“A witty rom-com reinvention … with deeply relatable insights on family pressure and growing up.” – Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Always Never Yours and If I’m Being Honest “An adorable debut that updates a classic romantic trope with a buzzy twist.” – Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately and Serious Moonlight A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author … Moonlight
A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.
One of Forbes Best YA of 2020
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.
All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
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Overachiever Pepper and class clown Jack attend the same elite private school but don’t know each other well. They suddenly find themselves in a viral Twitter war over a grilled cheese sandwich. As their battle become personal, the two realize that they are falling for each other and have a shot at an awkward but all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
This book is cheesy and gooey in the best way, just like a grilled cheese sandwich. The book is a fun twist on the snarky social media wars that are commonplace today. I loved the banter between Pepper and Jack which often made me laugh out loud. In their exchanges, you really feel their connection and see how well they come to understand each other. Pepper and Jack’s relationship is best part of the book.
Though lighthearted, this book does a great job of addressing some serious issues like the importance of pursing your dreams instead of doing what is expected of you, sibling rivalries, and forgiveness.
I would definitely recommend this book. Team PepperJack!
Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars
Well, that was adorable! Tweet Cute is so cute and cheesy but I loved every second of it! It’s a young adult, dual POV, enemies to more, with a little added Romeo and Juliet vibe added in! Jack’s family owns a deli in NYC and when Pepper’s family owned burger franchise tweets their grilled cheese special, Jack tweets about them “stealing” their family recipe. What ensues is a hilarious twitter war, filled with perfect little one-liners! The two rival businesses have a history, which we find out much later.
However, Jack and Pepper aren’t just tweeting each other. They are in the same school; polar opposites, always teasing each other. Not only that, Jack has created a social app for his school that he and Pepper are messaging on, yet neither know who they are talking to. It is a lot of various communication methods, via twitter, texting and chat. It does get a little confusing in that regard. But, it was definitely creative! Both teens are dealing with your typical teenage issues with concern about their future, family issues and social issues. I thought it was very realistic yet so entertaining. I would absolutely recommend this one!
* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Cute YA story with a meet cute spin!
Jack and Pepper are classmates who get involved in a tweet war for their respective family businesses. What starts as a real rivalry turns into more of a game and then a possible romance. What neither of them realizes is that there is more history there than they realized. To complicate matters further – they are falling for each other via an anonymous classmate app.
Oh things are going to get complicated.
This was a cute, fun, awkward, cringe-worthy at times (due to high school shenanigans) YA romance. These two were cute together and the epilogue is oh so sweet.
I voluntarily requested and read an uncorrected advance reader copy courtesy of the publisher through Net Galley.
Tweet Cute is the young adult novel I have been waiting for. Tweet Cute is the debut novel from Emma Lord and hits all the marks that I was looking for.
Tweet Cute follows the story of Pepper and Jack. Pepper is the overachiever, swim team captain and overall perfectionist. Her life might be full of chaos, but the family business is doing better than ever. Then we’ve got Jack. Jack is the class clown and Pepper’s mortal enemy. Between trying to escape his brother’s shadow and keeping his family’s business afloat, Jack’s life is anything but easy. He has a love/hate relationship with the family business, but when the competitor comes out with a recipe that’s a dead ringer for his grandma’s, he’ll stop at nothing to take his enemy down…
All’s fair in love and war, and Tweet Cute was a real treat. This book was a fantastic debut novel and was a fun read to spend my day getting lost in. I loved the modern take on You’ve Got Mail. I thought the authors take was fresh and entertaining. Not only was this book a part of one of my favorite troupes, Enemies to Lovers, but it also delivered on excellent chemistry and push and pull. I loved the interactions between Pepper and Jack. They appeared to be so opposite, yet so alike at the same time. I thought their story was well written and entertaining. And I for one, couldn’t wait to see their story play out.
At the end of the day, Tweet Cute was the perfect light read. It was paced well, smart and filled with some great swoon-worthy moments. As far as debut novels go, this one is pretty fantastic. I look forward to seeing what this author will have in store for readers in the future.
