Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a very entertaining, and surprisingly emotional, read.
On her first day of law school Kailyn humiliates herself in front of her new classmates when she has not one but two embarrassing encounters with Daxton Hughes, a fellow student who just happened to be the star of Kailyn’s favourite show.
I feared we’d have an awful romance with these two in their college years, that didn’t really go anywhere. What we got was more manipulative, but highly entertaining.
Cut to five years after they graduate and Kailyn is still smarting at being beaten by Dax to top spot in their class. When he arrives with his parents to set up a trust fund for his sister, it opens old wounds. After the shock death of both parents in a tragic car accident Dax becomes guardian and Kailyn is thrown into the middle of things.
There’s some obvious elements to this, but it’s still a story that I wanted to read and enjoyed thoroughly (really wish you could award half stars).

A sweet contemporary romance novel, perfect for when you just want a quick holiday read! I can see this being a fantastic summer read for the beach!
I heard so much about the author’s previous novel, that I was very excited when I got approved to read Meet Cute!
It was a funny read, nothing too deep. It was enjoyable, and I kind of liked all the characters mainly, but there was just something missing for me from the story.

We meet Kailyn, one of our main characters who literally bumps into Daxton, who she used to have a major crush on as a teenager. However, things don’t quite end well between them.
Years later, Dax turns up at Kailyn’s office asking for help - he’s now the guardian of his 13 year old little sister.
Will Kailyn help Dax our after how he betrayed her? Will she be able to forgive and move past her bitterness? There are lots of things at stake.

It wasn’t just a romance, it touched on other subjects such a family and loss quite nicely. I’ll definitely look out for Helena Hunting’s books in the future!

Thank you NetGalley, the author and the publishers for my free advanced reading copy!

I received a free ebook version of this from Netgalley. Thankyou to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this! My review is still honest.

I think this book will be a very popular one this year. I think it will sell well and as a library assistant, I can definitely see this being one I'm asked for frequently. It has the potential to connect with a lot of people. The only issue is, I'm not sure this book was meant for me.
This is a romance following Kailyn and Daxton (I do have to say straight off, the names aren't my favourite). Daxton was on Kailyn's favourite TV show in her youth, and was her teenage crush, leading to a truly cringey fangirl when she bumps into him at college. Years after law school, Kailyn believes that Daxton screwed her over before their graduation and now hates him, but becomes involved in the custody case involving his younger sister Emme.
On a detached level, this is a likeable romance novel with some great messages. It has some heavier topics that it deals with in a very tactful way, and has some really heart-wrenching portrayals of grief and loss. I did like Kailyn and Daxton, and especially Emme. I was actually very interested in the legal storylines, although the outcome was very predictable from the start. It was nice to read about a career driven heroine though, and one who focuses on her happiness.
The thing is, these characters are 30, and I'm not even 20 for a couple more months. They're mature, their relationship is mature and what they want from it is relevant because they're settling down and have already established careers. It deals with parental responsibility a lot and maternal feelings. I can't relate to any of that because I'm not at a stage in my life where any of this would feel realistic for me. I'm not old enough to have a second chance romance! This isn't the fault of the book, but it did mean I didn't connect with this as well as the target audience would.
I do also think that this had one too many tropes for one book. It has a enemies to friends to lovers, second chance romance and celebrity romance all bundled into one, and the whole fan/celebrity aspect just ended up seeming irrelevant and pointless. I don't think it added much to the story and wasn't really needed.
This is a difficult review to write, because how do I explain that this is a genuinely good book that I just didn't enjoy very much? It's a book that just wasn't for me, but that I fully expect will be a great one for a lot of other people.

I enjoyed Meet Cute - starting with the 'meet cute' of Dax and Kailyn literally bumping into each other at law school in the prologue. Their meeting again and subsequent romance 5 years later is balanced by Dax's new responsibility for raising his much younger sister as his parents have been killed. Tension is introduced by the aunt's attempt to get custody of Emme instead. I really enjoyed Kailyn's work there, she was really good with Emme and I really enjoyed how formidable she was with her lawyer hat on!

Both the main characters develop and change over the course of the book. Dax maturing now he has his sister to care for. Kailyn needed to get over her (justifiable) fear of opening up to a lover. Their romance was one between equals, both of them made mistakes, both of them were able to compromise for what really mattered to them. A good read.

