I have to say that this group of stories is perfect for Valentine's Day, they are short enough that you have a great read but can get a story done in one sitting.

I have to say that these six books are a mix of 3.5 -4's star ratings. I personally enjoyed the Worst Wingman Ever and the mix up between them that keeps happening. I related to that one with the hospice parts and that hurt my heart reminding me of my own personal lost. I also enjoyed Royal Valentine, because I am sucker for Royal fun stories.

Very cute stories for the Valentine’s Day. Gets you in the mood for the season, but overall, stories were good but not wow! Maybe that’s just thing with short stories.

This is a sweet short story collection about improbably first encounters becoming HEAs! The stories are written by some of the most popular rom-com authors who are known to produce remarkable stories. Each story has the author's fingerprint with storytelling and were told in a cohesive way. You will have to pay attention to how the stories connect but they do connect. A great way to celebrate love and Valentine's Day early. Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Improbable Meet Cute series was a fun little jaunt into romance novellas. I found all of them to be easy to read and enjoyed them, some I enjoyed more than other. Each told a unique story, but I did appreciate the Easter eggs in the later stories that tied them together, that was fun! I am happy that I got the chance to read them and review.

The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren was my favorites of the collection. I loved the different format, the emails back and forth between our two main characters, and it was a super fast read. I loved the concept and appreciated the work that the authors did to put so much plot into such a short story.

In The Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez, the reader gets to experience what Abby does best, which is create an experience with fully developed characters. I think this was my favorite of the collection. It was quick to read, made me go "awww" at the end of the novella. I could have certainly used more!

Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne was such a fun and even quicker read! I loved the dialogue between the Rosie and Leo, and found them both to be charming. While their relationship seemed to move extremely quick, I found it to be adorable and appreciated how much connection that they developed in this novella.

Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory also involved a bit of a quick relationship between the two main characters. I found this one to be a bit mid tier, I did enjoy, but there needed to be a bit more development of the characters or story line for me to buy fully in on this relationship. I did still enjoy it, however.

With Any Luck by Ashley Poston had timeline changes, which I imagine is hard to accomplish in such a short novella. I found it to be fun, but perhaps the most forgettable of the stories. I do like the writing style, I just didn't resonate with the story as much.

In Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson, we get a bit of a royal troupe. This was a fun story, but I do think there were better stories in the group. I found the characters to be fun though, and truly believed in their relationship, I just hate a third act breakup, especially in such a short story.

Overall, the six novellas in the Improbable Meet Cute collection were fun escape and put me in the mood for Valentines Day. I think they're a good toe dipper into romance novels, and I appreciate how the authors quickly told such great stories. I am certainly happy I spent my day reading them.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this collection. All opinions within this review are my own.

The Improbable Meet-Cute series of short stories by the biggest romance authors was the perfect gift we all needed this Valentine's Day! These short stories were full of romance, relationships and spice. I know they were short stories, but I would of loved full books for all of these. They were that good and I didnt wan't them to end!

Overall this is a really fun collection of short stories. I loved seeing how several different authors whom I love approached writing a short story meet-cute. My favourites in the collection were The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren and Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez, they were a little bit longer than the others in the collection. Reading all of these stories I would have loved to see several of them as full length novels, they left you wanting more and not ready to say goodbye to some wonderful characters. This collection is a perfect lead up to Valentine's Day.

The Improbable Meet-Cute by Christina Lauren; Abby Jimenez; Sally Thorne; Jasmine Guillory; Ashley Poston; Sariah Wilson is a super cute collection that will come out just in time for Valentine's Day. All of the authors are must reads in romance/rom coms, and this collection of short stories was super cute.

I received this anthology before the publish date in exchange for my honest review.

This collection of novellas was absolute perfection and will be an amazing addition to anyone’s collection, especially, if you love sweet Valentine’s RomCom type stories!

Some of my favorite authors are represented and these stories did not disappoint. I love that these authors paired up to create these stories that are all separate, but beautifully collaborate to create a sweet anthology.

My favorite was “Drop, Cover and Hold On” by Jasmine Guillory. This story was the perfect blend of romantic, sweet, tense, and just a little bit of steam.

