"Love is in the air in Serendipity, a collection of stories inspired by romantic tropes and edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer.

The secret admirer.

The fake relationship.

The matchmaker.

From stories of first love, unrequited love, love that surprises, love that’s been there all along, 10 of the brightest and award-winning authors writing YA have taken on some of your favorite romantic tropes, embracing them and turning them on their heads. Readers will fall for this collection of stories that celebrate love at its most humorous, inclusive, heart-expanding, and serendipitous.

Contributors include Elise Bryant, Elizabeth Eulberg, Leah Johnson, Anna-Marie McLemore, Marissa Meyer, Sandhya Menon, Julie Murphy, Caleb Roehrig, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Abigail Hing Wen."

I love it when tropes are reimagined to become something more.

Age Rating: 13/14+

<i>Special thanks to FierceReads and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>

I have never read an anthology before. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Serendipity is a YA romance anthology edited by Marissa Meyer where each story follows a favorite romantic trope. Sounds cute, right? It definitely was. There are 10 stories by 10 authors, most of which I’d heard of, maybe half of which I’ve read before, and a couple that were totally new to me.

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to review this, because each individual story is unique and I had differing opinions and ratings on each one. In the end, I decided to give a mini review of each story (no spoilers—promise).

So, starting with the first story:

<b>Bye Bye, Piper Berry by Julie Murphy</b>
4.5 stars
Trope: Fake Dating

One of my favorite tropes, an author I know and love, and a great start to the anthology.
I loved the characters; I loved the story; I loved the writing. I wish it was longer. Like, if this story were turned into a 3-400 page novel, I would read it. That said, I do think Julie Murphy did a good job of taking this trope and writing such a short story. From the start, I was skeptical. Fake dating didn’t seem like it could be accomplished successfully in like 30 pages. But the chemistry was there, and I got into it. I want more, but I don’t feel like it <i>needed</i> more like I did with some of the stories.

<b>Anyone Else but You by Leah Johnson</b>
4 stars
Trope: Forced Proximity

Leah Johnson is an author I’ve so many good things about, but have never gotten around to reading, so I was excited to get a taste of her writing in this anthology—and let me tell you, I was not disappointed. Another trope I can’t help but love, but the fact that it takes place over one night did make me apprehensive. I am not a fan of instalove. But the characters had enough history and chemistry that it felt more like the acknowledging of feelings than them just poofing into existence. The little epilogue at the end was also adorable and I thought it was a great touch.

<b>The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen</b>
2.5 stars
Trope: Class Warfare

I read Abigail Hing Wen’s debut novel, <i>Loveboat, Taipei,</i> and really enjoyed it when it came out, so I was really excited to get to her story in the anthology… but unfortunately it disappointed.
To start off, I didn’t know what class warfare was. All of the other tropes were ones I was very familiar with and were all prevalent in YA romance, so I kind of assumed it meant academic rivals? I realized pretty soon that was wrong, and eventually I realized it meant <i>socioeconomic</i> class. I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a YA romance where that was a major trope, but that wasn’t the main problem I had with it; it was just a confusing piece. It just didn’t feel romantic. The girl the character spends the whole time trying to win back was kind of rude and stuck up. There’s no chemistry, nothing making me vote for them. With the way it ends up, maybe it would have been more enjoyable if it were a full novel, giving the reader more time to grow to care for the characters and build chemistry between them, but as it is, it was my least favorite of the stories.
I also thought it was weird that it was in 3rd person when everything else was in first person.

<b>Auld Acquaintance by Caleb Roehrig</b>
3 ish stars
Trope: The Best Friend Love Epiphany

I really liked the plot. I really liked the characters. The writing style was… not for me. I don’t know if it was objectively bad, but there was just something about the narration that bugged me, and I couldn’t get into it like I wanted to. But the romance was cute, the characters were relateable, and I think that it worked well as a short story. Also I dont know what “auld” means but thats irrelevant.

<b>Shooting Stars by Marissa Meyer</b>
5 stars
Trope: One Bed

Marissa. Freaking. Meyer. AND ONE BED TROPE?? Enough said.
But I will say a little more. This was my favorite (although I did rate another of the stories 5 stars) story. I adored the characters. I adored the writing. I love this so much. More Marissa Meyer contemporaries please and thank you.