What a great book! Had a blast and a couple of tears reading it!
It was a bit of a breath of fresh air because it doesn’t follow the usual drama and jealousy, but it has palpable situations and feelings.
I have read a couple of Helena Hunting's books and this one is on the top of the list, that will only get bigger now that I have fallen in love with this author's writing.
The story is emotional and full of heart-breaking moments, without going in too much into the characters past, because it would only make the story bigger and its totally unnecessary to the plot. You get the major picture and understand the reason why the story develops like it does.
The characters are funny and emotional at the right times and the secondary characters totally add in to the story.
I can totally imagine myself fangirling like that!!!

Helena Hunting writes a hugely entertaining and light hearted novel of family and romance set in Los Angeles, that was just what I needed after some dark, disturbing and unsettling reads. Trust lawyer Kailyn Flowers is almost 30 years old, ambitiously chasing a partnership, working all hours to ensure that this dream comes true. On her first day at law school, Kailyn is knocked over by Daxton Hughes, a famous child actor that she harboured a huge crush on, with an obsession for the series he starred in. To her mortification, she cannot stop fangirling him, teased by his friends, only to find he is in the same law classes as her. A friendship develops between the two of them, marked by a friendly competitive rivalry until he unforgivably betrays her at the end.

Having not seen him for years, he turns up with his parents to see her over forming a trust to protect his younger 13 year old sister, Emme. Initially he doesn't recognise her, and then is puzzled by the hostility emanating from her. Tragedy strikes 6 months later when a accident fatally claims the lives of Dax's parents, and a surprise in their will has Dax left with custody of Emme which knocks him for six, and pulls the rug from his current lifestyle. A shell shocked and grieving Dax, an entertainment lawyer, had been on course for a partnership at his law firm, working 90 hour weeks, and now he must look after and protect his beloved sister. Emme is drowning in grief and the death of her parents fundamentally destabilises her world, it is going to take some time for her to come to terms with this. Dax has no experience to effectively respond to her needs and in providing the kind of comfort she is desperately wanting. Kailyn finds herself with legal responsibilities towards Emme, which multiply when Aunt Linda makes a claim for custody of Emme, citing Dax as an unsuitable figure and poorly equipped to be able to competently look after his sister.

Kailyn too has lost both her parents earlier, so she can understand what both Dax and Emme are experiencing and, despite her doubts and reservations, she finds herself willingly filling a vital role in Dax and Emme's lives. In a path strewn with obstacles, Dax and Kailyn feel an irresistible attraction towards each other, but can their relationship survive the challenges that face them? As Dax and Emme start to feel like family, her family, Kailyn is forced to examine and reconsider the goals and ambitions that have driven her. Her work with best friend Holly, a social worker, feeds her growing interest in family law which has her wanting to shift direction in her career. If you are looking for some feel good escapist fare, then this should fit the bill. This is perfect reading fare for when you need a lift in life. There is great characterisation, I particularly loved Emme, she feels like an authentic grieving teenager, and just so adorable. Many thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.

This book was fabulous and I could not put it down! As I was reading Meet Cute, it definitely didn't go as I thought it would. The book is written in dual perspectives, which adds that depth to both characters. Dax and Kailyn's dynamic is so fun to read, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to read it again! I think I would read anything Helena Hunting wrote. I highly recommend!
Overall: 4.3/5 stars

Great story, your usual boy meets girl, girl and boy fall in love. Something comes along to ruin it, etc. A great story and easy read with a smattering of sexy times. What's not to love!

I’ll start with judging a book by its cover and Meet Cute’s cover art is so... well, cute - particularly the U.K. edition with the purple background - I just love it. Having said that, I don’t feel as though the cover art or the book’s title reflect the tone of the story - they give the impression of a lighthearted, rom-com but the theme of the book is far too weighty for it to be categorised as such.

The premise of Meet Cute sounded perfect for me - I’m a big fan of second chance romances - unfortunately the plot, particularly the villain of the piece, was predictable and the whole book was full of cliches.

Now for the characters, the relationship between Kailyn and Daxton developed at a believable pace - it wasn’t insta-love, which made it feel authentic. However, I can’t say the same for the characters themselves - they were likeable and had good chemistry, but maybe I just didn’t identify with them because they felt a little two dimensional to me. Also, although the story is told from dual POVs, I didn’t get a sense of uniqueness from their individual narratives.

