raden definitely clicked. ;)

THE INTERN Sara Shepard - 4.5 / 5 stars
- Another wonderfully cute story. This one is sweet and touching. Phineas is a thoughtful musician. Love him!

SOMEWHERE THAT’S GREEN Meredith Russo - 1 / 5 stars
- Someone enlighten me on this because the story was messy and confusing.

THE WAY WE LOVE HERE Dhonielle Clayton - 4 / 5 stars
- Bizarre and enchanting. The story will give you all sorts of feels. I didn't expect to enjoy it. The characters seeing their future with so many possibilities. What's important is to enjoy the present time.

OOMPH Emery Lord - 3.5 / 5 stars
- A cutesy lesbian romance. I like the marvel reference here and the girls are just lovely. I had fun reading their conversations in a short period.

THE DICTIONARY OF YOU AND ME Jennifer L. Armentrout - 4/5 stars
- Nothing is more adorable when a story is set in a library. Getting to know a guy who hasn't return a dictionary and wondering how he looks like... ;) So fluffy!

THE UNLIKELY LIKELIHOOD OF FALLING IN LOVE Jocelyn Davies - 2/5 stars
- Hmm.. It was okay. I thought it's a rip-off of The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight .

259 MILLION MILES Kass Morgan - 3.5 / 5 stars
- The male protagonist was adorable! He was sort of a nerd ;) Haha!

SOMETHING REAL Julie Murphy - 2/5 stars
- Sorry but this falls meh. It wasn't cute or whatsoever.

SAY EVERYTHING Huntley Fitzpatrick 3/5 stars
- It's been a while since I've read Huntley Fitzpatrick's book. I like the story but the ending just felt flat.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEAD LOVE Nicola Yoon - 3/5 stars
- I really like the concept of the story. It's refreshing and original but I wasn't as invested as the other stories.

The main reason I wanted to read this anthology was the story by Huntley Fitzpatrick, an author I really like, but it turned out to be a pretty good collection in general.

There isn’t really a stinker in the bunch, although I thought Ibi Zoboi’s was the weakest. Not because the story is poorly written, but because the meet cute—the reason this anthology exists—happened at the very end of the story. It really didn’t seem like that meeting was the focus of the story she wanted to tell, which was more about the pitfalls of female friendship and growing up as a black teen in a mostly white town.

While most of the stories were good, there were a few standouts for me.

In Click (Katherine McGee), the author builds her story around an online matchmaking service to explore whether relationships are better built by algorithm or serendipity.

The Way We Love Here (Dhonielle Clayton) is a fantastical story of an island on which people marry based on matching markings that magically appear on their ring fingers. The details left me scratching my head a bit. (Is this some mystical corner of our Earth? An alternate one?) If you just go with the internal logic of the story, though, it’s an interesting exploration of the possibilities of love, even in the face of the potential for loss.

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love (Jocelyn Davie) really could have been called The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight if there wasn’t already a book with that title. It involves a chance interaction on a subway train and, yes, statistics. I thought this story was a great example of the whole idea of a “meet cute.”

In 259 Million Miles (Kass Morgan), I liked the way the ending subverted my expectations for a story involving a meet cute between two people. Not every relationship has the same kind of happy ending.

Something Real (Julie Murphy) subverts the trope of the meet cute to some extent as well. It also comments on the unreality of fan crushes and reality TV versus the real emotions of two people connecting on a personal level.

Say Everything (Huntley Fitzpatrick) was the only story that really made me wish it was longer. I wanted to know more about the backstory of the two characters and how their relationship developed after the story ended. There was a lot more to explore in the scenario the author built here.

Overall, I’d say that if the idea of the “meet cute” intrigues you and you enjoy YA fiction and short stories, you should give this anthology a try. You’ll probably enjoy it!

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

Not a surprise at all since she's my absolute favorite author, but Jennifer L. Armentrout's short story was my absolute favorite out the entire anthology! It was SO freaking cute and I just wanted MORE. Such an adorable meet cute. I love when JLA writes about teens.

Whether or not you believe in fate, luck or love at first sight, every romance hast to start somewhere.


