Article written by: Ryleigh McMillan

The Cellar by Natasha Preston is one of my favorite books of all time. 

The chapters themselves are extremely short and make the book easy to read. Along with that, the different perspectives of the characters add more suspense to the already very suspenseful book.

What’s it about?

The book Meet Cute is a series of stories written by 14 different authors- one for every day of February leading up to Valentine’s Day. This book is great for getting in the festive spirit of the holiday, and for seeing different authors’ writing styles. Maybe you’ll find your next favorite writer! I personally found the book at Walmart, retailing for about $13; however, it is also available on the Barnes and Noble website for $15.99. 

Each story written is, well, a meet-cute! There are plenty of different characters to read about, different backgrounds, and many different love stories to be read! Join me on this 14-day journey with each story, and maybe read along with me! And yes, unfortunately, all of these stories will end in a soft cliffhanger, so I apologize.

Ahead will be some spoilers of the different stories, so if you plan on reading the book, I would hold off or skip ahead to the opinions.

This story involves Queen Bee, popular girl Hailey Adkins, who is at a party with her friend Nicole. As everyone is partying and having a good time (as high schoolers do at a party without supervision) the police are called on them. 

As Hailey runs around to help turn off the lights, the sounds of the police banging on the door and yelling overwhelm her, causing her to run to the bathroom. This is where we meet Wolf Goshen, the outcast farmer boy at their high school, sitting in the bathtub. Hailey apologizes for barging in and sits on the toilet seat.

The two begin talking, getting to know each other on a more personal level. Hailey, however, gets extremely defensive about herself, causing a small argument between them. Hailey then opens up, admitting that she just likes to have a lot of friends. Wolf admits he wished he had a lot of friends like her, or at least more friends.

Hailey then asks him why he was still in the bathroom with her, claiming he had to have a reason, and came to her own conclusion that he liked her romantically, and that’s why he stayed.  He tells her that it isn’t the reason he stayed, but he just enjoyed the company. 

Haily looks out the door of the bathroom, seeing the cars of her parents lined up outside the house, where she reflects on her parents' death that was caused by two high school juniors drunk driving and T-boning her parents car on the highway, and how she would never have parents to come and reprimand her for partying past curfew, but being happy and grateful that she was alive and safe. 

As the two stay in the bathroom longer, Hailey and Wolf lean into each other for the awaited kiss. Hailey and Wolf get ready to leave the bathroom at the demand of the police officers, though, as they head to the door, they both stop and stand there hugging each other in front of the door while still inside the bathroom.

Comments and Thoughts

I both do and don’t have a lot to say about this story. It was great, don’t get me wrong, the plot is something I’d definitely be into, and I’d love to see it made into a full novel.

HOWEVER! I didn’t like the way in which it was written. The book is written in 2nd point of view, making the reader think they are the main character of the book, which I was 100% behind until I realized this was almost a narration of the main character’s thoughts, but if it were you?

It confused me personally, and I just didn’t really enjoy the style in which it was written.

The love trope it introduces, though, is extremely captivating, the senior queen bee falling in love with the outcast farmer, which sounds like something I would read over and over again. It’s a trope that normally isn’t seen in novels.

Overall, I’d give this story a 2.5 out of 5 hearts, not the best, but I might enjoy it.

Print Shop by Nina Lacour follows new hire Evelyn at the vintage print shop in her local town. When she arrives for her first day, she meets the other employees, Eduardo and Neve, as well as the owner, Alexander. 

Evelyn, as the social media manager, makes a Twitter post about how excellent their customer service is; however is met with near instant backlash. One customer, Lauren say that their customer service wasn’t great, and they haven’t gotten a call back in hours.

Evelyn tries her best to cool down the situation; however is unsuccessful. Evelyn begins looking at Lauren’s Twitter page in hopes of creating a personalized apology to her about her call.

Neve and Eduardo have a baby on the way, so the two clock out and leave for an appointment. As soon as they leave, the phone starts ringing. Evelyn answers the phone, hearing Lauren’s voice. She gets nervous talking to her, seeing as this was the woman she had seen online and had grown fond of.

They talk on the phone about the banner Lauren needs, saying that they had painted the wrong principal on the banner. Evelyn lets Lauren know that she can see what she can do about getting it done tonight, before quickly leaving to talk to Alexander.

Alexander tells her to call his husband and let him know he’ll be home later and to let Lauren know that her banner will be completed by 11 p.m.

Evelyn excitedly let Lauren know that they could make it happen, causing Lauren to be a lot happier. Evelyn goes upstairs and helps Alexander, helping to prep and paint the new banner.

