Serendipity is a book full of short stories by many YA authors that I have read before (including the incomparable Marissa Meyer!). All of the stories are centered around a popular trope (such as one bed, enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, etc). As with many books that include a collection of short stories there were ones that I liked and ones that I ended up skimming due to just not being my preference. I would recommend this book to lovers of YA tropes and fans of any of these authors. It was a quick, but overall fun read.

I absolutely loved the book! It was amazing, and the perfect read for being off during the holiday! I am recommending it to everyone I know! ♥

Serendipity, edited by Marissa Meyer, is a collection of contemporary YA short stories, each featuring a different romance trope. I had very high hopes going in, because I love a lot of the authors who contributed, and I was not disappointed. There are a wide variety of tropes and characters, and there's definitely something for everybody.

"Bye Bye, Piper Berry," by Julie Murphy, features the "fake relationship" trope. It follows Piper, whose boyfriend of three years just cheated on her, as she convinces their best friend, Gabe, to fake date her to make him jealous and hurt him, little knowing that Gabe has long been in love with her. I just didn't love Piper's motives; I feel like fake-dating to make somebody jealous is more excusable than fake-dating to try and hurt them back. I also just wish there'd been a little more character depth 3.5/5

"Anyone Else But You," by Leah Johnson, features the "stranded together" trope. A pair of senior co-presidents, Jada and Perry, when they're trapped together in a Party Palace when Jada is late to them buying supplies for the Senior Send-Off. It's a cute wlw story, and I loved the characters and their dynamic. 4.5/5

"The Idiom Algorithm," by Abigail Hing Wen, features a trope called "class warfare" that I didn't realize was a romance trope. It follows a guy whose girlfriend, an exchange student from China, is removed suddenly from the country when her parents find out that they're dating, completely erasing her identity as he had known her from the Internet; he then builds an algorithm to try and find her. It's highkey very creepy, even though that isn't the main romance. 2/5.

"Auld Acquaintance," by Caleb Roehrig, features the "best friend love epiphany" trope. It follows two gay best friends who have promised each other that, if they don't get a boyfriend by the end of the school shut in (taking place on New Year's Eve), then they'll kiss each other at midnight. This of course leads to one realizing that he's in love with the other. It was an okay story; I just felt like neither of the protagonists had any personality. 3.5/5

"Shooting Stars," by Marissa Meyer, features the "One Bed" trope. I absolutely adored it (as was expected, considering that Marissa Meyer's books own approximately my entire heart and soul). It follows a girl on her senior trip who keeps ending up in situations with only one bed with her crush every night until they finally end up getting together on the last night and it's adorable and definitely my favorite story in the book. 5/5

"Keagan's Heaven on Earth," by Sarah Winifred Searle, features the "secret admirer" trope, and is a graphic novel short story, which I really enjoyed, since I've never seen one of those in a mostly-prose short story anthology before. It follows Mickey, who is forced onto the dance committee as a punishment for skipping classes. They fall for Keagan, their lab partner who offers to help out, and it's really cute; I just wish that there was a little more plot- and character-development. 4.5/5

"Zora in the Spotlight," by Elise Bryant, features the "grand romantic gesture" trope. It follows Zora, who accidentally receives somebody else's promposal at the school dance, to her mortification. It was intended for an influencer who goes to her school who was wearing a similar outfit to her, and the guy attempting to ask the influencer out has never even met her, so there were definitely some uncomfortable stalker-vibes, particularly when the two end up falling for each other. 2.5/5

"In a Blink of the Eye," by Elizabeth Eulberg, features the "trapped in a confined space" trope. This isn't much of a romance story, but I really enjoyed the way it turned the trope around. Basically, the protagonist, Morgan, is on a show choir trip to London, during which her best friend, Dani, tricks her and Dani's boyfriend, Tyler, into going on the London Eye together so they can sort out their differences (namely Morgan's dislike of Tyler). I really enjoyed the friendship development. 4.5/5

"Liberty," by Anna-Marie McLemore, features the "the makeover" trope. It follows Ximena, a Latina girl who forces herself to try and fit Eurocentric beauty standards as much as possible to fit in on the cheerleading team until her former idol, Camilla, a Latina beauty YouTuber, joins the team and encourages Ximena to be true to who she actually is. The two help each other and eventually fall for each other and it's beautiful and wonderful. 5/5.

