Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee | Book Review

Genre: YA Fiction, Contemporary, Romcom, LGBTQIA+
Publication: Harper Collins
No. of Pages: 400
Book Type: Standalone
My Rating: 5/5
Trigger Warning: Suicide mentions, Cyber harassment, Panic attack, Anxiety, Trans misogyny

Blurb

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script.

Noah: Protagonist
Brian: Noah’s elder brother
Becca: Noah’s best friend from Florida
Maggie: Brian’s girlfriend
Devin: The guy from summer camp

Plot:

Super cute romantic drama. I loved the plot of the story. I started to read this on a whim, and I did not know anything about this book. I will tell you one thing I was captivated from the beginning. The plot felt so real and believable to me, I know that is what contemporary books are supposed to be right? But, still my heart is all mushy after completing this book… I felt deeply connected to everything that was going on in the story.

Writing & Theme

The book is written frrom MC’s POV where he explains his emotions on what he is thinking and how everything is going on. And these feelings and emotions made the book come alive. I would say this is one of the finest writings I have read in any coming of age rom-com book. Also, I used to find the coming of age books are a little annoying than in general fiction / fantasy / thrillers – because we can sometimes see ourselves in the teenagers and we can feel the things they do out of recklessness, should be put to a stop. However, I did not feel that way here. I absolutely enjoyed Noah and his rants and banters. I guess that is probably the teenager in me speaking. Also, I am no-one to say about the trans and pronoun representations made in the book – but I would say I loved how Emery talked so dearly about the trans characters and the eir community – I am in awe. I loved the diversity represented in this book.

Characters

I enjoyed Noah and could relate to him on many levels. I could see him getting anxious and overthinking things – which I totally relate to. Also, I am someone who had to move a lot of places because of my parent;’s jobs and I could see where Noah’s anxiety was coming from. I felt validated too when I read Noah’s character – because I have faced things similar to what he faced and I reacted almost the same way Noah did. I loved that Noah had a brother to share things with, and that Brian was a really understanding person too. I enjoyed Devin as e was really a giving kind of soul. I loved how e explored eir identity and tried to be so open about it with eir close friends.

Romance

Nothing hot or spicy but this book had a really intimate feeling throughout. It is apt for YA readers. Remeber how it feels good to fall in love for the first time and it turns out the guy you have been in love with loves you back – that there, that is the feeling I got while reading this book. It was so calming and brave!

Overall

This book gave me so much to learn about. So many pronouns I had no idea existed. I really feel so happy to have read this book. It is a cute romance, super funny and a really happy book.
Read it if you love: YA Romcoms, Comtemporary romance, want to read a book with LGBTQIA+ representation or you want to read something to come out of your reading slump!