The most notable and redeemable aspect of this book is undoubtedly the representation. It's so important to not only have trans characters but BIPOC trans characters. This novel secures a space in a predominantly white, cishet industry for BIPOC trans youth, which again, is such important and noteworthy work.

However, I could not finish the book. Halfway through, I lost interest in the main character (Noah) and his plight for romance. Noah is very self-centered and does very little emotional growth; he does not reflect on his own prejudices against white people. There is no other motivation or conflict to hate white people except for the fact that they exist. The novel would be much more powerful if white people were not the central focus of Noah's hatred and frustrations. In other words, if the writing is meant to decenter cishet white people from literature, then Noah's focus should be more on his romance, not the two dimensional white persons present in the narrative.

Additionally, the character lacks empathy, even for people he finds tolerable, like his best friend, Becca. If the attention is not devoted to Noah and Noah alone, then everyone else becomes irrelevant to the main character. This aspect of the book, I found, was highly triggering because it reminds me of the toxic friendships and persons in this period of my life.

Lastly, I was a little disturbed that a 16-year-old boy is dating an 18-year-old man. There are many emotional differences between a college freshman and a high school sophomore/junior. This book seems like it should be written for a New Adult audience.

I wanted to like this. And I liked parts of it. But overall I found Noah to be very unlikable, immature (yes even for a 16yo), very selfish and not aware of his own privilege. I also found the Tumblr references dated, or is just that I stopped using Tumblr after the fosta/sesta law. (I am almost 3x Noah's age).

I loved how easily Noah related to Devin's transness and gave em the space to explore who they were. I still LOL about Brian thinking you could buy a binder at Target. The book was easy to read and I did finish it. But overall it was just okay.

This is a very fun book with great trans and non-binary representation. One of the characters even gets to try out a variety of pronouns with the support of other characters, finally deciding e/em is the right fit for them by the end (which I think are author Emry Lee's pronouns as well). I loved seeing all the support that almost all the characters provided for one another in terms of queer identity, and the one overt transphobic response is swiftly shut down (and there are never slurs used, in case prospective readers were worried). I did think that main character Noah was a bit grating and selfish at times, but this seems mighty realistic for a 16-year-old. I appreciated the growth he showed by the end of the novel, though I did wish he'd had a bit more growth when it came to his relationship with his bff, Becca. Overall, I'm so glad this book exists, and I hope it finds its way into tons of teens and early-twentysomethings' hands!

A cute romance with a strong voice and a likeable (but flawed!) main character. I think this book walked the line very successfully of being a trans romance without being an Issues Book. It tackles a lot of different topics of gender and sexuality, but in a way that feels very sincere and natural to the character. This isn't a book to teach straight/cis people about Gender, it's, much like Noah's blog, a cute trans romance for a trans audience, which is exactly what YA needs.

Gosh this is just the sweetest trans romance! Noah is a likable and entirely flawed character and I rooted for him every step of the way even when it was so clear he was screwing up. And Devin! Oh Devin was such a wonderful, sweet love interest. I particularly loved the way e's journey through pronouns and identities was woven into the story. I hope teens who need this book find their way to it because it's life changing to know you don't have to know who you are at any age!

Oh my gosh, this is fake dating + YA romance all rolled into one in the MOST unexpected way! The representation in MEET CUTE DIARY was so valuable and authentic to the author, and it was refreshing to see such easy acceptance of pronouns and identities in literature.

Noah was a really interesting protagonist. His idiosyncrasies and insecurities were front and center and really drove some of the plot, and it reminded me how big a believer I am that characters make us think, “The right choice is staring right at you if you’d just see it!” also allow us to see how trauma and the growing pains of not only any adolescent but especially those of trans youth colors their ideas about love, relationships, and what the path to happiness and fulfillment can and should look like. I loved the little plot twist in this (no spoilers!) and, while there is a trigger warning for basically one sentence of transphobia, the way that Noah’s people stood up for him and made strong choices as a result of that expressed transphobia is important for trans youth and ALSO allies to see. Trans and queer youth will see strong, loving representation in these pages, and allies will really have a guidebook for how to be respectful and accepting - and what not to do.

I’m so grateful I got to read MEET CUTE DIARY! It is a beautiful exploration of identity, relationships, self-acceptance, friendships, and internalized societal expectations. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance e-copy!

Meet Cute Diary is cringey-teen-love in the best sense. As a trans masc person I always get nervous reading other people's ideas of what being trans is like but Noah is sweet and clueless and just so badly wants to be in love. I think some could find Noah’s naivety annoying but I think it’s important to the story that Noah so whole-heartedly believes in what he’s doing. It’s a very accurate portrayal of the way we think of the key relationships in our lives and the importance we take in our own stories compared to the ones our friends might be going through at the same time. I kept waiting for there to be a Big Conflict and there wasn’t one to the degree that I assumed there would be but Noah’s anxieties are a constant throughout. I do think the pacing can be somewhat fast in parts but overall I think it’s a sweet story featuring a diverse range of characters, and gender identities and sexualities, that will be highly received.