I especially liked that there was a lgbt couple in the book but that it was just mentioned a few times and you got to know the character instead of only knowing them because of their sexual orientation. Pepper and Jack’s story is very realistic and endearing. Jack is the class clown but he’s so much more than that. He is loyal, sweet, and makes apps. He doesn’t let anyone but Paul under his walls; that is until Pepper. Pepper hides her true self and does everything she can to fit into and have the best grades at her new school. As the book progresses it’s nice to see how much the characters find themselves, and start taking the future in their hands. It was a good book, although I feel like there were some parts that dragged on and could be shortened without taking anything serious from the book. But I still enjoyed the read, and it was pretty funny. So I do recommend you check it out
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020
REVIEW: THE FIGHT FOR FOREVER BY MEGHAN MARCH
OUR REVIEW:
At the end of the second book in this trilogy, House of Scarlett, all hell had broken loose and that’s exactly were The Fight for Forever picked up–hell breaking loose in Gabriel Legend’s office and let me tell you that those first pages set a tone. A tone of me fighting a desire to flip to the last pages of the book to find out what happened. I was a hot mess–what was going to happen next, how would it happen, and who would be behind it–but once I decided not to spoil the ending for myself, I settled in for a fun ride. Gabriel and Scarlett are such a force to be reckoned with–completely enamored with each other, supportive of each other, and a power couple not to be effed with. I liked how it was them against the world, instead of them against each other, and I liked that Meghan March made the source of conflict and tension one that came at them instead of one that came from them. Their romance was so much sweeter than I anticipated –an unexpected treat. If I could offer one wish, it would be to see Scarlett’s dickish dad and her ex really get what’s coming to them. Maybe Flynn or Q or one of the other secondary characters will nudge Meghan March’s writer brain and we’ll get to see that happen? In the meantime, if you’ve been holding out to read this series until all the books are released, now’s your chance. We think you’ll enjoy this sweet and sexy romance.
BUY IT:
http://meghanmarch.com/the-fight-for-forever
Amazon: mybook.to/MMFight
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Kobo: http://bit.ly/TheFightforForeverKobo
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ABOUT MEGHAN MARCH:
Making the jump from corporate lawyer to romance author was a leap of faith that New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Meghan March will never regret.
With over thirty titles published, she has sold millions of books in nearly a dozen languages to fellow romance-lovers around the world.
A nomad at heart, she can currently be found in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, living her happily ever after with her real-life alpha hero.
She loves hearing from her readers at @gmail.com">meghanmarchbooks@gmail.com.
Meghan is represented by Bookcase Literary Agency.
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020
REVIEW: TWEET CUTE BY EMMA LORD
OUR REVIEW:
“I really need to get my daughter a copy of this book.”
“I know a ton of my students would love reading this.”
These were the thoughts that I had on repeat once I got about a third of the way into the novel and could tell that my enjoyment was going to endure through the duration of the reading. Tweet Cute was very cute with more complexity than I think the name led me to believe. Don’t get me wrong–it’s sweet and funny and adorable, just like Jack and Pepper, but it also delved into the pressures students feel from school and family and social media and even their friends. I enjoyed how the journeys of our main characters paralleled each other in many aspects and how she resolved the conflicts that arose because of one less than thoughtful tweet and the exchanges that followed. By the end, I was happy with where each of these characters ended up and found myself wishing I could peep in on them one more time, just to see how they were doing.
This was definitely not an angsty teen drama; Tweet Cute was clever and layered and sweet and the perfect addition to my classroom library.
This has to be one of the most perfectly named books that I have come across in a long time because this book was really cute! As soon as I read the premise for this book, I knew that I would have to give it a try. It just sounded like such a good time. And it was! Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down and ended up finishing it in a single day. I really enjoyed the time I spent with this book.
Pepper hasn’t been in New York all that long. She moved there with her mom and older sister when their family’s burger chain started getting huge. She somehow finds the time for her schoolwork, activities, and still helps out with the company’s Twitter account. Jack has lived in New York all of his life. His family owns a neighborhood deli and Jack occasionally posts something on social media for the business.
When the big burger chain is rolling out a new grilled cheese that sounds a lot like the signature sandwich served at the small deli. It’s war or a Twitter war, at least. These two are going back and forth and they don’t even realize who is on the other end. Until they do. I loved this setup! It was just such a playful way of getting to see these characters get to know each other.
I loved Pepper and Jack! They both had some family issues to deal with and really had a lot in common. I thought that they were both very smart and resourceful teens. They really were perfect for each other. They had a lot of chemistry but I really felt like they understood each other in a way no one else seemed to.
I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a light-hearted story filled with wonderful characters and a few laughs. I will be keeping an eye out for future books by this debut author!
I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press – Wednesday Books via NetGalley.
On the surface, Emma Lord’s Tweet Cute reads like a modern retelling of You’ve Got Mail with a hint of (completely nonviolent) Romeo and Juliet for the Generation Z set. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a refreshing, vibrant take on social interactions and interpersonal relationships, and it does so in a way that feels authentic and age-appropriate.
Pepper is a New York City transplant who is caught between the overachieving expectations of her mother, and her desire to create her own path. Born-and-bred New Yorker, Jack, feels constantly overshadowed by his twin brother, and overcompensates by being the class clown. When Pepper and Jack are both unwittingly pulled into a Twitter war representing their parents’ respective businesses, hijinks ensure. And they both come to realize they have much more in common than they previously thought.
