The lineup for this collection sounded impressive and was what made me want to pick it up. Some of the stories lived up to expectations and others, well, simply didn't.

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno: 1 Star

That was a horrible way to start the collection. The story was boring and the main character, Hailey, was not a good person. I'm sorry her parents died, but that doesn't give her a pass for being a bitch beforehand or since. The method of storytelling was rough, too. The entire time the reader is being told about the action rather than showing it and letting us experience it.


Print Shop by Nina LeCour: 3 Stars

I wanted to like this stort because it had a lot of potential. it sounded like it could be really good, but happening in roughly 12 hours made it suffer. How much the MC knew about her employers at the print shop, the quickness of the LI inviting her to follow her inside an empty place...it all felt super rushed and a bit creepy.


Hourglass by Izo Zoboi: 2.5 Stars

This one more than any of the previous stories felt like it wasn't a short story so much as some pages ripped out of a longer work. The meet cute couldn't really be called that as there was minimal contact between the supposed parties of the meet cute. In fact, give it another minute and it wouldn't have existed at all. Hourglass was disappointing because there was a lot of potential, but with the abrupt ending, the feeling of being part of something bigger, I couldn't really like it as much as I wanted to based on the content.

There is some racist commentary from a side character and some borderline comments from the MC toward the owners of African dress shop she visits.


Click by Katharine McGee: 3 Stars

The concept of the Click program was interesting, familiar in a way because a lot of dating sites use that sort of things. Click, however, is way more intense and in-depth, possibly even a bit invasive; people give up a lot of electronic freedoms/privacy for services. Alexa and Raden were the first meet cute couple that I actually liked and thought, hey they deserve this story. It actually felt like a complete story and while it could have gone on, it didn't need to.


The Intern by Sara Shepard: 3 Stars

Clara was a developed character, with her good parts and her flaws going together to create someone that I actually enjoyed reading about. Phineas wasn't someone I was totally into as someone to read about, but he was extremely nice to Clara and helped her focus.


Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo:  5 Stars

Easily my favorite of the collection, Meredith Russo's story about a transgender girl, a school production of Little Shop of Horrors, and a conflicted love interest felt in-depth and intensely interesting. Her voice remains, from If I Was Your Girl, a strong one with well thought out prose that brings you in.

 There is a lot of discussion and points brought up in the course of Somewhere That's Green from Nia about what it's like to be transgender and Lexie about her inner turmoil, her own beliefs vs those being shoved upon her by her parents/small town thinking. Having a view point shoved on you all your life and the strength it takes to stand up to that, to years of something and make your own stand. I would love to read more about Nia and Lexie.



The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton:  2 Stars

There were wonderful visuals within this story, from the beach to the moonlight to candles and the people the light reflects upon. However, the predestined loves, the lack of freewill, and the disrespect for ace/aro characters was upsetting and made The Way We Love Here a lot sadder and distasteful than I was expecting.

The whole coils-on-your-ring-finger-until-you-meet-your-beloved is an interesting concept, but it is extremely restrictive, not to mention the motto of the island: A life without love is impossible. Sebastien's mother is said to believe that people are doomed without love. It felt like a constant yet almost subtle hounding that aro people are doomed, which is so far from the truth.

Viola, or Vio, has questions about the way things work on her island, about how she's never given thought to boys or girls or loving them, but believes that there must be more. Places where people can choose their own loves or can choose not to love at all. She could have a future where her possible aro identity is comfortable, she's a painter like she wants, but by the end of the story she's been shoved into conformity with the rest of the island, including Sebastien.

Visually Dhonielle's story is nice, but content wise I was very disappointed.


Oomph by Emery Lord:  5 Stars

THIS is the story that I was waiting for. While there are others I liked and even another 5 star read, Oomph is the one that really fulfills the idea I have of a meet cute.

Taking place in an hour or so between two senior girls waiting in an airport, we get glimpses into who they are, what hopes and fears they have regarding life right out of high school, and what might be in their future. Who knows if they'll end up seeing each other again, but there's possibility here. Peggy and Natasha (before we find out they're really Cassidy and Joanna) tease each other, flirt well, and yet still have nerves (at least on Cassidy's part).

While I want to say that I'd like for there to be a follow-up book to this story, I don't think it would work out as well as some of the previous entries here. Oomph ties things up nice and neatly, satisfactorily even, and I'm okay with Cassidy and Jo getting on  their respective planes and going home.


