This book totally drew me in with the title. Don’t read the comments. Ain’t that the truth? Reading the comments can a lot of times do more harm than good. The other thing that drew me in was the fact that it was young adult as well as a romance. Those two things coupled together were the ultimate book for me. I couldn’t wait to start reading.

Divya is an 18-year-old gamer. She streams and makes some money off it. The big thing that makes her money is wearing and then selling things that are electronic. She makes money to help support her mom. Her big credo is don’t read the comments. This all implodes on her in a big ball of uh-oh. This book was good but not fantastic. It felt forced and at times implausible. While I loved the story and the characters there were some things that just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t like how unsupportive and controlling Aaron’s, the other main character’s parents were. The mother was just too in control. While I understand that in real life there are parents like that she was just over the top with it in my opinion.

The one thing that I really thought was a good part of the book was online trolls. That is something that is very, very real in this day and age. Lots of times you don’t want to read the comments because it takes something that you think is wonderful and has you second-guessing and feeling horrible about it for no good reason other than someone’s opinion. Divya has trolls that somehow manage to track her down online, even though she is basically a ghost online, and begin to threaten her with photos of her house and even go as far as egging her mother at her place of work. This is something that can totally happen. While I didn’t love this book, I thought that it had a lot of angles that are things that need to be discussed. The other part that I loved was the fact that she goes to a GameCon at the Javits Center in NYC. I went there for BookCon and could see everything that she talked about in my mind. All in all, I would probably read more things by this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Inkyard Press for sending me an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Divya is pretty famous on the Glitch streaming service for playing the new planet exploration game Reclaim The Sun as D1V. For Divya, streaming isn't just for fun, it's her livelihood and it's how she helps her mom pay rent every month. Aaron is an aspiring video game writer with a Frankenstein's monster of a computer whose parents are betting on him to take over the family business which includes him going to med school.

After D1V is attacked in Reclaim The Sun by a group of trolls that call themselves Vox Populi, the Popular Opinion in Latin, she loses all of her progress and is forced to start over. While trying to grind up some resources she crosses paths with Aaron who is a bit star struck after meeting one of his favorite streamers. The two strike up a friendship while everything else seems to fall apart.

This is a very important book for women and people of color, anyone who has anything to do with social media or the gaming community. It shines a harsh light on the reality of the scores of women who play video games. It shows the online harassment that could easily transition into real-life aggression, the dangers of having any presence on social media as a woman or a person of color.

Just as it shows how horrible people can be under the veil of anonymity, it also shows how great people can be as well. Even with all the darkness, it's a beacon of hope.

As a female gamer, this book really resonated with me. I loved all the references, I felt like I was understood. I'm not exactly in the age bracket that Divya is, but I was once upon a time when it was almost as bad to be a female gamer. I also went to school for game design so I understand Aaron's experience with an indie developer since I've had something similar happen to me. This book even made me want to go buy No Man's Sky since that's what Reclaim The Sun feels like it's inspired by.

That said. I loved it. Five stars.

*Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for providing me an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this book.

Great book.
Divya uses the online game, Reclaim the Sun, as a way to earn money to support her mom’s schooling, and pay for rent, groceries, and amenities.
Aaron uses Reclaim the Sun to escape from his mom who has his whole life as a doctor planned out. Aaron wants to write for video games and spends his free time doing so for a local developer.

I felt the characters were greatly fleshed out. Also, it was instant love the romance in the book developed well.

Love, love, loved this book! It talked about sexual assault in a way that made it natural to discuss. One character was gay, and the author didn't even discuss it, choosing to present gayness as a normal, everyday trait (which I loved!). Definitely recommend this book!! [Especially if you love the game No Man's Sky ;) ]

Favorite character: Mira
Mira is Aaron's 5-year-old sister, and I chose her as my favorite character because I think she is particularly well written, and her dialogue literally had me laughing out loud. She says things that are a total embarrassment to those around her, just like any 5-year-old does, and she wants others to treat her like she's older than she is. For instance, she insists on a whole piece of pizza, but she's really not ready for it, and the cheese slides off, landing in her lap. These are small little scenes, but if you have ever spent any time with a child this age, you know how much they ring true.

What I Loved

The gaming world is a mystery to people who do not play. The majority of the people who regularly play games, especially multiplayer online games, look at it healthily- as a hobby that they understand is just a game. But others use it to create a world where they can feel powerful and feed their self-esteem when the real world isn't so accommodating. Harassment is rampant, and sexism/sexual harassment happens disturbingly often. One of the things I love most about this story is its accurate portrayal of the gaming world, especially the problems that female players face within that world.