<b>Keagan’s Heaven on Earth by Sarah Winifred Searle</b>
3.5 stars
Trope: The Secret Admirer

ITS A GRAPHIC NOVEL/COMIC!!! I was super excited to see this, because I wasn’t expecting it and I love a good graphic novel. Plus, the drawings were stunning. I liked the characters. I liked the idea behind the story. I just needed a bit more. I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters and events seemed to jump around too fast. It just needed a bit more. But it was still fun, and I enjoyed it.

<Zora in the Spotlight by Elise Bryant</b>
4 stars
Trope: The Grand Romantic Gesture

This one was really well written and I fully enjoyed it. It just wasn’t really a romance? At all? But I loved the main character and her friends and the events of the story were tons of fun. I think it worked really well as a short story. And again, the writing was so good; it swept me in immediately. I haven’t read Elise Bryant’s debut, but it is sitting on my shelf, and it just jumped to the top of my TBR. Despite the fact that I didn’t think this was really a romance at all, which is weird for a romance anthology, it was still one of my favorites.

<In the Blink of an Eye by Elizabeth Eulberg</b>
4 stars
Trope: Confined Spaces

So again, this one wasn’t really a romance? Yes she ends up in a confined space with a person, but it’s about friendship, not romance. The other character is her best friend’s boyfriend. But it was another of my favorites. The writing style was <i>so much fun</i> and I absolutely adored the characters. I’ve never heard of Elizabeth Eulberg before, but I’m definitely going to check out some of her books, because I really like her voice.

<b> Liberty by Anna-Marie McLemore</b>
5 stars
Trope: The Makeover

Did “the makeover trope” play into this story, like, at all? No. I think a better trope would be Celebrity Crush or something. But still—it. Was. So. Freaking. Good.
I love Anna-Marie McLemore. I’ve read several of their books and enjoyed every one, but I actually think I liked this more than I liked any of their novels, simply for the plot of it. They should write a whole contemporary romance novel. Maybe… they could write this into a novel??? Pretty please???
But seriously. I adored this story. I loved the characters, the plot, the way it handled some seriously tough issues in such a short story and did it so well. And I think it worked really well as a short story. Nothing felt too rushed. Nothing felt missing. I just want <i>more.</i>

<b> The Surprise Match by Sandhya Menon</b>
4 stars I think?
Trope: The Matchmaker

I liked this. It was solid, it was fun, and I’ve always liked Sandhya Menon’s writing. It was just one of those where it felt a little rushed. It just needed a little more fleshing out in places. But regardless, it was still fun and I did enjoy it.

All in all, this was tons of fun, and a great first anthology! I highly highly recommend!

This was a really fun anthology! Ten YA authors take popular romance tropes and spin them into really fun stories, and I can't wait for this to be out so everyone can read and enjoy them! There is such a variety of diverse stories, fun tropes, and a group of fun rom-com stories by beloved YA authors. If you're expecting a ton of development, this isn't really the one for you because the stories are about 40 pages each (that's not exact because I read it on a Kindle, but still) but they're still quick, enjoyable reads.
Marissa Meyer's "Shooting Stars": Marissa Meyer is one of my all-time favorite writers, so it's no surprise that this was my favorite story! It's kind of a slow-burn, one-bed trope, and she did it so well!
Julie Murphy's "Bye Bye, Piper Berry": This one is a dual-perspective fake-dating story and the two characters splitting page time made the development incredible for such a short novella. Really sweet!
Abigail Hing Wen's "The Idiom Algorithm": I loved Wen's full-length novel so I was hoping to love this one, and I did, but it was a very elaborate take on the class warfare trope. Still fun though!
Sandhya Menon's "The Surprise Match": This was custom fun rom-com for Menon and I enjoyed the tech-based matchmaking trope!
Elizabeth Eulberg's "In a Blink of the Eye": I enjoyed this London-based, confined space story, but it really was a major twist on the trope and I won't spoil it, but it just wasn't what I expected, though it was good for what it was.
Caleb Roehrig's "Auld Acquaintance": The friends-to-lovers trope isn't always my favorite, but the one between Garrett and Ollie was developed really well and I enjoyed it!
Leah Johnson's "Anyone Else But You": This was an enemies-to-lovers stranded together theme, and it was fun! We got background on the girls and their relationship which really fleshed them out well.
Anna-Marie McLemore's "Liberty": This makeover trope was body-positive and really fun to read. I enjoyed following Camila and Ximena during their cheerleading practices and their romance. We didn't see a lot of the makeover though, unfortunately.
Elise Bryant's "Zora in the Spotlight": I loved her debut but I was really let down by this one; the romance in this particular grand romantic gesture story didn't sit right with me.
Sarah Winnifred Searle's "Keagan's Heaven on Earth": This was a graphic novel and I don't know if the formatting on my Kindle was messed up or what, but I couldn't follow the story; it seemed all over the place. It's not content related necessarily, I was just confused.