The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout:  2 Stars

This had elements of being a really cute story, but the beginning just sounded so much like a potential horror film that it distracted me from whatever adorableness was building between Moss and "H. Smith". The phone calls she had to make on behalf of the library, requesting an overdue book back from H. Smith, had a tone of creepiness that I couldn't shake.


The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies: 5 Stars

Meet cute plus scientific inquiry plus taking place in NYC? Jocelyn Davies's short story about statistics, falling in love at first sight, and subway cars was well written, strong with characters, and conclusive in the eventual meeting of Sam and Dev. It wasn't fun, exactly, but it was enjoyable. Watching Sam work on her AP Statistics project in relation to this random sighting on a morning train was intriguing and a bit sweet.


259 Miles by Kass Morgan: 3 Stars

The interaction between the two primary characters, Philip and Blythe, was good and they could have been really cute. There's a "twist" that I thought was unnecessarily cruel and I didn't care for that. Because of it and an event prior to the start of the story, I'm not sure how well Philip is going to do after the conclusion.


Something Real by Julie Murphy: 4 Stars

Two of the cutest bisexual ladies I've read about in recent memory, June and Martha were a bit. Meeting on the set of a reality dating show would be nice enough, but when it's the two of them competing for a date with a music star and falling for each other instead? That put a smile on my face.



Say Everything by Huntley Fiztpatrick: 2 Stars

This had all the dimension and flair of a cardboard cutout Reader's Digest story. It alternated between telling and showing, neither in particularly successful ways, and even the parts I did "like" were just on. There was no reason to like either Emma or Sean or what could barely be called a cute between them. I didn't flat out hate it, but it was a story that I knew, as I read it, that I would have no interest in ever reading again.



The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon: 2 Stars

The framework of a story about departments of love, helping you to heal or have a do-over, was fairly stable, but the flaws that came up in the telling had me scratching my head more than once. It was almost like a companion to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but with less engaging characters. Thomas rubbed me the wrong way, Samantha (his ex) felt like a doormat, and Gaby...her I might actually have grown to like, but we only saw her through Thomas's eyes and the story ended before I was really able to get to know her.



This collection overall was a letdown. A little over a quarter of the stories were outright disappointing letdowns, a few were middle of the road, and the few (4) ones that rated highly are not enough to buy a collection that was at times poorly written, mildly offensive, and dull.

Meet Cute is a gorgeous collection of short stories all about how people meet. What is great about the collection is that each author has a different and unique take on how that initial meeting between two characters should happen. Not one of these stories is the same.

Personally, my favourite stories in the collection are: The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies and Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick. But this anthology is chock-a-block with stories and characters to fall in love with so there really is something for everyone. It is also a nice introduction to some seriously talented YA authors whom you may not have come across before.

What is also pretty awesome about the book is that it makes you consider all the meet cutes that you have had in your life and it also makes you think of the meet cutes that you have yet to have had.

Go on, read it and bask in the cuteness.

Meet Cute by Various is available now.

For more information regarding HMH Books (@HMHbooks) please visit www.hmhco.com/at-home.

This collection of stories from YA authors is centred on relationship beginnings. Around that foci the stores vary greatly in their approaches however and there are many different 'initial spark' moments covered. Sweet, without being cloying, and dryly amusing often, this is a great anthology to dip in and out of, bringing a smile with each story.

Thank you to Netgalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited for this anthology as I adore meet cute stories and a lot of authors I like were involved in this as well as some of those authors being marginalised. But I'll be honest I was a little bit disappointed with it.

Some of the stories were really sweet and I found great enjoyment in them, but some stories were so lacklustre for me or just weren't even what I would consider meet cute.

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno - Honestly I can't even remember what this was about, it was really forgettable want I wasn't a fan. It also was not what I would consider meet cute as the couple already knew each other for years.

Print Shop by Nina Lacour - This was ok, I liked the use of twitter and PR on social media, however it felt like there was far too much background info and I didn't really feel anything towards the pairing because there wasn't much of a focus on it.

Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi - For such a short story this one packs a punch. A lot of it talks about fake allies which I think is an important discussion that needs to be had in all communities. And overall I found this one really sweet.

Click by Katharine McGee - I thought this one was pretty confusing. But it was also pretty hard for me as it featured the death of a sister, which has happened to me. I struggled to get through this one to be honest.

The Intern by Sara Shepard - This was another one which was ok, not terrible but pretty forgettable.

Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo - This was really good for featuring current issues. I wasn't really sure how I felt about it being from the point of view of someone who was being transphobic but Russo is a trans author and the views of the character did change throughout the story. I think if a cis author had done this it wouldn't have worked as well.

The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton - This was another one I found confusing. I'm not sure if short stories work in fantasy contexts the best. Obviously fantasy writers want to write with what they're comfortable but I'm not sure.

Oomph by Emery Lord - I LOVED this one. It was so cute and it was exactly what I imagine as meet cute. Two cute girls meet at an airport when their flights are delayed. Perfect.

The Dictionary of You and Me - This one was also cute, though a little boring. I mean don't all us romantically inclined people who love books hope we will meet someone between the stacks at our libraries?

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies - Now this was right up my street. This is a maths nerd meet cute. The girl does her report on the statistical probability of seeing a cute boy on her morning commute to school and what factors are involved. Her class get really into it too and I just found it super sweet.

259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan - This one was ok. It wasn't really my cup of tea. I did like the discussion of how memes can really hurt people though. I found that interesting as someone who enjoys memes.

Something Real by Julie Murphy - This one was perfect and has served to remind me that I need to read Dumplin ASAP. I loved that it had something about idols not always being who they're cracked up to be but finding something good in what could've been a rubbish day. And I just love that it has girls just being nice to each other.

Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick - As someone who has done waiting a lot through the years I kind of liked this, for the little part of me that always wishes a cute person would leave me their number on their receipt like in the movies. But it was a bit farfetched, but hey that's writing.

The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon - This was so different and interesting. I do find unrequited love interesting and I don't think it's spoken about enough in YA, a lot of the time it's brushed to the side when a new person comes along that takes the MCs fancy, so this was a new take for me.

As a whole I'd say the store in the latter half of the book are better than the first half. I was feeling really disappointed for a while and then it picked up a little.

3.5/5

Thanks NetGalley for sending me this book in exchange of an honest review.

1. Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno: I absolutely love the way this short story is written. I’ve never seen anything written this way, and i found this to be very unique. (at least for me). I really liked it and omg it was too short ! I want more, I want to know what happens next aha

2. Print Shop by Nina LaCour: Too cheesy for me...

3. Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi: I really liked this one, but way too short ! When it ended I was like wait…. I want more ! I love this story !

4. Click by Katharine McGee: Okay this might be my favorite one for now. Can I get a Raden for Christmas please ?

5. The Intern by Sara Shepard: Really liked this one. Love the writing.

6. Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo: This was definitely my FAVORITE one ! I love Meredith Russo’s writing and this story was so cute and so important aaaaargh I loved it

7. The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton: Okay, nope, THIS is my favorite one. Like really. Such an original story and cute and omggggg I want to read it again.
This book just keeps getting better and better.

8. Oomph by Emery Lord: Really cute story and I loved the Marvel references aha

9. The Dictionary of You & Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout: Omg this one…. How did I never read anything by Jennifer L. Armentrout before ?! I love it ! I love her writing ! I want more ! RIGHT NOW

10. The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davies: It’s not fate, it’s math ! I looooove it ahaha. The association of math and love is so cool and I loved it !

11. 259 Millions Miles by Kass Morgan: This one wasn’t my favorite, but it was okay. It reminded me of Phobos by Victor Dixen which is about candidates for Mars too. And the ending was sad omg, poor Philip.

12. Something Real by Julie Murphy: I didn’t like this one. This whole TV show thing wasn’t for me aha

13. Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick: Not my thing. DNF

14. The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon: “I’d get to tell people all day that they were worthy of being loved and give them hope for the future. It sounded like a nice way to spend a day.” I loved this quote
“All love ends,” she says. “Maybe,” I say. “But it has to start somewhere.” And I absolutely loved this one too. This short story is definitely one of my favorite, it was really original and so cute.

These were my feelings throughout my reading of this book. Some of them aren't quite explicit but yeah ahaha
Short stories anthology are really not my favorite thing, I always find it hard to read a lot of short stories continuously, and I struggled a lot to read and finish this book. I am not made for short stories I think, I always want more, and it’s really frustrating to read only 10/15 pages about a story you really liked. Btw, I LOVED the diversity in this book!! This is really a good point!!

Some of the stories were really cute, some others were too basic, but I discovered amazing authors and this was a really good point!

Cover via Goodreads
Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of "how they first met" from some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Readers will experience Nina LaCour's beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard's glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon's imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno's story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick's charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.

