What an utterly adorable book! It’s mushy and sweet, both low heat and low angst, and it’s nice and short.

Dovid is a minor Youtube celebrity. As a blind man, he documents the lives of himself and, to a lesser degree, his twin sister Rachel, as well as restaurant reviews (which includes accessibility as well as the usual decor and food points). When his gamer sister introduces him to an Irishman’s video game play through channel, he’s absolutely entranced by Sam’s voice and quirkiness. When he recommends Sam’s channel to his legion of followers, he doesn’t initially realize what a headache he might be creating for introverted Sam – though it does provide an opportunity for him to reach out to the guy who he’s slowly developing a crush on. Discussions of video monetization and Patreon tiers slowly morph into a friendship, though each is left wanting more. Will a long distance relationship be enough for either of the men?

“He was terribly unexciting. He worked in IT. He liked quiet, and tea, and video games, and reading.”


Dovid’s (pronounced “duh”-vid) is the kind of guy to make a lot of blind jokes about himself, and while, to some extent, he makes his living off his disability, he’s not defined by it. As you might expect from a Youtube celebrity, he’s quite extroverted, and while he’s solicitous of other’s feelings – Sam’s especially – he also tends to act impulsively, as when he gushes over Sam’s channel without thinking about the tsunami of viewers he’s sending his way. After the fact, though, he worries about the consequences, and while he makes that sort of mistake more than once, by the end of the book he did seem to think more about how his actions would effect Sam before he acts. Dovid and Rachel are also Jewish, though if you’re averse to religion, it’s mostly an offhand reference to Hanukkah and a discussion about visiting the Holocaust Memorial and a concentration camp survivor relative. Sam’s, well, adorable (yes, that’s a joke from the book). He’s the kind of guy who practices saying Dovid’s name a million times before recording to make sure he’s saying it right. When Dovid and Sam’s DM conversations turn into Sam recommending books to Dovid, and he realizes Dovid’s actually reading them, he starts making sure that all the books he’s reading have audiobook versions. He’s very introverted, content to come home from his day job in IT, drink tea, read books, and record his weekly video. He has a lot of social anxiety and not much in the way of self esteem (thanks to his parents), and he can’t quite believe anyone actually wants to pay to watch him play video games, let alone pay him for them. So it’s perhaps because the two are complete opposites that the two of them are immediately fascinated by each other.

“All the more reason to contact him,” he said after thinking about it. “If nothing else I can offer some advice in dealing with the increase in subscribers.”
“Yeah, not a bad idea at all. Even if it’s just an excuse for you to finally work up the guts to talk to him.”


The fascination quickly turns into crushes on both sides, but it takes a while for either man to admit to it. As you’d expect from a relationship that’s initially only over Twitter DMs, it takes a while before their relationship morphs from a friendship to a romantic relationship. Sam’s introversion hadn’t given him much experience in that area, and Dovid is more than willing to let Sam set the pace of the relationship – with an aroace sister, he’s a bit more versed than most on sexuality. It’s all quite sweet, honestly, especially that the “big deal” is them both finally saying “I love you” to each other. There’s no sexual content beyond a lot of kisses and some making out. It’s, at most, a mild spoiler then to say that, through talking about their relationship with Dovid, Sam realizes he’s asexual.

As mentioned before, Sam has low self esteem and considers himself a complete and utter disappointment. At the beginning of the book, he has a LOT of negative self-talk, and it’s particular insidious as he doesn’t seem to realize how negative he is towards himself. He’s constantly willing to make allowances for others that he won’t make for himself – it’s OK that that customer yelled at him, she was probably having a good day and is normally a great person and it probably made her feel a lot better to yell at him, and he’s such a waste of time anyway it’s probably just all fine. He’s got the whole “stiff upper lip” thing going on to a ridiculous degree. I personally liked how Dovid handled it – initially gently disagreeing with Sam’s assessment of himself, and then more strongly as their relationship develops and the source of Sam’s issues becomes more apparent. Their relationship helps Sam accept that his parents’ disappointment doesn’t outweigh his own happiness – after all, if a great guy like Dovid loves him and thinks he’s worthy, doesn’t that have some merit?

