Tweet Cute by Emma Lord | Book Review

Tweet Cute
by Emma Lord
Published on January 21, 2020 by Wednesday Books
ISBN: 1250237327
Format: Audiobook, Hardcover
Pages: 368
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

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.

Review

So yeah, I’m totally a sucker for the “penpal romance” genre. It’s pretty much a guarantee that I’ll like the book. As soon as I read the synopsis for Emma Lord’s debut, Tweet Cute, I knew I had to read it and I was pretty sure I was going to love it. And while I don’t think it’s the best penpal romance I’ve read, it was definitely delightful and I enjoyed every moment of reading it.

The premise is for sure something that’s been done in other books. And that’s honestly the only thing that kept this one from hitting five stars for me- I’ve read this story, but better, before. But that’s okay! I still had so much fun reading it. Plus, it’s kind of enemies-to-lovers, which is another plus in my book. The online Twitter war aspect of it was unique, and added a layer to the story that I really liked. I also enjoyed the way family dynamics played a role, and they weren’t always predictable which was great.

Tweet Cute alternates points-of-view, between seemingly uptight Pepper and, also seemingly, class clown Jack. And OHMYGOSH I loved these two. They were both such complex narrators, great illustrations of how people are more than one thing despite how the world may perceive them. Pepper was so relatable for me, an overachiever who takes on too much all the time, and I think she will be relatable for a lot of other readers as well. And their chemistry? To die for. *swoons* Reading how they get to really know one another, slowly building trust and friendship and then more was fantastic, and really well done on the author’s part. The slow buildup throughout the book was was kept me reading until I fell asleep, only to pick it up again first thing in the morning because I HAD to know how it would all play out.

Really, all of the characters in this book were dynamic, not just Pepper and Jack. The side characters were all a reason to keep reading in their own right, and didn’t just seem like props for the main characters. I felt like they all had their own stories going on in the background.

I really, really liked this one. I’d definitely pick up Tweet Cute again as a pick-me-up read. I also listened to some of the audiobook while reading and it was great, the narrators are perfect for Pepper and Jack. Like I said, the only thing keeping this from hitting five stars is that I’ve read similar books like I liked more, but overall I’d definitely recommend this one to fans of Kasie West and light, fluffy romances.