This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.  (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC of Meet Cute via Netgalley, courtesy of HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.

In news that will surprise no one, three of my four favorite stories from this anthology featured f/f meet cutes. I loved that there were a good selection of stories of women meeting other women.

There were a few content warnings throughout though - racism, an abusive father, sibling death, parental death, trans-antagonistic slurs, homophobic family, and aro-antagonistic comments.

Some of my favorites were Print Shop, Something Real and The Dictionary of You and Me.

Print Shop was the perfect artsy, modern meet cute for me.

Hands down, though, Oomph by Emery Lord was my favorite. It was exactly what I wanted from the rest of this anthology, which many of the stories left me wanting more.

For example, I really loved the concept of Nicola Yoon's The Department of Dead Love, but I wanted more of the story, and of the love interest's emotion beyond where the story ended. I'd happily read a full book of that story.

Same with Meredith Russo's Somewhere That's Green - I loved the writing and the characters, but the end of the story left me with so much anxiety for both the main character and the love interest. I wanted just a page or two more, and to know that everyone was safe.

I had a similar issue with Ibi Zoboi's Hourglass, which was stunningly written, but I wanted a page or two more about the decision that Cherish had to make at the end. I was so proud of her for standing up for herself, but I just wanted a little bit more to give me some closure.



You can pick up a copy for yourself on Amazon or Indiebound. You can also find each author's backlist on Book Outlet.

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Posted to Goodreads: For a more in-depth review watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAfwe...

A cute collection of stories about meeting and falling in love. Several of the stories would have been much stronger as whole novels instead of short stories. Also, I had difficulty with the two stories that were told in the second person. Highlights included: "Print Shop" by Nina LaCour,"Hourglass" by Ibi Zoboi, "The Dictionary of Me and You" and "The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love" by Jocelyn Davies.

I received an eARC of this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A collection of stories about love. It incorporates different kinds of love in different settings. Several stories feel like the first chapter of a longer novel, while others are perfectly encapsulated in their section. It provides a quick taste of many popular authors.

I was really interested in this book as soon as I saw the theme of Meet Cute. Some of my favorite literary couples got their start with a good meet cute so I was excited to get a book entirely about this topic. I am a romantic at heart and the beginning of love stories are always my favorite. However, anthologies are always so hard to review so I am going to break down my ratings per individual story.
Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno: Nothing really special with this story. It felt like the typical YA contemporary and I have found that that is not my taste anymore. 2/5
Print Shop by Nina LaCour : This felt like insta-love/stalkerish to me. Ok so I’m sure we are all guilty of looking people up on the internet but this was like insta in love based on just a couple of pictures and a phone call. It was not believable to me. 2/5
Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi: It started out promising. I thought this would involve a killer friendship story but sadly no...it just seems like it stopped at a weird place and there wasn't even a lot of interaction between the couple. I feel like it should have started later in the story and shown us more of the relationship of the couple...1.5-2/5
Click by Katharine McGee: I really enjoyed this one! It felt like kismet, a real meet cute. It was adorable and I would actually want to read more about their love story. 4/5
The Intern by Sara Shepard:: I had hope for this story but there was more insta love then meet cute. It’s so hard to get the emotions right and to feel natural with a short story especially when there is such a thin line between appearing like a meet cute and not insta love. Sadly this story failed… 2/5
Somewhere That’s Green by Meredith Russo: I can appreciate the message here but I can barely remember this story and I just read it. 2.5-3/5
The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton: Interesting concept but not the most original. I think I would be interested in reading about what happened to these characters so because of that it was successful. 3.5/5
Oomph by Emery Lord : Now this was a believable meet cute. I really liked the characters and their humor. This story definitely had some Oomph! 4/5
The Dictionary of Me and You by Jennifer L. Armentrout: Okay this was definitely my favorite story of this anthology. Just having the setting in a library won me over. Yes it was a predictable story but honestly I didn't care. This was the first story to make me smile. I loved the characters and the plot was adorable. 5/5
The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies: meh...nothing memorable. I like the idea of looking at a random stranger and having a connection of some sort but let's be real it's usually lust not love in these cases. 3/5
259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan:: NO. This felt unnatural and unbelievable...I just couldn’t. I did, however, enjoy the male POV. 2/5
Something Real by Julie Murphy: Average. 3/5
Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick: Don’t have anything nice to say so I wont say anything at all 2/5
The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon: This was an interesting concept about love in the future. I actually might read a book about this. Not about these 2 characters per say but the world would be interesting. 3.5/5