I also love the budding relationship between Aaron and Divya. It is so sweet and innocent. Sometimes, in this world of online dating, we lose the innocence that once was the norm. It is so refreshing to watch the pair as they slowly get to know one another and the smart way Divya puts the breaks on when she feels things are moving too fast for her comfort level.

The story is very entertaining and kept me moving quickly through the pages by masterfully using the element of suspense. The dialogue flowed easily and naturally. Due to the nature of the plot – a large percentage being online chat - I think this was the biggest and most necessary strength of the novel.

Divya appears not to be a fully developed character, but I could understand why she lacked dimension. It is a necessary part of who she is. Just as she shut out the people around her to protect herself, she also has the walls up to the reader. Since it is written in the first person, this makes sense. Other characters were sincere in their likability or justifiably unlikable.

What I Wish
I wish that the reader had a more omniscient view of Divya so we could have felt the sincerity of her feelings in all she was going through. Divya could be a very likable and relatable character if she had more depth and dimension.

To Read or Not to Read
YA fans will love this sincere and spellbinding tale of a girl who defeats the odds through the world of online gaming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and a special thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Justine Sha for my spot on the blog tour.

You can sign me up for any book about MMORPGs. This was the sole reason as I had to read this book and I was not disappointed. Definitely a good one.

Please go out and read this book!

Don't Read the Comments is a fantastic and timely YA contemporary that tackles sexism and racism in gaming, doxxing, online harassment and bullying, and toxic masculinity. These are such important and relevant issues, and I am so glad that this book is making its way into the world! Plus it's a really sweet story about friendship, first love, and standing up for what is right no matter the cost.

Divya Sharma is a popular streaming gamer known publicly as D1V and she uses the money from her sponsorships to help pay for rent and groceries while her mom goes to school. When she becomes the target of a vicious group threatening to dox her (release her personal information publicly), she must decide how to respond.

Adam dreams of being a writer for RPG video games, but his immigrant parents are pushing him to become a doctor. He befriends D1V online while also dealing with the threat of racially driven mistreatment and being used by people he thought were his friends.

I won't say too much more, but I loved the way this story unfolded. The relationship between Divya and Adam is just so precious, and the author does a great job of uncovering why these issues are so serious and the misogynistic stereotypes that assume women aren't "real" gamers and have no place in that world. This is one well worth picking up and contains a very satisfying conclusion. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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A link will be available the day the book review goes live.

This book follows our two main characters. Divya who is a big deal in the gaming community and Aaron who is wanting to create video games for a living.
Divya is doing the video games for money so she can help out her mom who is struggling between work and getting some college classes done for her degree. Divya gets harassed in the book due to the fact that she’s a female in the gaming community. She’s the prime target of the Vox Popli. They want to eliminate her from the Reclaim The Sun video game. They know where she lives and they do threaten her. They apparently egg her mom on her way home from work one day. Divya does fight back with people telling her ‘you sure you want to do this?’
Aaron wants to do video games and him and his mom don’t see eye to eye. His mom wants him to become a doctor but Aaron doesn’t want to. Aarons mom was always giving Aaron a hard time due to the fact that she didn’t want him to work extremely hard at something just to get little to nothing in return. She wanted to protect him from that because of what his father went threw.

There are some trigger warnings that are in this book. Like bullying, mentions of sexual assault and harassment along with doxxing. I didn’t like the whole video games aspect. This wasn’t my first book where video games play a major aspect in the story. I adored the Aaron and his sister moments in the book when they played.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Don’t Read the Comments is a cute, YA romance that manages to tackle a real, ever present issue without coming across too strong or heavy.

I appreciated the diverse characters in what seems to typically be a white setting. This book will be great for junior high and high school classroom libraries. It tackles sexism in the gaming industry, but it doesn’t feel so overloaded that reading the book feels emotionally draining. Instead, it gives the reader someone to root for and cheer on.

If this book doesn’t surge in popularity, I’ll be surprised. It’s extremely current and extremely tag worthy. “Log on, fight back” could easily become a power anthem.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the ARC! <3

Don't Read the Comments is a delightfully geeky book centered around an online video game and two of it's players. Divya is the absolute queen of Reclaim the Sun and Aaron is an avid gamer who wants to eventually write video games (and in doing so disappointing his mom). Each of them has their own personal issues- many due to family strain, so Reclaim the Sun ends up being an escape. That is, until the cyber-trolling starts.

