Ice Cream and Feels: My Meet Cute Diary Review

Flash back to April of 2020. I was scrolling through Twitter, and I saw a promo image for a Netflix rom-com that looked super adorable. So I searched all through Netflix before I realized ... the image was fake and it was part of a trend where writers made Netflix promo images for their books.

So alas, it was not a real show, but it WAS a real book! And at long last, that book is out, so it's finally time to see whether the year-and-a-half wait was worth it.

Book Title: Meet Cute Diary
Author: Emery Lee
Publisher/Year: Quill Tree Books, 2021
Genre: Rom-Com
Number of Pages (According to Goodreads): 400
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Book description (from Goodreads):

Felix Ever After meets Becky Albertalli in this swoon-worthy, heartfelt rom-com about how a transgender teen’s first love challenges his ideas about perfect relationships.

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.

In case you were wondering, here's the fake Netflix image that made me interested in the first place:

My Emotions!

Even though it's not a real Netflix rom-com, it gave me all the feels of one. This book was absolutely ADORABLE! I got so emotional reading it, and even shed a tear or two toward the end. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fluffy, feel-good rom-com, but sometimes you get scared for your character babies, you know?

An Authentically Messy Teen

Noah is a messy character with such an authentic teen voice, and despite his many mistakes I was cheering for him all the way to his happy ending! I know some readers found him annoying, but seriously, who wasn't annoying as a teenager? Personally, I think many YA protagonists read too old these days, so it's refreshing to see a teenage character that actually sounds young and complicated.

But my favorite character was definitely Devin, and if you’ve read this book I’m sure you’ll agree ;) (No spoilers but e's the absolute best)

Trigger and Content Warnings for Meet Cute Diary

This book may not be for you if you're sensitive to discussions/depictions of toxic relationships, emotional abuse, panic attacks, alcohol/drug use, cyberbullying, and mentions of suicide and transphobia.

Final Thoughts

It may not be available to watch on a streaming service (yet), but Meet Cute Diary has all the fun sappy feels you'd expect from your favorite teen rom-com. If you’re looking for a light, fun read with tons of heart, you NEED to pick this up!

Meet Cute Diary is available everywhere, so check out the links below if you want to snag your own copy:

Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Goodreads

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