I will say, overall, I appreciate the diversity and inclusion of so many types of characters in these stories but sadly this anthology underwhelmed me. I love a good meet cute but many of these stories left much to be desired. They lacked the essential kismet needed to make a great meet cute in my eyes. I think Old Hollywood movies may have given me unrealistic expectations when it comes to a meet cutes but all I know is I like what I like and I didn't particularly like a lot of these stories.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a lovely read with so many adorable "first meet" stories. I'll admit I requested this on Net Galley because of certain authors who I love - such as Emery Lord - but I found so many others I hadn't read at this point, and will now be picking their books up next. Thanks so much for this. Highly recommend if you want a collection of diverse beginnings instead of one long story!

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet by various authors
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 2, 2018
Rating: 4 stars
Source: eARC from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads):

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of "how they first met" from some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Readers will experience Nina LaCour's beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard's glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon's imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno's story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick's charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.

This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.

What I Liked:

If you know one thing about me, it is that I love a good romance. I am a huge fan of romance, and I am such a hopeless romantic. When I first heard about this book, I knew I needed to read it. Meet cute moments are amazing and I live for them! If you want to read about a meet cute of my own, check out #ManBunGuy on Twitter (and look for my updates -- @Alyssa_Susanna). Not that I'm dating the guy - but it's still an adorable meet cute. It would have made an amazing addition to this anthology. ANYWAY. I really like meet cutes and adorable beginnings to romances so this anthology was right up my alley. Most of these stories were amazing!

I'm not usually one of anthologies for one reason: short stories are always too short. I hate feeling like what I read wasn't complete enough! I don't love being left with the feeling of wanting more (but knowing there won't be more). I will say that some of the stories in this anthology definitely left me wanting more; the short stories were based solely on the meet cute moment, and not the aftermath (i.e. going on a date, dating, etc.). BUT this didn't irritate me because the premise of the book is the meet cute moments, and so I knew upfront that the stories would be exclusively about the meet cutes and not the entire romance/love story. This seems like a simple thing but it makes a difference!

I'm not going to talk about all of the stories because some of them didn't really stick with me and some of them I didn't really like. For the most part, all of them were interesting and worth the read. But some of them were better than others!

I think my favorite was Jennifer L. Armentrout's story, "The Dictionary of You and Me". It involves a girl who works at the library, and has to call patrons when they haven't returned their overdue book. There is one patron, around her age (based on his voice), that has had a dictionary checked out for forever. Every time she calls him, they end up talking about other things... and he never returns the book. She likes talking to him though. What happens next? You'll have to read the story to find out! Honestly it is so cute and it is the type of meet cute that I could see happening to me (meaning, while it is definitely fiction, it isn't so far-fetched). I was smiling the whole time I read this story.

I also adored "Click" by Katherine McGee. This story is set in 2020 and it is about a girl and a boy who uses the Click app. The app matches you with a person that is highly compatible to you, up to the 99th percentile. Alexa is on her way to a date with a guy she matched with on Click, in the 99th percentile of compatibility. She and Raden meet, but then she realizes she left her cell phone in the taxi cab. Raden uses his phone to track hers, and they go off to chase down her phone. I thought this story was so sweet, and the twist at the end made me smile. This one made me think about how we are in this day, with dating apps and matching and whatnot.

Another story I liked was Dhonielle Clayton's "The Way We Love Here". I didn't quite understand what was happening at first, especially in terms of the world-building, but this was the type of story that you needed to keep reading in order to fully grasp what was happening. It isn't set in a purely contemporary world and the world-building wasn't thrown in all at the beginning, so it took a bit for me to understand the what's and how's. The story involves a girl who saves a boy from drowning, but there is so much more to it. It made me smile, it made me feel a little sad, but it also made me feel a spark of hope. This pair had a heartbreaking yet romantic meet cute.

"Print Shop" by Nina LaCour was adorable. A girl gets hired at an old-fashioned print shop, where banners and things like that are hand-lettered. But a mishap with an order happens, and the customer isn't happy. The customer is a high school student like our protagonist. These two "meet" at the very end of the story when the protagonist takes the banner to the customer, but the meet cute is still so cute. And the story itself was intriguing - there was a lot going on besides the meet cute. I liked it!

