Review: Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free eARC novel from the author and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a great group of stories! Of course, my only 5 star rating was Jennifer L. Armentrouts - the only reason I HAD to get this anthology - but I did enjoy a few 4 star ratings as well! I may need to re-visit this later when I want another feel good book.

Here are my reviews and thoughts of the 14 novels in this anthology, breaking it down for my thoughts right after I read the stories :)

SIEGE ETIQUETTE by Katie Cotugno
4 stars
Hailey is at a high school house party when the cops show up. Everyone hides, knowing they will leave when no one gives them a reason to enter the house, and Hailey ends up hiding upstairs in the bathroom with Wolf, a fellow senior who always misses the first part of school because he works at his family’s farm. And Hailey, as the most popular girl in their class, you couldn’t have put too different people together in the same room. But after the incident in Hailey’s life, she decides to try to get to know Wolf and not be the jerk that she used to be. But will that change everything in school?

There are so many questions I have and no answers!! Ahhh!! So short, so sweet, so bitter ending, and I just need to know more!! I wonder if the author is going to write a full length novel of this?? One thing, the second person point of view threw me for a little bit, but just when I was getting used to it, it ended! Oh, the agony!


PRINT SHOP by Nina LaCour
3 stars
Evelyn is at her first day at Print Shop, the local, 30 year business where they make flyers/posters/banners – anything that needs to be printed. Evie doesn’t like being in the spotlight since she is queer and knows that not a lot of people are comfortable around her, so working at the Print Shop is great since they don’t have a website. But part of her job is to start mainstreaming the business to get more customers. When one customer, Lauren, makes a lot of bad noise about them because of a typo, Evie needs to figure out how to control the situation before it gets out of control. And she needs to figure out why she is getting flutters in her stomache when she thinks of Lauren.

This was a cute story. It was full of anticipation and mystery, seeing as how we didn’t find out Evie’s name until well past halfway through the novel! And there was just as much mystery and suspense at the end of the novel, since the reader doesn’t really find out too much about the characters or their decisions.


HOURGLASS by Ibi Zoboi
2 stars
Cherish has always been the odd person out in her town as one of the few black families in a white town, and it doesn’t help that she’s 6’ 5” tall. When her best friend – Stacy’s – ex-boyfriend made a terrible meme of Cherish, she knew she had to leave this small town and go somewhere she will fit it, so going to college far away is her dream goal. Then Cherish finds out that Stacy has been lying to her for months, and it is even more ammunition for her to leave. It’s only when she meets Mamadou, a black guy she can look up at and finds out that he’s going to school in this small white town that Cherish starts to think about what is best for her future.

This was a good novel. There was a lot of drama about prom, which I was never into as a high schooler so I couldn’t really relate to, and I couldn’t relate to the problems Cherish was going through either. I would like to think that things started to work out for her and that she had a happy ending, though!


CLICK by Katharine McGee
3 stars
In the year 2020, a new app came out called Click, where they use althograms to match you with the perfect person. Alexa and Raden decided to try this app, for two completely different reasons. Just when Alexa met Raden, she realizes that she left her phone in the taxi. Losing a phone is not a big deal, but Alexa created her own data app that can “bring a person back to life” using their online data and it is on a chip that is connected to her phone. Alexa needs this chip so she and Raden go on an adventure to find it. And they may be going on another adventure all together.

Very cute story. I loved how different Alexa and Raden are, and I love how easy going Raden was about jumping around town after a taxi to find her phone. And even though this is a short story, I loved the background stories we got for both characters.


THE INTERN by Sara Shepard
2 stars
Clara is working as an intern at her father’s music production company, but she’s not really working. They are just giving her magazines to read and everyone is walking on glass around her. Since her mom passed away, Clara has been treated differently and has been a shell of herself. So when she was given the task to pick up Phineas, an up-and-coming musician, she was happy for a task. And the way Phineas got Clara to open up about herself and her mother was something no one has done yet, so the connection between them might have been the thing Clara needed.

The connection between Phineas and Clara was a bit strained for me, but overall it was a good short story. The problem with short stories is the reader can’t get all of the details of the characters, which in this case made it a little harder for me to connect with the characters.


SOMEWHERE THAT’S GREEN by Meredith Russo
2 stars
Nia has been trying to get her school to allow her, a transgender, to use the girls bathroom for a year since she changed genders. And things were looking up for her, until Lexie gave a speech about how scared she felt about the thought of letting her, and then other boys who claimed they were transgender, into her bathroom. But Lexie has her own deep secret, and she doesn’t necessarily feel this way – it was just what she was told to say about her parents. Neither Lexie nor Nia have talked to one another, but one night at a party changes all of that.

I can honestly say that this might be the first transgender story I’ve read. I don’t have anything against these kind of stories, just that I can’t really relate to them that well. And I didn’t connect with this story as I would have with different characters, but I learned a lot about the feelings and thoughts that they go through every day, which makes me sad. I enjoyed this book and am glad that this was my first story about this topic.


THE WAY WE LOVE HERE by Dhonielle Clayton
4 stars
Viola is asking the gods to show her who her true love is, when she saves a boy, Sebastian, from drowning in the ocean behind her parents inn. They both have the same number of lines on their fingers – a sign that they might be each other’s soul mate. Vio is tired of waiting to see what will happen, so they ensnare with each other to see their futures. But there are too many variables, and when it is all said and done, they have no idea what their future holds. One thing is for certain, though: Vio and Sebastian have intruded each other’s lives from that moment on.

This was a very interesting story! There was a hint of magic and superstition, but also a feel of an islander’s life where they are living in the archaic times. I couldn’t quite tell if this was a historic story or a futuristic story. Though I kept imagining Vio looked like Moana from the movie, haha! I really liked how different this was from anything I’ve read, and I wish I had more to read!