Overall Meet Cute was an easy read, one that didn’t require much brainpower, and although it won’t be making it to my personal favourites list, I’ve no doubt that for the most part it will be extremely popular.

***ARC generously provided by Little, Brown Book Group UK, via NetGally, in exchange for an honest review***

#MeetCute #NetGalley

4/5 stars.

<i>Thanks to the publisher for sending me an eProof of this via NetGalley!</i>

Meet Cute grabbed my attention because of its title, cute cover and blurb that all promised me a very nice romance. And I can happily say that it delivered.

This book follows Kailyn and Daxton, Kailyn’s teenage crush with whom she went to law school. The story mostly centres around their relationship after Daxton’s parents die in a car crash, making him the legal guardian of his 13-year-old sister. Law, family and romance are the main themes of Meet Cute which will not be everyone’s cup of tea but it definitely was mine. I have a very strong weakness for romance books/films that involve kids - the younger, the weaker I am - so this was pretty perfect.

I really enjoyed Helena Hunting’s simple writing although I found a lack of description of the characters a bit of a downer - I want to know what they all look like so I can imagine it like a film in my head, please. The pace of the story was fast and steady and enabled me to finish this book in just one day!

Moreover, I really, really liked Hunting’s characters. Kailyn, Daxton and Emme are the stars of the show and they managed to steal my heart pretty easily to be honest. I enjoyed Kailyn and Dax’s banter and sexual tension as well as Emme and Daxton’s brother and sister relationship that was way too cute at times.

Like I mentioned previously, family is one of the main elements of this story with the story following Daxton’s journey to keep his sister in his custody and juggling his work and learning to care for a teenage girl at the same time. I particularly liked this aspect of the story but I know that lots of people will not and will find it quite boring. However, if you enjoy family plots, you’ll most likely enjoy this!

To conclude I can say that I had a good time reading Meet Cute although it has its weaknesses. Definitely recommend!

I've come to understand that romance is a complicated romance for me. It doesn't matter if it's Historical Romance, Contemporary, or any other kind, what I find that I enjoy the most is the story, the characters or the writing. If all of the above are good I will be very happy.
The problem with Meet Cute is that I expected something different, a more fun and relaxed story, instead it felt all over the place. The main problem I believe was that it had too many themes. We have a fan a child actor turned lawyer who is too hot, too smart, too rich, a family drama, a work drama, a really awful antagonist and a romance in the middle of all these.
The main characters and most of the relationships were nice. The relationship between Dax and his sister was beautiful. I think that the way they tried to navigate their new status and dynamics was the strongest part of the book. It stole from the romance, which was kind of flat with no particularly strong chemistry. I also enjoyed a lot how Kalilyn managed to build a strong friendship with Emme, that it didn't feel forced.
As for the secondary characters, Kailyn's boss, the best friends and Dax's aunt Linda, I didn't like them. Linda was the most obvious and ridiculous antagonist I have read. Her actions were so predictable that I found myself laughing with the other characters that couldn't find out her plans. The writing in general was ok, although there were some scenes so forced that it felt weird.
I believe that it was a story with beautiful relationships that it could have been much better with a simple storyline, and maybe funniest scenes.

Well, I'm bummed. After all the praise I heard about Helena Hunting in the past, I was really excited to read one of her novels. The cover is so cute and made me think this was going to be a sweet rom-com, but sadly, the reality left me disappointed.

