Book Review: Short Story Collection

The Improbable Meet Cute Collection

Authors: Christina Lauren, Abby Jimenez, Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, Ashley Poston and Sariah Wilson

Publication Date: January 23, 2024

Love when you least expect it

What makes love stick? Is it the irresistible spark when you lock eyes across a piazza in Rome? Is it feeling the earth move under your feet? (Wait—that was an actual earthquake.) In these six serendipitous short stories, bestselling authors turn improbable first encounters into hopelessly romantic happy ever afters.

Confession:

This collection of short stories is just adorable. I had a lot of fun reading them and they were perfect for Valentine’s Day/week. I am not super big on reading books that are holiday themed, but this was one I didn’t want to pass up. Plus it was free with my Amazon membership, so if I didn’t love it, that was ok.

I loved how all of these Stories took place on Valentine’s Day and they had the added bonus of each of them having some small connection to each other. Either a character or someone’s business was mentioned in each story. I love it when these collections do that. The first and the last story were the longest, but the others were all around 50-60 pages which made them perfect to read with my morning tea.

Here is a short run down of how I felt about each of them.

The Exception to the Rule

This was one of my favorites of the group. I loved the meet cute of a missent email on Valentine’s Day. Then for the next 10 years they only communicated on that special day until they meet in person. Their face to face meet cute was so funny and I loved it. Both characters were adorable and even though the majority of the story was told through emails you really got a sense of who they both were.  

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Worst Wingman Ever

I think this was my overall favorite. I loved the mistaken valentine left on the wrong car and then the exchanges back and forth with notes left on Holly’s car. It also had a sad story line woven into the story. Holly’s grandmother was dying and she was her hospice nurse. There were some funny moments with her grandmother and her family but also some sad ones. John was so sweet and adorable. I loved how he felt the need to fix a stranger’s tire just because he kept noticing that the tire was low and he felt responsible for making sure she was safe. Their final meet cute in person was also so sweet and adorable.

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Rosie and the Dreamboat

The meet cute in this one was a bit on the weird side, but I adored both Rosie and Leo, which kind of made up for it. The rest of the characters in the story, kind of irritated me, especially Leo’s coworkers. Given the situation Rosie was in I felt that they needed to be just a tad more professional while they tried to help her. But I loved the scene when Rosie and Leo finally met face to face. It was perfect.

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Drop Cover and Hold On

How can you not like a story with lots of pastries and a man who can bake many delicious delights. I was totally here just for the baked goods, but the story was quite something as well. This one had a bit of a twist as the couple had met many times before Valentine’s day, but she was a customer and he was the owner of the local bakery. It wasn’t until they survive a big earthquake and get stuck together in the store that they admit that they have feelings for each other. Some of their dialogue irked me a little bit, but overall it was a fun little story.

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With Any Luck

This was the only story where we didn’t really see the meet cute. The couple had met before and had even hooked up before the events of this story take place. But that wasn’t really an issue. I loved the premise that whenever Audrey kissed someone, they would find their true love the next day. That is a tough curse to live with. I liked the chemistry between her and Theo and was glad that they could work through their issues and finally admit their feelings for each other. Also what happened to the groom was perfect!

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Royal Valentine

This is the only one that I kind of wished I had listened too. I love me a good scottish accent and I just can’t make them work in my head when I read them. But other than that I thought this was pretty cute story. I liked both Ilaria and Callum even thought they were both pretending to be someone they weren’t. I was expecting Callum to be something other than a prince though, I thought for sure he would be an up and coming actor or sports star, but I can live with prince. I loved that we got to hear about him in a kilt. Their meet cute was a bit weird, but I liked that he saved her from her own foolishness. I also liked that he owned up to his mistakes in the end. This was not a favorite, but I still liked it.

 

Overall I thought this was a well done collection of stories. I would recommend this collection for anyone looking for some short, cute stories all centered around the theme of Valentine’s Day.