As for cons, to be completely honest, I’m not a big Youtube watcher, and while I found some parts of their careers interesting – including just how much time goes into editing those videos – there was just too much of it. There’s a lot about the mechanics of Youtube and being an internet celebrity – the nuts and bolts of locking Twitter and monetizing your videos, etc. I don’t mind so much when it’s fleshing out each individual character and how they feel about it, but when a lot of the on-page conversations between the two characters was about Ko-Fi and “per view” vs “per click” monetization – I’m out. So while I appreciated some of it – like Rachel and Dovid explaining how to do unboxing videos if Sam doesn’t want to show his whole body in them – other things, like Patreon tier options, felt like it was taking time away from exploring their relationship. It also felt like something that would really date the book in a few years (or less!).

Overall, this is a solid 3.5 for me, rounded up to 4 for the absolute adorableness. If you’re looking for something quick and mushy, and don’t mind a lot of Youtube shoptalk, this will definitely fit the bill.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is just a perfectly sweet, no angst, nice romance. There's no drama. There's no curveballs. The characters are decent people. Nothing bad happens to them (well nothing major or permanently bad). Dovid and Sam were really sweet and good together. Rachel was a great character, supportive without being smothering or nosy (okay she's nosy but it's in a fun way not an obnoxious entitled way). But it's a tad boring for me and my current mood. And so it ends up feeling a bit long, at a certain point I was just like "what more could happened? why is there still so much story left?". I also could've done without all the behind the scenes technical talk about YT and Patreon. It was educational in regards to that, but meh, I don't really care. Again, there's nothing wrong with this book, it is GOOD...if you're in the right mood for it. I'd recommended it to anyone wanting some light fluffy sweet goodness.

Aww man, I really wanted to like this book; but since I really did not want to read pages upon pages of texts exchanged, a litany of apologies for everything and anything (which honestly was annoying as fuck), and an instruction manual to how to "YouTube", I loathed it.

I loved this book. The characters were unique and the writing style very fluid and easy to read. The story itself was a lovely light read that warmed your heart to read.

Actual rating: 2.5

I wanted to love this so badly. I was very excited about there being no less than two asexual characters. And that's also the part I liked about it the most.

But I'm sorry to say this book was just really poorly written. In some ways, it's more of a how-to guide to getting internet famous than it is an actual novel. There are so many detailed explanations, of technicalities, of video content, etc. As this is completely irrelevant in any novel, except for actual how-to guides, this quickly grew very boring. And by quickly I mean: in the first few pages, when it's described exactly what the characters are eating and how they're narrating their vlog. It was just so uninteresting to read. On top of that, the writing style was very forced, especially in the dialogues. The characters are just so overly polite to each other? It was really tiresome to read.

I will say this book will be enjoyable if you're looking for a fluffy read with a guaranteed HEA (happily ever after) that's low on angst. I did enjoy it for that aspect, but overall this book just fell very flat for me.

Rep: blind Jewish bisexual main character, homoromantic asexual main character, sex-repulsed aro-ace side character.

CWs: parental abuse (emotional), car accident, ableism (challenged).

There are books that have great blurbs, absolutely fantastic sounding blurbs and then. They just. Disappoint you in every possible way. This is one of those books.

TL;DR (like I wish I could have done with this book): this is more a (boring) how-to guide on becoming a successful youtuber & dealing with that success than a novel. The characters are utterly forgettable, the tension doesn’t exist, there isn’t any real plot & the ending jumps out at you out of nowhere.

Now, let’s get into some details.

» the writing is very simple but that’s not all. The author describes each and every action their characters take, down to an almost complete recipe for something Dovid cooks at one time. I do not need a play by play of every scene, no one does. And the worst part is, those descriptions are also incredibly boring, so there’s really nothing to defend them.

» the boringness is in the dialogues as well. Really, that’s no surprise, dialogues are actually harder to write. Dovid and Sam talk for the majority of their relationship through DMs and texts and those reads like it’s a couple of 13yo texting. How many times can a person say “Sorry” and “Thank you”! How polite does Wayne think people need to be and why do they think people can only be polite by saying “sorry” and “thank you” twice in every sentence. I honestly don’t remember the last time I’ve read something that felt this unnatural. You’re probably thinking that it got better, once they started talking in person? Oh boy, are you wrong… Nothing I complain about in this book gets better.