Lord creates primary and secondary characters that feel fully actualized and genuine. The story moves at a nice pace, and I was pleased that it doesn’t dwell on one overarching misunderstanding or miscommunication as its central plot line. Rather, it bobs and weaves around the dynamics of budding friendships, generational clashes with parents and authority figures, and the experience of growing up. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this novel from beginning to end, and can’t wait to see more from this author.
**Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.**
Outstanding YA romantic comedy
Pepper Evans and Jack Campbell are both 17-year-old seniors at Stone Hall Academy, a ritzy, private school in New York City, which has only a total of about 325 students for all four grades. They know each other on sight, but they have never been friends, even though they’ve both attended the school the past four years, and they share the same pool on a regular basis where she is captain of the girls’ swimming team and he is captain of the dive team.
Pepper is an overachiever who is burning herself out, trying to be the Mini-Me of her mother, who is an extremely successful, high-powered businesswoman who started, expanded, and continues to run an expansive chain of family restaurants called Big League Burger. Her parents had an amicable divorce four years ago, and her mother left her father behind in Nashville, where the very first Big League Burger restaurant began, in order to move with Pepper and her older sister, Paige, to the Upper East Side in New York. Paige is currently a senior at a university in Philadelphia, but the two of them are very close and have created together a cooking blog specializing in desserts with quirky names. Pepper’s goal in life is to open her own bakery with Paige someday.
Jack is a chronic underachiever who is confused about his future due to strong family loyalty to his parents’ quaint, East Village, neighborhood deli, Girl Cheesing, which was started many years ago by his beloved paternal grandmother, Grandma Belly. He feels that, unlike his charismatic twin brother, Ethan, his future is already written in stone. He will work in the deli the rest of his life, eventually inheriting it completely and running it himself. In contrast, career and life options are wide open for Ethan, whom Jack believes is destined for greatness. He is both glad for Ethan and envious of his freedom of choice.
Jack is very talented at computer programming and is the secret developer of an app called Weazel that is available only to the students at his high school. He set it up so that users must have an email from the school itself in order to join the app, which effectively weeds out any potential catfishing predators. In addition, all the participants are automatically assigned a username by the app when they log in for the first time, which is always some kind of animal. Everyone remains anonymous in the main Hallway Chat, but when users talk to each other privately, one-on-one, Jack has the app set up to randomly out them to each other by their real names within one to seven days. Jack goes by the handle, “Wolf,” and he has been privately chatting with a girl with the handle, “Bluebird,” for the past two months. It has been going so well between the two of them, he has jury-rigged his app so it will not reveal their real identities to each other until he himself decides to do so. Of course, it is completely possible for Jack to know who each person using the app actually is, including Bluebird, but he’s made it a point to not look at that information for anyone, and definitely not for Bluebird. It would feel like cheating, like taking unfair advantage. And, most of all, he doesn’t want to take the chance that, if he knew who Bluebird actually is, he might not like her as much in person as he does while chatting. Or worse, she might not like him.
Jack is incredibly loyal to Girl Cheesing, and he is incensed when he learns that the huge fast-food chain, Big League Burger, has stolen the recipe for “Grandma’s Special,” his family’s deli’s top-selling, extra-special grilled-cheese sandwich. Jack’s father tells him to just ignore it, but Jack refuses. He pulls up the Girl Cheesing Twitter account, which has a handful of followers compared to BLB’s millions of followers, and tweets at their account by posting a picture of the Grandma’s Special grilled cheese in a BLB wrapper, sitting in a puddle on the sidewalk with the caption, “Tell Me I’m pretty #GrilledByBLB.” Then the unimaginable happens. A famous 80’s pop star, who is apparently a big fan of Girl Cheesing and follows their Twitter account, retweets Jack’s tweet, and suddenly there are 3000 more retweets.
Pepper sees the tweet from Girl Cheesing and is surprised to note that, yes, BLB actually seems to have stolen their recipe. She talks to her mother about it, but Mom acts like she doesn’t care and insists that Pepper write a snappy comeback to the tweet. Reluctantly, Pepper agrees. And thus begins a twitter war that takes the internet by storm.
This adorable, “enemies to lovers,” YA romance is an excellent version of the classic, romantic, comedy-of-errors plot in which two people who are at odds in real life are simultaneously in love with each other as anonymous penpals—and neither realizes that their wonderful penpal is one and the same as an awful person whom they know and despise. This plot first appeared in the movie, Shop Around the Corner (1940), with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. It was remade as a musical, In the Good Old Summertime (1949), with Judy Garland and Van Johnson. And updated into the modern, Internet era in You’ve Got Mail (1998), starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. This author does an excellent job, even better then any of the movie versions of this plot, of believably motivating how two people could anonymously know each other as penpals and also collide with each other in the real world. This story also excels at having those characters fall for each other twice, both as virtual penpals and in the real world, which is one of the fun parts of this type of plot.
I love Pepper and Jack. They are both likeable, sympathetic characters. The journey of their romance is often downright hilarious as the two of them battle it out on Twitter with funny, snarky tweets. There are also many excellently drawn subcharacters in this story, most especially close members of both their families.
The setting of different parts of New York City as well as scenes at their private high school are all well done and fun to experience.
This is a G-rated book suitable for all ages. It is a “slowburn” romance in that the first kiss does not happen until very late in the book. The hero and heroine do not drink, smoke, or do drugs. In fact, they both seem to be virgins who have not dated throughout high school. Jack has only been kissed a few times, and Pepper has never been kissed until she kisses Jack. It is well motivated that they have not dated, because they have both been too busy to date.
I really enjoyed this book and consider it a keeper that I know I will read and reread multiple times.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 5 stars
Hero: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Coming-of-Age Plot: 5 stars
New York City Setting: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars
Just as the title implies, this book is so adorable. I don’t often read about high school romance but the blurb for this book had me intrigued. I enjoyed Tweet Cutevery much. I want to say that while there is just a touch of romance, this book’s main focus is on teenaged drama and and family loyalty. The blurb does a very good job of helping you to infer what you’ll be reading about. So, I did have an idea about what was going to happen. That said, I was pleasantly surprised that this book was so much more complex than I assumed. There are definitely lighthearted and humorous moments. And definitely moments of second hand embarrassment for me. Personally, I did not enjoy most of my high school years so I was easily able to connect to Pepper and Jack. If you are thinking about staying away from this book because you dislike bullying, I suggest you don’t. There is some bullying but nothing heavy. In fact, I personally believe Jack’s father and Pepper’s mother were the strongest antagonists on the pages.
Ok, so now let’s talk about the end of the book. The ending is a happy-for-now for Jack and Pepper, obviously because we’re reading about 17 year olds and so much can change once they go off to college. But I felt had a strong connection so I believe they’ll make it. Although, I would have liked an epilogue that brought us several years ahead to confirm this. Also, I was a bit disappointed in the way Jack’s father got away with what he had done to Pepper’s mom. I would have liked to at least see an apology on the pages. Because there wasn’t, I have some bitter feelings toward him. But this is only my personal feelings and doesn’t reflect on the author’s story telling. This was my first book by this author and I know I would enjoy reading more from her in the future.
This is my honest and unbiased review. Thank you for taking the time red it. 🙂
The epitome of adorable, this light and funny YA romance for the 21st century is a breath of fresh air from start to finish. Anyone who has ever watched You’ve Got Mail will find an instant love for the Twitter war taking place between two teens who represent their families’ businesses – a major fast food chain and a hometown deli. Pepper and Jack attend the same prestigious school in New York City, but their home lives are vastly different – as well as their personalities at school. Pepper is extremely focused on her grades and blending in with her peers, while Jack is the class clown who knows he doesn’t fit with everyone else. They connect anonymously on a school chat app, and become confidants despite the fact that they don’t know who they’re speaking to. But at school, they also unknowingly become Twitter adversaries as they battle it out over a stolen grilled cheese recipe.
If any of that sounds funny and completely modern, that’s because it is. Just as the title indicates, this is definitely a modern romance that is sweet and clean with plenty of humor. The banter between these two is hysterical to read, and I was rooting for them from the moment they first interacted. Jack’s such a great guy, but he’s often overlooked because his twin is so popular, and Pepper is so focused on school that she’s let a lot of her time at high school pass her by. They’re both easy to like and adorably awkward at romance, so it’s fun to read. While the book does handle some serious topics, it navigates it all extremely well while keeping the tone light. The pages flew by and I definitely got into the story quickly. Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this cute romance. I am voluntarily leaving a review.
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord a five-star read that any romance reader needs in their lives. I don’t want to go into detail as you need to read this story with a fresh set of eyes and an open heart as it will be filled so quickly. If you like your stories sweet and deep, then this is one for you. It has gotten all the classic hallmarking of a great love story with a great meet cute set in the modern digital age. This is very likely going to be my favourite read of the year.
4 1/2 stars. Fun read with two schoolmates that don’t realize they are tweeting in an app where the whole school is tweeting because it is anonymous. On top of that they are also in a tweet war on Twitter between their family businesses. I loved the banter between Pepper and Jack. Also liked that when things went wrong they used their heads (most of the time) and worked things through. Slight twist at the end. Overall very enjoyable read.