"The Surprise Match," by Sandhya Menon, features the "matchmaker" trope. It follows a girl who has made a program that analyzes the social media accounts of people at her school to identify who people's ideal matches are. When her best friend asks her to run it for him, she gets jealous and realizes her feelings, but doesn't give him his true result (her) for fear of ruining their friendship. It's really cute, as with all of Menon's work. 4.5/5

Overall, I really enjoyed this short story collection. There were quite a few stories that I absolutely adored, even if there were a couple that I disliked. I very much appreciated all of the queer representation; I'm glad to see that it's becoming more common in these sorts of YA collections, particularly wlw rep, which has lagged behind mlm rep in the YA world for a while. I'm giving the book 4/5 stars, and definitely recommend it to anybody who loves YA romance; even if you dislike one or two of the stories, the rest make it far worth it.

Loved the diversity of authors and of love stories! I'm not totally certain that everyone understood the assignment, for some of these I didn't feel like the trope was transformed or flipped on its head,. It seemed 50-50 on either doing a direct translation of a trope or doing something newer with it.

An anthology featuring YA authors writing about ten common romantic tropes.

I was initially excited about this because I love Marissa Meyer and will read anything with her name attached to it. I went into this thinking it was supposed to be common romantic tropes with a twist... and I'm not sure why I thought that... but this definitely was not that. It is an extremely fast read, and I finished it in one sitting, but I didn't find it to be anything particularly special. It did include some of my favourite tropes, so I was glad to see that and I did enjoy some of the stories more than others, but overall I wasn't blown away and it was just... meh.

this was a pretty cute anthology! the idea of turning classic romance tropes on their heads was definitely a good one, but i think the results were pretty mixed. some of the stories were excellent for being so short, but some also felt very flat and dated. overall, though, i think this was still a solid anthology (and i did read it all in a day!)

thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book for this honest review!

It's hard to give a rating for this anthology. I read the first two stories (by Julie Murphy and Leah Johnson) and LOVED them; I started recommending Serendipity to a lot of people. Then I read the rest of the book, and they all sort of blended in together. Basically last 8 were just average. I would definitely recommend this book to a teen or to a teen classroom as I think a lot of teens will like it.

Serendipity was one of my most anticipated anthologies of 2022, and I'm so grateful I got to read it early because of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Netgalley. The stories of this Young Adult anthology based around romantic tropes filled me with joy and calm.

What I love most is that a lot of the stories focused on friends to lovers stories OR the start of a relationship. The authors effectively wrote short stories that left me satisfied with the promise of new and changed relationships. I also like the fact that some of my expectations for the main characters in the stories turned out to be different. Each main character felt real to me: I enjoyed the diversity of their hobbies and goals: one character thought she wanted to get back at her ex, another character realizes that she may not know her "enemy" as well as she thought she did, and another character realized that love may take risks. A new relationship may start from running into someone else in a new country, or with a friend you've known for over 7 years.

Serendipity left me feeling hopeful. It's heartwarming to read stories about people my age experiencing love for the first time, and to feel like you're a part of a great love story. Serendipity takes joy in the simple moments, in the simplicity of noticing all of the details of a person, and being open to knowing the entirety of a person, beyond how they may appear to look to the rest of the world.