» and if you thought the whole book is boring just because of the writing style, you were wrong again. It’s the main contributor, sure, but actually the pacing of this story? It’s so slow and unexciting, it’s kinda hard to say it even exists. Listen, I know I might enjoy angst a little bit too much, but you gotta have some, in order for a story to work! Here you just get fluff, more fluff and then some problems that get worked out on like the next page. It’s exhausting. The fluff isn’t even enjoyable, either, and that’s because the writing is stiff, like I said before, but also:

» the characters are just cardboard. I can list a few main characteristics for them, sure, but they are going to be extremely generic and vague. It’s impossible to connect to either of them and thus also root for them. Not that there’s any indication in the text at all that they won’t get a happy ending… But anyway, both Dovid and Sam are very much one-dimensional, more a canvas for representation than anything else. Neither of them really grows throughout the story, even if it’s made to seem like Sam does. But does he really? It feels more like Dovid has an idea of how Sam should act, rants about it randomly in the heat of the moment, and then finally Sam acts in a different way. (More like, tells Dovid he agrees with him.)

So we established that this is simply a poorly written book. Honestly, it kind of feels like not even the first draft, but more - a very detailed outline of the first draft. All the events that the author imagined are described and that’s… it. But there’s another thing I wanted to mention and that’s representation. Dovid and his twin sister Rachel are Jewish, Dovid is bisexual and blind due to illness, Rachel is aroace and Sam (the love interest) is a gay ace. I’m not disabled in any way, so I can’t really judge the rep here, but then - the author isn’t blind either. And frankly? With how much constant focus was put on Dovid’s blindness? With how much of a main point in the story it really was? I don’t know, I just feel like it’s not exactly a sighted person’s place to tell a story like this… I might be wrong and I would love to read some ownvoices reviews but sadly I couldn’t find any. (Which is a whole other problem, but more for the publisher than the author.)

Listen, if you want to read a cute, fluffy romance between two youtubers, just read How to Repair a Mechanical Heart. It even features fake dating! Meanwhile, all Play It Again has to offer is a happy ending that doesn’t make you feel any kind of way, because by the time you get to it, you’re bored out of your mind.

This was the cutest book. Dovid and Sam are both YouTube personalities who meet when Dovid discovers Sam's channel and uses his own popularity to give him a boost, sending his subscriber count soaring. Due to their distance apart, most of their exchanges are via direct messages or telephone, but the dialog is delightfully awkward and sweet. There's a realism to how their relationship grows through the weird beginning stages when they are essentially strangers, and it's infectious to follow each of them as they hesitantly blow air onto the tiny flame they each hope is actually burning. This book is low steam and low tension, but it's high on the awww factor, and I flew through it in hours not days.

This book is a very modern, contemporary love story but I don't think it makes it a great one. It wasn't the worst romance I've ever read, but it wasn't the best either. It was a lot of both Dovid and Sam telling each other 'I love you' but as a reader, I never really felt it.
Now, this might just be me, but if it's a good love story I get a feeling inside when I read it. I get excited, I can't wait to see where the journey takes them. It means I'm totally engrossed, immersed in the couple and I didn't get that when reading this book. It was a tad contrived. That's why I know it wasn't one of my favourites.
Apart from the romance, this book had no plot. Nothing happened, there was no big twist, not even a little one. It was obvious the two main characters were going to become a couple, so it all felt a bit predictable. When there's no plot, or need to be an excellent romance to keep me interested, and sadly this wasn't that.
To be honest, I even found both characters a tiny bit annoying. They didn't seem real, they were both very artificial. Dovid was way over the top, and Sam had no personality. It was all a bit lacklustre. It just need more.
I know this review has been a bit harsh so far, but there were things I did enjoy about the book. I liked the modern aspect. The meeting online and how it all evolved around YouTube, I found that really interesting. Who know you could make so much money from YouTube?
I liked the representation included. Dovid is blind and I found the way he approached life to be very intriguing. There were a lot of blind jokes made, but when it was taken seriously it was dealt with well. It showed how it affected his personality and his daily life.
This book was a quick, frothy read. Perfect for a beach read, maybe? Is it going to be one I remember? No. Would I recommend it? Probably...
This book was given to via Netgalley and Carina Press in return for an honest, unbiased review. It comes out April 22nd and you can preorder now.

