Review: Meet Cute by Jennifer L. Armentrout, et al.

Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date.

Meet Cute by JLA + more
pub 1/2/18 by HMH Books for
Young Readers
Young Adult - Contemporary
Received from pub for review111

Plot • Meet Cute is anthology of short stories by some of my favorite YA authors all revolving around the first moment when two people meet and where it goes from there. And let's be real – who doesn't love a good meet cute? There's something special about that moment whether the circumstances are sweet, funny, like something out of a movie or even disastrous.

Characters & Writing • (I'm combining these two since it's a little difficult to write them separately for a group of authors.) For each of these stories, the author has a short amount of time to grab the reader's attention and make them feel invested. For me, the #1 way to do this (whether it's a short story or full-length novel) is through the characters and of course, solid writing. So it's no surprise which ones ended up being my favorites because these authors are pros at doing both:

• Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno: Messy, complicated and kissing. Exactly what you'd expect! 
• Print Shop by Nina LaCour: I've never read anything by her before but this story showed me why she's so popular. (Plus I was kinda nerding out over the social media and website stuff in the plot.) 
• The Intern by Sara Shepard: Music, walking around the city, alternative POVs. 
• Oomph by Emery Lord: An airport meet cute by Emery? Yes yes yes.
• The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout: My absolute fave in the anthology, which doesn't surprise me. It's just so sweet and the perfect story for my book/library-loving heart.
• The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love by Jocelyn Davies: Statistics, subway rides and chance = my second fave.

Overall feelings • I really enjoyed this anthology! Of the 14 stories, I loved the 6 mentioned, liked a few others and "DNFed" a couple. For me, that's pretty good!

What's your favorite meet-cute in books/movies/TV? • My favorite is when Celine and Jesse from Before Sunrise meet on a train. They're sitting across from each other reading when a couple sitting near them start to argue loudly. They share a look and soon begin talking (and eventually he convinces her to spend 24 hours in Vienna with him).