I’m obsessed. Each short story, while centered around the same prompt, are all still uniquely each author. You have the heart wrenching, sassy, funny, cute, sexy, all of the feelings really, that you expect from a novel by each author just condensed and put in one place for everyone to enjoy. I absolutely love this

This was a super cute collection! I grabbed the audiobooks from KindleUnlimited and they were all well done. It’s ver hard to rate them as a collection because they were very different.

The Exception to the Rule and Worst Wingman ever were both 5 star reads for me. The Exception to the Rule just made me smile! I loved the the email exchanges and couldn’t wait for them to meet.

Worst Wingman Ever was such an Abby Jimenez story. I was impressed how a serious story involving the loss of a loved one didn’t feel too heavy. Abby can do no wrong.

With Any Luck was my third favorite. I loved the enemies to lovers vibe!

Rosie and the Dreamboat was an unusual story but cute.

I’m usually a Jasmine Guillory fan, but Drop, Cover and Hold On was probably my least favorite. Maybe because it felt very instalove.

Royal Valentine was cute!

Will provide feedback individually as I also received the Advanced Listening Copies of some of the books. Thank you for the opportunity to review this Advanced Readers Copy. I love these authors.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for an arc the Improbable Meet Cute Collection. All the novellas focus around Valentine’s Day and Meet Cute.

Worst Wingman Ever - In this one, Holly is helping her grandmother has a hospice nurse and on Valentine’s Day someone leaves a valentine on her car. The guy who dropped it was helping a friend and dropped it at the wrong car. This ends up then chatting some and dropping gifts off at her car. It’s an entertaining meet cute novella. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Drop Cover and Hold On - I always enjoy Jasmine’s characters and that she writes the story based in the San Francisco area, but I enjoyed other books of hers more. In this novella, Daisy frequents a bakery owned by Harris and on Valentine’s Day there is an earthquake which puts them in very close proximity and they realize they both have liked each other for a bit. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Exception Rule - In this one, Callum and Terra are in high school and accidentally one of them emails the other one on Valentine’s Day. Then each year they message each other and obviously they end up meeting and it’s such a cute meet cute. -⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Rosie and the Dreamboat - Rosie and her sister have a spa day where she gets locked inside a new flotation device. In comes the fire department and a meet cute. It was not my favorite in the collection, but it’s a cute novella. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I dnfed With Any Luck and Royal Valentine.

These short stories are all incredibly cute and fun! You could easily read one of the stories in one sitting. This was a fun way for me to discover new authors I’d never heard of! The only qualm I have is that I wanted more from each story. The emphasis is on the meet-cute so you don’t get a lot of what happens after and how the relationship develops. The entire short story compilation is a quick read so it’s definitely still worth the picking up! Thank you Netgalley and Amazon for the ARC.

📚 #9 of 2024
🖋️ The Exception to the Rule
🗓️ : January 23, 2024

Thank you @netgalley and Amazon original stories for giving me an advanced copy of this novella.

I'm going to make this short because all this novella did to me was make me smile from ear to ear.

Oh, the story between these two lovebirds was so cute. I'm such a sucker for 'exchange of letters' kind of story so this novella started out with these two lovebirds exchanging emails by accident.

It's a super sweet, made me all so giddy (and kilig - idk the English term for that but my fellow Filipinos will understand) throughout the whole story.

The chemistry between Callum and Terra was so undeniable and you could feel it pop out from the pages itself. I could not wait for them to meet each other for real!

Mind you it's a typical story but the way Christina Lauren did it was amazing. I just couldn't stop smiling so wide reading this.

I wasn't expecting much from this read so it was such a beautiful surprised that I enjoyed it this much.

I highly recommend it especially if you're looking for a very cute fell good read - there's also tons of LOL moments. Christina Lauren's definitely on my auto buy list now since I loved her The Unhoneymooners too.

📚 #10 of 2024
🖋️ Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez
🗓️ : January 23, 2024

Thank you @netgalley and Amazon original stories for giving me an advanced copy of this novella.

Blurb: Holly is grappling with her grandmother's imminent passing and navigating the aftermath of a difficult breakup. Amidst the challenges, a Valentine's Day card appears on Holly's windshield, albeit not intended for her. What starts as a humorous mix-up transforms into a delightful exchange of anonymous notes, small gestures of kindness, and the blossoming of an unexpected connection between two strangers. How will their story unfold when the time comes for one of them to bid farewell?