When I first heard about Play it Again, I was beyond excited. The premise sounded exactly up my alley: A cute boy-boy romance? Star-crossed lovers separated by an entire ocean? And the diverse rep for someone who has lost their vision and became a huge YouTuber? Check, check, and check. The actual story, however, left a lot to be desired.

Here are the basics: Dovid and his twin sister Rachel are Seattle-based YouTubers who review restaurants regarding their accessibility for physically impaired clientele. Dovid, blind and in search of places that offer special amenities for people with disabilities, and Rachel, who is in charge of the camera are somewhat YouTube-famous with a following of six million. One day, Rachel mentions a minor YouTuber who plays games online and Dovid subsequently falls in love with Irish gamer Sam’s voice and starts up a conversation with him. And the story takes off from there. Or it doesn’t, if we’re talking about my reading experience.

While the premise sounded so promising, the execution was off. Certainly, the insta-love could be blamed here on a superficial level, but the real issue was with the characters Sam and Dovid who had no chemistry whatsoever. They were both just so – polite. It is never mentioned in the book how old either of these guys are, but judging from their level of self-confidence, speech patterns and overall consideration of every phrase they utter, I’d have almost confused this with a children’s novel.

To clarify, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being considerate. But when two characters cannot hold a conversation for more than two pages without apologizing multiple times for asking advice, paying compliments, keeping someone up for five minutes after eleven o’clock (yes, I wish I was kidding), or posting semi-emotional YouTube videos about the other one, it becomes tedious to the point where it is almost painful to follow these conversations. Both Sam and Dovid are so scared of offending anyone in the entire world that there is no room for conflict or tension to thicken the already weak plot of the novel. There is much to be said for being polite and friendly, but anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes on social media, typing out a reply on Twitter or Instagram knows that no one in their right mind would apologize four times (yes, I counted) for asking advice on how to deal with Twitter followers – especially when that advice was freely offered by the other party.

Awkward “sorry”-and-“thank you”-filled dialogue aside, there is the whole issue with the YouTube plotline. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but for this book to work, you’d have to have no preconceived notions of YouTubers, internet fame, or social media at all. Dovid and Rachel are famous to the point where they are apparently constantly shipped with other YouTubers the second they mention them in their videos. While this might be the case for today’s bigger YouTubers, I thought it was a bit unrealistic to say that with six million followers, everyone will want to know your relationship status to the point where they are harassing you in the comments. There was absolutely no need for Dovid or Sam to clarify their relationship status multiple times just because they mentioned they were friends. Who, for most of the storyline, aren’t even seen together. I’ve read my share of YouTuber stories (and fanfiction, let’s be honest) and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here, however, I felt like half of the time I was reading a how-to-guide on how to be successful on social media sprinkled in with some romance along the line to make it a story.

Lastly, the writing was a huge problem for me. Sam and Dovid’s “blooming romance” read like an instruction manual. The writing was stilted, unemotional and suffered heavily from the “tell rather than show” syndrome. There is no memorable description of places or people’s appearances. While this is a logical choice for Dovid’s PoV seeing as he is blind, there is no excuse for why we can’t get any description from Sam’s side. Further, we’re never given any kind of indication of how Sam and Dovid are feeling; instead, we are told. Sam is happy about Dovid giving him a shout out. He is scared of becoming too internet-famous. He is in love with Dovid. How any of these emotional reactions come to pass (e.g. is he feeling pressured to reply immediately to everyone’s comments on his latest video, does he think his content is not worth all the views he’s getting, has he formed an emotional bond with Dovid through any conversation besides one filled with sorry and thank you and you’re welcome, does he think about quitting his day job to pursue YouTube full-time…) is never explored or even mentioned. Instead, we get simple sentences that explain away internal processes that might have added some depth to two very one-dimensional characters. This book was told in dual PoV, but the robotic dialogue and altogether emotionless and similar delivery of sentences made it difficult to figure out who was speaking.

