Meet Cute

by Helena Hunting

[girlinthepages]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Last year I read my first Helena Hunting novel and thoroughly enjoyed it despite not usually being a fan of sports novels. It was fun, a quick read, and had a steamy romance. I was expecting more of the same from Meet Cute, but found it to be a much heavier novel filled with a lot more heart. Kailyn and Daxton meet in law school where Kailyn has a series of embarrassing interactions with him as he's the star of her favorite CW-esque show (as would I if I had run into Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl or Chad Michael Murray from One Tree Hill back in the day).

The story picks up several years later when both are successful lawyers and Kailyn ends up handling the trust for his little sister after their parents are unexpectedly killed. Of course, forcing Kailyn and Dax into close proximity means they inevitably end up rehashing old events and rekindling their old chemistry.There's a lot of things I wasn't expecting about Meet Cute that I really enjoyed. I loved how there was an important focus for both Dax and Kailyn on their careers and it wasn't just a side detail (although it did seem a little improbable that they'd both be up for partner at their law firm before the age of 30). It dealt quite a lot with grief, especially for Dax's 13 year old sister Emily who is caught in the middle of all of the legal drama. Her relationship with both Dax as her brother and Kailyn as her conservator is explored, and she felt like an essential part of their relationship and story and not just a vehicle for them to get back together. There was a (rather predictable) villain but overall it was a story about family and a bit of legal drama too which was a unique twist for romance novel.

Overall: A fun, intense romance novel with less of a focus on the couple and more on the family situation surrounding them made for a nice change of pace.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages