A Not So Meet Cute

By: Meghan Quinn

Narrated by: Ava Erickson, Aaron Shedlock

Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

From USA Today best-selling author of The Highland Fling comes a brand new romantic comedy about a desperate billionaire seeking to find a fiancée. This modern day take on Pretty Woman is brilliantly clever and hilariously pause-resisting.

How did you two meet?

The quintessential question asked to every couple. And the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid’s arrow. 

My meet cute (well, not so meet cute) is slightly different. I was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take me as their bride, you know, to make my arch nemesis jealous who consequently just fired me. 

He was stomping around the block like some sort of gorgeous ogre, mumbling about a business deal gone wrong and attempting to finagle his way out of it. 

And that's when we bumped into each other. 

There were no sparks. 

Not even a hint of blossoming love. 

But next thing I knew, I was scarfing down free chips and guac, listening to this man lay out all of his problems which led to his big ask...he wanted me to be his Vivian Ward, you know, from Pretty Woman - minus the frisky behavior. 

We're talking about living in a mansion, intimate double dates, and pretending we were head over heels in love...and engaged. Can you imagine?

The absolute audacity.

But people do crazy things when they’re desperate. And I reeked of desperation. So, I struck up a deal.

My one big mistake, though...big...HUGE? I accidentally fell for the incomparable Huxley Cane.

©2021 Meghan Quinn (P)2023 Meghan Quinn

So many things wrong

I do not know where to start, so forgive the rambling. You know when you read (listen to) a book and think God this is awful - did she (or he) write this 15 years ago, abandon it and feel so uninspired to write something new this year that they dusted this old manuscript off, update the technology in it and submit it as a brand new book? The problems with this book are many. Audibly, I am shaking my head. Ava Erickson, a dress with an Empire waist is not pronounced "Ohm-Peer" ... Empire! Like the Empire strikes back. And, do not get me started on Aaron adding plurals to several words ... for no apparent reason.
Now the story line? Oh. My. God.
I have 4 hours and 30 minutes already invested in this listen and have over 7 to go and now, I am listening to see how much more stupid it can get. The "heroine" is a business major? Yes, cannot read a simple 20 page contract that somehow obligates her and her family to the poorhouse if she doesn't perform her duties properly. She continues to talk about this contract as a whiny 14 year old "Why would I read that?!" yet her goal was to obliterate her student loans and find herself a job. By the way, when she is about to go into a business meeting on behalf of her sister's up and coming business and her sister tells her she needs to create a financial assessment of the company and its assets and she asks her sister WHY do we need this report? I cringed. Her sister had to explain that when she is asking investors for money and work, she needs to prove herself sound and solid business. How the hell can a business major - a grad - not know that?
The guy, a supposed billionaire, doing what he did to make a $10 million payoff, that's chump change for a Billionaire. To go to these lengths and not go find a professional service to at least perform what this whiny excuse for a heroine was doing for $30K and a few clothes... God, I want to go on but admittedly, I feel like I need to continue to listen just to see how much worse this tale gets. Incidentally, these two are just downright mean and nasty to each other. He's a total prick for no reason other than he just can be. She's immature, stupid, and whiny.
BTW: I cannot wait to see how badly he trashes her when she doesn't plug that model 3 in because he forgets to explain it's a Tesla and electric.
Lastly, I like this author, but this book? I also blame the editor. I'd have thrown the whole thing back at the writer and insisted she do better. This book had possibility with some major pivotal rewrites to make more sense of how these two morons got together, and how she might change him for the better.... but this one's a lost cause. The author needs a new editor who will call her on crap like this.

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

Another cute and funny Romantic Comedy by Meghan Quinn. While Fake Relationships aren't really my trope, this one had me giggling a lot, especially when we meet Judith! With these characters, I feel like they swapped sides for me a lot, at first I thought he was a complete Jerk and she was an airhead but then I started to see his softer side and she showed a little of her jerk side too. I liked that they both had a few layers to them. If you are looking for something that will make you laugh and is also pretty steamy this is the book for you!

The narration was good. I like both Aaron and Ava's work.

