A fantastic contemporary debut that made me smile, laugh out loud, swoon, and stress alongside the main character, Lacey. I'm not too versed in the world of makeup, Youtube, and improv shows, but I really enjoyed learning more about it as I followed along w/Lacey. She's a character you love to root for, with just the right amount of humor & sass (I love that in my main characters!)

As for Tyler, the leading man, at first he was getting the squinty-eye from me. But it wasn't long before he'd won me over too. He for sure wasn't perfect, but underneath the fame was a really good guy. There was great chemistry between him and Lacey, and I'd love to hear a song from him on the radio. =)

Definitely a fun book that you don't want to miss!!!

Wow what a read! When I requested At First Blush after reading the blurb, I knew I was going to read something different from what I usually read. Youtube, Makeup, popularity, things I usually don't find interesting in books, but I wanted to read something different, and I'm glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and Lacey's character. I'm glad she was able to choose easily between her reality and social life and was able to learn through the choices she makes. Overall very good read, not usually what I read but will definitely try more of this genre in the future.

A book about Youtube. It was so good. I loved it!!!

I love how "right now" this book is. I'm not a YouTube watcher at all, but I learned so much and now I may have to look into some make-up tutorials. I found the chemistry between Lacey and Tyler to be wonderful and the family dynamics on both sides were really interesting. Looking forward to more!

At First Blush by Beth Ellyn Summer is a very cute and summery read. This book takes you behind the scenes of makeup vlogging. I found this book kind of interesting because I watch makeup vlogs. We really need more contemporary novels that show online personas. As society continues on growing, people are becoming famous because of YouTube. I hope to see more books like this in the future. At First Blush is definitely cute and the characters make the story a fun read.

YouTuber Lacey Robbins' dream is to get a sponsor, and she seems closer to her dream than ever when she lands an internship with On Trend Magazine in New York City. As driven as she is, Lacey is not thrilled when she learns the celebrity contributor for her issue is Tyler Lance of former boy band and bad boy fame. As work gets more complicated, Lacey begins to question her assumptions about Tyler and sponsorship.

At First Blush is so fun. If you like makeup, YouTube, or celebrity romances, this is definitely the book for you. Although light and breezy, Beth Ellyn Summer really made me think about self-made celebrity.

This book was adorable! As someone who has been watching YouTube beauty gurus for quite a few years, I really enjoyed the plot and characters. Although, I did find it to be a bit young for my 23 year old self. I think I definitely would have loved it more if I were in the 13-18 age range.

I really enjoyed this book - it definitely surpassed my expectations! I think anyone who creates public content, be it via a blog, social network, whatever, should absolutely read this. There's much more to the story than a cute YA romance (don't get me wrong, though- that part's great too). This felt much more like a coming of age story to me, given all of the changes that Lacey has to go through: her first totally independent job/internship; the difficulty of juggling a full time job with her other responsibilities (and relationships); the pressure to meet the expectations of both her boss(es) AND her fans, as well as her family; all while attempting to examine exactly what it is she wants - even if that means disappointing other people. As someone who has been blogging for years but who's only just started creating video content, even I could relate to (and appreciate) the double-edged dynamic of having followers and fans that you're trying to keep happy while simultaneously being true to yourself as an artist. The romance, while adorable, albeit a tiny bit predictable, was really just an added bonus for me. 4/5

Lacey Robbins is a teen who is quite succesfull with her make-up tutorial video's on Youtube. Altough the vlogging goes quite well and she has thousands of vieuwers, she is anticipating the day that she will get a hundred thousand subscribers and will be entered in the Glass Cube world of Youtube, where influencers get to work with brands. She gets the chance to intern with three other youtubers at On Trend magazine in New York City. This seems to be the chance to get more viewers for her channel, and she works hard and finally reaches Glass Tube.