I’m SUCH A SUCKER for a good trope, and you know these were no exception.

So many great stories and I am looking forward to picking up other works by a lot of these authors!!

Special shout-out to Marissa Meyer’s “Shooting Stars”, Elizabeth Eulberg’s “In a Blink of an Eye”, and “The Surprise Match”. My all time favorites, but I truly loved them all. 🖤🖤🖤

*Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for an eARC*

This anthology collection was so much fun! If you love various romance tropes this is definitely the collection for you. Featuring some of YA's bigger authors you will see your favorite tropes flipped upside in this new collection of romantic stories.

I’m a sucker for romantic tropes, especially when they’re not exactly what we’ve come to know.

This book is packed full with diverse stories, different races and background, and different sexual orientations. It really shows that everyone deserves to be happy.

Definitely pick this book up as it’s written by some fantastic authors and for the sweet stories that are inside.

I love a good romance trope, and I especially love when there's a unique twist to that trope as well. These stories were all so well done and really gives something for everyone. It doesn't hurt that so many of the authors were already familiar to me, being big names in their genres.

This was delightful. The first story was cute and funny but followed the plot of the movie Drive Me Crazy rather too closely. Other than that the stories were wonderful and I loved all of them. The romances were cute, often surprising (hence the twists on classic tropes), and delivered swoonworthy romances which is hard to do in a short story. It's hard to pick favorites, though I did love Anna Marie McLemore's and Marissa Meyer's the best. The twist on stuck in a small space was also quite lovely.
If you love YA romance, romcoms, classic tropes, or twists on classic tropes, definitely give this one a shot.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel and Friends for providing an e-arc for review.

When I saw Marissa Meyer's name on the cover, that was all I needed to persuade me to read this book! It is a fun, quick read with a lot of feel-good stories about falling in love or finding the right person at the right time. The stories in Serendipity are very diverse, which is a bonus feature. This wasn't a life-changing book for me, but it was a great book for relaxing and enjoying some down-time. I felt like some stories were fleshed-out a little more than others, which led to a deeper connection with it, but all of them were fun to read. My personal favorite stories were by Sandhya Menon, Elizabeth Eulberg, Marissa Meyer, and Julie Murphy. Being a story collection, there's something here for everyone!

I loved this collection. I'm definitely a sucker for a great short story collection, and this was such a nice one to read. I especially enjoy when the collection has a theme, but the stories are distinct and separate enough so that there feels like a range of narratives. All of the stories in the Serendipity anthology are based on romantic tropes; the fake boyfriend, only one bed, trapped in a room together (etc, etc). What I loved is that a) all of the stories had happy endings that felt right and not forced and b) that the takes on each trope felt new and different! The characters in the 'only one bed' story don't actually share a bed (they share a tent), 'the makeover' is also about being true to yourself, and 'the secret admirer' is a comic! I like too that the stories are diverse in a way that feels totally natural. It shows the reader that these stories, these tropes, are absolutely for everyone! These are stories that I'll be excited to read again and again, and to share with my students! Highly recommend.

