Review: Meet Cute Diary

Title: Meet Cute Diary

Author: Emery Lee

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication date: May 4, 2021

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org | Book Depository | Goodreads | StoryGraph

Summary

Noah Ramirez runs the popular blog, Meet Cute Diary, which is a collection of trans happily ever afters. The only problem? They’re all fake, even though people think they’re real. What started as a way for Noah to live out his fantasies suddenly became a beacon of hope for trans people on the internet.

When a new blog pops up claiming that all of Noah’s stories are fake, he scrambles to find a way to fix it. So, he starts fake dating Drew, the cute guy he met at the bookstore. However, real feelings start to creep in the longer they continue their fake relationship. Noah quickly realizes that real relationships are very different from fictional ones.

Review: Meet Cute Diary

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this to review! It was just the meet cute romance that I needed as the weather gets warmer. While it has a few flaws, I absolutely flew through this book!

Yes, enemies to lovers is my favorite trope, but fake dating might become a close second! Especially fake dating that leads to real relationships. While the trajectory of the relationship was a bit predictable, I enjoyed seeing Noah get to fall in love and experience traditional romance tropes. It’s great to have such a happy, upbeat book for a trans main character!

Noah’s friendship with Devin is probably one of the best things about this book. Devin is questioning eir gender and pronouns, and e and Noah have some great conversations about it. For a teen who is also questioning their gender, seeing this play out on a page with a character who changes eir pronouns with a friend who just rolls with the punches? Priceless. Much needed representation.

That being said, Noah isn’t the most likeable main character. He has a lot of maturing to do, which makes sense because he’s 16! But he has a lot of great support around him, people who are incredibly patient. And his brother! I loved getting to see his support in the book and to have him stand up for Noah at points, too. I would have a loved a little more growth from Noah in the book, but by the end, you can definitely tell that he’s headed in the right direction.

All in all, if you’re looking for a swoon worthy rom-com, this one is for you! Emery Lee is definitely one to keep an eye on.

4/5 stars