Authors and stories in order:
Katie Cotugno - Siege Etiquette
Nina Labour - Print Shop
Ibi Zoboi - Hourglass
Katharine McGee - Click
Sara Shepard - The Intern
Meredith Russo - Somewhere That's green
Dhonielle Clayton - The way we love here
Emery Lord - Oomph
Jennifer L. Armentrout - The Dictionary of you and me
Jocelyn Davies - The unlikely likelihood of falling in love
Kass Morgan - 259 Million Miles
Julie Murphy - Something Real
Huntley Fitzpatrick - Say everything
Nicola Yoon - The Department of Dead Love


One thing is sure this book is cute
Yes i went there!
But it fits!

Its a very nice compilation of short stories from a great mixture of authors! Its actually one of the best anthologies i have read so far -not that i have read a huge amount as of yet but i am getting there!

Still this is one of the best ones!

The stories themselves all fit nicely, while none of them are so similar to each other (or at all really!) that it seems repetitive or too similar to one another that i can't keep them straight.

Actually all the individual stories are exactly that : individual!

My personal favourites are:
Katharine McGee - a futuristic story about online dating, just one of those "awww how cute" kind of stories!
Emery Lord - airport love, do i need to say more?
and Jennifer L. Armentrout's stories - no particular reason just enjoyed that one!
All of them are the perfect mixture of fluffily overdone and realistic romance. My personal favourite.

What i also loved is the mixture, there are same sex, traditional and transgender love interests. There are stories that are featuring white main characters (so sad that that is still something you have to mention as something special!)

Honestly the title of this book is just perfect because everything is so utterly cute, i felt like i was drowning in a sea of cupcakes!!

But i honestly think that in this anthology there is such a great mixture of different stories that EVERYONE can find at least one story that they will love.

Of course if you are completely against the slight undertone of "insta-love" you won't.
But honestly what are you doing here and reading such a book if that is not for you?
You can tell form the TITLE that its going to include an insta-love-y vibe!

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this anthology, for people seasoned in them, for complete newbies to the genre, for everyone that loves something nice and easy to read and just want a good time and for everyone in between.

Its defiantly worth a try, so do it! Give it a try!

The most appropriately named book of the year for 2018 might just be this short story anthology featuring some of the hottest YA authors. Whether you're looking for that first love or you're feeling a bit nostalgic, these twelve stories may just leave you feeling a little more "cutesy" inside.

Meet Cute is an anthology filled with butterflies, suspicious guys, and first (and second) kisses. Some of it is fate and some of it is magic and some of it doesn't make any sense at all. Some of the stories were better than the others but overall the book is worth reading. Here are my thoughts on each one:

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno (2.5/5)
Are all of these stories told in 2nd person? What a strange POV. It's weirding me out. Also, the story wasn't very memorable. I don't care for the characters.

Print Shop by Nina LaCour (3/5)
I liked this story more than the first one. The premise of the Print Shop is cute, and I love a f/f romance, but it didn't give me butterflies. Something was missing. Again, I wasn't a fan of the POV.

Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi (3/5)
I really love Zoboi's writing style. Her voice is strong. That being said, the story itself was not very memorable. I would like to read more from her though!

Click by Katharine McGee (4/5)
Wow, the ending of this story was incredibly cute. I wish it was longer! The concept of Click is interesting enough that it would make a pretty cool novel, I think.

The Intern by Sara Shepard (3/5)
A little predictable, a little sweet, a little depressing. The story was sweet but I just didn't like the characters.

Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo (3/5)
I wanted to love this one. Nia's story was important. Lexie might have grown on me if the story was a bit longer. The story in general was executed poorly but it had a lot of potential. I feel like this story would benefit from being fleshed out into a full-length novel.

The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton (4.5/5)
Wow. I love this story. It felt magical! I was a little confused at first but everything started flowing together at some point. Love the characters, love the writing. I want more of this one.

Oomph by Emery Lord (4.5/5)
The cuteness! I can't handle it! This one left a goofy smile on my face. Who doesn't want to meet a pretty girl in an airport? I definitely have to read more by Emery Lord.

The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout (5/5)
This was perfect. I love the library setting, the phone calls, the banter between Moss and "H". Super cute. This might be my favourite story in the bunch.