A cute trans love story whose hero makes some missteps (in love and life) as he tries to save his popular Tumblr account, with good anxiety rep and a marvelous final love interest.

This reads a little younger than I like my YA, and if the 16-year-old MC is making a joke about Millennials all being old and married, I think it's safe to say I am not in the target demographic! That makes it very difficult to judge objectively, but I think younger readers will have a much better chance of liking this one.

I found the MC unlikable and borderline obnoxious at times. At first, I thought this was on purpose to setup a growth arc, but I started to accept the grating personality and the younger writing feel weren't going anywhere around 20% and would have DNF'd if I weren't reading an ARC.

On the one hand, the MC is 16 so the immaturity is definitely accurate. On the other hand, he was accurately immature in ALL the ways and constantly having snide, judgmental thoughts about the people around him. The book seems aware of some of this, but I'm not sure it really gets how much this kid takes his middle/upper-middle class privilege and happy, functional family dynamic for granted, and that hits the wrong note for me. Repeatedly.

Despite these issues, it's an incredibly easy read, and I was surprised how quickly I blew through it considering how much I disliked the MC.

The friendship he develops with his co-worker and their conversations about gender were the highlight for me. Not so much the content of the conversations, but just how easily and naturally Noah created a safe space for Devin to explore non-binary gender identities. That was lovely, and I really liked their whole dynamic, as well as the nuances of Noah's relationship with his female best friend back in Florida. Devin and the easy narrative flow saved this from being an outright disaster for me.

Such a cute novel that explores gender identities and the complicated vines of romances. Truly a nice read!

Disclaimer: I got this ARC in exchange for an honest review from @NetGalley.

Meet Cute Diary is perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han. Noah and Drew's story is extremely heartbreaking.It's also got a fake-dating scheme that kind of reminds me of Frankly in Love by David Yoon. Overall, I think it's a touching story that's worth the read!

Cute read! Noah is trans and he runs his blog, Meet Cute
Diary, where trans people meet their meet-cutes. The blog has become a beacon
of hope for all his trans readers; except for the fact that every single story
on the blog is made up by him. Everything is not as it should be as his parents
are in the process of moving the family all the way to California, he has not yet
met his meet-cute, and to top it off, he is losing touch with his best
friend. At least his blog is doing great… at least it was until a troll decided
to call out his blog as a fake. The last thing he needs is to lose that one thing that means the world to not only him, but also his followers. How far is he willing to go to save his blog and to regain theIf trust back?

Out of all the relationships, I liked the relationship between
Noah and his brother the most. His brother is understanding, accepting, and a
very good support in the story. There is a lot of diversity in this book including BIPOC and LGBTQIA , as well as a non-binary character, who is starting to explore, discover,
and decide on eir pronouns.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Children's Books for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta start by saying I appreciated the abundance of representation in this book. The main character is tri-racial and trans, and there's another character who is gender-nonconforming and uses e/em pronouns, something that rarely ever shows up in media. The author also does a really great job portraying the experience of anxiety and depression, although it should be noted that, <b> TW: mentions of suicide. </b>

However, the story itself left a lot to be desired. The main character, Noah, is...extremely unlikeable, and not even in a "root for the villain" type of way. Noah is straight up selfish, immature, and ungrateful and spends the entire book taking his best friend Becca and brother Brian for granted, and only turning to them when he needs something from them, while never asking how they're doing in return—which, ironically enough, Noah gets called out for this exact thing multiple times in the book! <spoiler> Brian gets Noah, an inexperienced teenager, a paying job and Noah spends the entire time being a brat? Drew goes out of his way to plan cute dates, and all Noah can think is "can't believe he didn't tell me we were going hiking and let me wear jeans" and "why the hell didn't he bring water"??? Becca helps Noah constantly with the Diary and solves a bunch of problems for him, and Noah is pissed that Becca had to study for a test and didn't have time to make a blog post immediately?? </spoiler> And yet somehow, despite this issue getting brought up several times, somehow everyone in his life just magically forgives him after yet another half assed apology without any real changes?? Even his relationship with Drew was so unbelievable—first, that this perfect guy (as described by Noah) would appear at exactly the right time to save Noah's Meet Cute Diary, and that they would just fall in insta-love after 3 dates and absolutely nothing in common? Drew was definitely not perfect, but just like every other relationship in his life, Noah was also using Drew for his own selfish needs ("I can't make him mad because then he'll break up with me and ruin the Diary"—TALK ABOUT TOXIC RELATIONSHIP!).

Even when, at the end, <spoiler> Noah and Devin get together, it was so absolutely unbelievable I thought I had missed something. Why would sweet, kind, amazing, beautiful Devin fall in love with Noah, who has literally been a TERRIBLE friend and coworker the entire time? </spoiler> This isn't even to mention the myriad of other problems I had with the book: the ending was so rushed and out of left field that it felt like the author had written herself into a corner and didn't know how to solve the conflicts, so just decided to write a rushed ending where everything magically works out, Noah suddenly has a complete 180 personality change and realizes his wrongs (but still BARELY does anything to correct them), and then everyone gets a happily ever after because <spoiler> Devin is somehow the sweetest and most forgiving person on earth and coincidentally eir dad got a promotion so the family could move to California and conveniently avoid any difficult breakups?? </spoiler>.