Like I said, most of the stories were so interesting. I'm not going to talk about all of them because this review would go on for forever and ever, but I liked most of the stories and therefore, I recommend the anthology as a whole. I must give a shout-out to all of the authors who featured diverse characters. There was such a wide array of characters - it wasn't just boy meets girl/girl meets boy. The meet cutes were all so different but the characters themselves were so different. I loved seeing so many different relationships.

Bottom line: I liked this anthology! It was definitely worth the read.

What I Did Not Like:

There were some short stories that I didn't really love, and that's okay! It's an anthology so there was bound to be at least that I felt kind of ehhh about. I'm not going to talk about any specifically because me feeling ehhh about them is very subjective (as with all stories, really). I didn't find anything "wrong" with any of these stories though.

Would I Recommend It:

If you are like me, a hopeless romantic who loves love and romance and relationships, then give this anthology a shot! Meet cutes are one of my favorite aspects of a good romance, and I love what the authors came up with. This anthology is so sweet and heartwarming and made me really happy.

Rating:

4 stars. Worth the read, in my opinion. I don't usually go for anthologies but this one is as good as it sounds. It would make a great gift! If you live in the USA and preorder the book, you could get some neat buttons from the publisher. Just a thought!

I loved this book! Each story was so unique and different. I loved the inclusion of LGBTQ characters without being overly precious about it. I can't wait to recommend this to my library's readers.

Meet Cute is just the anthology that I’ve been waiting for! This is an entire book featuring 14 incredible authors all about adorable first encounters. I personally enjoyed Jocelyn Davies, Kass Morgan, and Julie Murphy’s stories the most. I would definitely recommend this book to those looking for a feel-good read.

I adore the concept of this anthology. It is all about first meetings and, as the title promises, it is absolutely adorable. Meet Cute is incredibly diverse and contains a wide range of topics and genres. Not all the stories are 100% happy, which really makes the book more realistic. It is always hard to review anthologies because there are so many different contributions, but I enjoyed most of them, and overall, this collection lived up to the hype.

My favourite of the stories was The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davies. This story is about a girl woking on a research project about love at first sight and the probability of meeting the cute boy on the train again. I loved the main character and the mathematical aspects. This honestly needs to be a full book, it’s that engaging.

I also loved 259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan. This one tells the story of a boy applying for a one-way trip to Mars. There are some massive plot twists, which are pretty impressive for such a short story, and it is one of the stories that is pretty heartbreaking. Julie Murphy’s Something Real also captivated me. I loved the reality TV aspects and how supportive the girls are of each other even though they are competing for a date with a famous singer.

Meet Cute is an anthology about love at first sight. I enjoyed the diversity and the lovable characters. My favourite was Jocelyn Davies’s, but there were many other 5 star contributions. This is the perfect book to cozy up with this winter.

Most of the stories in this collection were an absolute delight. My heart just loves a good meet cute. I'm biased. Please read and recommend so that others can feel their hearts soar with the delights only possibilities can bring!

Meet Cute is a super cute anthology of YA authors writing short stories about the lead up to meeting someone. Actual Rating: 3.8/5 stars

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno: 3 stars
The story of two people who haven't seen each other in a long time and end up trapped together in a bathroom when a house party is being raided. It reminded me of the movie "Can't Hardly Wait" from the 90s. This story was cute, nothing amazing. I would be interested if it became a full novel.

Print Shop by Nina LaCour: 4 stars
I immediately enjoyed the diversity in this one. The main character, Evie, starts working in a print shop where everything is made by an artist instead of computers and machines. An angry customer voices her unpleasant opinion of the shop on Twitter and begins a love interest. Interesting concept.

Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi: 2 stars
Honestly, I didn't care for Cherish's POV in this one. She came off as very whiny and "woe is me" because her best friend starts dating the guy who teased her for her size, thankfully she comes to term with who she is.

Click by Katharine McGee: 4 stars
I really liked the idea behind Click. Katharine McGee introduces a futuristic dating app where your entire social media presence and online footprint are analyzed and match you with another person. While the thought of this overwhelmed me, I really enjoyed the fast pace of the story and wit and banter between the characters. It also was a great peek into how love can be unexpected even when you're looking for it.

The Intern by Sara Shepard: 4.5 stars
SO CUTE! Clara interns for her dad's record label and has to show around one of the artists and unexpectedly falls for him-cheesy, I know, but so cute. The beauty is really in the details in this one.

