I absolutely loved this story such a beautiful coming of age about Sydney, a black girl in college navigating her studies, relationships and her online space. I really enjoyed reading the story through Sydney’s blog posts, tweets and text messages it was very different but also I enjoyed this style of writing . Seeing her navigate her first semester of college brought back so many memories of my first year of college. This was such a fun read. Thank you to the publisher for this ARC

Thank you Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
This young adult novel is a refreshing take on young love in world of technology. It will resonate well with today’s young people. Sydney is a young lady headed off to college and just trying to figure out where she fits in. She has several people come into her life that help her along the way. However one of the most important relationships is her high school best friend Malcolm. In the midst of all this Sydney is navigating love through social media. I don’t want to spoil it but the book does take a turn in the last few chapters that left me slightly disappointed with the outcome of the book. But I think it’s a poignant reminder that life may not turn out the way we want it but it isn’t any less beautiful. Love can take on many forms.

I absolutely LOVE epistolary novels. This one was extra special as I am an educator and I am a black woman. I was able to reminisce with the text as the struggles of going away to school as a young black girl and also put myself in the place of my students as they enter campus through the lens of social media and current social issues. I was looking for more of a lighthearted romance and it did take a more serious turn. I think it would be an enjoyable read for my students.

When I started reading, I didn’t know that I would be reading this story solely through Sydney’s blog posts, tweets, and text messages. Knowing who Syd is as a character and better understanding her writing, I think this was the perfect way to write this book. I loved seeing her navigate her first semester of college and her trying to make friends, navigating romance, and overall figuring out her life. This was an enjoyable, yet semi serious read.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for this ARC!

LOVE IN 280 CHARACTERS OR LESS is coming-of-age mixed media story about Sydney, a Black college student navigating academics, love, and online presence. It was such a fun story and I absolutely loved it! Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the advanced copy!

Sydney Ciara Warren is excited to start her first year of college, even though her high school bestie will be attending a different university. She knows she’ll have to make new friends, but she’s hoping her interest in writing and fashion will ultimately help her with that, even if she has no idea what she wants to do with her life just yet. Sydney Ciara finds comfort in blogging about her life, and meets someone online who calls themself “X,” quickly catching feelings. This story is told through blog posts, tweets, emails and more, and I love a good multimedia novel!

I unfortunately found this book to be very dull and boring. A student going through these same early college experiences might get more out of it, but I didn’t find it very enjoyable at all. There didn’t feel like there was much personality or character. I was also disappointed and felt mislead by the idea that the whole book would be in blog posts, tweets, and the like - her blog posts read basically like a typical first person narration in any other book and it did not feel like something unique and different at all. There was nothing really to grab me and the way the love triangle played out also disappointed me.

This one wasn't for me; in books that consist of texts and internet posts, I like to still have some narration to really get to know the protagonist's inner thoughts that aren't being filtered through being posted or sent to other people. Might have been more fun if Twitter wasn't terrible now.

Loved what the book was trying to do. Liked the premise. But I’ve been struggling through this for months through no fault of the book. I think the idea of social media has generally soured, especially anything associated with Twitter/X (as the title suggests). Contemporary YA needs to be timely and this one missed the mark.

Love in 280 Characters was a quick and fun read that blends together different mediums to tell the story of college adjustment, friendship, and young adulthood. Told through Tweets, blog posts, emails, and narratives in order to open the reader into Sydney's world. I think this would be an enjoyable book for people in college and making the transition from young adult to new adult.

I want to start off by saying that I requested this book just by the title and the cover. I don't know what it is, but I love any works of media that, well, focuses on (social) media! I will say that because I read this entirely on my phone, I feel like it would have been a better read if it was in a physical format (or at least something wider, like a kindle or a tablet) because of the layouts of some of the conversations.

There are several different types of formats the Stringfield utilizes to tell us Sydney's story, our MC. Told mainly through tweets, blog posts, and emails, I'm very impressed at how genuinely it feels like Sydney is an actual character and we're living vicariously through her while she is experiencing her first year of college.

The first half of the story focuses on more light-hearted situations like settling into college and trying to find your footing in a new area, as well as "putting yourself out there", but the second half flips the script on us and actually focuses on some pivotal and real themes that affect Black American (students) all across the US. Saying that may be a huge spoiler already, but I feel like it is important to mention because writing this book off as *just* a YA "romcom" would be a genuine disservice to the remarkable story Stringfield has created.

This book was so magical. I gulped it all in one day. It transferred me back to my first year of college and made me feel like I knew these characters and wished that I had friends like Sydney. She was so real, so kind, and just so confused on what to do with her life (understandably so). I wanted to give her the biggest hug by the end of the book. Cheers to Stringfield for creating the wonderful characters and I look forward to potentially seeing more books in the future!

Love in 280 Characters or Less by Ravynn K. Stringfield is a fun and relatable look at modern romance through social media and texting. The book nails the ups and downs of love in today’s fast-paced world with short, punchy vignettes that capture all the feels. Stringfield’s writing is super engaging, and I loved how it reflects the real-life struggles of connecting with someone in a digital age. This book is a refreshing take on love and communication that’ll definitely get you thinking about your own relationship experiences!

Disclaimer -- I DNF this title

I could not get into this story. The main character seemed flat and unlikeable. The way she found her roommate -- on social media??? -- is not how colleges work.

I also couldn't understand what parts of this story were blog posts/Tweets, etc because the formatting was strange. There were sections in smaller font but then they went right into sections in a larger font so I couldn't figure out if some of the writing was Sydney's thoughts or whether they were blog posts.

Honestly, by a few chapters in, these things annoyed me to the point where I had no desire to finish this book and no feelings about the characters to wonder what would happen next. I'm hoping that in print form, this book will be clearer to readers.

This was a great young adult contemporary romance. I loved how this story was told through mixed media like social media posts, blogs and texts. I really liked the characters in this book and enjoyed the coming of age story. Overall this was a pretty good read.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and NetGalley for the gifted arc.

Unfortunately, this story started off a little too slow for me. I wish that there had been a little bit more to the plot in the first third, something to get me a little invested. The rest of the story was great, I felt the characters were really fleshed out and this felt accurate to the modern day college experience.