They both take a break to eat dinner with Alexander’s husband in the studio, eating a hearty and warm meal before getting back to work.

They finally finish by 11 p.m. like they promised, causing Evelyn get extremely excited about leaving to go and meet Lauren for the first time. Evelyn excitedly drives to Lauren to bring her the banenr, making Evelyn’s heart race.

She finally delivers the banner, and Lauren invites Evelyn to join her for the event Lauren was running.

Opinions and Review

I personally love, love, LOVED this story! It was so strong, and there was a lot of story building all in 20 pages. The story of Evelyn and Lauren is so sweet yet modern, something that I think we could somewhat relate to. 

I also appreciate the LGBTQ+ representation in the story, giving light to a group of people that aren’t normally given such a cute, innocent light like this. I especially liked how the business was queer-owned, giving an extra safe environment for the story to thrive. 

I think there could have been more development on Lauren, possibly adding in a bit where she stops into the store earlier while Evelyn was there, so there could be more development between them other than Evelyn falling instantly in love with a woman she saw on Twitter.

Overall, I would give this story a 4.75 out of 5 hearts. It was almost perfect in its execution of a modern Millennial queer love story.

Hourglass, written by Ibi Zoboi, begins by following Cherish and her friend Stacy, who have been extremely close since they were younger. The two were out dress shopping for a prom dress for Stacy. 

Stacy ends up purchasing a slightly revealing dress for prom, leaving Cherish to be dress-less.

When Cherish gets home, she grabs the mail and realizes that some of her dream colleges might have gotten back to her. She rushes inside, kicking her little brother off the computer so she can check her email.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything, leaving her hopeless that she may need to stay in her small town for the rest of her life, which causes her to realize she forgot the groceries. Cherish leaves the house before he could say anything, walking to Stacy’s house.

As Cherish arrives at Stacy’s house, she sees a black car in the driveway that she doesn’t recognize. Cherish still walks inside anyway and goes into Stacy’s room, realizing that she was in bed with Cherish’s worst enemy: Brian Price.

Cherish suddenly leaves the house, giving Stacy and Brian no time to explain themselves. Around the beginning of high school, Brian had photoshopped a photo of Cherish’s face onto a gorilla wearing heels, a dress, and a wig around the school.

Brian did the same thing to Cherish and Stacy’s mutual friend, Alex. Alex’s parents then threatened to press charges and make the issue bigger, causing the principal to suspend Brian for about a week.

Cherish sat in class with very few other students after her fight with Stacy, seeing as most people had skipped class that day.

She checks her phone, seeing that it was an email from one of her dream schools. She rushes out of her classroom, reading that she had been accepted. Having a newfound confidence, Cherish makes her way back to the dress shop, trying on a few dresses but not finding anything that would flatter her. The dress store owner tells her there's a new African family-owned dress tailor shop nearby, getting Cherish excited to find a prom dress she would like.

The owner lets her know that he can’t do anything for her, since he has multiple dresses that he needs to finish by tomorrow, but tells her he can make the dress for her for Saturday.

Cherish loses hope, letting him know that it’s okay and she will figure it out. She suddenly bumps into the owner's son, flustered by his looks. He tells her he sews dresses as well with his father. 

She takes him up on his offer to have him make a dress, making her excited for prom again. He then asks her to stand up so he can get her measurements, making Cherish feel the butterflies in her stomach.

Opinions and Reviews

This story was so well written and built. The author was so in-depth with the story building, not only that, but the representation of African culture and the way that the Black community is represented is amazing. Everything feels so realistic as if you were Cherish’s friend, hearing about the situation and listening to her.

This was my favorite so far, so I do have to give it a 5 out of 5 hearts. I would definitely read more romance novels by Ibi Zoboi.

In this story, we follow a grieving Alexa, who lost her sister a year ago to a brain aneurysm. Alexa decided it was time to move on and to spread her wings like her sister would want. Alexa, however, had a special chip attached to a bracelet of hers that she was fidgeting with in the taxi.

Once she arrives at the restaurant she was meeting this guy at, she rushes out of the car and inside, ordering herself a water. A man, Raden, approaches her, confirming with her that he was her Click date.

Alexa feels around for her phone, but realizes that she had left it in the taxi. Raden offers up his own phone, allowing her to call her phone. When no one answers, she quickly logs into her own account to track it. The pair sees that the phone was heading to New Jersey, leading to a chase.

Raden introduces himself properly on the train, letting her know he was a photography student and photographed weddings on the side to pay for college. Alexa introduces herself as well, letting him know she is a computer science major, telling him her phone was important because it had a chip for a simulation she had created.