Sadly, this meant that the romance didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t feel invested in the characters or their relationship because we don’t get to learn about their struggles, inner turmoil or dreams for the future. Instead, the reader is told that these two people fall in love with repetitive conversations about YouTube advice and beaten-to-death words such as “adorable” (for the use of which Sam apologizes) and “wet voice” which makes Sam realize Dovid actually cares for him (instead of the fact that Dovid actually says “I care about you” multiple times).

Overall, I’m disappointed because this book had so much potential, but ended up being one that is skippable. The diversity is what drew me into this book, but it was used more as a stamp instead of as actual traits of Dovid’s or Sam’s character. There was so much room for them to be more well-rounded and fleshed-out. Same goes for the romance. Ignoring the awkward writing style for a moment, there was true potential for a cute, heart-warming romance between a shy, adorable (yes, I’m stealing the word for a moment) Irish YouTuber with a voice anyone could pick out of a line-up and a funny restaurant critic like Dovid who wants to make the world more accessible for everyone.

Alas, if you’re looking for a queer romance with diversity and loads of laugh-out loud moments, you might be better off with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or Red, White and Royal Blue.

This is a really cute romance! I love the diverse characters and their beautiful unfolding romance. I enjoyed it so much. I am defiantly going to be on the lookout for my books by this author.

This book is (to use Dovid's word) adorable. First off, I have to say that I've been loving the disability and queer rep in the books I've been reading lately - I don't know if I've just been really lucky with my book choices or what, but Play It Again is just lovely.

Our first lead is American YouTube sensation Dovid (and you'd better not call him David!), who lives his life out loud and often very publicly on his YouTube channel, Don't Look Now. Dovid is blind because of a childhood illness that took his eyes, and he works with his twin sister Rachel to run their YouTube empire that deals with a variety of topics, including giving people an inside view into Dovid's lifestyle as well as reviewing various restaurants and whatnot and rating them on their atmosphere, food, and accessibility. Dovid and Rachel's relationship is so great, and WOW, they're such enterprising people! Shout out for Dovid being quietly bi (I am just always thrilled to read bi characters in books - it seems like there are plenty of M/M and F/F romances but still a lot of bi-erasure going on), and also for Rachel being aro/ace. Again, I think there's a lot of exposure for people who are gay or lesbian, but some of the other areas of the LGBT spectrum (collective?) don't see the light a lot, and Play It Again does a really great job explaining what aromantic and asexual are. But I digress a bit!

Our other lead is the ADORABLE Irishman Sam; introverted IT guy by day, quiet Let's Play gamer with a major Mr. Rogers vibe going on in his spare time. Sam has some major self-esteem and self-worth issues, and I love the amount of personal growth he goes through over the course of the book. I just want to hug him and squeeze him and tell him he's great.

The relationship between Dovid and Sam is just SO GREAT and cute and wonderful and UGH, I am die. They live in really different time-zones, which causes some challenges for their friendship because it makes communication a little awkward to time. The online aspect to their relationship, plus the drastic difference in their personalities, lends itself really well to making Play It Again a truly delightful slow burn. I marked this a "closed door romance," but it really doesn't go beyond kissing and cuddling. Definitely more fluff than steam to this romance, as well as being really low angst. I found myself grinning like an idiot through most of this book, and had to keep physically wiping the smile off my face. :)

You know when you read a book that feels an awful lot like how you imagine taking a bath in melted cotton candy would feel? That was this book. Pure fluff; like hurt my teeth fluff. So sweet it was gross fluff.

Dovid and Rachel Rosenstein are the well-known duo of the Seattle-based YouTube channel, ‘Don’t Look Now’, that has varying content ranging from restaurant reviews, vlogging, and cooking shows—all with the unique appeal of the fact that Dovid is blind and Rachel stays behind the camera. They have six million subscribers and counting, so when Rachel discovers Irish Let’s Player, Sam Doyle—who does not, at all, have the same kind of following and also has severe social anxiety—and Dovid plugs him in a video, it’s a big deal and Sam’s lowkey YouTube existence turns into sudden, increasing stardom. It’s also the beginning of Dovid and Sam’s back and forth DM’s, which gradually grows into more.