Somewhere That’s Green by Meredith Russo: 4.5 stars
Another WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS story revealing a transgender girl's fears and fight with a school board about which restroom she is allowed to use while a gay student who isn't out yet deals with her own issues. It was a little slow, but a great, quick, look into a world I'm not familiar with.

The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton: 4 stars
Very interesting concept. On a remote island, the people are born with a ring mark on their finger that reveals when they'll meet their soul mate. When two teens find a way to "hack the system" they see how their lives will play out and how they will live and fall in love with. Another interesting concept. I wouldn't read it as a whole novel, but it was a perfect short story.

Oomph by Emery Lord: 5 stars
Oomph was one of my favorites in this anthology! A super cute unexpected romance in an airport where mystery is in the air. Two girls meet in an airport pretending to be Marvel characters and hit it off. Loved it!

The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout: 4.75 stars
It might be the librarian in me, but I loved this story. It was a bit predictable, but worth it. Moss has to track down an overdue dictionary from the library that she works at and finds more than just a book. Sometimes books reveal people for us. ;)

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies: 5 stars
Again, it might be that I was a math teacher in one of my past lives (before I became a librarian) but I loved this one. The main character writes her semester statistics project on the odds of her seeing a mystery boy from the subway again.

259 Million Miles by Kass Morgan: 3 stars
Meh. It felt more like the main character was running away from his problems rather than facing them head on, which *spoilers* he ends up doing. Blythe and Philip are two finalists for a mission to Mars and only one of them will be chosen. They have to spend 24 hours in an isolation chamber together to see how they will interact and work as a team-of course the predictability is obvious-but they make it through the test. A beautiful display of how sometimes we meet someone at the wrong time.

Something Real by Julie Murphy: 4 stars
Julie Murphy wrote a perfect show story on how meeting your celebrity crush can sometimes be a disappointment, but you can meet someone in the process that makes up for it.

Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick: 0 stars
Just no. I didn't care at all for the POV, the main character was unmemorable and it was honestly just slow and boring.

The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon: 6 (out of 5) stars
When is it socially acceptable to dub Nicola as the queen of romance? I mean really, this short story was perfect and made up for the crappy one before it. Thomas goes to the Department of Dead Love to find out what happened that caused an end to his last relationship and ends up finding a way to heal his heart. So many good quotes come from this story. LOVED IT!

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology. Each story brought something different and it will appeal to all sorts of readers.

This fun anthology gives us the genesis of fourteen different relationships (or, at least, possible relationships). Most of the stories are contemporaries, but there are a few fantasy/sci fi stories to tempt those of us who like to escape reality now and again! I wrote down a quick review of each story as I read the anthology because they're all so different, it's hard to review the book as a whole.

Here are my thoughts:

"Siege Etiquette" by Katie Cotugno: 4 stars
This little story was a surprise, told in second-person POV. The story centers around two characters who've known each other their whole lives but find a connection while hiding out from the police at an underage party (in the bathroom). The story was a lot less "cute" than bittersweet, but I loved how much story Cotugno managed to stuff into such a small package!

"Print Shop" by Nina LaCour: 3 stars
This story again has a second-person element to it at the beginning and the end, since the main character is describing to her girlfriend the circumstances around how they met. The MC goes to work at a print shop because she loves the art behind it, but ends up in a job handling social media (not what she expected) and then gets embroiled in a customer service issue. This story was cute, but I didn't feel a terrible connection between the MC and the love interest since the MC basically fell for her Facebook profile. Still a fun read, though!

"Hourglass" by Ibi Zoboi: 2.5-3 stars
I really loved this story at first, but then it just didn't seem to really go anywhere. Plus, very little of the story was actually spent on the MC meeting the romantic interest---it kind of felt just added on at the end. But I liked the fact that the story dealt with a girl who feels like she doesn't fit the mold when it comes to body image and her quest to find a dress that fits her, not just physically, but also fits her true image of herself.

"Click" by Katharine McGee: 4.5 stars
This was my favorite up till this point. We got dual POV's from a couple on their first date after using a somewhat futuristic dating app to meet their ideal match. Things don't go as planned when Alexa loses her phone and they end up on a wild goose chase to find it. Alexa is also dealing with loss, and there are some other hints of future tech elements to the story (though, actually not that futuristic because the tech referenced already does exist in some forms).