This is my first Abby Jimenez and it's such a cute story. Once again, it got me hooked because of the exchange of notes between Holly and John. Like I said before, I am a sucker for notes/letters exchange in books.

One of the quotes from the book stood out for me and it was:

"Take responsibility for your own unhappiness. If you don't love your life, change it."

The relationship between Holly and her grandmother was so beautiful too. I love how close Holly was and her family and the relationship she had with her mom & sister. It was also adorable that there's a dog involved in the story. It was definitely an enjoyable meet-cute story and I'm definitely looking forward to more books from Abby Jimenez.

OMG. What a cute story. Hilarious too. Absolutely loved it! The banter between Rosie and Leo was just pure *chefs kiss* I love the chemistry between the two and how can you not love a firefighter hero huh? This is one novella that you shouldn't miss. I'm glad I got this collection to go through because this just made me want to watch out for the rest of Sally Thorne's books! I was crushing on Leo the entire time I was reading it. I was also listening to it on KU and the narrator did a fantastic job doing both Rosie and Leo's voice. They're both dreamboats!

✨ Spoiler Free Review of The Improbable Meet-Cute Collection Part 2 ✨

Okay, so for the last three books I don't have a lot to say. To be honest, they were just meh for me. It was fun that they sort of made it seem like it's one big universe (all 6 books) because they referred to some of the characters from the other novellas on certain books. Am I making any sense? Lol.

Drop cover and hold on - it was a a quick meet cute and happened during an earthquake and the couple got stuck somewhere forcing them to interact and obviously found out that they liked each other and poof - kissy kiss.

For Royal Valentine - do you guys know the movie, Roman Holiday? So, it's like that. Just shorter. But you kinda get the concept. A princess who is fed up of her title and just wanted to be free for 2 days - free of the paparazzi and the responsibilities of her role. Then met a Scottish photographer (whoever has read this please message me because I have some problems with the 'plot'? LOL) I was listening to this as well on KU and got some issues with the accents of the narrator. Lol

With Any Luck - just about the girl who is always lucky with everything except love. Lots of references to pop culture and a whole lot cliche ish. It's like the movie The Hangover plus My Best Friend's Wedding.

So, I liked that fact that they made it into one big universe. I didn't relate or felt anything when I was reading the last three books but again - maybe it wasn't for me? I felt like there wasn't that much of a plot and it was just vibe but I couldn't feel for any of the three characters in the last 3 books. That's why I just opted to add the blurb above to see if any of these might interest you guys.

I'm still grateful for the advanced reader's copy of these novellas. It was a quick read/listen. So, again like all the other books in this collection - these are perfect for the upcoming love season.

Overall a cute collection of stories revolving around Valentine’s Day. I had hoped there would be a thread connecting the various stories (a recurring character, the same pastry or card, something similar) but these are not connected in that way. Each one had their merits with a happily-ever-after thrown in at the end. Entertaining and fun. Recommended for quick reads.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Originals for the ARC of this collection.

I absolutely adored each and everyone of these stories. Yes, some more than others. But they were all perfect, heart-warming, meet-cute stories. All centered around Valentine's Day.

The Improbable Meet Cute Collection is out now!!

@christinalauren Abby Jimenez @sallythorneauthor @heyashposton @jasminepics @sariahwilson411 have put together 6 short stories to fill your Valentine meet cute needs.

They are available now free in KU with FREE audio for US members.

I loved Christina Laurens, I cried in Abby's, I laughed so hard in Sally's (the audio on this one is very cool! Loved the sound effects they did. Then we get hangover vibes! A princess in hiding to have a little adventure of her own.
These were sweet fun and flirty! We don't get any explicit scenes except an almost scene in book 1 and a small scene in book 4.

Thank you netgalley and all of the authors for this ARC

My story rankings:
#1: With Any Luck, Ashley Poston
#2: Drop, Cover, and Hold On, Jasmine Guillory
#3: Rosie and the Dreamboat, Sally Thorne
#4: Royal Valentine, Sariah Wilson
#5: The Exception to the Rule, Christina Lauren
#6: Worst Wingman Ever, Abby Jimenez

I think I would have ended the anthology with Ashley’s instead and bumped Jasmine’s to number two.

