Sunday, July 5, 2020

"Meet Cute" - Short Story Collection Review -


“Meet Cute”
Written by various authors
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia
Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet

Meet Cute is a young adult short story collection written by many popular authors. The collection is full of ‘meet cutes’, which are the moments or scenes that love interest characters meet for the first time. These popular and well-loved experiences are sought after in romantic or romantic comedy films and are often remembered for years to come. When creating meet cutes, the author needs to make the characters interesting and appealing. They also must introduce a small plot, so we can imagine where the story may go. These short stories vary differently, with some introducing very bland characters or plots, which have not paid off successfully. However, I did enjoy the collection as a whole.

The first story in the collection kicked off in an unsatisfying way. Sadly, “Siege Etiquette”, written by Katie Cotugno, followed the vein of characters who instantly do not like each other, due to a massive clash of personalities. I liked the setting of the story: a high school party bathroom, where two characters ride out the police attempting to break up the party. I just did not enjoy the characters.

Next is “Print Shop” by Nina LaCour, about a teen girl who begins her new job at a print shop. Her new bosses are eccentric and a tad lazy. She finds that she needs to rush an order, to be delivered as soon as possible. She searches through social media and develops a small crush on the client. This was cute, but I would feel it could be perceived creepy if she was a male searching on social media then crushing on the client. I liked how this story had a problem and solution, rather than a couple meeting on a bus bench.

“Hourglass” by Ibi Zoboi did not impress. About a girl searching for her prom dress, we receive tons of information about her that hardly feels relevant, as if it is padding the story with filter. The boy she meets seems nice. The end. I do not know if the author’s writing style appealed enough for me that I plan to read her work, Pride.

I very much enjoyed “Click” by Katharine McGee. A slightly futuristic, possibly sci-fi story, it includes the tale of Alex and Raden, who meet when Alexa loses her phone. We realize she is creating an app to be able to communicate with dead friends and family, almost reminiscent of the Black Mirror episode, “Be Right Back”. I enjoyed the writing style, characters, and conflict.

“The Intern” hails from a childhood favorite author, Sara Shepard, of the Pretty Little Liars and The Amateurs. Her story was relatively enjoyable, about a teen female intern who must help a teen heartthrob musician travel through New York City. Clara struggles with the demons of loss of a parent, while Phineas comforts her. Although some of the dialogue and plot of the story is a tad cheesy, I would read this if it was turned into a novel.

“Somewhere That’s Green” by Meredith Russo stars a young transgendered teen named Nia and her castmate from Little Shop of Horrors, Lexie. Nia feels out of place in high school, as she strives to receive equal treatment, while Lexie hopes to help. It was a tad disinteresting to me, but I can appreciate the author’s writing style and effort place into the story.

Dhonielle Clayton’s “The Way We Love Here” is a folklore-based fantasy story about a couple who are tied by destiny, who have the opportunity to see their future in a few different scenarios. I felt that this was a unique story, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the story.

Emery Lord’s “Oomph” is an absolute favorite story from this collection, following two sweet female teens, Joanna and Cassidy, who meet in an airport. Full of funny Marvel references, the characters chat about mysteries, college plans, and their futures. We leave on an exciting and very cute gay ending, leaving us wishing this was adapted into a full-length book. I eagerly anticipate looking into this author. I have absolutely no complaints about this story, and I highly appreciate the music suggestion that the story ends on, “Pretty Girl in an Airport”. What an adorable song.

The next story in the collection is “The Dictionary of You and Me” is by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It follows a young man and woman who have a cute, Sleepless in Seattle-like romance. She works for a library and must convince him to bring back a book. They have developed a phone conversation friendship, but now we see them meet. This was a pretty good one, but it wasn’t a favorite.

“The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love” was written by Jocelyn Davies. This is a cute, New York City set story, in which a statistical wonder meets a cute boy on the subway by chance. Our narrator explains how unlikely that it would be they’d meet again, but we see him wear his same blue hoodie every time they see each other, so she knows it’s him. Finally, they both get off the separate subway and finally are able to speak to each other. I liked this one.

“259 Million Miles” hails from the science fiction teen queen, Kass Morgan. As a dear fan of her series, The 100 and its television adaptation, I was eager to begin this story. Unfortunately, I felt unimpressed by nearly everything other than its setting: a space mission preparation base. I did not enjoy the cheesy, ‘teen’ dialogue, characters, or plot.

“Something Real” by Julie Murphy was my second favorite in this collection. A massive fan of the Dumplin’ series, I felt my previous love for the author to continue through this story. June, the head of the fan club for a famous boy singer, Dylan, has the chance to enter a competition to win a date with him. After a grueling and terrible experience in the game and learning her hero is a jerk, June finds a romantic interest with her competition. Loved it and would love to read it in a full-length novel.

“Say Everything” felt supremely disappointed, with the bad boy character giving off creepy vibes, rather than being a cool, smarmy outsider. I did enjoy the creation of the narrator’s ‘Book of Lost Opportunities’. It’s a cool journal idea.

“The Department of Dead Love” was a massive let down. I have not read Nicola Yoon’s work yet, but I was really disheartened by this story. The setting is an eponymous office, in which a male teen goes for an autopsy, to see why his relationship fell apart, only to fall in love with the receptionist. It felt like a cheesy episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which is an insult to Sabrina.

In conclusion, the sweet and entertaining interactions played out musically. I enjoyed many of the LGBT-friendly stories and the stories from diverse authors. I felt invested in many of the stories, which outweighed the ones I did not enjoy. Many stories in the collection would have been great to read in long length. The problem with meet cutes is that although the gimmick of this collection was fun, it feels empty, because we may never see the promise of these characters. Nearly each story feels incomplete, like you’ve only read a chapter from a full-length novel. I recommend this collection, but I perhaps would suggest to look over the ones I disliked.

I rate this collection at four out of five stars.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for sending an advance reading copy, in exchange for my honest review. Sorry I took so long to read it.

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