Irrationally combative FMC

I could not get over the amount of stubbornness coming from the FMC! Look, the story was cute. I enjoyed the lack of angst as far as no secrets from the get go. He later his cards on the table about everything from the beginning. I blame him a little for the last 45 mins of the book, he was so sure she didn’t do it, but then he came home and pointed fingers.. but her.. not only did she act like a child and run.. then when she showed up for the apology meeting she didn’t even let him talk… grr so stupid. Not sure if I would recommend this book. The last 45 mins ruined the book for me.. that is in addition to the beginning where she frustrated me even more!! It was her plan in the beginning then she plays hard to get? Immediately then she is combative. I wonder if he would have been such a jerk in the beginning had she not acted like a child.

Disappointing

Characters didn’t make sense. Their actions, motivations lacked authenticity. Also the f-word is no substitute for good storytelling. I’m really not a prude, I just don’t like my time being wasted by lazy writing. The narration is good.

I wish I had not wasted a credit

I tried. I made it to chapter seven. the narrators were good, the characters were annoying. the FMC was obnoxious, immature and not very bright. the MC was like a glorified used car salesman personality. don't waste your time.

Poor characters, great narration.

I really wanted to love this book. I wanted it to be everything the cover made me feel. But it just wasn’t. I really enjoy MQ books and usually if I have issues it doesn’t come till way later in the book. I normally always start out loving her books. But I just did not like these characters at all. They were just not relatable at all to me. From page one I was already feeling like I didn’t love it. But I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt.

So I can truly say I did that this time. The sex scenes were perfection super steamy heat exceptional. But I just didn’t care what happened to these people at all and felt a lot of the things both of them pulled were very immature and childish. I will say I adored the sister and am very intrigued by her.

I did the audio and the narration was actually really good. I just hate that it was for this book.

Amazing!!!

Well worth the credit!!! And great story too !!!loved the narrators which make a very good listen

Not so PG

A little bit too much detail for me… the writing that was not sexual was very captivating along with the actors who voiced the characters! I just skipped over the parts that weren’t my cup of tea.

Way too much soft porn

I rarely write reviews, but in all the reviews I read before purchasing this book, I didn't see anything that explained how much the author inserted sexual content. The beginning of the book was fine, but later the couple could be on their way to dinner and the genitalia talk was part of their conversation. Way more than I bargained for. The story was good, and if I wasn't cringing the performance will well done. Couldn't finish because it was just too much.

Not so good either

I can’t even finish this book. I really enjoy the heroine in this story… but the people around her treat her terribly!! Boarder-line mental abuse. I am stopping with 6 hours left, I just can’t listen to this story anymore.

A hot story

This story will grip your heart . Author Meghan Quinn wrote a story that has everything you want . A fake Engagement , a billionaire that wants to do a business deal. The heroine that has morals and is real . But she is looking for someone for her high school reunion.

Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson was fantastic I can’t say enough of their performance.

Well Narrated Romantic Comedy

Life got in the way for me for a while but I FINALLY read Meghan's latest book. A Not So Meet Cute was a great play on the pretty woman fake relationship scenario. Huxley is our Hero, a self made man running a realtor business with his two brothers. He gets himself into a situation to impress a potential client and agrees to dinner and he has to bring a long his pregnant fiancé. However Huxley's doesn't have a fiancé at all let alone a pregnant one.

Introducing Lottie our heroine who after being screwed over she is on the lookout for a man to make her look good an upcoming high school reunion and literally bumps into Huxley. They have a bit of an enemies to lovers vibe to begin with and agree to help each other out, faking their relationship. What I loved was Lottie's Sass. When it came to Huxley's stern business persona keeping him closed off, she knew exactly how to push his buttons.

There were plenty of laugh out loud moments, great secondary characters with Lottie's sister and Huxley's brothers leaving me wanting more of this new world Meghan is crafting. The situation Lottie and Huxley found themselves in while trying to fake a pregnancy had me in stitches, then there were beautiful moments where these two characters broke down each others walls and connected.

A Not So Meet Cute is a well paced, well developed Romantic Comedy. Whether you read or listen via Audiobook it's one you can enjoy however you prefer to get you romance fix. Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erikson play Huxley and Lottie perfectly, I really enjoyed the Audio and found them to be the perfect pairing for this book. Matching Lottie's fiery side and Huxleys brooding businessmen exactly how I thought when I read the ebook. I look forward to seeing more from this series in the future.