Before we get into the review, a quick thank you to NetGalley and the publishers over at Feiwel and Friends for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Serendipity is an anthology of romance short stories featuring the tropes we all love--One Bed, The Grand Romantic Gesture, Trapped in a Confined Space, The Makeover, Fake Dating. This book has it all. There are ten stories from ten well known and loved YA authors. Serendipity comes out on January 4th and is available for pre-order now.

I have to start out this review by saying that I think this is the highest rated anthology I’ve ever read. There is so much to love in this collection. The first story--Bye, Bye, Piper Berry--was my favorite. Probably because it’s my favorite trope (fake dating). I ended up rating that one 4.5 stars. I think the one and only reason it didn’t get a higher rating is that I was longing for more of the angst. But since it’s a short story we only got a few glimpses into the pining. It was so good I just wanted more. Not a bad complaint to have. I also loved the diversity and inclusion in this set of stories. I believe every other story was an LGBT+ story and it all felt so authentic. We also get different ethnicities and we explore in one story differences in classes. So, there’s a ton to love here even if you aren’t a major romance fan. But seeing as I am a romance fan there was just even more for me to enjoy.

I think my rating makes it look like I enjoyed this one less than I did. I had one story that I rated 2.5 stars and I think that drug down my rating a bit. That was The Idiom Algorithm. It was such high drama and so over the top that I couldn’t look past it. I think if this was written as a full blown novel then it could have added some less dramatic scenes and really made everything more believable. But the author had too little space and that was really to its detriment. But all the other stories got a 3 star rating or higher from me which is pretty rare when I’m reading an anthology.

Overall, I think this is going to be the perfect thing to get people ready for Valentine’s day in the New Year. I also think it would be great for people who like certain tropes more than others and they can pick and choose which stories to read based off those tropes. I definitely think they’re all worth the read no matter what, but especially if you’re a fan of the Romance genre.

This is the perfect read for any romance lover who finds him or herself in a busy season without the time to commit to an entire novel or series or anything who loves a bit of fun and fluff and something light.
Serendipity takes all your favorite tropes and lets each author tell us about one. From fake dating to being stuck in one bed, these high school interpretations of these tropes are so romantic and sweet.

I loved reading these short stories and getting just a taste of my favorite tropes before I moved on to the next one. These are are some of my faves and some I've not read before and I enjoyed them all! Get ready and dive in!

I was surprised how enjoyable most of the stories were. It was an easy read and perfect for anyone who wants to read about cute tropes in YA.

I always find it hard to review collections of short stories, as a single star rating cannot encapsulate my thoughts on each of the stories read.

I will say I really enjoyed /some/ of these short stories and not others, which is very typical of any collection of short stories. I really enjoyed the diversity in authors and stories that this book provides: there's something for almost everyone in one form or another, which I find really important in collections of stories as it means if you can't find yourself in one story, you'll likely find yourself in another.

My favorite short stories were by Leah Johnson, Anna-Marie McLemore and Marissa Meyer, all authors I've read from and enjoyed in the past.

Overall, I'd recommend this anthology to anybody looking for some trope-y YA romances; nobody will enjoy every story, but everybody will enjoy at least a few of the stories.

I will not be reviewing this book for The Wellesley News; while there were some standout stories, overall, I wasn't quite invested enough—I only write positive reviews for my column. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to review this book!

I think I’ve decided the perfect thing to read during the month of November—when I’m busier working on Nanowrimo—is short stories. When I was approved to read the advance copy of this collection, I knew I wanted to read it now, as opposed to closer to the publishing date in January. Not only is it a collection of convenient short stories, each one features a story inspired by a romantic trope. And I love tropes. Some of my favorites are included here.

I loved that this one was so diverse, that it took most of the tropes and twisted them, making them new, and it even included a graphic novel short story, which was an unexpected bonus! The only author from this collection that I’ve previously read is Marissa Meyer, although I have Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy and When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon waiting on my bookshelf. But I also discovered some new authors to check out, as well. Which is another reason I like to pick up anthologies.

As with most short story collections, I enjoyed some stories more than others. I’ll be sharing my star rating and a few thoughts I jotted down as I read each story. I think a collection of short stories based on tropes is such a fun idea. Now I’d like one for the adult romance genre, as well. Maybe holiday-themed?? Come on publishers!

