Review: Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet by Various authors

Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet by Various authors
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 2nd 2018
My rating: 4.5 stars 

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of "how they first met" from some of today’s most popular YA authors. Readers will experience Nina LaCour's beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard's glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon's imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno's story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick's charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants. This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.

“All love ends”, she says. 
“Maybe” I say. “But it has to start somewhere”. 

This anthology was probably one of the best that I’ve come across, the stories were short yet sweet (sometimes too short in my opinion), but I ended up liking so many of them, and could imagine them being written as full novels and me just devouring them up. Here I thought I’d share some of my favourites. 

Siege Etiquette by Katie Cotugno 
This was such a cute story, but also made me feel quite mellow after finishing it; two classmates end up hiding out in the bathroom together when the police show up to break up a party. Despite barely knowing one another, I loved how with just the small amount of time Wolf and Hailey end up spending together hiding out, they end up forming some sort of meaningful connection. I liked how Cotugno gave us little snippets into their lives outside of the bathroom and party, how two people who’d formed wrong opinions about each other, but were exactly what they needed in that moment in time. I was really gutted when I came to the end of this story, as I was so left wanting more. 

Print Shop by Nina Lacour 
Again, this was another book that I loved the direction the author took the story in, Evie ends up taking a job in a print shop, the first day she starts work, she’s told to try and promote the shop through social media, they’ve never done it before, so want some sort of online presence. Evie’s never done something like this before either, but once she has the shop’s Twitter page going, she’s overwhelmed with negative tweets about the shop’s service. I loved this story from the get-go, I wanted Evie to do well at her job, but felt really sorry for her dealing with the wrath of these negative tweeters just because someone else had messed up with a customer’s banner. But like I said I loved the direction that Lacour took with this story, as she went onto show you really could find love in the most unexpected of places. And it was thrilling seeing Evie experience it first-hand. 

Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi 
This short story had so many things going for it, I adored the main character Cherish, her voice was strong and I admired her for sticking to what she believed in, (her best friend messes up, but Cherish still decides to go to prom on her own, and with a few days left still needs to get an outfit). It did take me a little longer to get into this story, but again I felt this story just ended so abruptly, what happened with Cherish? did she get her outfit? did she go to prom? and is she even talking to Stacy anymore? these are things I need to know! 

Click by Katharine Mcgee 
I think Click was probably my favourite story from this anthology collection, Mcgee gives us a great futuristic take on what dating could be like for us in the next few years and a wonderful chase over the city when our MC leaves her phone in the taxi and her date agrees to help her locate it. What I loved about this story was how our MC really thought her date wasn’t her typical guy, but as they spend time together in search of her phone, they get to know each other more. And that twist at the end was just pure brilliance! 

Meet Cute is one book I highly recommend reading, it was really the perfect book that reminded me of why I loved YA romance in the first place. The stories were ones that left a big goofy grin on your face and yearning for more, I know this is one anthology that I will go back to for re-reads especially when I need a quick pick me up.

Review: The 4th Man by Lisa Gardner

The 4th Man (Quincy & Rainie #6.5) by Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Dutton
Publication date: January 3rd 2017
My rating: 3.5 stars 
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

 

 FBI Profiler Pierce Quincy and Officer Rainie Conner return in a baffling cold case in this exclusive eBook short story by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner.

A young woman is found strangled in the stairwell of a college library, only her sneakers missing. With no physical evidence, no signs of sexual assault, and no witnesses, all the police have to go on are the three men who were in the library with her: her boyfriend and two campus security guards . . . all of whom have secrets, none of whom can be proven guilty.

Five years later, ex-FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his wife, former police officer Rainie Conner, agree to consult on the still-unsolved case, delving into deep background to comb for any clue that will lead to the woman's murderer. But with no leads and the case colder than the body, will they be able to build a case against one of the three suspects, or is there a fourth man out there? And if the killer has eluded the police this long, how far will he go to ensure justice is never served?

