Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
CW: Transphobia, Manipulation, Money Problems, Moving Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Cyberbullying, Social Media Anxiety, Toxic Relationship, Past Suicide Attempt, Past Bullying, Microaggressions, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Vomit, Described Gender Dysphoria
4.5/5
I am not one for the Meet Cute trope because they aren't realistic and don't feel like the safest way to meet someone. I want to know someone before I fall for them. For this reason, I had been avoiding Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee although it has been on my TBR list for a while. Finally, I took another look at the description and realized that Meet Cutes not being realistic is exactly what the book was about. I downloaded it to my phone immediately and fell in love with it.
Noah, a Tumblr blogger and trans teenager, is in Colorado for the summer while his parents work on setting up a new home in California. Leaving his best friend behind at the time his blog receives a determined troll, he needs help to keep his blog going. This blog, "The Meet Cute Diary" anonymously posts fake Meet Cutes featuring trans folks stumbling upon love. While the fans are misled to believe the blog posts are true stories, the blog is meant to inspire hope. Noah soon gets a Meet Cute of his own with a blog fan and starts to fake date him in an effort to squash the troll. Along the way Noah learns more about what he truly wants in a relationship, his future, and for the blog.
I was not immediately hooked because I didn't like Noah all that much. He is careless with his parents' money, a problem which is only barely solved. Thankfully his other flaws gave him a place to grow from. As Noah started to face consequences and learn from them, I got hooked on Meet Cute Diary. He has a problem with boundaries, rash decisions, and living in the real world. All realistic for a teen and all of these helped to build the story. Noah is lucky to have a good support system and learns not to take it for granted.
For every queer Tumblr kid (past and present), Meet Cute Diary is going to feel like a familiar setting. The site functions are described well, the users are painfully real, and Noah's stress over follower numbers really took me back to high school. Lee handles world building in a way that connects for both those in-the-know and those that aren't. E seems to be very good at world building in general. I have never been to Colorado, but I could understand what the summer camp, mountain, bookstore, and more were like. I could step into Noah's summer and didn't want to leave any more than he did.
I know there are others out there, but this is the first contemporary YA romcom (my favorite genre) that I've read with a trans main character. I've read some in the genre by trans authors, but it makes me happy to read about a trans teen finding love, especially with a genderqueer love interest. By halfway through the book, Noah finds himself in a love triangle. Drew, the fan, and Devon, his summer camp co-worker. Devon uses the same pronouns as Lee, E/Em/Eir/Eirs. Throughout the book, Noah and Devon inspire each other to be their more authentic selves. For Devon, this includes experimenting with pronouns. Noah never bats an eye. I am a cis person, so it is not my place to rank how well the trans experience was incorporated into the book, but I will say that it made me feel happy and as though everything flowed well.
Remember if you choose to read Meet Cute Diary that messy characters do not equal a messy book. Characters make mistakes which makes them that much more real. For the Tumblr kids and those that want to see more trans love stories, check Lee's book out! I could really use some folks to gush about this one with!
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