SO CUTE!!!

Again I find myself asking why I don't read YA more often! This book was just what I needed and was the perfect reminder of why I love Young Adult Contemporary books so much! Jack and Pepper's story made me laugh, swoon, and even get a little teary eyed.

Tweet Cute, is as much a star-crossed romance as it is a story of seniors in high school dealing with the pressures of college and family expectations. These things are presented in an extremely realistic way and I felt all the pressure and stress right along with Jack and Pepper. The addition of the massive "Twitter" war was refreshing and I love when authors bring in social media as it is such a big part of most of our lives.

I absolutely loved watching these two connect in the most unusual of circumstances and then become friends and slowly watch their feelings grow into something more. This had all of my favorite tropes packed into one: opposites attract, slow burn, and friends-to-lovers.

I am in complete shock that this is a debut novel! I absolutely can not wait for more by this author and I know I will devour her next work right up!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go eat some grilled cheese and sweets!

Grateful to have received a complimentary ARC copy to honestly review.

I knew I had to get my hands on Emma Lord's debut from the moment I first heard about it. Not only did it sound adorable, but it also has a bunch of elements that I'm unashamedly a complete sucker for. We've got teens with jobs, teens on the internet, and anonymous correspondence. I just had to see how all of these elements would come together in one book.

I have to say, Tweet Cute completely met my expectations and lives up to its title. This book is so sticking cute. First of all, I absolutely loved the relationship between Pepper and Jack. I'm all in for fictional relationships with a fair amount of snark, and these two can really deliver. I really enjoyed how this book had Jack and Pepper interacting on multiple platforms. It was fun to see how their relationship developed when they both knew with whom they were interacting and when they didn't.

But Tweet Cute isn't all fluff, Jack and Pepper have some family issues that make this book both a little more serious and a little more meaty. Both teens are part of families with big expectations. They are trying to navigate the tricky road of being true to themselves and wanting to please the people they love. I knew that, before the end of the book, the characters would not only have to face the feelings they had for one another, but would also have to have a serious heart to heart with their respective families.

All of this takes place in the fast-paced, private school, New York setting, where the big franchise is pitted against the downtown deli. I love a good New York setting, and, as an overachiever and former high school athlete, I found Pepper's character to be very relatable.

If you like baking (or eating) desserts, if you love New York, if you are a swimmer or a diver, if you can't resist a good grilled cheese, or, if you just enjoy a cute teen romance, you might want to check out this book.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord is a wonderful young adult book, that I really enjoyed. Pepper's family owns a fast food burger chain, and Jack's family owns a deli. The two communicate through tweets, not knowing who the other one is. This book is a young adult version of You Got Mail, which I loved. I highly recommend this book, and will be reading more by this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A cute take of the Shop Around the Corner theme with the addition of social media. This book will do well in my library for teens that are looking for a light romance. Would buy for my library.

Hey you! Yes, you! Do you like Nora Ephron movies (particularly You’ve Got Mail), Romeo and Juliet, grilled cheese sandwiches, New York City, stories about family relationships, and cute romance? Do Twitter wars make you laugh (or scoff)? If you answered yes to any (or all) of the above questions, then this is the book for you!

From the book jacket:

"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."

This book is delightful. If you, like me, live in a place where the winter weather is just a little too dark and cold for your liking these days, this book is a sweet little refuge from the winter muck. It’s filled with quippy dialogue, strong family relationships, and a very real commentary on how our culture of “busyness” and over-functioning affects the lives of young people. Add to that the fact that there are a variety of plot points in this storyline and that Emma Lord somehow finds a way to resolve all of them in a satisfying manner, and you have a solid case for picking this story up.

With rotating perspectives and complex family dynamics, this book really gives you a sense of the depth of these characters and their interior lives. I especially appreciated how the author uses Weazel, an anonymous chat app used only by members of Jack and Pepper’s high school, as a way to illuminate the dynamics of personal and public personas. The question of who we’re willing to be vulnerable with (and why) is raised by this book, and is an invitation to self-examination that isn’t just for young adults.

Is this book cheesy? Yes! (It’s about grilled cheese, after all.) But it’s also about how we choose to participate in the unfolding of our own lives, about how we show up to the relationships that matter most to us, and about how quickly we throw that all away for the narratives and expectations that the world hands to us.

Overall I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, and I hope you’ll give it a try!