OOMPH by Emery Lord
4 stars
Cassidy is at the airport at JFK flying back home after visiting the college that she may or may not want to go to next year, when she met a cute girl in the waiting room. Since Cassidy wants to be an actress, they started calling each other Peggy (Cass’s new name) and Natasha (the pretty redhead) after Marvel characters. Cass can’t tell if “Natasha” is gay or not, but she is crushing hard core on her. When their planes start to board, Cass has to decide if she wants to take the plunge, or think it wasn’t meant to be.

This was adorable. I loved the “cos-play” they were doing at the airport and how they really got into their roles at the beginning, and then how serious and real they became when they were getting to know each other. You do get to find out “Natasha’s” name in the end, and it was a definitely a feel-good story for any reader, I think 


THE DICTIONARY OF YOU AND ME by Jennifer L. Armentrout
5 stars
Moss goes to work at the public library 3 days of the week, and almost always during 1 of those days, she calls Mr. H. Smith to remind him that the dictionary he checked out is over 4 months overdue. The conversations they have start with the dictionary, but little bits of information come through about both of them, so it feels like Moss knows H. Smith, even though they have never met. And she thinks he may sound her age, but you can never tell with someone’s voice. He is definitely a mystery, and then one day he shows up with the missing dictionary, and Moss’s life may change forever.

O. M. G.!!! A JLA book about library related things??? This seriously is the best thing in my life right now!! Though – one thing – you can’t really go to undergraduate college to get a degree in library science – that doesn’t happen until you get a graduate degree. But other than that? PERFECT!! I loved the banter on the phone with the mystery man, and then when he came in they were still bantering and flirting and it was just wonderful. I think JLA needs to make this a whole novel, maybe a series, and relate it to libraries and I will die happily! Gah, so glad I got this short story and I may have to re-read this one over and over again :D


THE UNLIKELY LIKELIHOOD OF FALLING IN LOVE by Jocelyn Davies
4 stars
Samara, Sam, is a mathematician and taking AP Statistics, so when she gets a month long project worth 50% of her grade, she decides to do it on the percentage on how often she will see the guy she fell in love with by locking eyes with him in the subway trains. Not that likely, right? But Sam is putting in every effort to get all of the data and statistics she needs to ace this project. Or is she doing it because she really thinks she fell in love with him, and wants to see him again?

This was a cute story. Very mathy, which I’m okay with, though statistics is a bit much for my brain at this stage in my life, but I enjoyed it none the less! And Sam is such a nerd – she will go far in life! The ending was adorable!


259 MILLION MILES by Kass Morgan
4 stars
Philip is one of the last few contestants to possibly take a one-way trip to Mars and help start a new civilization there. And he needs to go, after his viral embarrassing event he just had at school. He needs to go far away so no one will remember the one mistake he made in his life. The last part of the trials he has to do is spend 24 hours in a shuttle to see how he does in closed spaces, and how he will react. He is also bunking with Blythe, a girl full of life and emotion and curiosity. Spending 24 hours alone with a person is difficult, but it can also change you as a person. Philip is about to experience that with Blythe.

I enjoyed this! It kind of reminded me of the movie The Space Between Us and I adore that movie. Philip is still in the stages of high school bullying, so he has some growing to do as a person, and Blythe is just fun and amazing and so free-spirited. I loved the context of this story and wouldn’t mind a follow-up to see what happens to them!


SOMETHING REAL by Julie Murphy
3 stars
June is a huge fan of teen musician Dylan, and she gets a rare chance of a life-time to compete for a date with him – in a mini tv show of course. And she has one other competitor: Martha. June created a huge mass internet fan-site for Dylan and Martha is doing this for her older sister who died listening to his song. But the more that June and Martha see and listen to Dylan, the more they realize they were in this competition for the wrong reasons. And the more they realize that they could be friends rather than enemies.

This was a good story. It was the stereotypical story of a popular boy who doesn’t think about anyone but himself and had a lot of controversial issues that were brought up throughout the story. I didn’t really connect with the characters that well, but I think other readers will enjoy this one.


SAY EVERYTHING by Huntley Fitzpatrick
3 stars
Everytime Sean comes into the diner, Emma can’t seem to keep her eyes off of him. There’s nothing special about him and he always orders an iced tea – nothing else. When he asks her out on a date – awkwardly – she awkwardly says yes and they agree to meet the next day. But Sean’s surprise turns out to be a nightmare, because the worst thing that happened to her involves Sean as well. But she can’t deny the attraction she always felt for him before finding his out secrets, so Emma is going to need to figure out what to do.

This was a little bit different than where I thought the book was going, and I actually found myself skimming part of the story, which in my mind is not that good since it’s a short story. But I did like the overall message. I think, again, it’s because of the second person point of view and having the word “you” used like it was supposed to be me as Emma. I’m figuring out real quick that second point of view is not my thing.


THE DEPARTMENT OF DEAD LOVE by Nicola Yoon
3 stars
When Samantha broke up with Thomas, he wanted to know why. He’s known her since they were 6 years old, and they should be happy and still together, but they are not. He goes to the Department of Dead Love and the HeartWorker, Gabrielle, decides to do a scan on him and Samantha to find the cause of death for their love. When Thomas gets a choice to start again and see if they can make it last, he is unsure if he wants to have his memories of Gabrielle wiped clean.

This was a different kind of novel. Something that I haven’t found yet in YA literature, so it was very refreshing for me. It was a bit weird keeping up with it at first, but it got easier the further along in the story I got. It was sort of futuristic but today’s times as well. Glad I read it!

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