What a fun Young Adult Romance! It's been awhile since I've read YA and this was so light and refreshing and fun. The book grabs you right from the beginning and the characters are so likable. The book is full of yummy food (cake, grilled cheese....) that it WILL make you want all the comfort food while or after reading it. The fact that the main characters are named Pepper and Jack is just too punny--and I LOVE puns! The book is a bit cheesy, but that's the point--it's cheesy and fun and makes you laugh and forget about real life for a bit. I adored Pepper as a character--she was so snarky and funny. Jack was a fun character too. This was a great debut novel from Emma Lord! If you love YA, this is a book not to miss!

Sometimes a book comes along just at the right time. Tweet Cute definitely warmed my cold soul this winter break and made me feel all toasty (pun intended) This debut novel from New Yorker Emma Lord mixes well developed characters with an intriguing but fun plot.
Jack's parents run a little Deli in New York and would like him to take over the family business, however, his passion lies with technology as he wants to work with apps. He's managed to create an anonymous messaging site for students at his school where people are only known by their animal-themed usernames. The Weazel app allows group messaging in the main chat room, but if two users choose to chat privately then they can, but the app will reveal their real identities to each other at a random point in their conversations (could be an hour, could be a week)
Pepper now lives in New York having moved from Nashville. She's a bit of a perfectionist who works hard at school and gets good grades, despite not knowing what she wants to do at College or if she even wants to go. She is competitive, and head of the swim team, as well as being expected to assist with the social media of her parent's growing fast-food chain, Big League Burger. This is because Pepper has a knack and the wit for Twitter. If you're up to date on your memes then you'll appreciate her humour!
So of course with any good story, our two protagonists paths cross, but as this is 2020, the meet-cute and the drama originally begins on the internet. Over a grilled cheese of all things. Big League Burger's latest menu offering is grilled cheese just like Grandma used to make. The Grandma in question being Jack's Grandma - cue the drama! The pair begin to defend their families' business over the battle ground of Twitter.
The story is told from the point of view of both Pepper and Jack, depending on the chapter. The reader gets an insight into the family life of the two, such as Jack's more popular twin, Ethan, and the up and down relationship between Pepper and her mother. The Pepper and Jack their schoolmates see are not always the same Pepper and Jack the reader sees when the characters are at home. It deals with teens who are thinking about their directions and their future, and I believe the book handles these issues quite well, so this is a good read for those in their final year of school.
I'm not a big reader of YA Romance but I have a feeling Tweet Cute will be a hit for fans of the genre and casual readers. This is because it's uplifting and cheesy, but it is relevant and current. I found it to be quite a funny novel and it makes lots of references to popular internet culture, twitter, memes, and GIFs. My only criticism is perhaps a very cynical person could pick apart the plot and find holes, but I got the impression this story is about the bigger picture and it's meant to be enjoyable and light-hearted, so I was swayed. I think if Emma Lord was to write any other books, I'd definitely be interested in reading them because she has made my return to YA Romance a great one.
To wrap up, a mention has to go to the food. Food is such a big theme in Tweet Cute. It will make you hungry, mostly for baked goods and grilled cheese sandwiches. As well as the restaurant rivalry, Pepper and her sister both run a bakery blog, so there are plenty of references to delicious cakes and snacks, and many, many puns. I did say it was cheesy!

Can we talk about how completely adorable and amazing this book is??

I came into this book from a reading slump, not very excited about it or reading in general, and not expecting much from it beyond an entertaining rom-com. What I didn’t expect was for this book to grab me by the collar, spin me around until I was dizzy and couldn’t bear to put it down, pull me out of my reading slump, and kick me out the other side wondering how I ever could have doubted it.

The story follows two POVs: Pepper Evans and Jack Campbell. Pepper is an uptight, straight A’s student with Ivy League dreams, the daughter of a successful fast food empire. Jack is the class clown and twin brother of the most popular boy in school, whose family owns a small but popular deli. The two already don’t get along. Things only get worse when they get into a Twitter war through their respective company accounts over a grilled cheese recipe.

In many ways, this is a classic rom-com with all of the wonderful and wacky tropes that come along with this type of story: hilarious miscommunication and misunderstandings, convenient coincidences, witty and flirtatious banter. (SO much banter.) Pepper and Jack were just fun to read about; every scene they had together put a smile on my face. Plus, you know how I love a cheesy (hah) food pun, and this book delivered.