Tweet Cute was an amazingly fast and fun read. It had elements of surprise and I loved the modern spin on a traditional "meet cute" trope.

I really loved the dynamic between Pepper and Jack. The quiet, "goody-goody" and the loud, class clown. I can definitely relate to Pepper because I was the quiet type in school. Not exactly the overachiever like she was, but I still didn't like to do anything that could potentially have consequences and played it relatively safe.

However, Jack was also relatable because of his love for playing around with programming. I really enjoyed how Emma had a character whose hobby was in creating something digitally. The millennial generation definitely all had those times where we were coding in MySpace or Tumblr where HTML/CSS is something you just picked up because it was what you did. I started when I was 13 because I had an interest and found out I was pretty good at it.

Twitter is also such a huge part of culture these days. I enjoyed that there was a big "battle" between a multibillion dollar brand and a small town gem. It was also extremely relatable with Pepper, who is not of age or actually employed by her parents company, having to be the social media brains to be relevant.

I love that in the end, Pepper and Jack are the mature ones of this story. It was like in a Disney show where the parents are just ridiculous, but it was very realistic in that sometimes adults can be jaded or get so caught up in themselves that they forget everything and everyone around them.

This story is not only an intelligent "meet cute", but also a good look into the modern technology-based culture of today. I gave it 4 stars.

Not a cheesy romance at all! This is already one of my top favorite reads of 2020, and what a way to kick it off! I loved this book - lots of witty dialog, tweeting, delicious food, and of course, high school drama. I also love that it's kind of a "You've Got Mail" retake in a whole new updated way - Girl and Boy meet in a "chat", start falling for each other without knowing who the other is, while in the real world they are not only competing at school, but also with their families businesses over a grilled cheese sandwich on Twitter where they pretty much feel like they hate each other. So classic.

Pepper is a strong, Type "A" personality who is not only dealing with the demands of keeping up in a private school, but also with her family's demands to help with their business on Twitter. Jack is also dealing with being in the shadow of his twin, and again, dealing with his family's demands to help with their business. Both have so much in common, but only via an anonymous chat do they see how they really connect.

So, so much fun reading this book. Highly recommend for a quick, fun read. I gobbled this one up in a few hours - I couldn't put it down!

Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was so cute! I love a good rivals-fall-in-love story.
Pepper and Jack were both precious lil jellybeans and they really brought the sass in their twitter war, which was a ton of fun to read about. I also appreciated the good divorce representation. Not all divorces are bitter and hateful, and it was nice to see how Pepper's parents were able to co-parent like mature adults.
If you enjoy a bit of YA good-natured smartass-ery like myself, this is definitely worth a read.

Happy Release day to Tweet Cute!

This book is just what the title says! Its a cute fun read. I usually shy away from romance, but this was so much fun to read. Its a teen version of You've Got Mail but replace books with Food and older adults with adorable younger ones. :)

Its sweet, its funny, its INNOCENT! That's right. The love story is innocent and refreshing! Its been a while since I've read such a refreshing book like this!

Unfortunately this was a DNF . for me. It's a case of it's me not the book. I loved the premise but hated the high school scenes and forgot this is YA book. Again it's not the book, it's me.

This book is so wonderful! I’ve been reading a lot of YA lately and this is for sure at the top!

I loved that both teens are seniors (I prefer my YA romances to been at the top end of the age range) and that the theme of exploring who you are, while trying to deal with parental pressure and expectations was done so well.

Jack and Pepper have such deliciously delightful banter, they click and connect over so many things! I loved that their relationship was so multi-layered and that even though they have a twitter war going on – they were keeping it up because it was fun for them!

Honestly, I just really really enjoyed their characters – I loved that they weren't whiny or bratty, but were mature seniors who had their families best interest at heart, even if it wasn’t what they wanted to do!

There were so many things that I was frustrated with, mostly Pepper’s mum, that when I twist came – suddenly, it all made sense! And I wasn’t frustrated anymore but rather in love with how it all worked out!

One of my big loves of this book was the baking blog that Pepper ran with her sister and the crazy creations that they came up with, and how everything she made, just made Jack’s mouth water! After all I was always told “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!” And this delightful story proved that to be true!

Thank you to Net Galley and Wednesday Books for a copy in exchange for an honest review! Available today and I highly encourage you to get a copy if you love YA!

Synopsis in Comments!

Tweet Cute

**received an ARC in exchange for an honest review**

4 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This debt book from Emma Lord is a definite must read, especially if you are looking for a new author. This book is charming and will have you hooked from beginning to end.

Tweet Cute is about two teens who unknowingly get into a tweet war with one another, not knowing they are fighting one another online. As the story shapes around their war, they begin to spend time with one another and see that maybe what they have been looking for is right in front of them. But once they find out that they have been fighting one another online can they continue to be friends in real life? Or will they let the outside pressures that are ruling their feud come between them?

“All is fair in love and cheese”⁣
⁣
Pepper is the swim team captain and overall perfectionist. Which is probably why her mother, the CEO of Big League Burger, has her managing their Twitter. Pepper has been able to squeeze by without anyone knowing who she really is or her family legacy ⁣
⁣
Jack is the class clown who is always getting mistaken for his identical twin brother. Jack also happens to be a huge pain in Peppers side. Jack is in a few of Pepper’s classes and is on the dive team. His parents also happen to be the owners of Girl Cheesing. So one day when Jack sees that Big League has obviously stolen one of their recipes, he calls them out on Twitter from the Girl Cheesing account. Which then gets retweeted by a famous pop star and the Twitter feud has officially began. ⁣
⁣
Now Pepper and Jack’s Twitter feud is viral. As the viral feud continues, their online shenanigans start to deepen their relationship online and also in an anonymous chat app Jack built. Neither of them expected to feel develop feelings for eachother. ⁣
⁣
What an amazing, all-in-the-feels YA romance! PepperJack is literally the cutest couple name (and possibly the cheesiest!). I love a good pun. This YA had all the cute, awkward, and sweetness of young love. Jack had insecurities about being his brothers shadow that hit me right in the heart. I loved that he felt seen by Pepper because she always knew he was Jack and not Ethan when no one else but his grandma and parents could tell them apart. Also, huge shout out to @wednesday_design team for such an adorable and eye catching cover! I’m obsessed!! ⁣
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Thank you @wednesdaybooks for the ARC! And Happy Pub Day! This book is now available! ⁣

Thanks NetGalley for the Preview!

I have to admit that I picked this book to follow a heavier more serious novel and it was a breath of fresh air! I loved the witty banter and sneaky jokes. I found myself loving this book so much I read it in a day! I loved Pepper's fierce personality and her slow realization that like many other teenagers she is just taking a little time to figure it all out. Jack was so down to earth and embodied what it's like to have sibling rivalry. I will certainly be reading this one again!

If you could take the warmest, happiest, and Hupplepuff-iest moments in life and turn it into a book, you would get the spectacular story that is Tweet Cute. 😍 I have been non-stop raving about for months because the second that I started reading I fell in love with all the characters and fun plotline. This book easily became an instant favorite because it has all the cute fluffiness of enemies-to-lovers, fun family relationships, delicious food descriptions, and classic high school drama. 🥪🍰

Tweet Cute follows the perspectives of two of my new favorite characters, Pepper and Jack. (i know it’s literally the cutest thing ever) Pepper is the all-around perfectionist who not only balances the demanding responsibilities of high school, but she also manages the social media of Big League Burger, a national fast food chain and her family’s company. Jack is the class clown, secret genius, and wholesome underdog, and when he’s not hiding in the shadows of his popular twin brother, he’s working his family’s local deli. When suspicions arise that Big League Burger has stolen the local deli’s famous grilled cheese recipe, it’s time for war...Twitter war.

Enemies-to-lovers? ✅ Yummy food descriptions? ✅ Anonymous flirting over text message? ✅ Emma Lord manages to take all of the ~best tropes~ in the history of YA Fiction and expertly weaves them all together in a show-stopping retelling of You’ve Got Mail. There will never be a dull moment in the story, and the writing itself is extremely fun to read. All of the food descriptions made me incredibly hungry, and never in my life have I ever wanted a grilled cheese sandwich more. Pepper and her sister also run a baking blog together so we get to see tons of amazing treats to brighten your mood. (i’m still on a mission to find the recipe for monster cake!!)

I have SO MUCH LOVE for this book and all of its characters. Pepper and Jack’s chemistry is just *mwah* magnificent, and I loved watching them fall for each other slowly both online and offline. They manage to challenge and encourage each other as enemies turned friends, and it was just so!! darn!! cute!!! 😭❤️ Even more, the book explores greater themes of family, competitive culture in school, and exploring your passions despite other people’s expectations for you.

If you want to experience happiness through a book, you need to read this story now. I promise you will not have a single regret (like 99.99% sure) because it just made my heart soar and eyes water from happiness. I am blown away by Emma Lord’s story-telling, and I can not wait for her next novel. If it’s anything like Tweet Cute, I know it’s going to become an instant favorite!

One of the best (and most refreshing things) about Tweet Cute is that there aren't really any specific tropes (besides rivals to lovers) that are guaranteed to make me like the book. There's just really really good writing.

Of course, there are some elements that I really enjoy:

knowing someone (little habits, daily routine) by proximity
sassy smart-alecks
swim team!
genuine emotional conflict over like,, normal things??
mutual admiration


Let's talk about the romance now.

Both Pepper and Jack (PepperJack is the cutest ship name ever btw) are really well developed in their own ways separate from any romance... which isn't something I've seen a lot of in contemporary romances and feels weird to say considering their whole rivalry is based on family drama. Probably only in RWRB and Mary H.K. Choi's books -- but even then in comparison to Tweet Cute, the individual struggles of those characters are still about how it'll affect their romantic relationships. 

Pepper's problems with her family, beyond the setting up circumstances, don't really have anything to do with Jack or how their relationship grows. It has to do with their own development and only because Pepper and Jack are the people in their relationship does it have anything to do with that.

They admire each other and maybe this is just my experience speaking but this might be the most realistic flirty interaction I've seen between characters in a good long while. So wholesome. Also, I have never seen someone teeter on the edge of a confession for so. long.

All in all, one of the best books I read last year and a definite favorite (will reread ASAP).

Tweet Cute is Emma Lord’s debut novel, a young adult contemporary romantic comedy about two teens (Pepper and Jack) who manage the Twitter accounts for their family’s respective food businesses (Pepper’s family created Big League Burger, while Jack’s family owns a deli) and find themselves head to head online. The two of them also happen to attend the same private school and, unknown to them, have become confidantes via an anonymous chat app.

Based on this description alone, you can likely imagine the shenanigans that ensue. Lord does a great job balancing the humor and heart of this story as it unfolds, and I found myself smiling, cringing and tearing up in turn. The story is also set in New York City, which automatically made it even more special to read. And Lord goes out of her way to mention so much delicious food (Grilled cheese! Milkshakes! Monster Cakes! Kitchen Sink Macaroons! I just want them all!) that inspired major cravings.

But what truly makes Tweet Cute special, and what personally sold me on it, were our two main characters: Pepper and Jack. They both felt like real people that I would’ve been friends with as a teen. I really appreciated the individuality afforded to them both, as well as the fact that they each had to go through an entire process of understanding themselves and their relationships better as the novel progressed. There were specific aspects for each that I found relatable (Pepper sorting out what she actually wants versus what she thinks is expected of her; Jack dealing with internal upheaval over how his parents treat him versus their treatment of his twin) too, and that certainly helped me really get invested in each of their stories. (Also, their friendship and romance is the cutest thing ever, and I am on the #PepperJack ship for sure.)

I’m really just here to affirm that this novel is delightful! It’s one of the best books I’ve read so far in 2020, hands down, and I am very much looking forward to anything Lord will be releasing next.

Tweet Cute is the debut novel for Emma Lord and it’s a more modern take on the classic ‘meet cute’ trope. This story is about expectations, family, perspective and about finding yourself and what you want to do in the middle of all of that.

The first half was a bit slow-paced and it took me a while to get through it, which is why I can’t rate this higher than 4 stars.

I really liked the two main characters, Pepper and Jack, for a whole lot of different reasons, but mainly because they were what really pulled me into the story and made me want to keep reading it.

Pepper is the over-achieving, swim team captain, blogger, baker and professional tweeter. It’s clear from the very first page that Pepper is trying her hardest to live up to the expectations she has set for herself and the expectations she thinks others have for her, and she might be drowning a bit. She’s been so focused on this for the past four years, that she has no friends, has barely left the periphery of her house-school area and it’s clear she doesn’t even really know what she wants.

She was funny and adorable and I would love to try her recipes (though I’m also slightly scared of them) and I can relate a lot to her about a lot of things.

Jack was so thoughtful, dedicated to his family and subtly awesome. He’s not your typical male main character, though I won’t say he was really unique and original either. (Sorry, I just liked Pepper more.)

