This one was pretty cute, I related to some of the characters and I loved that. Not my favorite book of the year but a good one nevertheless ( )

Teen transgender

3.5 rounded up (because I'm a soft)

I thought a lot before reviewing this book. The biggest problem here it's an author that clearly don't like teenagers writing about one. The author thinks that teenagers are dumb, self-centered and horrible people, so this is how Noah behaves. I think the book could be perfect if only the main character was a little more relatable. I don't know a lot of people this egostitical. The characters are inconsistent and very superficial, we have a small circle and it's kind of strange since Noah is so outgoing.
But, this IS a first book, so I was expecting for some not-so-good things, and I was surprised by the good things!
Pronouns: It was SO easy! I loved how the author showed us how easy it is to understand and use different kinds of pronouns and I was so happy everytime Devin changed em's, it was so organic incorporated that you didn't actually fells any confusion. I think, since this is a book mostly for teenagers, that it's a great way to show how pronouns are easy to respect and understand, very lovable.
I didn't liked what happened to Drew, I kind of understand that where he growed up and everything that was going on with him could give a much better end to his story, and I kind of hope that Emery comes back to him sometime and gives him a happy ending.
Noah, overall, was a piece of shit most of the time, BUT, he wasn't the WORST piece of shit, he was meh. I didn't like him, I didn't understand him, but I didn't HATE him, not how I hated Jeremy from MTBMW or Jay from Jay's Gay Agenda, so I was ok with how everything wraped up for him.
This was a cute book about cute teens (and Noah) and I think it's a great book to young trans/nb people, mostly 12-15 years old, so they can see themselves represented and their friends can learn how to respect and support them the right way. ( )

As someone who was a big fan fiction reader and Tumblr user as a teenager, the entire premise of this book is one that I absolutely would have been all over at Noah's age, as much as I might have denied it at the time. Lee perfectly captures the yearning for love (or at least for a partner) that chronically-online teens experience as a reaction to an environment that doesn't seem to love them all that much. Everything about Lee's world feels real, teenage exaggeration and all, and while the story itself is mostly lighthearted, not everything is too smooth-going for the characters to make it feel unnatural.

I think the main thing that held me back from giving this five stars is Noah himself. He starts off the book with an understandably sour attitude, and it's clear from the beginning that he's incredibly self-absorbed, more so than you'd expect from a teenager. While this fades as the story goes on, I found him to be an unlikable protagonist - that isn't to say it's a bad thing; it just changed the tone of the story for me, and made his contrast with Devin all that more stark. I would have liked to maybe see more glimpses of Noah's best qualities earlier on in the book, because as it is, we don't really get that until maybe the last third of the story.

This is a very cute read that I'd recommend for anyone who likes solid, diverse YA romance. It's great to know that trans kids have stories like this to see other trans kids finding love and acceptance, even if it's not some grand love story. ( )

**An ARC of this book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Meet Cute Diary takes rom-coms to another level. Dealing with the ups and downs of platonic and romantic relationships on top of exploring gender and defending against transphobia and internet trolls? Yes, all of that please!! Stubborn and fierce Noah was a joy to read the POV of, and it was heartbreaking watching him push Becca away and lose himself and his boundaries all for a rose-tinted idea of what romance is. I have never wanted to punch a fictional character more than Drew. It was horrifying watching Noah fall for classic abuser manipulation tactics, and seeing all of his cracks where he clearly didn't even respect Noah as a person made me want to cry, even as I continued to torture myself with his presence as I just had to see Noah pull through. I do wish that Emery would have condemned some of Drew's actions a bit more, but it is what is it I guess.

I'm so happy that this message of not only acceptance or meet cutes, but of love and hope, is going out into the world. It's books like these that I wish I had available to me while growing up. ( )