Overall anthology rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5


The Exception to the Rule, Christina Lauren

This one was meh. Epistolary romances aren't my favorite, especially in audio because the poor narrators had to keep repeating the email addresses and sending info. I did like both of the narrators though. And I liked when they stopped emailing and started interacting in person—even they didn’t know who each other were. The ending was cute!

What I didn’t like was that the first real glimpse we got of him outside of the emails was him with an ex? Like yeah he wasn’t interested but it left a bad taste. Also it felt like a not like other girls thing juxtaposing the ex to the heroine. The ex literally read like a bad joke. C&L could’ve done better.

Also they kept talking about him giving good dick but of course there wasn’t a sex scene. Boooo! Don’t tease me like that (they kept teasing me like that).

✨Epistolary (You’ve Got Mail esque without rivalry)
✨College/grad school
✨TA/Student
✨Hidden identity
✨Valentine’s Day
✨Multiole-year time span

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 0🌶️/5

CWs: Cancer (in remission, mother), Cancer (death, father), Pandemic references 👎 (the pandemic isn’t over!!!)



Worst Wingman Ever, Abby Jimenez

I’m so sorry but watching a grandparent die on page is just something I’m not into. Like we’ve got so little space in this *romance* novella and we’re going to focus on that??? Now I’m just sad!! That grandma was metal as hell though. I also didn’t realize Abby Jimenez writes her own bakery into her stories lolol. Respect.

This felt SUPER abrupt. It was about a half hour shorter than the Christina Lauren one and definitely felt like it. Yes the anthology is about meet cutes, but literally the story ended just as he asked her out on a date. I needed to see them on the date??? An epilogue would’ve been nice! They were cute but I barely got to know them let alone as a couple. This was not a romcom lmao.

✨Fake Secret Admirer
✨Surprise dog adoption
✨Mini epistolary (leaving notes for each other)
✨Hidden identity
✨Bearded hero
✨Valentine’s Day
✨First hero-could-rival-Brendan-Fraser reference of the anthology

Narrator performance: Mama likey Zachary Webber 🤤 I’ve been a fan of Andi Arndt for a while, and she didn’t disappoint here.

⭐️⭐️.5/5 0🌶️/5

CWs: Heroine is a hospice nurse, Grandparent in hospice, References of dementia, References of death (off page), Animal cruelty, Cheating (neither MC), Funeral



Rosie and the Dreamboat, Sally Thorne

This one is was cute! I like that Sally wrote it after being in a sensory deprivation tank herself. I would’ve liked a little flash forward epilogue, but they were on the same page together for most of the novella so we did get a good sense of their chemistry.

✨Valentine’s Day
✨Local plant lady
✨Dreamboat firefighter
✨Forced proximity
✨Damsel in (naked) distress

Narrator performance: I know Bailey Carr from A Good Girls Guide to Murder (loved!) so it was weird to not think this was YA, but I love her voice and she always gives a good performance. The was the first single POV/single narrator story of the anthology.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 0🌶️/5

CWs: Trapped in small space, Bullying (past recounted)




Drop, Cover, and Hold On, Jasmine Guillory

We finally got a kiss! And an erection! There’s nothing like a good we-almost-died make-out and almost third base sesh. This is the first novella in the anthology where they actually kiss on page lol. This felt like it could’ve been pulled out of the If the Sky Is Falling anthology which is a HUGE plus.

This one felt more like a full story because it didn’t only center meet-cute…which didn’t even happy because it was a meet-disaster almost? I felt like I got to know the characters more.

✨Valentine’s Day
✨Baker hero
✨Pastry porn
✨Forced proximity
✨Grumpy/sunshine

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5 🌶️/5

CWs: Earthquake



With Any Luck, Ashley Poston

Oh this was for sure my favorite of the anthology!!! I’ve come to the conclusion that Ashley Poston owns me. Maybe I should go watch the Hangover because this was perfect. Of course, I’d read a full length novel, but beggars can’t be choosers.