These two’s family businesses get into a twitter war that ends up bringing them together (not a spoiler, just a very predictable novel let’s be honest). The social media aspect of the novel was fun and interesting, especially because neither of the main characters have a big presence online. Plus, it was adorably modern with the fanfiction references and shipping!

There were some plot twists with their families and friends in the end (that I won’t spoil) and it kind of made me think that sometimes we just take things the wrong way and that we should just be more honest.

Overall, I loved how modern it was, and it was fun, and such an adorable story. I recommend it!

I just can't get over how cute and sweet this book was. There are stakes, but there's nothing but people with good intentions on both sides. There are complex relationships and flawed people, but there was heart in every single one of them.

It's lighthearted, so if you need something more down to earth, it might not be your best match. But if you need something sweet to lift the soul? Tweet cute is the book for you. It's fun, it's witty, and so darn lovable.

Title: Tweet Cute
Author: Emma Lord
Pub. Date: January 21, 2020
Rating: 5

I want to thank Netgalley and the Publisher for gifting me an eARC of this book and allowing me to take part in the blog tour. As always, this will be a spoiler free review, and all opinions are my own honest ones.

I went into this book expecting to really enjoy it, really like it. What I didn’t expect was to stay up until 4:30 AM grossly immersed and utterly in love with this book. I literally did not stop reading it until I hit the end, and only then did I look at the clock and think ‘shit…I have to get up in four hours’…this past Saturday was rough. The lack of sleep was totally worth it, because getting that lost in a book is the best feeling ever…even if you’re a zombie for the rest of the day.

If you’re a fan of the movie, You’ve Got Mail, or you enjoyed Tiana Smith’s How to Speak Boy or Brigid Kemmerer’s Letter’s to the Lost you aren’t going to want to miss this book. It has it all, unrequited love in an online chat room, a social media Twitter war, budding romance between two school friends and so much drama that Emma expertly weaves together to tell an engaging and funny story.
Between the snarky tweets full of memes and backtalk, to the constant ribbing between Pepper and Jack, and the near soul bearing moments between Wolf and Bluebird – you’re automatically hooked.
Speaking of Jack and Pepper, I loved them. I loved their chemistry, on and off the screen. I loved how well they complimented each other, even when they were mercilessly roasting each other. Even individually, their relationships were real, and hard, and full of overbearing parents and the pressures of trying to be a teen. Individually they deal with so much and when they come out the other side…well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out how it all ends, and where they end up. Trust me, you want to know.
Pepper has to deal with so much, and I’m amazed she was able to function. From trying to stay at the top of her class, college interviewing, Social Media managing, baking (I really want to try Monster Cake), blogging and an overbearing mother, life isn’t exactly easy for her.
Jack has similar pressures, feeling like he’s the second-best twin – forever in his golden brother’s shadow, college and what he wants to do in life, and feeling guilty about wanting things other than to take over Girl Cheesing.
Between sending snarky tweets and chatting about swimming and bearing their souls, Jack and Pepper feel like such real representations of teens. It made it really easy to relate to them. I remember the pressures of high school, and trying to figure out what my place in the world might be and how I would fit in. It’s stressful, and I think Emma captured that feeling perfectly. Especially the parts where Pepper and Jack have arguments all because of miscommunication. Emotions run high when you’re a teen and sometimes your first reaction is a bad one. They learn quickly and are able to smooth things over, so there’s that. They’re more mature than a lot of teens (lol).
I feel like I’m running out of things to say. I thought this review was going to be super easy and quick to write. I loved the book, I want everyone to read it, but I guess my thoughts are still stuck on the let me shove this book at your face and demand you read it while I scream about how much I loved it and how much you’ll love it if you give it a chance. And the characters – the setting – just everything about this book is so fun and enjoyable and you’ll love it. Trust. Me.
Yes, I know that’s so helpful, but don’t we all just want to be able to dive into a book, and forget that the real world exists for a bit and just wholly occupy our minds with something else? Isn’t that what we all strive for when reading books? For me, Tweet Cute did that. I was able to get sucked into the snarky, fun, dramatics that is Pepper and Jack’s life and I’m thrilled that everyone gets to now read it.
If you’re looking for a fun, dramatic rom com, with tweet wars, anonymous online chat friends, and romance, you’re not going to want to miss this book. You’re not going to want to miss falling in love with Jack and Pepper’s easy banter and great chemistry. Out today, so make sure you pick up your copy of Tweet Cute!