The story was generic enough for a romance: girl has a crush on a former tv star whom she meets in college, there's tension (not really, but let's pretend) and grudges (which is basically resolved with one paragraph) and oh look, they meet five years later and engage in a very unprofessional relationship (because of course).
I've said it before in romance novel reviews and I'd like to reiterate: there's nothing wrong with a story that's been done before. Tropes can be fun - as long as you handle them well. Sadly, they weren't in this case.
We have the usual suspects that should make this story quirky - a young teen character that steals everybody's hearts, a best friend who doesn't swear and is basically the PG-13 version of Anna Kendrick and an antagonist whose motives are conspicuous from the moment she shows up on the pages.
And that brings me to the characters. Everyone, even the protagonists were so forgettable. I finished this book yesterday and for the life of me, I cannot remember their names. Or tell you any discerning features except for the fact that they both studied law. That's it. Their hopes? Their dreams? Did they even have any?
A lot of it had to do with the writing.
The writing was so simplistic. Which isn't a bad thing in romance novels because you want to devour them and not be held up by metaphors and the like, but in this book, it went to the point of sounding juvenile. Everything is told, nothing is ever really shown. Places aren't described beyond the bare minimum of "my parents' bedroom". No depth is added to the characters' dreams or aspirations or even weaknesses. The MC wants to make partner in her law firm. What do you mean, you want more? Further, we get cold-cut sentences about grief like "But I can’t cover this wound with a Band-Aid. It’s just too deep." instead of actually digging deeper into the emotional turmoil and repercussions that comes with losing your parents. There is an abundance of inner monologue from both PoV's, but it never tells us of their true inner struggles. Instead, it's all just very descriptive and never contemplative which just left me not caring about either character or the story's very predictable outcome.
There's also a few moments in this book that bring back the dreaded "girls don't know they're beautiful and that makes them ten times sexier" trope which I had hoped we'd left some time in the early 2000s. Which, by the way, felt like when this book was written. Cringe-worthy, inauthentic dialogue and uncomfortable discussions of periods (hello, we live in 2019, menstruation is real, deal with it) made this hard to get through for such a short book.

Overall, this just was not for me. I feel like this is a great book for newcomers to the adult romance genre because the shaky handling of ancient tropes will elicit a few laughs here and there, but for anyone who's versed in this genre, this is probably not for you.

I was very excited to read this book but unfortunately it just wasn't my cup of tea.

In all honesty I felt embarrassed for Kailyn with how she acted when she first met Dax. So from them on it just didn't work for me I didn't find it believable that he didn't recognize her later on I mean it's only been a few years!

Anyway the writing style was fine I just felt that the characters weren't my favourite and so it just didn't flow for me

The Story

This was surprisingly my first Helena Hunting book and I anticipated it so much! Maybe that's why it was such a letdown for me... Anyway, when I saw the cover of this book, I thought it was just the light fluffy rom-com I needed at the moment. I've been on a contemporary binge at the moment and the blurb to this as well as the few advance reviews seemed to set it up really well.

Meet Cute follows Kailyn's almost-like-fate romance with Daxton. If you've had the chance to read the blurb and you're like me, you'll see that there are elements to this story that have been done before repeatedly. The trope, the second-chance romance, the cute little kid that wins all the hearts... has been done. Yet still, I wanted to read this badly! I find that it isn't the tropes and the overdone characters that fail, it's the execution, and while I find this book wasn't bad at all... It lies somewhere in the 'eh' scale for me.

But still, I think if you want to give this a chance when it releases; forget my review and just go into it blind. This was just personal preference and my opinion is one of many :)

"Sometimes the darkest tragedies bring us the brightest lights."




The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I thought that this was a cute read and I flew through it in one sitting. It definitely didn't require any hard thinking and I sunk myself in the romance just like I wanted.

That being said, as soon as I started reading I knew the writing style was not for me. It was not descriptive, rather explanatory writing. I found it hard to flesh out the characters and bring them through life because there wasn't a lot of emotion shown in the writing. I really do lean on descriptive prose when reading, especially a romance when the feelings of the characters matter so much. After this, I noticed that a lot of the dialogue seemed off to me. It was unrealistic and uncomfortable at times. Then other times, it was cliche and the lines were cringey;


1)
"I like her even more than I did back then. I wonder if she has any idea how sexy she is. Probably not. Which makes her even hotter."

(It's 2019, many women should know they are beautiful without the whole "you don't know you are and that's what makes it better." please get rid of this mindset. self love is beautiful.)

2)
"I sometimes bandaged so many years ago. But I can’t cover this wound with a Band-Aid. It’s just too deep."

(I wanted more substance to the writing? A lot of the lines felt overdone)

3)
"He makes a gagging sound, and his horrified expression returns. This is far more fun than it should be for a Friday night at the CVS in the Aisle of Red."

(Menstruation is not disgusting, and although this was tackled slightly - I feel like it should have been made more explicit.)

Then came my set of unlikeable characters. I really didn't like Kailyn and Daxton was okay but the only character I was really rooting for was Emme. Even the main antagonist in this story was very predictable. Lastly, the rhythm of this book was jarring at times, often fragmented. This, again is a personal issue and I'm sure many will not pick up on something so simple, but I found that the flow of the plot and the story itself was very unclear.