First and foremost, this book has a lot of diversity in many different forms. Dovid is blind and bisexual, Rachel is aroace, the both of them are Jewish, and Sam is homoromantic asexual. Each of these things are handled well enough, are addressed by exact terminology within the book, and not really made out to be a big deal. Though I will say I’m not blind nor do I have any particular type of disability that gives me the right to determine whether or not Dovid’s disability was dealt with in a good way, but I can tell you that the author cared about how they portrayed it.

And this wasn’t a bad book. It wasn’t. The characters were cute, the concept was entertaining, and it wasn’t a hard read. It was short enough that I finished it relatively quickly with minimal annoyances.

My problem with this book was *gestures vaguely* it felt like going eighty miles per hour through the rolling green pastures of the country where you’re supposed to be taking your time and admiring the view, but instead you can’t even manage to snap a picture because they’re all blurry. Great concept in theory, lackluster execution.

It felt like I was reading the first draft where the author was desperately trying to get it on paper and didn’t develop it past the initial cotton candy fluff when there was potential to delve into much deeper things and create something emotionally moving rather than “aw, look at them, the gays are so CUTE”.

For one, it was like reading the handbook for How to Handle Sudden YouTube Stardom. Like, what the hell am I supposed to do with all this information about monetizing videos and setting up Patreon plan and making a video schedule? If I owned a YouTube channel, it would just be artistic videos of my dogs frolicking through the yard and three minute long videos of me wailing about how gay I am for some random and vague reason on Sundays. I don’t review restaurants and I don’t play video games so while I appreciated the gritty realistic aspect of YouTube artistry, I didn’t really need like a good 80% of what the book gave me. ‘Twas bloatware. It didn’t really benefit the book in any way whatsoever and it was actually extremely distracting. It threw off the flow by a good ten miles and by the time it was getting back on track, some new chapter of the handbook started.

The pacing, overall, between both the characters and the plot was jagged at best. The interactions between Dovid and Sam felt forced and awkward the entire time, they never really developed in any way so it remained these shy and uncomfortable exchanges as if they had just met despite being months and months later, which made it very difficult to buy into their undying love for each other. I thought they were cute together and around each other, but despite the heavy implication that both boys were in their twenties, it came off very immature and high school-ish, like a couple of clumsy fifteen-year-old boys that don’t really know how to handle their feelings because this is the first time they’ve ever suffered them since they showed an interest in romancing people. And that would have been fine, if they were actually a couple of clumsy fifteen-year-old boys rather than a couple of twenty-something’s living on their own and such.

There were also these scattered time skips that could have been handled better and probably should have been expanded on more to develop Dovid and Sam’s relationship more because the bad pacing of the timeline really made it feel like Dovid just went and jumped the gun on that one. Which also didn’t lend a hand to Dovid and Sam’s already fragile chemistry that you had to squint at sometimes. I would have appreciated more development, more emotional depth between the two rather than maladroit time skips to speed up the plot.

And Wayne throws these heavy implications of Dovid’s life before we meet him, which isn’t too much of a big deal, and Sam’s backstory, which definitely involved some angst and damage that affected him to this day, but like I said already, there’s nothing really to this book except the fluff. It’s all surface fluff. The implications are there, but there’s no exploration. So while the book itself is cute and I didn’t hate it in any real way, it falls flat and lacks any real depth beyond the shared “I love you” moments.

Personally, I think this book would have done better as a short novella at most where the focus could have been on Dovid and Sam rather than a 200-something page book that was strangely similar to getting a new phone that’s advertised as having 16GB of space and only having like 8GB in reality because of all the bloatware you can’t get rid of. The only reason I didn’t really get sick of it before it was over was because I had the time to read at my normal pace and it wasn’t that long.

All in all, I would still recommend this to someone if they were looking for a really easy and simple read with no real turmoil or angst that also had a good amount of diversity because, at the end of the day, it is that. It just wasn’t really for me because I really like for my contemporary books to sucker punch me in the face with angst before I get my HEA so I can weep like a little baby when it happens.

I would say my rating is about a 2.5, rounded up to a 3. Something like that.

I read this and my thought pictured Brandon Farris and his shenanigans - the only social media persona I knew and whose posts I’ve watched a few. Aidan Wayne upped the ante by bringing forward two characters that couldn’t be more different. Dovid lost his sight (and eyes to be more precise) yet he exudes confidence and quite charming, he even joked about his blindness to the millions of followers on social media. Across the pond, Sam was a shy man who started his own channel as a way to share his love of gaming to a few followers. When Dovid’s twin shared Sam’s channel to him, it was love at first sound!

“Play It Again” is a very current and modern love story between a shy, gentle ginger and a charming, sightless extrovert - it’s sweet yet amusing, at times disconcerting. Kudos to the author for penning another novel narrative! The biggest appeal of the story was the main characters. It’s refreshing to read story starring a disabled character that was far removed from despondency as could be. Dovid was so comfortable in his own skin and with his sexuality. He was also accepting Sam as he was, even slowly guiding him out of his own shell (without forcing him, of course). The budding romance was slow and gentle between these two; and fit them just right.

Having said that, I did found a few hitch in the story such as the word adorable being so prominent here (I got twitchy every time either Dovid or his twin said this person is so adorable! Aren’t they adorable? or some other alternative expressions. I also slightly baffled by Sam’s background story. Considering this was told alternately from Sam and Dovid’s POVs, it’s curious how very present Dovid felt (for me) while the same can’t be said for Sam. And as much I like the characters, the manner with which the story introduced was a tad irritating to me (such as Dovid talking in front of camera or the online convos between the men). I guess it’s a matter of preference. All the same, I think “Play It Again” is a refreshing love story with a pair of genuine and likable lead characters!


Advanced copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGaley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a pleasant book with no drama, quite cheesy, and just plain nice. Exactly what to read when you want things to start and end well, with no unnecessary obstacles!

Dovid's name was distracting a bit because I still don't know if I'm pronouncing it well in my head. I can relate a bit because my name is mispronounced and miswritten a lot!

I liked the calm and quiet of the romance. Just like it'd happen in real life. Getting to really know each other, understanding that you care way more than just a friend, exploring what this means, accepting the risks, being just happy to have each other, no matter the distance.

There were a little too many "how to be famous on the internet" chat: they were constantly talking about what to do to be rich and famous. At some point I was rolling my eyes because we didn't get much info about the characters but now I know exactly what to do to earn money making youtube videos.

I'd recommend it.

Play It Again had an interesting synopsis but fell short of the mark--overly sweet, lackluster character development, and too much effort trying to check off PC boxes.

There’s no doubt I love angst, conflict, and suspense in my romances, but sometimes I want something a bit more dialed back. When I originally read the blurb for Play It Again, I was hoping this would be a lighter, enjoyable long distance romance that was still dynamic enough to capture my attention, and that’s precisely what I got.

I loved how utterly adorable Sam and Dovid were. Their tentative connection was palpable from the start and the author did a fantastic job capturing the barrage of emotions the men faced as they forged an online friendship that led to more. I also liked how pure the relationship was. Sometimes it’s nice to read a love story without all the hoops to jump through, refusals to communicate, or false starts. I never second guessed this couple was meant to be and I appreciated how simple and wonderful their love was throughout the story. That isn’t to say that Play It Again is all fluff and no substance. The author did a great job flushing out character dynamics and backgrounds, and the conflicts Sam faced were relatable and allowed for personal growth along the way. And of course I loved the bits of silly and fun banter interspersed with the sweet moments which left me smiling cover to cover.

Play it Again is the first book of this author’s I’ve read, but I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more and would recommend this title o anyone looking for a lower angst romance that will instill some happy.

What an adorable story. Maybe Dovid describes Sam as adorable but the truth is that both of them are, their relationship is. So full of fluff and pining and love. From the beginning I loved and wanted to protect Sam at all costs, I could really see myself in him (introvert, really anxious, likes books and tea, homoromantic and asexual? that would be me if I was a guy) and could really connect with him. How many times have I said out loud "same" while reading? I lost count. The talk about asexuality made me tear up a little bit, I admit, the rep was really well done. All the rep was great actually, especially with Dovid's blindness. We don't have enough disabled MC so I was glad for Dovid and the way he uses his YouTube channel to talk about accessibility and all of that. The negative point of this book for me was that it was too much romance and social media. Take out these two things and there isn't much of the story left, and even though I love romance and when social media is included in a story, I wish we could have seen more than that.