With Gardner's singular ability to delve into the minds of criminals and law enforcement alike, The 4th Man is a shocking look at the reasons for taking a life . . . and just how far profilers need to go to learn them.

It also includes an early look at Gardner's next chilling thriller, Right Behind You, coming February 7, 2017.

My Thoughts:

The 4^th Man was based on a true story/murder, which definitely underscores the idea that “truth is stranger than fiction”.  The reasons a person will murder are quite baffling sometimes! 

Detective D.D. Warren has been working on cold case murders and this one committed ten years earlier stumped the investigators.  A college student was strangled, and her body left in the stairwell of the campus library.  No physical evidence was left on the scene and there were no eyewitnesses to the crime.  But D.D. is a persistent woman, and she’s uncovered a lie told by each of the three persons of interest involved.  She doesn’t want to miss any opportunity to catch the killer so she calls in profiler experts Quincy and Rainie to question these three men.  What follows is an interesting discovery of what actually happened that night. 

I’m a huge fan of Lisa Gardner’s mysteries, I’ve been reading her stories for years, but the first book I read of hers was a Quincy and Rainie book: The Third Victim, the first book they were put together, and I was hooked!  Ms. Gardner has been writing mysteries featuring other detectives/FBI agents since then so it’s be quite a while since I’ve “seen” Quincy and Rainie.  I’ve always wanted to catch up with them again, and with this short story I got a little to whet my appetite before their full-length return in, Right Behind You.  As usual their clever deductions impress!

Even though The 4^th Man is part of a larger series, it isn’t necessary to read the other books in the series to enjoy.  This is mainly a crime procedural/mystery without much personal from Quincy, Rainie or D.D. Warren. And its very short; probably took me an hour to read the whole story.

There’s a teaser at the end for Right Behind You, and after reading I can’t wait to pick it up!  As a side note, I noticed Luke Daniels is the narrator for the audio version of The 4^th Man.  He’s one of my all-time favorite narrators so I’m sure that would be an excellent way to “read” this story!

Connect with Lisa Gardner:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Review: Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories

Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories
Edited by: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: May 17th 2016
My rating: 3 stars 

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love. Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith.

This book was a lot more darker than I was expecting it to be, whereas My True Love Gave to Me was the perfect read for the Winter with its cosy make you want to curl up in a duvet with a hot chocolate sort of read, some of the stories in Summer Days and Summer Nights were darn right scary, and didn’t really come across as summery sorts of reads at all. Despite this there were a few stories that shone through for me;

In Ninety Minutes Turn North by Stephanie Perkins.

This is just the cutest story ever. I’m a huge fan of Perkins  work and I’m known to gobble up her books in one sitting, whereas I wasn’t feeling the first few stories in this anthology, this story really ended up being a favourite of mine. I’m a huge fan of second chance romances and the romance in here was done perfectly. It was cute, whimsical and left a big fat goofy smile on my face afterwards.

Good Luck and Farewell by Brandy Colbert.

This was one story I started off assuming I wouldn’t like but my sister told me to push through as it was one of her favourites and once I’d finished I absolutely loved it. The MC sort of reminded me of myself in a lot ways, she’d been through a lot and was now seeing a big piece of her life (her cousin) move away to another state. Because of what she’d been through I could understand why it could be hard letting people in and why she was worrying about her family members. But I was happy with the chance (route) she decided to take because it was so worthwhile in the end. This story really can be an eye opener in many ways as it deals with characters finally opening up about grief they’d had to deal with, but also opening up the chance for someone to enter their lives. 

“I think maybe saying goodbye isn’t all bad. Maybe it means I’m making room for someone new”.

Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare.

This story was actually one of the darker ones that ended up working for me; it was set at a carnival, with scary clowns and demons (so not my sort of read). But the unexpected surprises that came along the way in the forms of characters that you could rely on that you didn’t assume that you could and finally discovering what happened to characters who had supposedly run away and the realising who the actual real villain made this book such a fun read. Also the sweet romance set amongst the grim, darker scenes really brightened up the story for me.