a light but underwhelming read. unfortunately none of the stories really managed to captivate me or tug on my heartstrings, even meyer's, whose writing i'm familiar with and do enjoy. 

i never really felt that i was reading subverted or transformed tropes, as the book advertised. the closest any story came to doing that was "in the blink of an eye", as

the characters in that story weren't the actual couple and didn't get together

(which, they were sweet, but it was still a bit of a bummer). this story and the two following it (the last three stories in the book) were the only stories that i really felt any positive feelings about. i really liked the nuance of the couple that was portrayed in "liberty" -- both afraid to be themselves but for different reasons, and then being unafraid together. the couple "the surprise match" was really cute to me as well, even if the plot was cliche (perfect for a book about tropes, i suppose).

the story about the best friend love epiphany trope actively put me off with the drama surrounding the love confessions and the main characters actions towards his best friend. i also felt like there was a cliche "third" convenient female friend of the group who was all-knowing and ended up getting the couple together.

ultimately i'm glad i finished this book -- it was nice to have something to read at all at times.