Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (Spoiler-Free)

~ Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for sending me an early copy for review and for including me as part of the blog tour!~

A very cute read! This book should come with a warning though, that once you get past a certain point, you literally cannot stop. I'm going to be honest here and say that I initially requested this book on NetGalley for two reasons: 1. I thought it was written by an author I've loved books from in the past, Emery Lord, but, in fact, this is actually a debut novel written by none other than EMMA Lord. Oops lol. But, hey! It all worked out in the end, and now I have another author to read more from when she publishes new books. 2. The synopsis sounded so much fun. I am very pleased to say that the whole book was that much fun. It's cheesy in the right places, and serious and frustrating in the others. It wasn't pure sugar, but it wasn't far from it. It had the just the right amount of sweet and sour needed to satisfy the conditions that make up a good YA romance. The plot really is what drives this book. The characters aren't just one-dimensional, but I have to say that they're not really what you're reading the book for. You just need to see what will go down when their identities get revealed. I'm not saying this to discredit the book in any way, clearly the plot devices were effective, I just wanted to state that observation. Sometimes the characters even annoyed me; they were petty, but not unrealistic. I'm just someone who really doesn't get angry, and sometimes it's hard for me to see why someone else feels the need to blow things out of proportion instead of just talking it out. But, on the other hand, I obviously do know people who do that, so the characters' behavior in this book isn't wildly unrealistic, it's just not as relatable for me personally. Something I really did love about this book though, was its commentary on competitive schools. Pepper, the protagonist, attends a prestigious private school in NYC where the environment is cutthroat. While I attend public school, mine is known as one of the most competitive in the state, and I could really relate to how she felt at her school. Most books don't accurately portray what it's like in that environment; the characters that are taking 5 AP classes somehow have time to go out for fun on weekdays, which is just not physically possible. This book, however, does a great job of expressing the feeling of school being a competition between classmates for the most elite schools rather than a learning environment. Pepper and Pooja (her friend) start to realize that being happy and actually learning is more important than letters on a report card, and the evolution of this throughout the book was very nice to see because it is something that I have gone through directly. The romance in here is cute, but I must say, quite light, which is something you may want to know going in. For the majority of this book, Pepper and Jack are just friends—the buildup is what Lord uses to drive the plot. So, keep that in mind if you're looking for a romance-heavy contemporary. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this, and I definitely need to keep tabs on Emma Lord to see what she comes out with next!

Make sure to check it out on JANUARY 21!!

Song I was reminded of while reading: Falling For U