Some of My Favorite Meet-Cutes From Books

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Genre Freebie. I'm not necessarily picking romance but meet-cutes are associated with it. Meet-cute is when a guy meets a girl for the first time, typically under unusual, humorous or cute circumstances and the two end up together. I'm listing meet-cutes but also non-romance meetings that are memorable and kind of awkward, which I call meet-awkward. Here are some of my favorite meet-cutes & meet-awkwards. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - When Anne met Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
First, Gilbert winked at Anne and then later, he pulled one of her braid and whispered "Carrots! Carrots!" Then Anne said something and she slammed the slate on his head and cracked the slate. It was a fun scene.

image from the Open Library

02 - When the Ordinary Princess met Perry from The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye
Amy (the Ordinary Princess) snuck into a banquet hall to steal leftovers for her animal friends and there she met Perry (aka Peregrine) who was just hanging around. It's an ordinary meeting but I thought it was cute and also, if you know who Perry really is, it makes it a little less ordinary.

03 - When Fred met Kyra from Poison by Bridget Zinn
Fred spotted Kyra when she crossed a river with a piglet on her head and in her under things and then he helped her out. I thought this was funny when I first read it and it's funny still.

04 - When Mary met her cousin from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The dreamlike moment when Mary met her cousin in his room where he was throwing a tantrum. The way it was written gave it a certain quiet, moody, dreamy feeling.

05 - When Harry met Hagrid from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hagrid met Harry as a baby and ten years later, he met Harry again. Hagrid broke down the door to a cabin where Harry's uncle had took the family, then he entered and asked for a cup of tea - definitely a memorable way to meet someone again.

06 - When Cimorene met the dragon Kazul from Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Cimorene entered a hovel and met some dragons and offered her services as a cook/maid to a dragon even though a few of the dragons suggested they eat her. What princess can be this daring?

07 -10 - When Westley met everyone from The Princess Bride by William Goldman
There are a lot of memorable scenes in this book but my favorite meet-cutes or meet-awkwards are these:
When Westley met Inigo Montoya and they fenced and chatted
When Westley met the giant Fezzik where they fought
When Westley met Vizzini and they drank to their deaths
When Westley met Buttercup a second time when he kidnapped her from her kidnappers

Do you have a favorite meet-cutes, whether it's romance-related or just people meeting for the first time?

The L. M. Montgomery Tag

This is the tag for the We Love L. M. Montgomery Week hosted by Hamlette's Soliloquy over here.

1. Who introduced you to L. M. Montgomery's writing? Tell us the story!
No one or maybe everyone since I heard about the 1985 Anne of Green Gables movie and then decided I want to read the books.

2. What LMM books have you read?
I read all 20 novels (The Anne of Green Gables series, the Emily Starr trilogy, Pat of Silver Bush & Mistress Pat, The Blue Castle, Jane of Lantern Hill, A Tangled Web, Magic for Marigold, The Story Girl & The Golden Road, and Kilmeny of The Orchard) which is really all of Montgomery's novels. I might have read some of her short stories but I have forgotten which. I recently read The Alpine Path which is a series of essays that Montgomery wrote for a magazine.

L.M. Montgomery books

3. What movies or shows based on her books have you watched?
The 1985 movies (they call them mini-series) but I don't like the last two movies all that much as it does not follow the books at all. I don't get why the sudden need for an original new stories but who knows what the director/writer was thinking?

4. Which LMM character is your kindred spirit, the one you'd like to hang out with in real life?
Anne Shirley but she's probably not my kindred spirit, that is, if you think of kindred spirit as someone similiar to you but I would like to hang out with Anne anyway but also any of the Blythe children from Rainbow Valley will also be kind of fun to hang out.

5. Which LMM character do you relate to the most? And why?
Una Meredith or Matthew Cuthbert as they are both shy people but underneath, they can be daring or even quite tenacious.

6. Have you ever been to Prince Edward Island?
No. Sadly, I doubt I would ever go. It seems now it's more of a tourist attraction rather than a real place but if I can go back in time, I would definitely visit the island.

7. Who is your favorite LMM heroine?
I like to say Anne Shirley but I don't know. I find all the females characters quite strong and sort of heroic in their own way, even Marilla Cuthbert, so I don't want to choose.

8. Who is your favorite LMM hero?
Matthew Cuthbert or maybe Mr. Carpenter (a teacher from the Emily Starr series) but I find most of the male characters not quite as matching up to the females as I think they are way too old fashioned.

9. Do you have any fun merch related to her books? If so, please share some photos!
Books are merchs also. I certainly treasure them like gifts.

10. What are some of your favorite LMM quotations?
I can't remember any of them but the two I do remember from The Blue Castle:

"I've stayed on earth in my dreams."

"You see — I've never had any real life. I've just breathed."
- which is spoken by Valancy Stirling. (Originally: "You see — I've never had any real life," she said. "I've just — breathed. Every door has always been shut to me.")

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Here's the LMM Tag questions if you would like to answer them:
1. Who introduced you to L. M. Montgomery's writing?  Tell us the story!
2. What LMM books have you read?
3. What movies or shows based on her books have you watched?
4. Which LMM character is your kindred spirit, the one you'd like to hang out with in real life?
5. Which LMM character do you relate to the most?  And why?
6. Have you ever been to Prince Edward Island?
7. Who is your favorite LMM heroine?
8. Who is your favorite LMM hero?
9. Do you have any fun merch related to her books?  If so, please share some photos!
10. What are some of your favorite LMM quotations?

Some baffling and weird L. M. Montgomery book covers

For We Love L. M. Montgomery Week (Feb. 20-24), I am sharing some book covers that aren't what you call classy covers. As you might know, most of Montgomery's books are in the public domain so anyone can publish them if they have the text. This list consisted of mostly books published by unknown publishers and probably books I wouldn't buy not just for the bad covers but also for the not-so-great text formatting. I'm not going to make links to the books but if you're interested in checking them out, they can be found at amazon. If you're an ebook reader, you can find some of  Montgomery's books at Project Gutenberg here. Check out We Love L. M. Montgomery Week at Hamlette's Soliloquy here.

01 - Mistress Pat
If they were trying for a bland cover, this got it right. This says nothing about the book although if you see those curved shapes as faces, then it's just plain weird.