The most unbelievable part of this book is that Noah still has any friends and love interests at all, not because he's trans, but because he's straight up unlikeable. I only finished the book to see if Noah would finally face some consequences, but alas, that didn't happen.

I really enjoyed this book! The representation especially is something that is so needed for teens and I think a lot of young readers will really identify with the characters. The blog vs real life scenarios made for some fun but gut wrenching moments, both qualities that I love to see in a book.

Emery Lee's debut novel Meet Cute Diary strongest attribute in certainly in its representation. In the story, we have a trans and multi-racial protagonist with friends and family that love him. There is a Cuban supporting character who is genderqueer and asexual. The protagonist's best friend is a lesbian. Minor characters in the story are also shown to be a part of the LGBT community. The amount of casual questioning and embracing of pronouns and identity is a joy to see in Young Adult literature today.

Noah Ramirez runs a popular blog dedicated to giving trans people everywhere hope for their "happily ever after." Only a few people know his secret, like his best friend Becca. When Noah decides to spend a summer in his brother's college town while his parents get their new home set up in California, he secretly hopes that finally, one of his fictional "Meet Cutes" can become the real deal. The premise of this book is very sweet, and is a relatable theme for teenagers everywhere learning to handle changes in their lives. This book discusses a range of relationships and the main character must learn for himself what it truly means to be in a healthy and dedicated relationship with another person.

At times, the book can be frustrating due to Noah's self-centered and dramatic nature. Many opportunities to provide support for friends and loved ones with dialogue are often exchanged for venting sessions and rants. Noah is a judgmental person with a quick temper, and none of these things change by the end of the book. Early on, opportunities for genuine connection are brushed aside for fantastical blog ideas. By the end of the book, Noah does learn some things about what it means to recognize others' needs (and his own), but there is a feeling that it is "too little, too late" to make a fully satisfying ending.

Such a sweet and heartfelt debut! I wish there were more uplifting books about trans and non-binary people like this around when I was younger. This is sure to help queer teens see that they are not alone and have every chance for joy and romance in their life (something I was not made to feel like as a teenager).

Oh. My. Gosh.

I knew that this book being one of my most anticipated releases for 2021 was a good choice, but DANG. This book was AMAZING and I tore through it. As a nonbinary person who is still figuring things out, seeing good, real trans and nonbinary rep that's not just about coming out and transphobia is SO necessary. And this is amazing representation.

Devin's story is what got to me the most. It's so rare to find representation of folks who are still figuring out their identity and pronouns, and it's even rarer to see that explored in a safe environment and in a way that's accepted by the people around them. Some of my best friends have gone through similar things of changing their pronouns, and this rep is going to help so many young adults learn that identity is not permanent, that our identities as queer people can shift as we grow. You don't need anyone else to tell you who you are, and you don't need to cater your identity or pronouns to anyone else. You're valid.

This is the story of Noah, a trans boy who is staying the summer with his brother in Colorado. Noah runs a blog called Meet Cute Diaries, which posts meet-cute stories to show trans people that they can find love, too. The problem? They are all made up and someone knows. As Noah tries to save his blog, adjust to out life in Colorado, and maybe find love, he struggles to keep it all under control.

I guess it is important to note that I don't usually enjoy romance novels, but read this because it has queer characters. So, remember that.

I thought this book was okay. I will break this down further by discussing specifically characterization, plotting, and writing. First, I found Noah to be an annoying main character. I get that he is struggling, but he is so self-centered and I get it is supposed to be a journey for him to realize this and correct it, but I never feel like this actually happened. I just didn't care about his journey that much. However, I found Devin to be a much more interesting character and kind of wish the book would have been about em! I wish we learned more about eir life. I even found Drew, for all his flaws (and I mean, Noah also had his flaws so...), an interesting character and wish his motives and story could have been explored more. Second, plotting: This ties into characterization, but I felt that the plot was a bit loose in parts. It relied so much on Noah being unfair to those around him that loose ends flew all over the place and I found that to be a little underwhelming. Third, writing: I think Lee's writing is overall good. It kept me engaged even with the parts I didn't enjoy. Maybe some tune-ups with the characterization and plotting and this could have been a fun and heartfelt novel! But it ended up falling flat for me because I never connected with the main character and got bored with the plot.

Meet Cute Diary follows newly out trans teen Noah, who is staying with his brother, and navigating romance with other queer teens. Strengths of this book include showing the contrast between a terrible partner and a caring one, family acceptance and gender exploration, while the entire tumblr blog storyline was a major weakness. Drew's involvement in it felt forced, which might be kind of the point. It was a three star read for me.

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. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. This was a great book that allowed to talk about young love.