But from the outside it seemed more fun than it actually is in the real world. She get's to review and do tutorial with make up sponsored by a certain brand, but the quality of the make up is so bad that it's quite hard to write something positive about it. But the very nice girl working at the make up department introduces her into the work that professional make-up artists do, with makes her wonder if that isn't also something she would like to do. Teen idol Tyler Lance is set in by the magazine to star in the intern's youtube video's. Something is blooming up between him and Lacey, but later on she figures out that he is using her to mostly get promotion for himself, which leads to some nasty situations that leak out online. But he also helps Lacey to figure out what she really wants in life. Lacey's audience is losing interest, and is blaming Lacey for being fake, and only is dating Lance to get famous. Her whole authenticity on youtube seems to fade away. Slowly on, Lacey is doubting if youtube is the right path for her, and has to make some drastic decisions for her future.

Overall I found this a very well written and fun read. Youtube is more popular than ever, and the author created a good main character who is making youtube make up tutorials, one of the most popular type of video's. I really liked that the author didn't make it all too easy for Lacey. There where quite some obstacles and struggles in her road to Youtube succes, and she really questions in the end if it's all worth it.

When Lacey starts to help a make up artist at a late night show, I couldn't help but picture Jimmy Fallon's show in my head. And afterwards I read that the author was an intern at exactly that show. So the author just paints a very vivid and real picture of what goes on behind the scenes. The romance between her and Tyler was cute, not anything I haven't read before though. I really enjoyed reading it and I think this book is perfect for teen girls who are into Youtube starts like Zoella. Very well written and fast paced. Recommend it!

I went into this book not quite knowing what to expect. I don’t do makeup – well, not a lot of it at least. I bought my first eyeliner tube about three months ago, and before that, I had one tube of red lipstick, one pink, and a few lip gloss tubes.
That’s it.
So if you said things like foundation and highlighter and contour, I might know what they were, but I’d have never used them on my own skin.
Still, a book like this always sounds intriguing, and so I was so happy when Bloomsbury approved me to read an eARC of this title on NetGalley.
My Thoughts:
1. This book was definitely better than I expected it to be. Most books that contain bloggers, or internet content creators, don’t take the time to express what their lives are like – especially ones with a big audience. What I mean to say is, that books with bloggers and vloggers usually just say ‘I quickly typed up a post’ or ‘after a little editing’ and don’t properly explain the life like they would for say – a jock. At First Blush definitely wasn’t like that.

2. I liked Lacy. I liked her, but she had no personality – NOTHING at all that made me think that she was a real person. She was a little good girl – a vanilla girl – with nothing about her personality that made her pop. She just was, if that makes any sense

3. I think more than anything, I was slightly mad that Lacy was willing to rep a company that was sup-par just because it was every YouTuber’s dream to be sponsored. I felt like it’s ALL about integrity. Shouldn’t she have at least tried the company’s products before trying to represent and promote them? Is that not basic sense? Why wasn’t SHE, the content creator, given the option to choose whether she wanted to rep them or not? It felt unrealistic.

4. I liked Tyler, but once again, there was nothing special about him as well.

I guess my main problem with this book was the lack of the characters having anything other than a one-track personality. I liked the book, but if the main part of the plot was her YouTube channel, why was she okay to compromise on it?
3.5 stars.

Rating: 5/5

Genre: YA Contemporary/ YA Romance

Recommended Age: 13+

Favorite Quote: "I'm not totally sure when talking to myself stopped being weird. Maybe when half a million people started listening."

I received this book for free on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not change my opinions of the book in any way, shape, or fashion.

Do you have a Youtube channel? A bookstagram account? A huge twitter following? Any other social media that has gained you a few hundred, thousand, or million subscribers? Then you can relate to this story! This is the story of a girl named Lacey who creates makeup tutorials on YouTube to half a million subscribers every day. Her dream has become her reality: she's nearing a million subscribers, she's obtained an internship at On Trend Maganize, and she's so close to the Glass Cube and a sponsorship! But sometimes your dream job isn't what it seems and when Tyler Lance, a famous musician, comes into her life she'll have to decide between her YouTube life and her real life. Who is Lacey Robbins and where does LaceyBlushes end and Lacey Robbins begins?