But the book also strikes the perfect balance between silly rom-com and genuinely impactful coming-of-age story. Pepper and Jack aren’t just flat snark machines; they’re complex, fascinating characters who deal with some heavy issues like family expectations, complex sibling and parent dynamics, and the pressures of growing up. The book portrays the realities of the stress placed on teens to do so many different things at once: succeed in school, do a million extracurriculars, have a social life, and maintain an online presence.

I loved how Emma Lord dealt with these issues, not just through the main characters, but through side characters like Pepper’s main academic rival, Pooja. It’s an important thing for kids to read about, that your entire life isn’t determined by what you do or don’t accomplish in high school, and that the education system pitting kids against each other is messed up. I wish this was a book I’d had when I was a teen.

If you’re a fan of rom-coms like You’ve Got Mail, YA contemporaries that are both silly and thought-provoking, banter, puns, and delicious-sounding food (please Emma Lord drop the recipe for Monster Cake), then do not miss this book. I had a blast while reading it. There were several times that I was so invested that I had to remind myself that the stakes were just two kids getting together, nothing life or death. It would get physical reactions out of me: I held my breath during tense scenes, hugged my knees to my chest and squealed during cute scenes, and once, shook my fist in the air like a cartoon villain when something went wrong. (I’m just glad no one was in the room with me when it happened.)

This book is definitely making the list among some of my favorite YA contemporaries. Adorable, timely, and entertaining from start to finish, it was exactly what I needed in my life. You’re probably not going to get me to shut up about it for a long time.

I thought this was a solid debut from Emma Lord. It was cute and fluffy, which I didn't mind since I love reading that kind of fanfiction. But I didn't find it particularly interesting.

Tweet Cute is a refreshing romantic comedy laid on the foundation of social media, especially the 24o characters-restricted tweets, where two young adults that are passionate about their family's business rage a war against the other based on whose grilled sandwich is originally best. Familial expectations and expectant friendships are sprinkled with humor and love. This lives up to the title but, at the same time, gives so much more; especially emotions that make you shout 'kiss, kiss, kiss' and delicious baking shenanigans that make you shout 'yum, yum, yum'!

I had to sacrifice my sleep to finish reading this but there's no regret because the cuteness was so much and I was shipping Pepper and Jack so hard, I needed to find out what would unravel with every chapter. It has twitter wars, anonymous identities on conversational apps, growing close to someone you didn't expect you would like that much, and loads of tasty baked goods!

Okay, Wow. Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the gifted eARC!

A modern day YA You've Got Mail? Yes. Please. This book was a DELIGHT. The banter, the enemies to friends to lovers, the friendships, and the family. I enjoyed it all.

This was an easy, fun read that made me smile and laugh. I really loved Pepper and Jack (PepperJack-swoon) and their feud-turned-friendship.

Also, this book made me SO HUNGRY. Anyone else craving a grilled cheese?

So many good books this year! I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved every bit of this book! Everything about it was cute. The tweets, the cooking, the restaurants... everything! I always love a good, clean teenage romance!

Tweet Cute is a great debut novel by Emma Lord that I found quite delightful. She's written teenagers that actually feel like proper teenagers. They don't have Dawson's Creek syndrome and they feel like they're in their element. Pepper is a big overachiever whose family owns a massive food chain. They unveil a new grilled cheese sandwich, only to be called out on Twitter by a little deli called Girl Cheesin' saying they stole their recipe. Who runs that twitter? It's her arch-nemesis, Jack, who constantly gets on her nerves. Soon, a full-blown Twitter war starts and there's no way to turn back from there.
This book is too cute and fun for its own good. While I don't read as much YA as I used to, this one actually managed to make me excited over two teens butting heads and waiting for them to finally get together. I do love a good build-up and this one had extra elements to nudge everybody in the right direction. Neither Pepper or Jack (see where that's going to go?) are perfect characters and that's what makes them so great. Pepper constantly has to deal with college application/school stress and pressure from her mother to help the official Twitter for their food chain to beat the Twitter war. On top of that, she's trying to figure out who Wolf is on the anonymous Weazel app that is exclusive to her school. Jack feels like the inferior twin all the time, is running their little deli Twitter (and attempting to win the Twitter war), and trying not to get caught being the creator of Weazel.
The hate to friends to more is a great trope and it's written here quite well. It's tangible, it feels real, and it doesn't seem rushed at all. You can tell that despite their annoyances with each other, they want to help each other out. The transitions are smooth and appropriately awkward in places that make you think back to your own teen years. I loved Pepper's baking aspect and I wish that her baking blog actually existed because I would totally tackle some of her unique creations.
I knocked off a star for formatting. I don't know if it was because I was reading an ARC and I sincerely hope it's fixed in the published version. Whenever Jack and Pepper were talking on the Weazel app, things should have been spaced out or bolded to differentiate between the two talking. This also happens when they're texting to the point that it's just lines of texts without names attached so it's easy to lose track of who is actually talking. That is my main gripe with this book. I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for something cute and quick to read.

I don’t remember how I was pitched this book, but i loved the synopsis and was eager to read it...but also a bit terrified because everyone was raving about it.

I loved Pepper and Jack. They’re both so smart and maybe a little insecure and underestimated. I loved their instant banter and button pushing and enjoyed reading their relationship grow from antagonistic to friendship to more. There’s a pretty big group of secondary characters, but it was firmly the Pepper and Jack story.

Plot wise, it was good. There are a lot of moving parts here, but all of it felt necessary and well fleshed out. I loved all of the food talk and not-so-secretly hope we get some recipes in the finished copy. The blow up and resolution were satisfying and the very last chapter slash epilogue was as near to perfection as it gets.

Overall, this was a fun and quick read with characters who were easy to root for. And by root for, I mean mash their faces together.

**Huge thanks to Wednesday Books for providing the arc free of charge**

This book is so freaking cheesy and almost Romeo & Juliet-esque without the suicide and murder. The voice of these two teens was so strong in this novel and I really appreciated the talk about being plugged into social media as well as the pull to “win” arguments with anonymous strangers. Unfortunately there were a lot of pop culture references in this novel that I feel will definitely date it in a few years

Tweet Cute is told in dual POVs between Pepper and Jack, who couldn't be anymore different. Pepper is a straight A student and general overachiever, while Jack was more laid-back but is actually a hard-worker, so it comes to no one's surprise that they weren't on friendly terms. Both of them has some similarities though, mainly that they come from family that own a restaurant, and they're both running their restaurant's twitter account. When Pepper's restaurant is accused of stealing Jack's grilled cheese recipe, they engage in a snarky twitter war that got thousands of people invested. The irony is, while they have a war on twitter, they're also chatting anonymously on an app that Jack built. So yeah, if you count their in-real-life interaction, they're actually communicating in three different ways, and if that doesn't scream i'm shippin' it! then I don't know what else.

At first, I was a little bit disappointed since the hate-to-love wasn't quite what i was expecting, because it turns out they got friendly and they know that the other is behind the twitter account pretty quickly in the book. Still, their journey from enemies to kind-of-friends to actual-friends and finally to something more is pretty swoony too and definitely my favorite part from this book. It's quite messy (in a teen way), but it's also charming and endearing and will make you stop reading every few pages to squeal. Another thing that I love is the family relationship in this book, and how Emma handles it. Both Pepper and Jack's family isn't perfect, each one always has a flaw and problem in it, but it's how you solve those problems and flaws to make it better. Tweet Cute also tackle the issue of following-your-dreams well, and I'm happy at how Pepper and Jack end up in the book.

All in all, I definitely recommend this book! While the beginning is quite slow (or at least it is for me), don't let that stop you because there's so much more in this book. Tweet Cute is my first Emma Lord book, but rest assured, it won't be the last.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for a copy of this to read and review! I enjoyed this book and it was a cute storyline. It reminded me of a YA version of You’ve Got Mail. I would recommend this book to friends and was glad I got to read it!

To tell y’all the truth, I barely use twitter.

There were a crapload of references that I barely understood. But it was so cute.

Tweet Cute was about the these two teens whose parents both own restaurants. Somewhat rival restaurants. There’s a whole backstory behind that though. The main characters: Pepper and Jack, had a bit of a high school rivalry. It was innocent until it wasn’t.

Pepper was so focused on gaining acceptance from her mother and colleges that she wasn’t sure why or for what she wanted to go to college. She was killing herself and alienating everyone around her to become an overachiever.

Jack, on the other hand, was stuck in what everyone thought of him and wasn’t sure he knew how to be any different. His family owned a business that began and remained small. They didn’t want fame and a thousand stores on every corner. Her family business began small and exploded.

The little details were really interesting. I loved the little hate love relationship between Pepper and Jack. It was relatively light hearted and an adorable read.

Tweet Cute is the debut novel from author Emma Lord. She elegantly captures the struggle of High School seniors as graduation nears and they are stuck between being adult enough to make life-altering choices about their future, but not adult enough to avoid parental peer-pressure.

We are first introduced to Pepper who is a fairly new transplant to New York City and hasn’t quite found her footing. Staying safely in her 7 block cocoon of familiarity she is trying to prove her worth at a school for the teens of the elite class. Growing up helping her parents in their homegrown burger shop did not prepare her for the privileged life she would lead once their business found success. Pepper works her hardest to maintain grades and extra-curricular activities with the hope of pleasing her mother by getting into a prestigious school after graduation. Those plans are threatened however when she is brought into a Twitter feud with a local deli claiming her family’s business has stolen a recipe. Her ability to create snarky responses makes her the go-to for the businesses’s social media accounts which are viewed by millions of people all over the world… no pressure. While trying to keep her family’s business from succumbing to Twitter-failure she has the added distraction of new relationships both virtual and in real-life that leave her second-guessing every move she makes.

Jack is the class clown who forever lives in the shadow of his popular and more “successful” twin brother. His penchant for app development has led him to create an anonymous chat platform for the kids of his school. Little does he know that the mysterious online friend he’s growing attached too is the same person he is dueling in a public twitter sparring match. As revelations are made he feels the pressure to stand up for his family which may jeopardize the future he envisions for himself.

The obvious comparison to this story is “You’ve got Mail” which gave all of us who grew up in the age of AOL chat rooms the hope that the person on the other end of the message board could be the person of our dreams. Most undoubtedly, they were not. The classic online-strangers story is brought into a current setting that makes the issues that come with constant and anonymous interaction more real. It shows the impact one small comment on a platform such as Twitter can have either for the better or worse. Those who hold the power on the internet are those with the ability to influence the masses. If someone with a million followers says they dislike something, if even a fraction of their followers decide to change their support it can have an enormous impact. While this is not always a negative, it does go to show that the old adage “with great power, comes great responsibility” is overwhelmingly true today. Emma Lord is able to explore the social media addiction in today’s culture and place it in the middle of a sweet coming-of-age tale without weighing it down which is a true testament to her storytelling ability.

The complex messages woven throughout the storyline speak to the talents of a seasoned writer which gives readers assurance that they have found a new one-click author at the start of what is assuredly they beginning of a long promising career. Congrats on an amazing debut!

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.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! This was an incredible story and so captivating. I loved how the books took common tropes that are somewhat overused and revamped them into a much more enjoyable way. It was such a contemporary story and by that I mean that it felt so relevant and current. I couldn't help but fall in love with the characters and root for them from start to finish. The baking and cooking elements were also some of my favorites although it did make me wish I had some Monster Cake to eat while reading. This book had a great balance of friendship, family and romance. What a lovely read! I can't wait to see what Emma Lord puts out next.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. I wish I could have liked it, but I couldn't get into the plot or with the characters. I love YA,but I wasn't the right audience for this story.

I loved this YA debut novel, exactly what I needed right now. It was cheesy (literally) and somewhat predictable but in the absolute best way. I would best describe it as a modern day You've Got Mail.

The story follows Jack and Pepper and their tumultuous relationship. Jack is a self taught coding expert, dive team member and employee of his family's local deli, Girl Cheesing. He is sure his family thinks he has very little potential in life and expects he'll take the deli over one day but that's just not where he sees himself. Pepper is new to the city, captain of the swim team, hyper-focused on her grades and college applications, Her family runs a big, corporate chain Big League Burgers. Unexpectedly, Jack and Pepper find themselves in a massive twitter war between their family's restaurants that neither of them started but has taken over both their lives.

I love a good enemy turned lovers story, especially one chalk full of secrets and miscommunications. Aside from your expected romance, I also enjoyed the girl bonding relationship and parental relationship themes that were subplots throughout the story. This was a quick and easy read full of silliness, fun and teenage love nostalgia. Great debut novel!

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

This one surprised me! The very beginning seemed a little scattered and young YA to me, but I stuck with it and really ended up enjoying it. While this is certainly YA that would appeal mostly to younger readers - there is a lot of talk about parents and schoolwork, it still held my attention. I will say there is a LOT going on in this novel = romance, friendship, siblings, parents, school, business, etc etc etc. Because of this - some relationships end up being less developed, especially those between Pepper and her family. Overall, recommend for younger readers and YA lovers.

I went in pretty blind, without expecting much. I read Contemporaries and enjoy them for the most part. But, I am much more of a Fantasy and Dystopian type reader. But, this was so good. It was cute, funny, and witty but also had some heavy themes involving family dynamics and sibling relationships. It also had a bit of a Romeo and Juliet type vibe which I really liked.