This collection of short stories is everything that I want in an ode to our favorite tropes. There is angst, yearning, growth, and each story made me want more. Seriously, Marissa, can we please get a full length camping story featuring one sleeping bag soon??? I already really love short story collections because I am able to read other authors’ work that I wouldn’t necessarily have been exposed to otherwise. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review

Ouch. I was so excited for this and it was so disappointing. I will say I think the paperback copy of this is much better marketed, as nearly half of the stories feature LGBTQ characters and romances, and the paperback with the yellow back, rainbow colored flowers, and tagline about "all sorts of falling in love" is more indicative of that. Of the stories that I read completely through, they weren't very memorable and most of them didn't even use their designated "trope" hardly at all. Or if they did, it wasn't used to the best advantage of said trope.

Also, how could they not include nursing back to health or strictly enemies to lovers?

Working on writing up more in-depth notes to come after publication!

I was beyond delighted to read this book early. Getting an anthology collection consisting of romcoms is the best way to spend your day lost between pages. My only complaint is I want more!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
This book releases January 4, 2022

With multiple stories by multiple authors this review is going to look a little different than my usual. Up top under the cover is my overall ⭐️ review for the entire book, below I’ll be separating each story and giving them their own mini reviews and ⭐️ reviews.

Bye Bye, Piper Berry by Julie Murphy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– there are 13 curse words

– this is told from both Piper and Gabe’s points of view

Review:

I took off a star for the amount of curse words (with the reason based on how many there were compared to the length of the story).

It was a quick and cute look at a fake relationship trope. I liked how the author chose to make the fake relationship happen, and how the story went. We got a bit of background on the main character’s feelings/how they acted toward each other which made the end result more rooted for by the reader. Overall a nice story!

Anyone Else But You by Leah Johnson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– the romantic interests are girls

– only one curse word

Review:

I’m personally not a fan of girl/girl or guy/guy relationship stories.

Though this story is still good regardless! Our main characters get stuck in a store together overnight and (at least our narrator) felt the other girl was the enemy/her rival. But by the end of the story, both girls have realized things about the other that they didn’t know before. They also broke past the barrier that they believed kept them separated socially and opened up to one another.

The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– the main character’s friend suggests strip teasing his girlfriend over the video call and shows him how he could do it (using a sweater and lifting her shirt -to the stomach- before stopping)

Review:

I wasn’t really sure what to think about this story. To me it seemed a little out there, but I also haven’t read many books with people coming from other countries to go to school in America. So what occurred in the story may be normal for those kinds of stories but I wouldn’t know that. I could see the end coming too, but when it finally came it felt a little forced. (But I did like the end pairing even better than the original pairing)

The trope used for this story was called “class warfare”. It’s not one I think I’ve heard of and the more I think back on the story the more I think I now know what the trope is, but I’m not 100% sure.

Auld Acquaintance by Caleb Roehrig

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– the romantic interests are guys

– it’s a bit more sensual than the past stories (not much -no sex or anything like that- , but I personally was uncomfortable with some of the details)

Review:

I’m personally not a fan of girl/girl or guy/guy relationship stories and as I said above some of the details I was uncomfortable with.

Overall, this was a cool story of two guys who are best friends but everyone thought they should be together. And then one guy (our narrator) realizes that he likes his friend as more than a friend and wonders how to let him know without hurting their friendship or possibly being hurt if his friend rejected him.

Shooting Stars by Marissa Meyer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)

Review:

This was a very cute ‘one bed’ trope story! Misty and Roman were adorable and though it was told by Misty, readers can see the push and pull for both of the characters on deciding if the other liked them or not. And if they wanted to try and let the other know that they were interested.

Keagan’s Heaven on Earth by Sarah Winifred Searle

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– this is a graphic novel format

– I believe that both romantic interests are girls

Review:

This was a secret admirer trope, which was fairly easy to see who it was with this being a graphic novel format. I liked how the admirer didn’t force/make the other feel forced to make a choice on if they were to start a romantic relationship or not. She just let her know how she felt and they went from there to build their friendship further (at least so I assume from the last couple blocks of the story).