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davis (5/5)
I'm a sucker for stories that talk about the statistical possibility of love at first sight. Math. Numbers. Science. Fate. "Numbers don't lie, even when the heart does." I gobble it all up. The best part of this story is that you actually get some closure at the end. Everything wrapped up perfectly.

259 Million Times by Kass Morgan (4/5)
I love Blythe so much. She is literally me, except way cooler! I wish the ending was a little different but it was still okay. Sweet and sad.

Something Real by Julie Murphy (3/5)
This was interesting. I wasn't expecting the romance that happened but I'm kind of into it. I also really like June's character. I need to see more protagonists like her.

Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick (1/5)
I thought he was going to murder her. No lie. Why was I reading this like a horror story? Also, the POV (among other things) just added to the creepiness of the story. It really didn't work for me.

The Department of Dead Love by Nicole Yoon (3/5)
Some of this story dragged a bit but it did get better towards the end. It reminded me of another book but I don't want to say which one because it might be a spoiler.

This was a sweet collection of romance short stories for teens that revolves around how each couple first meets. The collection includes a variety of genres and types of pairings, which ensures that most readers will find at least one story they enjoy, and also get a taste of something they might not have picked up otherwise. Overall, it's a really cute and fun collection.

Meet Cute is the perfect collection of diverse “how they met” stories. This anthology has it all: hard-hitting and dark to light & fluffy, plus a break-up & make-up. I really enjoyed these diverse stories and how each story was unique or #ownvoices. Also, not all of these stories were contemporary, other genres were added too (Fantasy, Sci-fi)!

Overall, this was a very cute and diverse collection of Meet Cutes! They were all so much fun to read. Most of these stories are “love at first sight” stories where some characters instantly fell for each other. I did enjoy more of the in depth stories where I was able to learn all about the characters in a short amount of pages. As well as the LGBTQ+ stories, they were a great touch and I was so happy that they were added! We have a trans main character story line by Meredith Russo, a trans woman. But, I would like to address my issue with the story which seemed to me like the character outed the other character, the romance lacked for me as well. I would also like to add that the LGBTQ+ stories are f/f romances.

Like any anthology,I didn't enjoy every one. Some I had problems with and thought the "how they met" aspect wasn't executed well. Or the story had insta-love which made the story a little unrealistic. But, with others I was craving more of the characters and story line!

Some of my favorite stories were:
Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno, Oomph by Emery Lord, The Dictionary of Me and You by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Something Real by Julie Murphy, and The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon.

I was also given the chance to read authors I hadn’t read before such as Jennifer L. Armentrout, Sara Shepard, Kass Morgan, Emery Lord and more. I hope to pick up some their work in the future!

I would highly recommend this anthology for romance readers, and fans of these Young Adult Fiction authors.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I thought it was much stronger than some others I've read and I discovered several new authors that I want to read! In the link below, I talk about Meet Cute from 8 minutes and 30 seconds through 9 minutes, 52 seconds.

What I love most in anthologies is the opportunity to read several writers of such different styles with the same theme. Meet Cute is a really good book to read, some stories are better than others but overall it's a light, quick and fun read.

To be honest, I really only requested this book for the Huntley Fitzpatrick short story. (I needed something to tide me over during this endless wait for her next book!) But I was pleasantly surprised at the variety or stories presented, by both familiar and unfamiliar authors.

I was pleasantly surprised with this YA anthology of contemporary short stories and a couple of dystopian/fantasy stories. I'm not an assiduous reader of YA contemporary books, but I liked the premise of this anthology and it seemed like a good way to read stories by some authors of which I've heard good things. Here's my rating and opinion of each story:

Siege Etiquette, by Katie Cotugno: 2.5 stars
This story is about a popular girl who ends up locked in a bathroom of her friend's house with a boy with whom she's been to class since they were kids, but who she hasn't paid much attention until now. This story was just okay for me, it had an interesting beginning but then it was just meh for me.

Print Shop, by Nina LaCour: 2.5 stars
This is one of the stories I was most eager to read because I've heard amazing opinions about Nina LaCour. Unfortunately, I found the story very mediocre. It's about a girl who in her first day at a new job and a dissatisfied client girl. I think the idea and the ending were good, but I didn't enjoy the execution.

