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Just Another Meet Cute
By Jenn P. Nguyen
YA Contemporary Romance, Romcom
Audiobook, Paperback & eBook, 331 Pages
May 20, 2025 by Scholastic Press
Summary
Boy saves girl stuck on a disastrous hike. What could go wrong? So. Much.
Just Another Meet Cute is the joyful and funny story about what happens when you realize you’re dating the wrong twin.
When seventeen-year-old Nina Riley gets saved by a super cute Knight-in-Faded-Khakis just as she lands in an embarrassingly ‘ahem’ sticky situation during the most disastrous hike known to man, she wasn’t exactly looking for a meet cute. She really just needed some peace and quiet from her complicated family. Unfortunately, he disappears before she can properly thank him or get his number. All she has is his name (Ian Nguyen) and a navy jacket with a dog keychain, a gym card, and laundromat receipt. But a meet cute is a meet cute. And armed with years of watching Veronica Mars and a techy cousin, it should be simple enough for Nina to find the boy of her dreams, right? But when she finally tracks him down, he’s different than she thought ―right down to his name. Ryan is just as cute as she remembers, but the chemistry isn’t there like it was before. After a few dates, she meets Ryan’s family: his sweet grandma, his enthusiastic sisters, and his twin brother ――Ian.
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Excerpt
“Are you sure we’ve never met before? Because you look very familiar.”
“No, I don’t think so.” His eyes flickered down to my empty coffee cup still on the seat between us. “Nina. That’s a pretty name. Now I’m sure I would have remembered you.”
Except he didn’t.
Narrowing my eyes, I searched his face for something—anything—but he continued to give me a small polite smile.
Then two things hit me at once.
First, maybe he didn’t recognize me because of my makeup. I mean, I was wearing more than I usually did. A lot more. I barely recognized myself when I looked in the mirror this morning. Plus, on my hike, I wore those huge sunglasses that covered half my face. And my hair was in a ponytail.
Second, if he didn’t remember me . . . then maybe this was my chance to make another first impression. A better one. Like WAY better. It wouldn’t even be hard. I was already off to a pretty good start. This was practically the definition of a rom-com meet cute, one that would make it into the theaters.
I mean, sure, I planned the whole thing, but a meet cute was still a meet cute, right? And it’s not like I planned the crazy car. That was a happy coincidence.
“So . . .”
I straightened on the bench. “Yes?”
Kicking his left foot at the sidewalk, Ryan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I was thinking, after we talk to the police do you—do you want to get some ice cream with me? I know this place nearby that makes awesome homemade waffle cones. It’s the least I could do, since you saved my life.”
For a split second, as he gazed down at me with such an earnest expression on his face, a pang of guilt seeped into my gut. He was such a nice guy, both now and on the hike. He probably wouldn’t mind if I told him the truth. After all, the more I lied to him now, the worse it was going to get.
But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out.
The thing is, it wasn’t every day that I got a chance to rewrite history. Instead of being the weird girl he met on the hike who got injured and wet her pants, I could be the cool girl from the coffee shop. The one who knew about Spider-Man comics and liked mystery novels. The one who went around saving people and probably had her entire life planned out. And definitely didn’t have any family issues. The girl I always wished I could be, at least for a little bit.
And this was something I was definitely going to take advantage of.
Plus, technically, I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Not really. I was just tweaking our meet cute story a teensy bit. If he didn’t remember me, then it wasn’t really my fault.
I gave him a bright smile. “Make it a double scoop and you’ve got yourself a date.”
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