Overall, I really wish I liked this more. Especially because of how much I anticipated it. This does not go to say I will not read Helena Hunting in the future, I just think this one was not my cuppa.

An interesting idea - the heroine is a big fan of an actor in a teen show, a fandom that continues despite meeting the actor, now a fellow student in law school. Jump forward a few years, and they've lost touch until he accompanies his parents to set up a trust for his sister, another - much younger - child actor. Although it's pacey enough, the story seemed to fall at limits it placed on itself, so one of those stories where you'll need to be happy to suspend your disbelief beyond the romance. It also seemed like there was a massive elephant in the room - wasn't it a bit weird to be actually in a relationship with someone whose poster was on your wall? - that seemed to go unacknowledged.

I found this story quite nice and, in a way, also moving. It starts with two old friends (half enemies?) from university that reconnect after a few years. Dax was an actor from Kaylin’s favourite show, now they are both practicing law (and, in the case Kaylin, also still fangirling over the show, with Dax’s face on a coffee mug).
The bond between these characters is built again under special (and not particularly happy) circumstances, but I was up to the journey almost from the beginning. It was mostly a smooth read, although I was not entirely happy about one detail that was poorly managed from one of the characters (I don’t particularly enjoy dishonest situations). All in all, I enjoyed the romance building of two adults that are, until certain extent, sharing a responsibility and got really fond of the teenager sister that in a way brought them together.
In sum, to be very obvious: a cute story.

*I voluntary read an early copy of this book in exchange of an honest review

I interrupt the regularly scheduled programming of this blog – only regular in so far as there is no regularity – to bring you a review of a book provided to me by Little, Brown. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read and review!

I haven’t read anything by Helena Hunting before – I have The Good Luck Girl as yet unread on my Kindle – but when I saw this adorable cover on NetGalley I knew I wanted to know more. Many thanks to Little, Brown for sending me a galley in return for an honest review.

I’ll admit that when I read the prologue – where Kailyn literally falls over Dax and then gushes for hours over his celebrity status – I wasn’t too sure if I’d like the book. Luckily, it developed into a deeper story and Dax’s celebrity status recedes into the background for the majority of the time, only being referenced when it’s fairly relevant to the plot.

There were a couple of little things that niggled at me – I don’t think Dax ever once referenced missing his parents, only in regards to his sister Emme missing them, and the custody battle played out in a predictable way – but Helena Hunting has created great characters in Dax, Kailyn and especially Emme, and the ending was pretty perfect for three fairly broken people. I’ll be looking out for what she writes in the future

3.5 stars

This book was definitely a cute read.
It’s a romance filled with a lot of family drama and family relationships.
After the tragic death of his parents Daxton is now the guardian of his thirteen-year-old sister and Kailyn, one of his former classmates from law school, has to help him with his sister’s trust fund.
I liked the fact that the enemies part was explained, we knew why Kailyn was not on good terms with Daxton and all was resolved pretty quickly and efficiently.
The TV show part was funny and entertaining, even though after a while it kind of became boring reading about Kailyn always wearing the series merchandise.
The romance was also really well developed and I liked Daxton and Kailyn as a couple. I was rooting for them just like Emme, Daxton’s little sister.
All the plot surrounding Emme’s case was well done but I just wish we could have avoided the aunt and her lawsuit. I kind of felt like it was uninteresting and I would have preferred to see other problems arising from this new reality Daxton and Emme find themselves in. Other than that it was a good plot device in order to have Kailyn more in Daxton’s everyday life and so it worked well in that sense.
If you’re in the mood for a cute romance definitely pick this one up!

Dax was the teen star of a TV show that Kailyn loves, so the first time she met him she went all fangirl! They were in law school together and had a complicated and competitive friendship.
Years later, she meets him again when she does some work for his parents. An enjoyable read that follows their newfound friendship as she helps him deal with his new role as guardian to his younger sister.

The name definitely says it all, although maybe meet *cringe* might be more accurate. Lol.


I felt for every character, even if that feeling is absolute disgust. Ugh. I mean!

Emme was such a sweetheart who didn't deserve half of what life threw at her, and yet she didn't let it break her spirit. Kailyn and Dax 😍 and their extremely complicated relationship and history made the final moments of the book that much better.

You should all pick this one up because despite all the ups and downs that these characters face you can't help but smile at just how cute they are together. Plus, it's a quick read, what more can you ask for in a novel?