Delightful!

Delightful! OMG!! This Romantic Comedy is so sweet, hilarious, and heartwarming! This definitely is one of my favorite stories written by Meghan Quinn. Huxley and Lottie are opposites attract, and they complement each other. I like their banter. They are hilarious and perfect together! Lottie is funny, and adorable. Huxley is serious, workaholic, and enigmatic. I liked the fantastic humor, and the sweet romance. This is an amazing enemies-to-lovers, fake fiancé, and slow burn romance. Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson did an outstanding job with the narration. They are perfect as Huxley and Lottie! I love their voices together. If you like Romantic Comedy, this one is definitely for you. I enjoyed it, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

So fun!

OMG, this book was everything! It was so funny I couldn’t stop laughing. And of course there was a hot hero and a fierce heroine with a brilliant HEA. 5 stars!

Outrageous Antics and a fun story

Lottie and Huxley's not so meet cute is a series of ridiculous events, a fake relationship, imaginary baby, all to secure a business deal. This is a fun story, starts out as a fake relationship and quickly turns enemies to lovers, though there is a slow burn. SO maybe quickly turns enemies and the lovers come later. Huxley is described as Alpha and he is definitely a take charge kind of guy and Lottie definitely enjoys it.

This book has some outrageous antics, the pregnancy classes they attend were hysterical, and I really felt that all the loose ends in the book were tied up by the end. I absolutely love the cover, it is so vibrant and, well cute.

I struggled a little with consent in this book, there was some implied consent, but also some moments where I felt like I would have preferred enthusiastic and active consent. I also find a lot of the drama in a fake relationship trope is created by the characters and avoidable. While this is the case for A Not So Meet Cute, I found the issues resolved quickly and I very much enjoyed that they did not drag on.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson who brought Huxley and Lottie to life. I am really curious if they were able to read some scenes with a straight face or if they needed a few takes.

Overall this was a fun story and audiobook and a nice escape.

I received an ARC and ALC of this book and voluntarily give my review.

Not quite Pretty Woman

This was very mediocre, and I really struggled with the narrators voices. I did manage to make it to the end, however, fell asleep a lot through this , and didn’t bother to rewind!!

Great listen

Read this book when it first came out and enjoyed is so I thought I’d give the audible a whirl. Glad I did as it was a fun listen.

Tropes include

Grumpy/sunshine
Controlled/chaotic
Fake relationship
Forced proximity

Some great side characters, although not enough of the delightfully horrendous Angela imho.

Some lovely funny laugh out loud moments with the baby classes, something I could definitely relate to, especially the fake baby!

Lovely performance from both narrators; would have worked well in a duet.

I Struggled To Finish Listening

Despite usually loving Meghan Quinn books, I found myself struggling with this one. The humour was reminiscent of American slapstick sitcom humour (and as a Brit this could be a cultural disconnect). The mfc irritated the heck out of me. Pennie was not a likeable person. I could not connect with her character on any level and this was the main reason I found myself considering DNFing the book. Pennie was acerbic, condescending, self-centred, whiny and her so called sense of humour dismal. The fact that many of her characteristics were put down to pregnancy was beyond me. She was a walking talking cliche of every pregnancy symptom that has ever been experienced by any woman anywhere. Eli, the mmc, in contrast was likeable, well written and his emotional vulnerability believable. Sadly Pennie talked to him like he was stupid on an all too frequent basis. The female narrator did an exemplary job of injecting the appropriate whiny, self pitying tone into Pennie’s character. No fault to the narrator. I think she aptly applies the voice of Pennie as it was written in the book. The male narrator did an equally good job on Eli. Ultimately, I felt like Meghan Quinn wrote this book like she was trying to write a script for a romcom. Maybe These Three Little Words would translate to film better than it did to an audio book.

The perfect book!

This book offered the perfect amount of cheasy romance and spicy fun. I highly recommend. A twist on a classic storyline. Also the narration was really good!

Good easy read

No huge twists in the story or plot line but the characters keep you hooked. A funny book, with a good romance and spicy bits that are done well.

If your looking for a nice romance story this is your book.