Hourglass, by Ibi Zoboi: 3 stars
This story is about a girl wanting to get out of her town and her friend's betrayal. This story is less focused in the <i>meet cute</i> and more in how she kicked her friend's treacherous ass.

Click, by Katharine McGee: 5 stars
This was, without a doubt, my favorite short story in the anthology. It's set in 2020 and it's about a girl who is trying to overcome the death of her sister. She goes on a date thanks to the Click app that determines the person with whom you are most compatible. I loved everything about this story!

The Intern, by Sara Shepard: 2.5 stars
This story was just okay for me. It's about a girl who works in a record label company and who meets a singer with whom she has to spend the day.

Somewhere That’s Green, by Meredith Russo: 3 stars
This story has one of the premises that I liked the most. It's about a trans girl, a Catholic girl and the controversy over a bathroom. In general, I liked it, but I think the last two pages were very hasty and not very credible.

The Way We Love Here, by Dhonielle Clayton: 3 stars
This was a dystopian-fantasy story about a girl and a boy watching their future together. Overall, I liked this one, especially the setting.

Oomph, by Emery Lord: 4 stars
This was such a cute story! It's about two girls who meet in an airport, the passion that both share for the Marvel world and the fears that one of them has about the future. I loved the ending.

The Dictionary of You and Me, by Jennifer L. Armentrout: 3 stars
This story is about a girl who works in a library and who has been calling a boy whose identity she doesn't know during the last four months because he doesn't return a book. I thought it was an entertaining but predictable story.

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love, by Jocelyn Davies: 2.5 stars
This one is about a girl who takes the same subway train every day to school her new school project about the probability of her seeing again a boy she has only seen once in the subway train across from her. I liked the idea, but not the "love at first sigh" thing.

259 Million Miles, by Kass Morgan: 1 star
I didn't like this story at all. It's about a boy who has anxiety and that wants to go to Mars. For that, he has to pass a test with a girl. The idea of this short story was good and the ending very different from the rest. But it felt unreal to me because after five minutes of being together, it seems that she resolves his life and that made the story lose all its credibility.

Something Real, by Julie Murphy: 2.5 stars
This short story is about two girls competing on a reality television for a date with a famous musician. It was okay, but I think it could have a much more interesting development.

Say Everything, by Huntley Fitzpatrick: 2.5 stars
Same as the previous one, it could have a better development. It's about a girl whose family lost their fortune and a rich boy who always goes to the diner where she works.

The Department of Dead Love, by Nicola Yoon: 3 stars
I liked this one, especially the setting in a department to handle breakups and to discover why your relationship didn't work. But I think the ending was predictable and the protagonist's final decision wasn't credible. It's about a boy who wants to discover why his best friend broke up with him.

Meet Cute gave me so many feels but also drove me crazy because there were some characters that I was dying to know how their stories would end. I didn't love every story in this; whoever each story kept me wanting to read. I read this book in less than two days because I couldn't stop reading it. I have a soft spot for cute meets like these. I love the mix of different kind of characters. The diversity in this book made this book wonderful!
The stories I enjoyed most were Print Shop by Nina Lacour, Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi, Click by Katharine Mcgee, Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo, The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton, Oomph by Emery Lord, The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love.
However, Oomph, Hourglass, Somewhere That's Green and The Dictionary of You and Me, are my top favorites. I found these ones were the ones that I read faster, smiled more and even giggled. If I could get full stories to those four I would be over the moon happy!
What I love most about these kinds of books is that I get to read some new authors that I haven't read before and this book made me want to read more of their writings.
Overall this book is adorable!

I just love a good meet-cute, so it sure is convenient (and awesome) that I was approved for a book all about meet-cutes by some of the best authors currently writing Young Adult fiction!

Meet Cute is a delightful anthology full of well-written and frequently complex short stories. I think, honestly, that there might be something in this story for everyone. If you’re as big a fan of meet-cutes as I am, that is! Many of the stories aren’t necessarily “Happily Ever Afters”, they’re snapshots of a happy (or bittersweet) moment in a complicated life, but that’s definitely a good thing to read! Many of the stories center characters that are queer and/or characters of color and that’s awesome!