She created a digital AR avatar for people who lost a loved one. They simply had to upload any digital footprint of the person they lost so the AI could learn and act and talk more like the person they had lost.

The two arrive in New Jersey, weaving through 4 lane highway traffic (yes, 4 LANE HIGHWAY TRAFFIC) while calling Alexa’s phone, listening for her ringtone. The two hear her ringtone, but see it was too late as the taxi turns down an exit.

Raden’s phone dies in the process, causing Alexa to stress so much she snaps her bracelet. The two go to a Starbucks, both of them ordering a pomegranate tea as they sit there and wait for Raden’s phone to charge.

He tells her that it’s nice she created that program, asking her if she’d sell it. She gets a bit defensive, saying that she would never want to create a profit off of a grieving person. 

The two turns his phone back on, realizing that her phone was a lot closer at a nearby taco stand. Alexa books it to the taco stand, though Raden stops her to take a photo of her, having liked the lighting around her. 

They find the taxi driver and receive her phone, making Alexa realize she was on a date with the wrong guy. Raden admits that he didn’t regret this date with her, and that his own Click date had ghosted him at the bar. He invites Alexa out on a date, her taxi driver giving her an encouraging thumbs up.

Comments and Review

Okay, so I may need to switch up a bit because OH MY GOSH!! This story was phenomenal! The story building was great, and the way grief was addressed was still heavy to help the reader understand Alexa’s behaviors, yet it’s still light-hearted and didn’t distract from the main point.

On the other hand, though, I don’t really know how to feel about Click. It feels extremely dystopian with how they make their matches (which I won’t spoil, but you should definitely read it to find out). That part felt almost too real.

Overall, though, I think I’d definitely give this book a 7 out of 5 hearts, extra points for the New York and New Jersey references!

This story follows Clara, a 17-year-old girl interning at her father’s record label. She had hoped to be doing legal work, preferring to be alone, but was instead stuck with everyone else doing odd jobs around the building.

Her boss, Grayson, asks her to do a favor, asking her to take the music artist in town to a psychic. Clara instantly agreed, but was skeptical. She goes off to find the artist, though feeling insecure at the people staring at her for being the daughter of the owner of the record label.

As Clara begins doing basic research on the artist, Phineas Cleary, he appears in front of her. He introduces himself, having a short conversation with her as they make their way to the apartment of the psychic.

The psychic, Dan, tells Clara that though she isn’t herself right now, she will be some day, and not worry as much as she is currently worrying and grieving. Clara finds it weird, urging Phineas to get his reading done so they can leave.

Phineas opens up to her a bit about his personal life as they walk through Central Park, telling Clara about how his mother would label everyone on their family tree with odd quirks they have.

Clara admits that her mother would’ve done the same thing, though she changes the topic as her grief hits her. Clara agrees that her mother was great at giving gifts, and on the family tree, that would be her mother's trait. 

They continue walking through the park, doing a bit of people watching and bird watching. Suddenly, Grayson arrives and helps Phineas set up a mini stage, amplifiers, and a microphone.

Phineas lets Clara know he is doing a pop-up concert, begging her to stay. She reluctantly agrees, standing off stage to watch. As she listens to teh song he was performing, she realizes he was singing Bizzar Love Triangle, causing her to run off into the crowd and across the street.

Clara reminisces on her mother's death, the song a cruel reminder of the day she was woken up by her aunt Rosie to go see her dying mother. Clara wasn’t able to see her, as by the time she was let into the room, her mother’s skin was grey, and she had blue lips.

Phineas is suddenly by her side, letting Clara grieve fully. He tells her that she is like the goddess Pele, who was able to control storms and the wind. Clara was skeptical, but the more he said it, the more confidence she gained in herself.

Clara closes her eyes, believing she had suddenly made it rain, though after a bit of excitement her and Phineas both realize that it was a man cleaning the sidewalk on the other side of the street, yet she still felt powerful.

The two kiss, Phineas holding her close and giving Clara teh grounding she needed to feel a lot better.

Comments and Review

Oh… my gosh. I’m honestly speechless about this story. The story was so well written and well built, and the characters were so amazing and loving to each other!

Honestly, where to begin with this story? The character Clara is so well built, and she has such depth despite the short story. She has so much background to her, and you feel like you’ve already read her story despite just meeting her. 

I honestly wish the story kept going; I really wanted to see where their relationship went after their kiss in the end. I’m really disappointed that there wasn’t any more.

My overall rating of the story is a 5 out of 5 hearts. It’s so sweet and something I would definitely continue to read. I should honestly suggest that the author writes more.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh