Meet Cute

Format:
Audiobook.

Publisher’s Synopsis:
Talk about an embarrassing introduction. On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran quite literally into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either…

Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can’t help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn’s new celebrity client, there’s even more at stake than Dax’s custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she’ll be promoted to partner.

The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive the mistakes of the past, or will one betrayal lead to another?

Rellim’s Thoughts:
DNF at 25%. First, this cover is misleading and the blurb doesn’t really clarify. This isn’t really the RomCom I was expecting. The prologue is the “meet cute” and after that it’s more about an odd relationship between Dax & Kailyn. So far, most of the “funny” doesn’t actually make much sense and I’m giving up.

In the prologue, Dax is a former teen star and Kailyn “fan girls” on him while they’re in law school. Now, Kailyn is holding a 5-year-old grudge against Dax believing that he intentionally screwed her out of the top spot at law school by submitting a paper late. So, we’re supposed to believe she’s viscerally angry with him, yet there’s “comedic” instances of her having a coffee mug with his face on it and a laptop that plays the theme song to his TV show when opened. Kailyn’s best friend, Sam, admonishes Kailyn for “speaking lawyer at her”. Sam’s a social worker and Kailyn used the word “conservatorship”. This is exactly the kind of legal term all social workers are familiar with. It’s not funny, it’s weird.

The romance: Kailyn is unprofessional, antagonistic, and opportunistic. I have no interest in her finding an HEA with Dax. Dax is one dimensional (though maybe it’s because up to this point is mostly Kailyn’s POV) and fails to endear me. Their interactions border on juvenile in both attitude and vocabulary. Overall, this sounds like a re-worked NA rather than a book about 30 year old professional adults.

Narration:
Even Teddy Hamilton as a favorite narrator doesn’t save this. Holly Warren has a pleasant voice, but there isn’t much differentiation between characters. All the female characters sound the same as do the males – often making it difficult to track conversations.