Let me just say I thought this book would be something else when I read the summary many moons ago... but I'm glad that my first assumption was completely wrong! This is a wonderful YA romance/contemporary book and I absolutely loved it! The pacing and plot development were both on point. The book was not too slow nor was it too fast. The chapters had adorable chat messages that made the reader feel like they were reading some of Lacey's online chat messages on her Youtube channel. The writing was wonderful and it really made the story come alive and the book was a very easy read. The author also had well developed characters for the most part and the book had a very important message about finding/discovering who you are especially in an age where almost every teen/preteen/child has at least one social media account and has more than family members following them. It's very important to know in this day and age that you can have the online persona and be the next Pewdiepie or the next Zoella, but it's of the upmost importance that you figure out who you are outside of Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. That's why a book like this is important to read. It doesn't lecture you on the dangers of the internet nor does it give you a horror story about someone selling their soul to the internet devil. It's a very cute, romantic tale about a young girl who is living the Youtube "dream life" and how maybe it's not the right fit for everyone.

In all honesty there wasn't a lot I was disappointed about because this book was so wonderful! Some of the characters like Felicia and Jordan could have been more developed and some more information on Lacey's parents and why they did the things they did could have been great, and I think that the author could have incorporated more of the online messages Lacey was receiving to bring more of that side to the story. Overall though this was a well-rounded book with an amazing message. It's a beautiful book and it should be a must read for anyone who wants to be an online persona or is already one.

At First Blush gave me so much more than I expected when I received this book for review. I have to say I'm pretty obsessed when it comes to Youtube, and since I don't have cable most of my time is spent watching Youtube videos of pretty much any kind. So when I heard what this book was about I knew I had to give it a try and sent it a request. What I didn't know what how good of a read it was going to turn out to be.

Lacey Robbins is an up and coming Beauty Guru on Youtube who scored a summer internship at one of the hottest magazines in the country. She's one of three Youtubers that gets the chance, and happens to be the smallest channel of the three as well. She sees this as being her big break to get a possible contract with Glass Cube, which is the company behind all the big Youtubers that offers people to help make your videos as well as a place to record them.

There is a downfall to Lacey's summer plans to rise to fame though and he goes by the name of Tyler Lance. Tyler is the big secret guest feature for the issue of On Trend that Lacey and the other Youtubers are working on. The magazine is busting it's butt to try and make is image better than the prior known drunk tool that Tyler had let his image become. So not only is Lacey stuck around him, but she's also stuck working with him to make videos on her channel.

Beth did such a wonderful job giving insight behind what a Youtubers life really is. It was so nice to see Lacey as a normal person and how much work she put in to her videos and how stress affected not only her life but even her Youtube channel. Seeing her ups and downs and BIG hic-ups along the way made it so easy to connect to Lacey even without being any part of the Youtuber community.

Not to put down Tyler as a character either. His development through the book really made it easy to feel for him, even if he was a big teenage heart throb. Seeing his interactions with Lacey slowly melted my heart and in the end I found myself yelling at Lacey for some of the decisions she was making with her life. But to be honest, she is just a teenage girl navigating life and trying figure out what she really wants, so I can't hold everything against her.

If you're looking for a good contemporary read with an interesting story that's something you haven't read before, I would highly recommend checking out At First Blush. It was a very nice fresh of breath air in the normal teenage contemporary genre and is definitely worth the read!

I watch YouTube quite a bit, even though I've pulled back a little because of all the drama on there, so it was cool to get to read about this young woman who loved YouTube. She was a beauty Tuber, you know, the kind that make you feel like crap because no matter how much you try and can never make your eyeliner look as awesome as theirs... wait, just me? Never mind.

Lacey is starts out loving YouTube, even missing prom for it. I like how she starts to change through the book, how she starts to see that there is more than YouTube, that she is missing out on life for this website.

We get to see her struggle with lying to her fans for money and I really loved how she finally said, no. She didn't like the crap they were trying to make her sell. I loved watching her come into her own. See what made her happy.

