Reading Wrap-Up: The Improbable Meet-Cute Collection
Kindle Unlimited released a series of six short stories by well-loved romance authors. So, naturally, I decided to give it a try! This was for a few reasons:
Um. I like romance.
I had already read and enjoyed some other books by a couple of the authors included in the series, and was interested in trying several others.
I am planning on diving into short stories of my own in the near future (set in the same world of the first series I’m planning to publish starting later this year), so I’ve been looking for opportunities to read and study other short stories in preparation.
It was a…mixed experience, to say the least. I’ll definitely be studying more about what creates a good short story and doing in-depth posts here on the blog, but this is as good as entry point as any.
There are six stories in total in the Improbable Meet-Cute Collection, and I made through the first four.
Here are my thoughts:
The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren (Romance)
I’ve loved everything I’ve read by this writing duo, which is quite a few titles at this point. My favorite so far would have to be The Soulmate Equation (River is one of the best love interests out there), but this was another solid addition to my Christina Lauren reading experience!
The premise of this story centers around two high schoolers who, after one accidentally emails the other, believing her to be his teacher, start exchanging yearly emails on Valentine’s day. When they decide to meet years later, hijinks ensue.
It was cute. The pacing was great, considering there were so few pages, and I cared about both protagonists. I ended up giving this one a 4/5.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from here.
Worst Wingman Ever by Robin Abby Jimenez (Romance)
I’ve been wanting to pick up an Abby Jimenez book because they are so well loved. The problem is, none of the premises appeal to me. We all have our instant-buy tropes/themes/situations, and her books just haven’t piqued my interest, so if I picked one up, it would only be based on the idea that people tend to love them (which is not a bad reason to try a book).
However, since this story was so short, I figured I’d give it a try!
Unfortunately, it fell into the exact problem I was worried about. It wasn’t that the writing was bad, the love interests were boring, or the romance wasn’t sweet. They were all nice. It was just that none of it hit my particular pleasure buttons. The dying grandma, in my world, does not belong in a fun romance. Again, not because it’s not possible to make it work, but just because it’s one of my particular turn-offs because it stresses me out!
Basically everything about the protagonist stressed me out, and nothing about the love interest got me invested.
Once again, this isn’t to say you might not enjoy it. It was well written and cute, and I still think I’ll give one of Abby Jimenez’s full-length novels a try at some point, but I ended up giving this short story a 3.5/5.
Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne (Romance)
Okay, this is where things started to go off the rails. I liked The Hating Game, although I had major problems with the love interest’s secrecy. (There was no reason for it, and so much pain could have been avoided if he had just been open and up front—which he could have been, without any consequences, from what I could tell. I have feelings, if you didn’t notice.)
Anyway, I found this short story…icky. The protagonist spent almost the entire time stuck in a sensory deprivation tank, which, if dying grandmas don’t get me in the mood for romance, this definitely doesn’t. She talks to the love interest—a firefighter—through the walls of her tank, delivering cringey lines and turning him into way too much of a father figure for my comfort. Either way, I cringed one too many times to make this experience worthwhile.
With that said, here’s my take:
I genuinely wonder whether these authors had VERY limited amounts of time to throw these stories together, and therefore very limited amounts of time to build them up to their usual standard, especially considering other, more high-priority workloads they may be carrying in terms of their full-length novels.
At the end of the day, that’s what I’m going with. Because this was a 2-star read for me.
Drop, Cover, and Hold One by Jasmine Guillory (Romance)
After this installment in the series, I decided to cut my losses and call it quits. I really wanted to finish all six because they are so short, but the reviews for the last two were just as bad as they were for this and the previous story, so I had low hopes.
This one was better, in my opinion, than Rosie and the Dreamboat. Less cringey. Or, a bit less cringey. But I am a slow-burn gal, and so, if you’re asking me, there’s absolutely no room for spice in a 40 page book. There’s no way to build up to it properly! So when the last scene suddenly turned spicy (after, like, an hour-long conversation), I was out.
Also, I did not get the love interest at all. Was he supposed to be grumpy or sunshine? 2.5 stars.
You might have a good time with these stories, and if you’re subscribed to Kindle Unlimited, they’re free and fast, but they weren’t for me. Luckily, I’ve read some great novels since these, and I can’t wait to talk about them soon.
