Hello! A little later than usual (things have been a bit extra hectic at work lately so that’s taken up more of my time) but I’m here to talk about my favorite book of October. **And as always, the work to support the Black community is not done, whether there is media coverage for it or not, so here is the link to click in order to support the Black Lives Matter movement in any way you can, and thank you to StarlahReads for compiling these resources.**
My favorite book that I read in October (which seems like so long ago now, as I’m writing this in the middle of December) was Tweet Cute, a debut YA contemporary by Emma Lord. This book was released back in January, and I heard a lot of early buzz from people who got to read advanced copies. The synopsis made it sound like an awkward and adorable contemporary romance between two teens whose family are rivaling business owners, and gives high comparisons to the well-loved story You’ve Got Mail. It definitely did not disappoint with the cuteness, but it also discusses topics that any teenager ready to take the next step into their future will be able to relate to. It debuted on January 21st, 2020, and has garned some more pretty positive reviews since its release.
Meet Pepper – overachiever, swim team captain, bakery blogger, and handler of Big League Burger’s Twitter page. Enter Jack – class clown, creater of Weasel, an online app that allows students to chat anonymously with one another, and worker at Girl Cheesing, his family’s diner. When Big League Burger announces their new grilled cheese recipe, and it happens to look just like the one Girl Cheesing has been serving for years, queue the ongoing Twitter feud which brings national attention on both restaurants. Pepper and Jack start to figure out that they’re each behind their family’s accounts, and while fighting to the death over grilled cheese online, they may just be falling for each other in real life.
This book is filled with teenage shenanigans, adorable moments, and just the right amount of cheese. Pepper and Jack are both trying to figure out their place in the world – Pepper feels like her family is falling apart after her and her mom moved to New York to handle the success of their restaurant, and struggles with telling her mom how the Twitter feud is affecting her mentally, while Jack is constantly in his twin brother’s shadow, wondering if his parents will ever see him as anything other than second place. Jack has been going to school with the same group of people for years, and some still can’t tell him apart from Ethan (or choose not to try), but Pepper came in and could clearly see him for all that he was – his own person. Pepper was thrown into a group of teens who had grown up together, had already formed cliques and opinions of outsiders, so she threw herself into hard work, trying to be the person they needed to beat for the best grades, which required a rival (Jack). Both found what they needed through the other. It became a story of “they fight all the time, but when will they finally realize they love it too much to stop and just get together already?” Honestly, those are some of my favorite stories to read. There was also some commentary towards the end about how the actions of your parents can come back to haunt you (their kids) even years later, but I won’t get into that too much because of spoilers. Plus, who doesn’t love a good meme war? In times of quarantine and a majority of interactions occuring over social media, I would have loved to watch the war between Big League Burger and Girl Cheesing play out in real time.
All in all, I loved the way this book played out, I thought it was an incredible debut, and I hope to read more from Emma Lord in the future. She has a new book releasing in January, You Have a Match, that I’ll be itching to get my hands on. If you’re in the mood for a light-hearted contemporary about a Twitter war, feuding restaurants, and teenagers just trying to be teens, I highly recommend picking up Tweet Cute. Be sure to grab a snack, though, because the descriptions are bound to make you hungry.
Places to find Tweet Cute:
Amazon
Goodreads
Bookshop.org
Emma Lord’s site
Macmillan
Thoughts About Things 