Meet Cute Paperback – April 9, 2019

★¸¸.•*¨*•★Minor spoilers alert★•*¨*•.¸¸★What I enjoyed most about this novel contemporary romance…Recovery from tragedy theme / Wonderful characters / Page-turner / Romantic / Realistic / Funny / Steamy / HEAMy Top Favorite Moments / Scenes:From Daxton’s POV - I loved when Dax discovered his parents’ kink drawer when he returned to his childhood home to care for his 13-year old sister Emme. 😊 His surprise at the visible evidence that they were into getting their freak on was gold and had me 😂. I mean, how else would they keep their sexual fire lit? 😉From Kailyn’s POV -ಌ Someone hands me a Sharpie and I’m forced to sign everyone’s shirts. Dax had one made for me that reads Daxton Hughes Is My #1 Fan with a picture of the two of us. He’s wrapped around me, chin resting on the top of my head, his smile wide and warm and full of love.It’s hands down the most incredible birthday party I’ve ever had, thrown by an even more incredible man. My future with him might not be easy or conventional, but then nothing worth fighting for ever is. ಌSometimes the darkest tragedies bring us the brightest lights. I’m lucky enough to have found not one, but two.★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★Dual formats read & collected: Kindle e-book and Audible Audiobook. The immersive reading feature made reading in dual formats a piece of cake.★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★Writing style: Dual POVs (Kailyn’s and Daxton’s)★¸¸.•*¨*•★Ratings ★¸¸.•*¨*•★Overall ★★★★★ Because this one starts off with a tragedy, it was hard not to compare it to Helena Hunting’s more angsty Clipped Wings series that first made me fall in love with Helena Hunting’s story telling magic. As a standalone drama, Meet Cute comes close to it without being as intensively angsty. I’d highly recommend this realistic contemporary romance.★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★Performances (Holly Warren and Teddy Hamilton) ★★★★★ each, bravo! Both narrators had great tone and animated all of the main and supporting characters brilliantly.★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★Story ★★★★½ Don’t let the bright, cheery, à la Disney’s classic animated 101 Dalmations famous scene fool you. This is no lighthearted romantic comedy novel. These characters have suffered great tragedy earlier than anyone in life would want. How they recover from it and come to rely on each other is what made this story so realistic and enjoyable for me.Author Helena Hunting has been one of my top favorite must-read authors every since I discovered her beautifully moving Clipped Wings series. I love how she continues to vary the tone of her contemporary romances so very well. I’ve yet to be disappointed because her creative instincts are so aligned with what I prefer to read. Connecting to and living in the skin of her characters always happens easily for me.I hope I never have to break up with her or put her on the back burner like I’ve had to do occasionally with other romance authors who are talented but a bit too repetitive which can happen when they are very prolific writers.★¸¸.•*¨*•★★¸¸.•*¨*•★Final conclusion: Meet Cute is definitely going on my favorites / re-read worthy GoodReads shelf.

I’ve been working on my Helena Hunting backlist and I picked up Meet Cute anticipating a fun enemies to lovers story between two lawyers but I found it to be so much more. Kailyn and Dax were law school rivals and their meet cute involved Kailyn fangirling over Dax since he was the star of her favorite tv show when he was younger. Now years later, Dax needs Kailyn’s help with his younger sister than he’s just been given custody of following the tragic death of his parents.

Pretty cute and fun! The whole meet-cute scene wasn’t anything particularly special (or all that cute). It also didn’t seem to fit the definition of the term considering how it impacted the characters.But it’s readable and light material. A perfect summer read.I liked Kailyn, Dax, and Emme. Their bond shone on the pages.I guessed the “probably not supposed to be a twist, but I’ll call it such for review purposes” right away. It’s not a secret...or at least a very good one. It was quite clear from the get go. And considering how close the family seemed, I was a bit disappointed that Dax seemed clueless about the truth. It just didn’t really fit.The romance is cute though! I like that it also isn’t very risqué. I’m way over the erotica type contemporary. This aspect was perfectly executed.However, for as cute as it is, I just felt like some things dragged on. The entire custody battle took forever and then of course was wrapped up instantly. Which, was almost ridiculous in its unveiling. I mean, what evil genius is going to be blabbing about her plot in her workplace where anyone could overhear? Maybe I’m just being picky, but I couldn’t help but roll my eyes since that solved two problems in one swoop.I enjoyed it, and again, I’d recommend it just for a quick, easy read. It’s nothing I’d reread or list as a favorite.