The first story in the anthology is Katie Cotugno’s “Siege Etiquette” where two teenagers wind up hiding in a bathroom at a party. It was a good, solid opening to the anthology! It’s followed by Nina LaCour’s “Print Shop” which is a cute and super relatable story about how a teenage girl’s first day of work at a local print shop leads to an adorable meeting with a frustrated customer.

Ibi Zoboi’s “Hourglass” might actually have been my favorite story in Meet Cute because I have been in the same shoes as Zoboi’s main character Cherish and I didn’t have half as much courage as she does. A couple of the stories in Meet Cute left me wanting to know more about the characters or their world, and this was definitely one of them.

“Click” by Katharine McGee is a near-future story about the potential for new love existing alongside mourning following the death of a sibling. It’s a little sad and a little sweet. Definitely a good story in this anthology! (One thing that I’ve been stuck on: the main character Alexa mentions dating someone named Koty at the beginning of the story and I’m still trying to figure out Koty’s gender because at my first read through, I got it into my head that Alexa was bi and I’m… not as confident now.)

Sara Shepard’s “The Intern” is another meet-cute set after a personal tragedy. This story didn’t snag me as much as the one that came before it, but it was still really cute! Following that is Meredith Russo’s “Somewhere That’s Green”, my second favorite story in Meet Cute. “Somewhere That’s Green” is a little tough to read and a little bit heart-breaking on top of that (because the one main character Nia is dealing with transmisogyny and the other, Lexie is dealing with the fact that she’s been parroting her parents’ bigoted beliefs instead of speaking her mind and living her truth), but oh, I made such a noise at the end because it’s PERFECT.

Now I’ll read just about anything that Dhonielle Clayton writes and “The Way We Love Here” is pretty darn good. This is a fantasy story – my brain wants to call it “magical realism” and we’re just… going to ignore that – about a land where people have red “strings” around their fingers that are used to help them find love. Definitely a beautiful and bittersweet story!

Following that is “Oomph,” an airport meet-cute for the ages. There’s just so much to love about Emery Lord’s truly too-cute story about two young women who meet at an airport and bond over an in-joke that just keeps going. I just love the tone of the whole story and the references to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe only make it better!

Then there’s “The Dictionary of Me and You”, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s story set in a library. I straight up described this story to one of my friends as “the meet-iest of meet-cutes”. Jocelyn Davies’ “The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love” is totally mathematical and a super fun read! You’ll totally believe in the romantic properties of statistics after this story!

Next, while Kass Morgan’s “259 Million Miles” is a well-written story that centers a main character dealing with social anxiety and the after effects of a horrible moment in his young life going viral, it just didn’t… win me over entirely. I also wasn’t entirely fond of the ending… Weh.

Julie Murphy’s “Something Real”, the story right after that one in Meet Cute is straight up like… an episode of your favorite ABC Family/Freeform show, but one with a cute queer ending and a fat MC centered in the story. I love every single thing about this story, especially what happens to the celebrity who’s the reason for the other characters’ presence on a reality TV show set. “Something Real” is a super satisfying read!

Meet Cute’s penultimate story – Huntley Fitzpatrick’s “Say Everything” – was alright. I mean, it’s another very solid read in that I didn’t skim over any of it and I thought the meet cute element was used to great effect. The final story in the anthology, Nicola Yoon’s “The Department of Dead Love” is interesting. I’m still not sure how I feel about either the worldbuilding or the romance(s) in the story, but I want to know more about this world because I have questions. And wanting to know more about a world just from how it’s presented in a short story is a good sign!

I basically enjoyed most of the stories and I felt like it was a great read! I feel as though Meet Cute isn’t just a fantastic anthology about one of the greatest tropes used in romance novels (and Captain America: Winter Soldier, in my opinion): it’s also a great primer for getting into these unbelievably skilled authors. Thanks to Meet Cute, I was introduced to several authors that I’d never read before and got a chance to read good, goopy stories from some of my favorite YA authors!

Seriously, it’s such a wonderful anthology!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Books for the advanced reading copy of the anthology Meet Cute.