The premise was so fun! Every time she kisses someone, they meet the love of their life the next day—except for her. It made for some fun tension. Compounded by her being the best man and the hero being the maid of honor at their respective best friends’ wedding…until they misplace the groom. The story felt very well rounded and complete!

I loved the set up and the minor memory loss so we could piece together what happened at the same time as the heroine. Like Jasmine Guillory’s, there was kissing! And almost third basing (on page)!

✨Hangover-esque missing groom
✨She’s the best man
✨He’s the maid of honor
✨Valentine’s Day
✨Second hero-could-rival-Brendan-Fraser reference of the anthology
✨Second chance-ish
✨Temporary amnesia (alcohol induced)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🌶️/5

CWs: Alcohol use



Royal Valentine, Sariah Wilson

I think this was the longest story in the bunch, and I guess that means there was room for a breakup? It was bad but wasting time in novellas with breakups is a bit annoying. It was a cute little Roman holiday novella, but pretty forgettable.

✨Undercover royalty
✨”Twin” swap
✨When in Rome
✨Scottish hero
✨Valentine’s Day

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5 0🌶️/5

I received an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

Thank you @netgalley for these short stories. I normally don't reach for short stories since I usually want more from a story.

These 6 stories are all centered on Valentine's Day and written by some of my favorite authors. They are a lot of fun and gets you in the mood for some love.

What an absolutely amazing collection of authors and beautiful minds brought together for this collection - so many of my favorites! Each of these six stories was utter perfection! I couldn’t have asked for more!!

Christina Lauren - The Exception to the Rule:
Told in a series of emails over 10 years for the first half, starting out by accident and then continuing annually on Valentine’s Day.
A pair became friends and then more over a decade until things finally move into reality. So good when it goes into real paragraphs and not just emails and we get more details about the characters. I loved it!

Abby Jimenez - Worst Wingman Ever:
I’m so happy to have read 2 Abby stories this year, because they’re easily my top 2024 reads (yes, and it’s still January! Have you read this one and Just For the Summer yet? Special books!).
A hospice nurse caring for her ailing grandmother forms a bond with a stranger leaving notes on her car, starting by accident. When they eventually meet in person and discover the connection… so special!

Sally Thorne - Rosie and the Dreamboat:
Oh, so cute! Who hasn’t wondered about those fancy, newfangled floating things at the spa? The sensory deprivation tanks?
Rosie’s experience getting stuck inside a brand new one when she and her sister go for a galentine’s pampering day and having to be rescued by the jaws of life (and a cute voiced firefighter) has me traumatized about experiencing it for myself now - but makes for a great novella!

Jasmine Guillory - Drop, Cover, and Hold On:
Daisy happens to make a stop in her favorite bakery on Valentine’s Day when she’s promised herself she won’t, because the owner doesn’t like her and makes his opinion known. She walks in the door, he says they’re sold out of baked goods (being late in the day), and… an earthquake hits, trapping them in, alone together!
While they wait for rescue, they end up talking and sharing the couple of items he’s saved (for her!), they admit exactly what they think about each other. A perfect Valentine’s Day earthquake escape!

Ashley Poston - With Any Luck:
You know the story - the person who’s that one… the unlucky guy or girl who people date before meeting “the one”? Meet Audrey, unfortunate last name Love! The night before being Best Gal at her bestie’s wedding, she had too much to drink and he’s missing now - did they kiss and he figured out he shouldn’t get married now?
The groom is missing and now she’s teamed up with the bride’s bestie to re-trace their steps and find out what happened and where he is (and really getting to know the Man of Honor at the same time)!

Sariah Wilson - Royal Valentine:
I love that we had some flashbacks to characters from our other beloved Sariah Wilson series! That, plus connections to the other Meet-Cute novellas…
Princess Ilaria pulls a swap with an assistant so she can spend a few days on holiday as an unknown and not a Royal. Little does she know she’s going to wind up at the mercy of a local sibling pair who take her in, and ends up getting so much more than anyone bargained for.
I think this might be my favorite of the collection because it’s so related to all her other books that I love so much!

This whole collection is incredible and I definitely recommend that everyone get all 6 novellas (pick up the full audio collection or each individually from KU )! Soooo goood!!


I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories, and this is my honest feedback.