"The Intern" by Sara Shepard: 3 stars
This was another bittersweet story. I liked it, but it didn't stand out in my mind all that much. Honestly, even though I didn't read this one all that long ago, I'm struggling to even remember it.

"Somewhere That’s Green" by Meredith Russo: 4 stars
This one had a transgender main character and a main character who was struggling with her sexuality due to her religious beliefs (or, perhaps more accurately, struggling with how she thought others would perceive her sexuality). I really enjoyed the story, though I thought the ending felt a little too easy and didn't give quite enough weight to Lexie's decision at the end. (But that's kind of what happens with short stories).

"The Way We Love Here" by Dhonielle Clayton: 4.5 stars
The first (only?) fantasy story of the bunch. I LOVED the unique world that Clayton created and I was amazed at how well she was able to flesh it out in just a short story. I would read a whole book about this world in a heartbeat.

"Oomph" by Emery Lord: 5 stars
This story was the height of adorableness, featuring two girls who meet in an airport. This one made my heart happy and felt like a true "meet cute."

"The Dictionary of You and Me" by Jennifer L. Armentrout: 4 stars
Again, a really cute story. This one felt a little more realistic than some of the others because the characters had a connection before they actually met (via months of phone calls). Plus, it involved libraries and cute words like "zazzy." How could you go wrong?

"The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love" by Jocelyn Davies: 5 shining stars!
I don't know what it was about this story, but I ADORED it! The MC is a self-professed math geek and she is working out the statistical probability of meeting up with a boy she falls for literally at first sight (without ever having met him at all). This should have been a disaster of insta-love proportions, but Sam (the MC) is so highly engaging and likable that I loved every minute of her story. This one's all about fate vs. statistics, and you don't know where it's all going to lead. (Hint: It leads to a story that made me all sorts of happy.)

"259 Million Miles" by Kass Morgan: 3.5 stars
This story had an interesting premise---a guy trying to get into a program to head to Mars in order to escape from his public humiliation that was posted to YouTube. It was an interesting spin on the typical social media story---It almost felt like the Mars part was a backdrop to that. I liked it, but it wasn't as good as the ones preceding it, and it was hard not to compare.

"Something Real" by Julie Murphy: 3 stars
I might have liked this story more if I'd read it earlier in the book, but I sort of started to feel like the bittersweet story of a family member who had died was being overdone in this anthology, so I had a harder time connecting to it than I might have otherwise. I liked the fun spin on the non-ideal dating show situation (even though it was pretty obvious early on where the story was going). A cute story, but not my favorite.

"Say Everything" by Huntley Fitzpatrick: 2.5-3 stars
Surprisingly, another story told in second person POV. I usually love Fitzpatrick, but I just never quite connected with this story and I also never felt a true connection between the main characters. There was nothing wrong with the story in the least, but I wasn't terribly invested.

"The Department of Dead Love" by Nicola Yoon: 3.5 stars
The concept for this one was a complete win. It took place in a sort of fantasy (or sci-fi?) world where people's relationships are handled via bureaucracy. There are departments to handle all sorts of issues related to love, including people who want a do-over in their relationship. I thought this was a really fun idea, and I loved seeing it play out. The only thing that kept me from absolutely loving it was because I didn't really see the connection between the MC and the person he ends up with. Still, there was so much more going on with this story that it was great anyway.

This is probably my favorite anthology that I've read up until this point. With the star-studded list of authors, it's no surprise that this was great reading! It's the perfect book to have on your nightstand, ready for one of those nights where you want to read something quick and adorably satisfying! I give the overall anthology 4/5 stars.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a composite score. Like most story collections, some stories were awesome, some were just so-so, and some were horrid.
I loved the concept of "first meeting," though.
But I'm a jaded old woman. Teens will probably devour this--well--CUTE collection.

This book is squeal-worthy in many respects-- I love the diversity of the stories, even among the common theme of the meet-cute scenario. Queer characters, lead characters of color, and characters of all sizes take center stage and get the chance to fall in love. Special standouts in the collection include Emery Lord's adorable airport f/f story and Dhonielle Clayton's imagined world where tattoos help tell love destiny.
I recommend this book to sip on-- a story at a time-- rather than gulping them all down at once. Highly recommended for the young (and young at heart) looking for a happy ending (or at least a happily-for-now ending).

So many adorable stories of first loves and first meetings. I loved the diversity of the stories-both in originality and characters. There were poc, lesbian and gay love stories and each story was different from the last. So many great authors too. Definitely a 2018 release for people to look out for!