I do not like Tyler that much... I mean I'm iffy on him. I don't hate him but I don't love him. I feel he needed to be fleshed out a lot more to fully work for me. I'm still not sure what all happened with his family and the band and if they are fine now or what... we also didn't a reason for how he acted in the beginning. Not really, he was just a jerk.

The writing is super easy to follow, it's a super easy read. It's fun and entertained me. Though it's nothing profound. Just a cute little fluff book. If you want a happy fun time, this book is for you.

I was not expecting much from this book but it totally blew me away! I am a full-blown convert to the YA Celeb Romance genre and this book totally delivered on that front. I liked the main characters quite a bit right from the start. Lacey seems like a really sweet girl and I love how she’s always thinking about her fans and subscribers. Tyler is a good character as well though we don’t really get to know him on as deep a level as we get to know Lacey since the book is in her POV. Their relationship was mostly good, but I didn’t feel that it was developed from Tyler’s side at all. He likes her almost right away but it’s never really explained why. Lacey’s a sweet girl and all, but how did she grab his attention? What drew him to her? He can have literally any girl he wants, so why did he choose Lacey? That’s not a knock on her, I just felt like I needed that additional information to fully believe their relationship.

The secondary characters were fine but were definitely secondary. Lacey’s fellow YouTubers helped to flesh out the story and made her time at the magazine more interesting. I really liked the make-up girl that Lacey ended up working with sometimes…I feel like her name was maybe Reagan? But I don’t remember. Sorry. Anyway, she was cool. Most of the secondary characters including the ones listed plus Lacey’s parents, Cynth, and Tyler’s bandmates all seemed pretty one-note, but that wasn’t too big of a deal since Tyler and Lacey really were the main focus of the book.

Plotwise, I saw some things coming and the main story line wasn’t anything mind-blowingly original. I thought that it was awesome how supportive Lacey’s parents were with her YouTubing, but the part of the plot that involved them at the end was a little much. It just didn’t feel all the way thought out or incorporated with the rest of the story. Then there was all the drama with Cynth too–I didn’t really like that. I didn’t feel that Cynth and Lacey’s relationship was that well developed in the first place, so then the drama just felt like too much when it happened.

Overall, I thought this book was really cute and fun! It made me a lot more interested in watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. On another note, I also had the realization that viewers, followers, subscribers, etc. are the worst. When Lacey starts doing things that her subscribers don’t like, they turn on her SO FAST. Even though this is just a story, that kind of thing definitely happens in real life all the time. I mean, just because a YouTuber chooses to put some of their life on the internet for our viewing pleasure does not give us the right to try to dictate how they choose to actually live. Do people realize that? Anyway…rant over. I just felt really sick about some of the people on the internet these days after reading this book. With that being said, this book is awesome and I definitely recommend it if you need something cute and light to read.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

At First Blush was the sweet romance I was looking for, but it wasn't all fluff. AFB dealt with heavy topics of children feeling like they need to carry their parents financial burdens, fame and all the perks and pitfalls that entails, and talent - both what to do with it and how to handle (or not) it.

Lacey is living her life as best she can, and for her that involves being in front of the camera. With the rise of YouTube celebrities it was interesting to read this story about someone trying to find fame and save her parents business with makeup. When Lacey gets an internship with a major magazine she in thrown into close quarters with singer sensation Tyler Lance, which obviously leads to romance.

While the celebrity (relatively) normal girl archetype is obvious Summer didn't take the obvious route or decide this meant her characters couldn't grow or change like normal 17 year olds do. Both Lacey and Tyler go through issues with family, friends, and fame before realizing the disastrous path they are on.

AFB is a hit for anyone who is a fan of music, makeup, or The Devil Wears Prada. I can't wait for more from Summer.

At First Blush was ridiculously cute! Like most contemporaries, it was totally predictable, but I just could not get over how adorable our two main characters, Lacey and Tyler, were! So I didn't mind it at all.