“Bye, Bye, Piper Perry” (The Fake Relationship) by Julie Murphy

This was a cute fake-dating story. The characters were solid, but the plot was a bit too predictable. I gave this one 3.25 stars!

“Anyone Else But You” (Stranded Together) by Leah Johnson

Cute stranded-together story! Who hasn’t fantasized about spending a night locked in a store? With someone, of course. Not alone. I enjoyed watching Perry grow past her assumptions about Jada, and letting down her guard. 3.25 stars!

“The Idiom Algorithm” (Class Warfare) by Abigail Hing Wen

Sweet story, I liked Tan and Winter a lot, but I wish we’d had more time to get to know them. I enjoyed the algorithm aspect! This one is set at Christmas, which was fun. 3.25 stars!

“Auld Acquaintance” (The Best Friend Love Epiphany) by Caleb Roehrig

Super cute and funny! Finally, two characters I was really rooting for. Set at a lock-in on New Year’s Eve, Ollie and Garrett are determined to find boys to kiss at midnight. I gave this one 4 stars!

“Shooting Star” (One Bed) by Marissa Meyer

I was pretty curious how Meyer would handle the One Bed trope for YA, but she made it work! And even managed to make this short story feel like a slow-burn. I gave this one 4.25 stars!

“Keagan’s Heaven on Earth” (The Secret Admirer) by Sarah Winifred Searle

This is the graphic novel short story set at Valentine’s. It’s very cute with great illustrations, but it’s super short. I gave this one 3.5 stars!

“Zora in the Spotlight” (The Grand Romantic Gesture) by Elise Bryant

I liked how the grand romantic gesture wasn’t what I expected or with the expected outcome. It also had a cute ending! 3.5 stars!

“In a Blink of the Eye” (Trapped in a Confined Space) by Elizabeth Eulberg

Cute twist on the trope. I thought it was well-done, creative, and sweet. AND it’s set in London. 4 stars!

“Liberty” (The Makeover) by Anna-Marie Mclemore

I fully expected to not like this one when I started it. I don’t typically care too much for The Makeover Trope OR stories about cheerleaders, but this one was creative and fresh. I liked that at its heart it was about being your true self. Very inspiring. I liked how the author utilized the definitions for the cheer moves throughout the story. 4 stars!

“The Surprise Match” (The Matchmaker) by Sandhya Menon

This one was fun! Probably the one that made me smile and chuckle the most. Sweet twist on the matchmaker trope. 4.25 stars!

Thank you to the publisher, Feiwel & Friends, and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy.

So, I was nervous about this at first. I don’t normally do short story collections. Usually too many of the stories don’t vibe with me.
That wasn’t the case this time. All the stories were well written and interesting.. but maybe I’m biased because I’m a sucker for all the romance tropes. Anyway, it’s a good little book to take with you when you need a quick read.

Review will be up on my bookstagram account, @meetcuteromancebooks closer to pub date. This anthology has so many of my favorite authors and it was a fun, quick read!!

A more in-depth review will be on my blog soon but I wanted to leave a quick short one here first. When I saw Marissa Meyer’s name and just knew I had to get my hands on this book before even knowing what it was about. She’s a top 3 author for me so when I received this I squealed! I want to thank Morgan Rath from Macmillan for sending me an e-ARC for this book. Normally, I’m not one for anthologies, but hearing about this book when I attended Marissa’s Gilded Zoom tour had me super excited and interested in checking it out. I’m not going to lie while I so wanted to read this because of Marissa, this group of stories honestly surprised me! The premise of it being on ten different romance tropes enamored me! There was a story based around the fake relationship, best friend love epiphany, one bed, etc. The authors were chosen for the project delivered well-written light, fluffy, and fun stories. It was a super cute fast read overall. There was only one story I didn’t fall in love with that had me practically skip halfway in and that was Anyone Else But You. Other than that I loved them all so for me to love 9/10 is really something! I’d definitely rate this 4.5 stars and recommend it for anyone who is super into fluffy YA romance!

This was super cute! I liked pretty much all of the stories, which is rare for an anthology. Definitely recommend this to anyone who likes fluffy YA reads.