As a female gamer, I really appreciated how realistic Divya's experience being a video game streamer was- with the misogynistic and racist comments and intent. The sheer level of fear and discomfort you can experience due to the hostile nature of the online gaming community- especially towards women- is highlighted boldly in Don't Read the Comments.

As well, I really appreciate how online bullying, trolling and doxxing where highlighted and brought to attention. The author really gives an accurate example of modern internet concerns and issues that some people almost forget to consider- especially those who are not as in tune with toxic internet culture.

This was a fun read.

4/5

I'm not a gamer. That didn't stop me from loving this feisty, engaging tale OR keep me from rooting for Divya and Aaron through their trials online and off.

Divya - or D1V, as she's known online, is a gamer who has been successful as a live-streamer - and very much a testament that not everything you see online is real, as her sponsorship money and sponsored products all go to paying the rent so her mom can finish her medical degree. She has top of the line equipment, thanks to corporate sponsors, too.

Aaron is a gamer too, but his equipment is cobbled together from parts he finds discarded and can pick up cheaply. He dreams of being a writer for video games, and has been working with a developer to bring a new game to market (although he's still waiting to be paid, thank you very much.) His mom, on the other hand, has higher aspirations for him.

I loved this book, and Smith reeled me in with believable, relatable characters. I appreciate the diversity, and I appreciated the online bullying storyline as girl gamers (players and designers) are often not respected in the (masculine) gaming world. The online bullying extends to doxxing and real-life violence that affects Divya, her family and Divya's friend and gaming partner, Rebekah.

The characters and their relationships are strong and well developed. I appreciate that the relationship between Aaron and Divya starts out as a friendship and anything more takes a back seat to the rest of the story. Divya's fight is empowering and had me rooting for her (and Aaron) to the end.

This is a story that my feminist (non-gaming) teen will devour!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I am pretty sure I was out of the age group for this book, because I could not relate to it at all. It almost reminded me of all those gamers that are famous for playing Fortnight or something.

I don’t know a lot about gaming or video game culture, but I’m a fan of Eric Smith so I just had to read this book. He made the characters and the video game world so accessible. Everyone can identify with geeking out over whatever their passion may be, and that helped the reader relate with the story, even if they knew nothing about gaming.

The messages in this book are very empowering, Divya (D1V) and Beks are very strong role models, in that they never give up even with all the devastating things that have happened and are happening to them. Aaron is a great, soft counterpart to Divya’s strong personality.

I would recommend this book to fans of Kasie West or Ready Player One.

Note: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received 'Don't Read the Comments' from NetGalley, in exchange of an honest review.

'Don't Read the Comments' was a very amusing and emotional story about the online gaming community. The characters Divya and Aaron live their lives as young adults trying to make life better for their families while playing their favorite game Reclaim the Sun. Diverse representation was also proudly featured in this story, having the main characters be people of color.

'Don't Read the Comments' describes the harassment women face within the gaming community in explicit detail. It was truly heartbreaking reading about Divya's dilemma as online trolls threaten her very livelihood, and that of her close friends. The story also details the apathy many people carry around when it comes to the safety of children playing online games. These are different times, where many social experiences are communicated online.

The overall themes expressed in this story are friendship and trust. Divya and Aaron live in separate regions, yet they learn to communicate without reservation from the moment they're placed together by circumstance. It was sweet reading each interaction as they learn more about each other's lives!

'Don't Read the Comments' is a heartfelt book that features the power of community within the gaming world. I highly recommend it!


Cathleen (Woven From Words)
https://wovenfromwords.com

This was the first book that I have read by this author and it was a quick and fun read. I used to play a lot of video games, but then I got back into reading and haven’t changed since. Lol

I loved the message that is behind the book and the fact that it was about two gaming kids intrigued me.

Divya has her own streaming channel on Glitch and being a woman of colour there are some assholes that leave hate comments because she becomes the target of this online bullying group. Aaron and Divya meet by chance when they were gaming, they became instant friends an in doing so it may cost him his dreams of being a game developer.

Aaron is the complete opposite from Divya because she plays games so that she can get sponsorship to get money for rent and help her mom get her medical degree. Aaron on the other hand loves to develop games instead of being a doctor like his mom’s dream.

One of the things that I loved about this book was how the author was able to write such a compelling story about the gaming world that is starting to take the teens by storm and what its like when you get bullied online. I think that this is one of those books that they should give out in schools so that kids can read it and maybe learn something from it.