Zora in the Spotlight by Elise Bryant

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– 11 curse words

– this occurs at a school dance so there is the typical funky/not ok dance moves seen by Zora

Review:

This was an interesting grand gesture trope story! I kept thinking that the grand gesture would be made for Zora, but was shocked when it was a case of mistaken identity. And Zora was very relatable which I liked (us being introverts and similar mannerisms due to that). The star was just taken off for both things mentioned above.

In a Blink of the Eye by Elizabeth Eulberg

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)

Review:

This was a quick little story about letting go of an unrequited love and ending with walking away from the reader with the guy of her dreams. I really liked how the author went into the character’s past to explain what was going on between characters right then. And I liked how she described the guy’s expressions as he interacted with different people when they first met. It helped hit harder when her hope took a dive as she realized that he was more interested in her best friend than her.

Liberty by Anna-Marie McLemore

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– there are 16 curse words (mainly the ‘a’ word referring to a butt)

– both romantic interests are girls

Review:

This story mainly occurs during cheerleading practices and focuses on feeling the need to change yourself to fit in in order to be accepted (due to bias of those in charge of allowing someone into the group). I liked learning what different cheerleading position terms meant (in the voice of our narrator). I also liked that she grew into herself again and chose not to accept that she needed to change herself due to someone else’s bias.

The Surprise Match by Sandhya Menon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Reader’s Notes:

– there are 12 curse words

Review:

Besides the curse words, I really enjoyed this cute story about a matchmaker and her best friend. Neither of them wanted to get rejected by the other and went in roundabout ways to find out if the other might be interested. But that didn’t work with the one pretending to be interested in someone else. 🙈

Real Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Marissa Meyer starts off this anthology by dedicating it to all us incorrigible romantics. And that’s the type of people who will want to read this book. I venture to guess that’s even the target audience for it. Unsurprisingly, I’m an incorrigible romantic marshmallow underneath my seriously jaded and cynical exterior. That’s why I was so interested in this anthology in the first place.

The largest issue I have with this anthology is the proclamation the book makes, stating they intend to take some of our most popular romantic literary tropes and to embrace them and then turn them on their heads. Thing is, most of these stories do indeed embrace their designated tropes with unabashed glee… but most (in my opinion) fail to turn the trope on its head.

I should point out none of the short stories in this collection are bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. For a collection of YA romantic short stories, they are all pretty cute and sweet. This is a book that could be read by the whole range of YA readers, from your tweens to your older teens, and not worry about truly offending anyone’s sensibilities (well, anyone worth their salt, anyway).

The stand out stories to me were: “In the Blink of the Eye” (trope: trapped in a confined space) - A story more about fixing a friendship and saving another’s relationship than the protagonist falling in love and “Liberty” (trope: the makeover) - A story where the makeover takes place before the story even starts and then another one is done by the protagonist herself, for herself, near the end.

If you read this on Kindle Paperwhite (as I did), you might have issues reading the graphic novel-style short story, “Keagan’s Heaven on Earth”. I could not increase the size of it on my version, and I have horrible eyesight, but even with my bifocals on I couldn’t read the small text and I couldn’t increase the size of the image (and therefore text).

The rest of the stories in the collection don’t turn their assigned tropes on their heads as much as they probably think they did, but it doesn’t mean they’re bad stories. “Bye Bye, Piper Berry” is a cute take on the trope of fake relationships, “Shooting Stars” (Meyer’s contribution) is a touching and sweet entry when it comes to the “one bed” trope, and “Zora in the Spotlight” manages to be both weirdly funny and somehow vulnerable.

It’s a solid collection. If they had actually managed to turn all the tropes on their heads successfully, I would’ve fallen in love with it.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book. It was such a fun read! Each story so cute! Can’t wait to add this to my collection.

5 stars

We have suffered in a space with too few pieces of short fiction in YA, and those days are coming to a close thanks to collections like this one!

This is an outstanding anthology filled with heavy hitters in the genre, and those big names are what drew me to reading this. They all come through. Each story begins with an identified trope, and there's a solid flow of diverse perspectives and experiences running through the group. If you're drawn in by the authors, you'll be pleased. If you're drawn in by the genre, you will also be pleased.