The story centers around Lacey, AKA LaceyBlushes, who is a YouTube beauty guru. First off, I find this world of YouTubers fascinating. I follow a lot of beauty gurus online, and even though I don't know much of what goes on behind the scenes, I think it was portrayed well. And I really liked Lacey. She was a lot of fun and definitely a character readers can easily connect with, especially teens who are getting ready to graduate high school.

Lacey has her goals set when she begins her internship.. or at least she thought she did. Enter Tyler Lance, a musician (who is hot, of course) who recently left his old band to start a solo career. He was sexy, brooding, but totally sweet (yes, cliché to the max) and I freaking loved the guy. At first I was rolling my eyes.. like ugh, THIS guy. Who does he think he is? But he quickly won me over once he dropped the moodiness and started opening up to the YouTube interns.

As Lacey slowly begins to fall for Tyler, he begins to open her eyes to a different kind of future. And it's not only him who plays a role in her journey. It's her internship, family, and the friends she gains along the way. I enjoyed all of the characters in this book! I wish we got to know a little more about the other YouTube interns (we still see them a lot) but yea, everyone was interesting!

The pacing of the story was a little off. It almost felt as if some dialogue was missing at times? But overall, Beth Ellyn Summer's writing was great! She created a fun coming-of-age story, and the premise was made interesting by bringing YouTube into the story. Even if you aren't a YouTube sensation, I'm positive you will find a way to relate to Lacey's story!

Everything wraps up nicely. Honestly, it was a little far fetched since Tyler is this huge musician, but it was still sweet. I loved how Lacey was able to find herself outside of her online persona. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporaries!

Lacy lives for her YouTube channel and dreams of reaching that one million subscriber mark. She is one of three YouTubers selected for a summer internship at On Trend Magazine. Her job will be to rep the products from a sponsor selected by the magazine and to help with the image makeover for brooding pop star, Tyler. She wants her channel be the next big thing, but what price is she willing to pay?

I LOVE romances like this. When I was reading it, I kept getting that Jennifer E Smith vibe, and well, I adore all that is JES. So, definitely a good thing. The story was just so adorable, and I found myself suffering from endless smiles.

"It's sort of important to know when something's over."
"Maybe I didn't want it to end."

Lacy was a very likable MC. She was goal orientated, but very caring. She didn't want to step on others or exploit people to get what she wanted. She had a desire to earn her accolades, and I totally respected and admired that. She also probably cared too much. Lacy was often weighed down by other people's problems or opinions, and realizing this was an important part of her journey as she defined herself during this story. I liked that she was a work in progress and grew so much during this book. She had to experience those missteps to grow and change for the better, as that is part of real life.

"No. You're the good kind of unexpected. Like when you smell that awesome sunblock smell in the deal of winter, or you eat a chocolate Easter egg in the fall."

There were quite a few characters, who contributed to this story's success for me. Tyler was complicated, but there were so many super-cute-sweet moments between these two. I think I giggled like a 13-year-old a time or two. I am just a sucker for this sort of stuff. I loved Kendall as well. She was a great mentor to Lacy, and was almost like her fairy godmother, in that she guided her, while also gifting Lacy with great opportunities. I consider both On Trend and Primetime Tonight characters as well. There was a certain energy associated with these two locals in the story, and there was usually something interesting and fun going on there. It is not surprising that the intern experiences have a certain depth and were captured so well, as Summer interned on both Fallon and Conan.

There was a lot of interesting social commentary woven in the book as well. This idea of fame and the trade-offs associated with that achievement, as well as this idea of compromising your ideals/selling your soul to attain that desired star-status. It was presented from both Lacy's and Tyler's perspectives, which were slightly different, and thus, gave me more to think about. Although there was stuff to think about, but this was by no means a heavy book. In fact, I loved the lightness of the story, as I am a big escape reader.

I am not a YouTuber, but I found all that stuff pretty interesting. I appreciated that way Summer depicted that it's a lot of work, because that is similar to blogging, and I thought she captured the way I feel when I get a comment.