The authors I have read from before are Nina LaCour, Katherine McGee, Julie Murphy, Sara Shepard, and Nicola Yoon.

I can’t wait to read the new to me authors in this anthology that I’ve heard wonderful things about like Jennifer L. Armentrout, Katie Cotugno, Emery Lord, Kass Morgan, and Ibi Zoboi.

I would list the stories I am most looking forward to but there are so many amazing authors in this collection and I can't wait to read all of them.

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cutugno
3 Stars
This short story was written in second person about about a popular girl who was at a house party when the police arrive. She ends up locked in a bathroom with a farm boy from her school. Typical YA contemporary.

Print Shop by Nina LaCour
4 Stars
This story was about a girls first day at a new job where things don’t go exactly as she planned. But through perseverance she is able to overcome her first day. The setting was absolutely adorable.

Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi
4 Stars
This short story is about a girl wanting to get out of a small town where she has always felt like she didn’t fit in. She is her best friends side kick until the day she betrays her.
I loved that this story not only has black representation but it shows how important having different representations in media are!

Click by Katherine McGee
5 Stars
This was about a young adult who recently lost a close family member and “Clicked” with a young man on a new dating app.

The Intern by Sara Shepard
5 Stars
This is a wonderfully adorable story about a young woman who works for her father’s record label company.

Somewhere That’s Green by Meredith Russo
3 Stars
This story has two perspectives. The first is about a high school student and the second is about a transgender girl.

The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton
3 Stars
This is a fantasy short story that is about how a town finds love.

Oomph by Emery Lord
3 Stars
This is a story about two girls who meet in an airport.

The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout
4 Stars
This short story is about a girl who works in a library.

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies
3.5 Stars
This is a story about a girl who takes the same subway train every day to school and the probability of her seeing the boy in the subway train across from her.

259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan
3 Stars
This is a short story about a boy who wants to go to mars.

Something Real by Julie Murphy
3.5 Stars
This story is about two girls competing on a “reality” television series for a date with a musician.

Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick
3 Stars
This short story is typical rich boy, poor girl.

The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon
3.5 Stars
This last story takes place in a world where there are department buildings that are classified by the breakup you’ve had.

This is probably more of a 3.5 Star read but there were a few stories that I loved so I gave it 4 Stars.

Reading a short story anthology entails a bit of risk. Going into it, you know that you will like some of the stories and likely not like others.

In the case of Meet Cute, there is one story that stuck out to me so much that I want to find Ibi Zoboi, shake her hand, and be her best friend.

In "Hourglass," Zoboi introduces you to Cherish, a 6'5" girl who dreams of getting out of her "small, white town" and into an HBCU (historically black college or univeristy). Her best friend is headed to school halfway across the country, and Cherish fears she'll be stuck at a local community college. She also yearns to be feminine and wear a pretty dress. But at 6'5", pretty prom dresses are in short - if not miniscule - supply.

Even though this is a short story, Zoboi includes a heartbreaking subplot involving Cherish's best friend and a boy Cherish despises. I was as emotionally involved in this tale as I could be because Zoboi put me straight into Cherish's heart. I dearly hoped that she would find her pretty dress and her college home. I cried at the end.

None of the other stories had such emotional impact on me, although I enjoyed Huntley Fitzpatrick's story, "Say Everything," about a boy who always orders iced teas and the waitress who served him. That one, too, grabbed my heartstrings.

There are stories about popular girls and forgotten teens, and in each one, a couple "meets cute."

You need to get this book for Ibi Zoboi and "Hourglass." I cannot wait to read more of Zoboi's books.

I LOVED this collection of stories. Each story was completely different but equally as amazing!

I think what I loved most about each story was that even though the stories were so short I still felt like I was quite connected to each character.

If you know me then you know that I  love a good romance and this anthology was full of it

I'm not normally an anthology reader because I feel like I'm always left wanting more but after reading Meet Cute I didn't actually feel that way most of the time. The stories were complete and beautifully written by each author.

This anthology is definitely worth the read!

I absolutely adored this collection of short stories! This is exactly the kind of pick-me-up I needed during winter and I just fell in love with the couples in this book. I got lost in each meet cute, as it were, and would highly recommend this to any romance lover!