Blog Tour Author Interview with Giveaway: Just Another Meet Cute by Jenn P. Nguyen

Just Another Meet Cute
Jenn P. Nguyen
Publication date: May 20th 2025
Genres: Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

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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Author Interview

1.  What does your writing process look like? Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, notecards, post-it-notes, etc.? 

I’ve always been an extreme plotter. It’s extremely difficult for me to know where I’m going without a road map. Once I have a general idea for a story though, I start working on the characters. Names, family histories, personalities, etc. My absolute favorite part of plotting is looking for the perfect character photos. I usually get inspiration from Korean or Chinese dramas that I’ve watched. Then I flesh out the storyline with specific scenes that I arrange into chapters. All done on my laptop. I’m not a fan of handwriting things. This process can take a while as I add subplots. Sometimes it gets to the point where I actually have to force myself to stop outlining and dive into the first draft. 

2. Do you edit as you go, or wait till you’re finished before you edit?  How many times would you say you go over it yourself before having another set of eyes look it over? 

When I first started writing, I was able to write first and save my editing for later. Unless it’s something big that I know needs to be changed before I could continue like a plot twist or the main character’s personality is completely different. But I used to be much more flexible with writing. Now, however, I have to edit as I go. I’ve tried to make a note and move on, but it’s like an irritating itch that I just have to scratch. Sometimes it’s because the main character’s motivation isn’t working or the conversation doesn’t sound right.

But this helps later on as there’s less work to do when I need to edit. I’d probably go through one or two edits and readthroughs before I pass it along to my writing friends.

3.  Are you part of a writers group that gets together and helps each other with their writing?

 I don’t have a specific writing group, but I do have a lot of author friends in different stages of their career. Some are traditionally published with a few books and others are indie authors with a handful to a dozen. They also write in various genres that I don’t write which has been extremely helpful. Sometimes they see things in different ways that I never would have noticed before.

4.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?

Sometimes I get specific ideas from something I read online or something I watched. For JUST ANOTHER MEET CUTE, I read a random tweet or a blog post about someone who had an embarrassing accident on a hike and her friend saved her. And that got me thinking what if she was alone? What if it was a random stranger who saved her? And the ideas just started flowing.

Usually though, I like to skim lists about tropes and find a way to make it interesting and new. Some people hate tropes, but I love them. Especially if they’re done right.

5.   What are your favorite:

Books/authors/genres

My favorite books to read are romances (shocking, I know!) I do like to read other genres from time to time, but it has to have some sort of romantic aspect in it. My all-time favorite young adult author is Stephanie Perkins. I was able to meet her at a convention years ago and she’s such a sweetheart! As for adult romances, I’ve been reading historical romances since I was a teen. One of my favorite authors is Lisa Kleypas.

Movies/TV Shows

I’ve been a sucker for Korean dramas ever since I was a kid. There’s romance, humor, action, and suspense. Sometimes all in one drama! And my current favorite obsession is Lovely Runner. It’s amazing.

Music

My music taste is slightly random. I like to listen to older songs I listened to growing up so it can range from Backstreet Boys to Adele or Ed Sheeran. As an Army, I have to have my BTS playlist. But when I write, I like to listen to Chinese or Korean soundtracks because I can’t sing along to it. Sometimes I try, but most of the time I don’t.

Food/Writing snack

I don’t generally snack when I write, but I would happily eat ramen every day for the rest of my life if I could.

About the Author

Jenn Nguyen fell in love with books in third grade and spent the rest of her school years reading through lunchtime and giving up recess to organize the school library. She has a degree in business administration from the University of New Orleans and still lives in the city with her husband. Jenn spends her days reading, dreaming up YA romances, and binge watching Korean dramas all in the name of ‘research’.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter

Giveaway

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