Meet Cute

By Helena Hunting

Summary

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting follows the story of Daxton Hughes and Kailyn Flowers (and major side character Emme Hughes, Daxton’s 13-year-old sister) as Daxton goes through a custody battle to keep his sister in his care. The namesake of this book comes from the very first scene as Kailyn bumps into Daxton as she walks through the quad of UCLA heading to her law class — Daxton, later on, deems this a “meet-cute.” On to the actual plot summary:

Daxton is a retired (child) actor that Kailyn had a crush/obsession with in her formative years — and, oh wow, Daxton has gotten even hotter with age! Kailyn fangirls and gets embarrassed, but Daxton takes it in stride before saying he needs to get to class. Kailyn leaves for her class regretful and ashamed but brushes the event off. She’s heading to her seat in the lecture hall before, you wouldn’t believe it, she trips again! And, who would’ve thought, right on top of Mr. Daxton Hughes again (this girl and her luck become a common theme in this book). Daxton laughs it off, his friends make fun of her, but all in all, she comes out unscathed, her favorite actor is now her seatmate and her friendly class rival. This flashback continues to tell us that Daxton and Kailyn become what Kailyn would consider friends. However, in a vague sentence, she says that he betrayed her and “he screws me over so he can have the thing I worked so hard for.” Vague, doesn’t really tell us anything, and is not interesting to me whatsoever.

Time skip to 5 years in the future, Kailyn is working at a law firm and has some new mystery clients who want to set up a trust for their daughter. In walk Mr. and Mrs. Hughes… and Daxton! They want to set up a trust for Emme, said daughter, and Kailyn is too busy focusing on Daxton and how hot he is, but no, he betrayed her, but he’s so hot, but OMG, does he even remember her? What an asshole! On top of the fact that another embarrassing encounter takes place, including a mug with Daxton’s teenage face on it and Kailyn’s computer blasting the theme song from the show Daxton was on, all goes reasonably okay. Anyway, they set up the trust, Daxton finally remembers who she is, and the banter remains bland and yawn-worthy. Because nothing else really matters in the reestablishment of their relationship, I’ll go through the rest of the book quickly: 

Daxton and Emme’s parents die, and Daxton gets custody instead of their Aunt Linda who seems extremely peeved about that. Linda decides to file for custody. Kailyn becomes the conservator for Emme. Kailyn takes on the valiant effort of figuring out if Daxton has the right intentions for wanting to keep his sister in his custody… anyway. Kailyn has feelings about being a conservator, Daxton does too, and Emme is depressed because her parents are dead. Kailyn’s boss, Beverly, offers her a partner position at the firm if she can convince Daxton to join the firm (which becomes a bigger plot point later on). Kailyn meets Emme for the first time with the supervision of Daxton at a restaurant — tension, tension, Kailyn calling Daxton hot a million times. Emme gets in trouble at school for punching a boy and Kailyn is called in as her conservator — Daxton is mad she is there. Linda instigates Daxton’s temper, Kailyn calms him down, and apparently, that proves their compatibility. Daxton is struggling to balance being “fun brother” and “rule-making guardian.” He then decides to go to Kailyn’s firm to apologize for being, essentially, an asshole. Flirty-banter ensues. Daxton has the dirtiest (and cringiest) mind throughout.

Emme gets her period, but Daxton doesn’t know what to do and calls Kailyn. She helps, and they both head back to Daxton’s house. Emme goes to bed. Daxton and Kailyn are alone (uh-oh). The whole “betrayal thing” is cleared up — it was Daxton’s friend. Surprise: they kiss! Kailyn thinks it’s a bad idea and leaves the house, predictably. Daxton is sad but understanding. The next day, Emme calls Kailyn panicking because Daxton is late to pick her up from school. Kailyn gets there and Linda causes issues. Kailyn drives her home, she stays for dinner. Emme’s grades fell so they’re called into school again to address it, Linda causes more trouble. They go back to the house, Emme cooks dinner and Kailyn helps — Dax has really weird thoughts. They kiss again and finally decide to have a secret relationship. Kailyn, Emme, and Daxton go shopping together. More flirting.

And OMG, finally: Smut. And then the smut never stops. Daxton and Kailyn go on a sex retreat but it’s disguised by an alumni event occurring at the same time. Then more smut.

Back to plot; Emme (allegedly) smuggled and kept a bottle of vodka in her school locker for a dance taking place. Daxton is furious, Linda is saying it’s his fault, Kailyn has no clue what to do. Kailyn and Daxton’s relationship is now on hold. Daxton goes to Kailyn’s firm and Beverly mentions to him the deal that she and Kailyn had made about hiring him and Kailyn making partner. Daxton is pissed and breaks off their relationship. Emme plots to get them back together and invites Kailyn to a recital at school. Kailyn figures out that Linda has a gambling addiction and wants custody of Emme for her money; she also planted the Vodka in Emme’s locker and wants to send her to boarding school. They confront Linda, she drops the charges, Daxton and Kailyn get back together, say ‘I love you’ and Kailyn tells Daxton she doesn’t care about making partner if it means losing trust. A happy ending. 

My ratings, reactions, and feelings 

I rate this book a solid 5.6 out of 10. There was nothing particularly special about the book, in fact, most times I was bored. The pacing was all off. In the beginning, it was setting up the plot, which was fine, but it slowly began to incorporate Daxton and Kailyn’s budding relationship. When they finally kissed (page 160!), I was kind of already over it. When Kailyn predictably said that Daxton and herself should definitely not be in a relationship, I let out a withering sigh because I knew I was in the for the long haul… I was wrong. Sixty pages later, they are in a full-fledged relationship. For the next seventy-two pages, it is nothing but smut.

For many parts of the book I was just bored and worst, new characters would show up and I’d just wonder why. The side characters don’t make sense, the author most definitely wanted a supporting cast but they did the least amount of supporting ever. They never really contribute to the main plot and Kailyn’s best friend, Holly, seems to be forever stood up because Kailyn spends all her time with a guy she claims she hates.

The side character Felix is only there to clear up the whole “betrayal” thing, and even that mystery was stupid. The plot could’ve been interesting, but it was simply too predictable. Linda didn’t have to be the obvious villain; it would’ve been great to take a different angle with her and truly hide her as the villain while maybe we see Felix step up to distract us. Instead, Linda’s schemes and plots are all so obvious that it no longer becomes fun to read.

I also have qualms with Daxton as a character. He is simply terribly written. Worst, his sole personality trait seems to be horny for Kailyn or one-dimensionally angsty. His fantasies about Kailyn ruin his POV. He could’ve actually had struggles, like having to balance the whole of being a brother and now a guardian of his little sister, or more in-depth thoughts of sacrificing his career so he can be a better caretaker. For a man like Daxton — rich, hot, and used to being a bachelor — a kid is a lot to take on, but we don’t see that, instead he gets mad that he lives with his sister because he can’t have all the sex he wants. He also is protective of Emme in a way that is so movie/Hollywood older brother, that it made me cringe every time I read those parts. But I think this book most of all was such a waste of a good plot.

However, some sweet moments made me happy. Primarily, the bond between Daxton and Emme and Kailyn and Emme. The way that Emme relied on Daxton and how receptive he was to her feelings made me smile. With Kailyn, Emme’s full-on trust in her was absolutely adorable. I have to say, the best character to me was Emme. Other than her sometimes not acting like how I think a 13/14-year-old would act, she had the most consistent personality. Bonus, she wasn’t annoying. She also played matchmaker, which didn’t bother me oddly enough.

All in all, I would recommend this book for those who have nothing better to do and/or need to empty their head of real-world problems. 

Smactions, Smines, and Smating!

(Smut reactions, Smut lines, and Smut rating)

I, for one, did not enjoy the smut in this book. The full-on smut came later in the book, but after the first time, it never stopped. It was painful to read 70 pages of pure smut non-stop, and powering through it was pure strength on my part. The smut is rated a 2/10. There was no creativity; the banter and “sexy talk” (if you even want to call it that) was cringe-worthy and had me physically punching the book. Whenever Daxton spoke, I wanted to rip his head off. Also, while the smut between the two of them only happened a couple of times, Daxton’s POV was just sex fantasies about doing it in Kailyn’s office. Blegh. It was unimaginative, cringy, and boring. If you’re looking for a genuinely steamy book, THIS IS NOT IT!

Smines

“…any sudden movements and my knee and his man parts will meet in an unfriendly way.” (pg. 3) This is not the last time she mentions this. Be warned…

“Horrified, I release him and crab walk backward, almost kneeing him in the man jewels.” (pg. 4) Only 4 pages into the book and we have mentioned crotches and knees 3 times, why?

“No, I don’t want to watch it with you and let my vagina hang out.” (pg. 26) I can’t even begin to describe my confusion on this line. Daxton… WTF?

“Daddy Dax” (pg. 41) Why.

“Emme is stuck in that rail-thin stage of puberty, but Kailyn is all lush curves.” (pg. 192) Why is he comparing his sister’s teenage body to the body of a grown woman that Daxton is currently having sex with? 

“Do you wear belly tops?” (pg. 209) I have never heard someone call a crop top, a belly top. But maybe I’m just from the midwest where we’re all normal.

“Comfortable as in horizontal and naked?” (pg. 223) Please let the suffering end. 

The use of the word ‘slit’ Never let me see that word used to refer to a vagina in that way ever again. Cleanse my eyes. 

“…satin heat surrounding me.” Okay! Wrap it up.

“It’s not always easy to be a short, curvy, dark-haired woman…” (pg. 250) Kailyn, please stop talking.