I received this book from the publisher HQN books in exchange for an honest review

**Review will be posted to my blog on Jan. 27, 2020**

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

Don’t Read the Comments hit home for me because my son, he’s 7, wants to be a YouTuber, gamer, streamer – and I’m trying to learn the lingo. Can you tell? 😂 My hubby is a PC Gamer and my son is already following in his footsteps so the fact that this story is about the gaming world – is awesome.

Divya is an online gamer and she streams herself playing this one popular game. She’s built a big enough following that gaming companies send her product to advertise, which is helpful because she sells it to help pay the bills. Yes she’s a teenager, but her dad left and it’s just her and her mom.

Aaron Jericho loves gaming too but he’s not a pro like Divya, in fact he wants to work in the video game industry writing stories and scripts for the game itself! Of course his parents want him to be a doctor, sounds about right!

These two teens have a moment where their online worlds collide and maybe, just maybe they can actually have a relationship in real life. But first Divya has to help her mom and deal with these trolls trying to ruin her life.

What I Liked:

*Just this being about the gaming industry was interesting to me because my son and hubby are gamers. I own a Nintendo Switch lite so I’m not big on it – but it’s eye opening to see the problems that are present in the gaming world with the trolls bothering Divya and ruining her reputation to seeing the process of Aaron and his friends creating a game. I like how we see two sides to the gaming industry.

*Diversity is a given in this book and I like that.

*This book shined a light on girl gamers in this masculine world – it’s amazing what they have to put up with in the online world and the real world. Some real world problems that arose in the book was connected not only to Divya but her best friend, Rebekah, who was assaulted by a group of boys at her college. The fear is there in Divya and Rebekah and I’m glad the story didn’t shy away from what they felt. The story also brought up issues like bullying, trolling and doxing.

*Divya and Aaron’s relationship is a slow burn and they don’t meet in real life until late in the book. But their relationship is cute because it starts off as friendship. I enjoyed watching the two of them get to know each other.

*Love that no matter how hard it got for Divya, with those trolls harassing her – she kept fighting back. Even though she was scared, she fought back. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

*Aaron’s family dynamics seems like what most parent/teen relationship would be like when said teen wants a career in gaming. Already I have talks with my son trying to point out that games are made and created, someone takes the time to illustrate the graphics, the story line, the big companies that make them, etc…and he’s 7!! I relate to Aaron’s mom wanting the best for your child and a steady path, a steady career…you know – with benefits and a retirement package. 😂

Things That Made Me Go Hmmm:

*I was interested in this book because I have gamers in my life. For people not into gaming, I don’t know how much this story would interest them. There is a lot that takes place in a virtual world, the online game that Divya plays. I found it fun and interesting, but I don’t know if that is everyone’s cup of tea.

*Triggers: memories of assault, harassment, online trolling/bullying

Final Thoughts:

Like I said earlier, this one hit close to home for me and it made me learn a lot of things I didn’t know about the gaming world. I loved how it show cases the gamer and the game creator. Most importantly it brought up the issues of the toxic online culture that is present in the gaming world and social media and it talks about boundaries too. I enjoyed this one and it was a super quick read for me. I look forward to reading more books from this author!

This was the perfect book to start my reading year off with! I wasn't sure what my thoughts would be, as its plot is about gaming and I'm not into that AT ALL, but I found the world and characters so relatable. I can relate to having a passion and geeking out over it and making friends in New and weird ways because of it.

I loved the look this book gives into the world of games and how beautiful it can be while also at times being ugly. The ultimate message of the book is so empowering, though, and Divya and Beks are strong young women who will be role models to so many.

Also Aaron is a precious dweeb, loved him.

The relationships between characters are so fleshed out and the arcs are full. The different cities in which is set truly pop and feel alive as you read.

Cannot recommend this book enough!

Great! I’m not a gamer at all, but that didn’t matter. I liked the characters and the story equally.

Was not intrigued with this book.

The format for the kindle wasn’t very clear so the dialogue was hard to keep up with.

I go in blind sided and this one I should of read what it was about. Did not make sense at first and I DNF this within the first couple chapters.

This was such a fun read! There was a lot of video game speak that went over my head quite a bit (and I play a decent amount of video games) but overall this was an enjoyable story. The flirty “romance” between the two main characters was so cute and fun. What made this book really stand out though was it’s stance on online bullying, especially for women gamers. I personally don’t stream, but I follow a lot of female streamers and I see some of the things they have to deal with. I loved how the writer wrote Divya’s character and it was great how she handled the struggles. Definitely recommend this book to anyone.