*Readers who are able to access the audiobook SHOULD. I started reading the e-arc, and it's obviously great, but when I was approved for the audio arc, I switched over to that version. Since the authors voice their own pieces, listening to this one is pretty magical.

Folks who enjoy YA, romance, short fiction, and/or one or more of these authors will be quite fulfilled by this one. Recommended.

The best book I could have chosen to read during the hectic holidays and me coming down with someone has to be Serendipity. Full of all things joy and happiness that will surely boost your serotonin levels right up!

For me, it’s hard to rate and review a collection of short stories, especially fairly but I completely enjoyed every story packed into this book. There are tropes featured that are definitely fan favorites but also a few you might never have thought of and could quickly become a fan of!

Every story was written so well and thoroughly, not a single one left me wanting for me. Like seriously, for how short the stories are, I really thought there was no way I would be satisfied by the end but I really was! They also had a way of making me chuckle and really think while reading them that I was shocked by the end!

Something else I’m excited to point out was how diverse every story was. There were a few different ethnicities, there were LGBTQ stories, straight stories, stories about finding a friendship instead and just so much love to go around that I really do feel all warm inside!

This book was like a big hug and something I really wasn’t expecting, so I’m hoping you give it a chance and really find something you love in it!

Also, I thought I’d point out my favorite story of the bunch, In a Blink of the Eye by Elizabeth Eulberg. So so cute, I loved all of the London talk, and it genuinely made me laugh!

My heart! This was so sweet I got a cavity. I loved these but my favorites were Marissa’s (of course), Julie Murphy’s, Caleb Roehrig’s, and Elizabeth Eulberg’s.

If you love cute romances, tropes galore, and anthologies, pick this up!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this. 5/5 stars.

I'm a sucker for YA anthologies. I'm also a sucker for romance tropes. This was that combination of them. I loved all the stories. I will be honest though, I was not able to read the comic-styled one due to reading it on my kindle HOWEVER all of the stories were adorable and represented the tropes well -- with some unique twists.

Most of the stories left me going AWWWW at the end and wanting to read more about the couples. I also LOVED how it had diverse characters and LGBTQ stories that normalized being LGBTQ -- especially those focused on being in high school.

I wouldn't say I had a favorite, but I also wouldn't say there wasn't one I enjoyed. Pick this up to read -- especially if you're a sucker for the tropes like I am and need some happiness from romance in your life.

Ok, the subtitle says it's tropes transformed, but it's definitely not. It's just tropes with teens, which are still tropes.

It's 10 short stories about teens falling in love, which are just average. Nothing super exciting. Just average. 🤷‍♀️

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for providing me with an e-arc for review.

What a sweet collection of romance YA stories!

I needed something light and heartfelt while cuddled up in bed tonight and this book delivered on being the exact shock of serotonin I was craving. Each story in this collection centered around a specific popular romantic trope. While reading, I enjoyed getting reacquainted with some of the more popular tropes (one-bed, fake dating, etc.) while also being delighted to be introduced to lesser known tropes and even new tropes I hadn't considered (class warfare, for instance, as well as creative retellings of the secret admirer and matchmaker tropes). I could tell that the authors had fun writing this! Almost all of the stories were funny and a pure delight to read.

Like with most collections, however, I had some favorite stories and some stories I just didn't resonate with. Out of the ten stories, the clear standouts for me were Bye Bye, Piper Berry by Julie Murphy, The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen, Shooting Stories by Marissa Meyer, and Zora in the Spotlight by Elise Bryant [I usually despise the fake dating trope so special kudos to Julie Murphy for getting me to actually enjoy a fake dating arc]. I thought these stories were funny, had excellent pacing, and the characters felt well rounded (which I know can be hard to do in so few pages).

Overall, if you'd like a quick, romance filled read that you can finish in one sitting, chockful of grand gestures and long awaited love pronouncements and first love- I would recommend this one!