As promised earlier (well, yesterday), here is the review for Emma Lord’s debut YA novel, Tweet Cute.

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The Book Review: Tweet Cute

Description

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account. 
 
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time. 
 
All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built. 
 
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.

My Tweet Cute Thoughts

Imagine Shop Around the Corner or You’ve Got Mail. Now reimagine it with the added in twists of social media interactions with a generous dollop of cuteness, the right amount of (realistic) teenage drama, family feuds, a healthy cup of snarkiness and a whole lot of yummy sounding desserts. You end up with the recipe for a wonderful new book which is Tweet Cute!

Emma manages to weave in the snarky, witty, utterly teenagey stuff (I am saying that with the experience of being a parent of two teens!) with the serious, warm-fuzzy, ‘coming-of-age’y effortlessly while keeping it realistic and yes, cute!

What I loved about the book:

• characters: almost every single one (not so sure about Pepper’s mom). Each and every character is real, and dealing with real issues. While I might have wondered at how mature some of these teens are about the stuff that matters a few years ago (like when I was a teen!), I know that the portrayal – both the good and the not-so-good (there is not much bad in this book and I appreciate that here) is pretty accurate based on the teen of today (including those in my home).
• wit: I think I have said it before, my kids think I am too snarky with them. And snarky humor as well as other forms of humor shine through the pages of Pepper and Jack’s story.
• sweetness factors: the romance that grows between the main characters is sweet(adorably so) and multilayered(like those crepe cakes or baklavas); and while I am talking about sweet, I cannot forget the droolworthy desserts mentioned throughout the book. I know my 13 yo would love to whip up some of those (if only we had the recipes!)
• social media’s role: the book manages to show both the pros and cons of social media in today’s world. It is everywhere so we cannot fully escape it, but we can learn to use it to our best advantage. I loved the app that Jack built for use at the school – an anonymous chat app that helped the students face the pressures of their everyday.
• serious issues: The book talks about and deals with societal, peer and parental pressures on today’s teens in a realistic way without getting too serious or preachy about it. It also includes issues about dealing with relationships (family, friends, even the extended community both IRL and on social media), about figuring out what next in life, and working towards reaching for those what-nexts.
• and yes, the dual POVs: I do enjoy books told from multiple POVs(Point of View) or those that go back and forth between times/places/other

And then the other side of loved:

• not much here except: I could have used a little less of the twitter war (even though the book is titled Tweet Cute); it sometimes seemed to crop up unexpectedly when I was enjoying something else.

Asides

• I feel this book should come with a Warning: If you have a sweet tooth (like me) or enjoy food in general, ensure you have snacks in the vicinity as you read the book.
• Request to Emma: Recipes for all the delish desserts in the book, please???

Quotes I Loved (Some of Them)

• ….when you grow up somewhere, you don’t have to think about fitting into it. You just do.
• I have this sudden feeling of wanting to grab the words from the air, put them somewhere permanent in me, like they can anchor in a way nothing else has.
• It’s weird, how you have no idea how far you’ve come until suddenly you can’t find the way back.
• …lets out a belch so loud, I swear it stirs birds from their nests. (Note: blame my interaction with my kids’ for this one)
• “…Defining each other by numbers instead of what we can actually contribute.”

Conclusion

Highly recommend if you are looking a quick and light read (or even if not)! This is a cute, cheesy, clean YA romance where snarkiness meets sweetness, and is an inspiring read for its audience as well with wonderful role models. I know my teens will enjoy this read and I have asked then to add it high up on their TBRs,

Thanks to the publisher for reaching out to me and making me part of this blog tour. Also, thanks for the eARC provided through Netgalley. This did not affect my opinions on this book.

Author Bio

Emma Lord is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. TWEET CUTE is her debut novel. You can find her geeking out online at @dilemmalord on Twitter.

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The End of this Post

Here are my previous posts for the month:

• Sunday Scribblings #21: When Sundays Tumble into Tuesdays
• Mini Reviews: Picture Books
• Life is a Circus
• How Impressions Transcend Time
• My Lit List: 3 Free Reading Websites for Kids
• The Rocking Horse Winner
• Sunday Scribblings #20: In the Year 2020, We Will
• 2020 Reading Challenges – Join the Fun!
• Resolution – a firm decision to do or not to do something
• A Resolution To Keep the Resolutions We Make
• On the First Day of the Decade, My …