The book blurb mentions The Devil Wears Prada, and I can see the comparisons, but I also feel confident comparing it to Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies. It had a similar feel, as LBDLWL was set in the fast-paced magazine world, but At First Blush was on the sweeter side, as it didn't have that cut-throat element that was in LBDLWL.

Overall: A fun, light, and totally adorable read, which put a perma-smile on my face.

I was obsessed with the cover of this one immediately (give me all the pink). The cover definitely matched how ~cute~ the book was too! I like celebrity/regular person romances sometimes, but tend to be picky about them. The YouTube, makeup, and internship elements were really fun aspects too. This added more dimension because Lacey wasn't really a "regular person" and had some element of celebrity as well. The NYC setting (including a magazine office and late night sketch/talk show) reminded me of Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies!

There were a lot of frustratingly dramatic elements though: classic miscommunication or lack of communication, the main character thinking she knew what was best for everyone even though she clearly didn't, and her being incredibly naive about people who had very obvious ulterior motives. I definitely wanted to shake some sense into her because it was obvious where her story was going to go... of course, to everyone except her!

The ship was strong, but the lack of communication throughout the second half did grate on my nerves. Lacey's friendships and career opportunities flourished as the summer went on, while she found out who she really was. I wasn't a huge fan of her parents but I think they meant well (compared to other YA parents at least!).

Overall, I'd recommend this one to people who don't mind the very trope-y and predictable fluffy YA! I'd especially highlight the makeup, beauty, magazine, NYC, and YouTube parts to those fans, because those elements were strong. I know my sister would probably love this book because she is obsessed with both YouTube-related and celebrity/regular girl romance books.

Let's start this with a plea to Bloomsbury Spark to get this ebook into paper publishing ASAP - I guarantee it would be a huge hit in my high school library! I would hand it to every single girl who loves the "Anna and the French Kiss" series by Stephanie Perkins, as well as the Morgan Matson et al fans. As an adult reader who adores Sophie Kinsella and other frothy, feel-good chick lit, I was completely captured by this story and fully appreciated the timeliness of the YouTube, vlogging, Instagram and Twitter storylines. That's happening NOW, and as I just read in a piece about YA lit being the genre to change the world, YA can be NOW much more easily than adult lit can. Yes, technology may change in the near(ish) future, but YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are not going to be dying soon enough that this book won't enjoy a few hot-selling years on the shelves before Summer gets her next book out. The main character in this book, Lacey, is a tech-savvy female YouTube sensation and shows an amazing amount of tech skills, emotional strength and moral fortitude in this story ~ these are the characters we want teen girls to see and read! While this isn't necessarily a hard-hitting piece of social journalism, it truly IS a snapshot of teen culture today that wrestles with the line between social media and true selves and the need to balance these. I read this book in less than 24 hours and would love to be able to get it into my library, but for now will just tell students about it and tell them to spend the $3.82 it costs on Kindle right now.......if they will be willing to read it in digital. I hope they will, but I also hope it gets put into a gorgeous shimmery pink trade paperback version sooner than later.

I loved this book so much! Spring has sprung, and I am fully in the mood for all of the contemporary books. This book definitely didn’t disappoint me!

LaceyBlushes gets the chance of a lifetime when she’s selected for an internship at a magazine, where she’ll vlog all the behind-the-scenes deeds about the magazine’s guest editor, but the experience isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Lacey finds that while things are going great for her YouTube channel, she is losing her passion for making videos. And to top it all off, she’s falling for someone that she never expected to.

I think that this book really did a great job of portraying that sometimes our dreams aren’t all they’re made out to be, and that sometimes we may think that we know what we want in life, when in reality we don’t. I think that that is something that scares a lot of people, myself included. With my college graduation nearing in a couple months, I’m absolutely terrified that once I actually get into the field, I’m not going to love my profession. Only time will tell.

One thing that bothered me about this book was Lacey’s obliviousness to things that were blatantly obvious to everyone else. Over time, this changes though, and Lacey realizes what an idiot she’s been about many things, and things start looking up for her.