I have very mixed feelings about Play It Again. I fully understand what the author was trying to do here. It's a very politically correct story, and talks a lot about current issues regarding gender norms, sexuality, and consent. Though with the way it is all brought on, it feels as a story about a blind, bisexual YouTuber who falls in love with an asexual, anxiety-ridden guy, instead of two guys who fall in love, who also just happen to be blind/asexual.

The two main characters are very sweet, and lovable. All the attention is definitely on them, and their YouTube adventures. A bit more all around character development would have been nice. While Sam is an introvert, David is a social butterfly, but there are no interactions shown besides with his sister, which I found a bit strange.

Even though Sam and David are in their twenties, the overall feel of the story is quite YA. They're both very polite, and extremely apologetic, which gives off an insecure vibe.

All in all Play It Again is a sugar sweet story.

2.75 stars rounded up

I enjoyed stories by Aidan Wayne before -- but this one didn't quite hit the mark. First, Dovid and Sam are separated for most of the book. Second, the fact that Dovid is blind also doesn't feel like it being fully explored. Which is like a potential that is left behind.

I admit that this might be love story in the age of social media; where our heroes connect more on DM, chats, YouTube comments, et cetera; in exchange to falling in love with letters from the yesteryear. But, somehow it makes the romance rather lackluster; especially since there's not much of a conflict to make things more exciting on pages.

I appreciated the diversity of Dovid being blind and bi-sexual, his sister being a sex-repulsed asexual, and Sam also being a homoromantic asexual. I also liked the lack of sex scenes because, well, these characters feel young, and I liked that they're not always ruled by their libido.

However, in overall, it's not completely satisfying

Now one of my favourite reads of 2019, Play It Again by Aidan Wayne is a powerful and sweet tale of romance and love in all its forms. The entirety of this novel had me screaming in absolute delight and cooing at the amount of communication, support and all-encompassing love the characters showcased towards each other. I have honestly not read a romance novel that depicted such a healthy relationship between two characters, and I am so so happy to have been given the opportunity to have read this one.

Play It Again takes place within the context of the modern world, where YouTube is a full-time job for those who take the plunge, and romance can bloom over oceans and continents. Dovid Rosenstein, a full-time vlogger and YouTube sensation of Don't Look Now, is incredibly sensitive and sweet, charismatic and extroverted. He is a bisexual Jewish young man who is also blind, and has been since he was a little child. Upon being shown a small gaming channel by his sister, Rachel Rosenstein, called 'playitagainsam', Irish gamer Sam is catapulted into the limelight (or rather, the trending page) when Dovid gives him a shoutout and his fans descend upon Sam.

What follows is a relationship being built on sweet conversations over Twitter which eventuates to Skype and then actual phone calls. Love blossoms and it is so absolutely beautiful. Sam himself is super adorable but dealing with extreme social anxiety and is in a job which he absolutely detests. YouTube, for Sam, is a hobby, a place where he can talk about and do what he loves within a small community who also enjoys it. When he suddenly finds himself in a place with a larger following, because of Dovid's shoutout, he comes to realise that YouTube could be his actual job, and with it and his journey to this possibility, he and Dovid bond.

Sam and Dovid's journey to love is not fast, yet it's not full of angst either. Their relationship is defined by support and communication. Every aspect of their romantic relationship is talked about and considered. I have seen some reviews which position this aspect of their relationship as being awkward or the dialogue between them being full of 'sorry's' etc., but I think it was wonderful to see two main characters actually care enough about the others' boundaries in terms of romance and sex, Dovid is openly bisexual, but Sam is unsure of his own identity, eventually realising he is homoromantic asexual - so the touching base and ensuring of Sam's consent, was needed and so wonderful to actually be depicted within a romance novel.

I would categorise this novel more so as New Adult, though their age isn't specified, I felt as though they were either 22 to 25, just from the way they acted overall. The reason as to why I've rated this 4 stars is mainly because of its length. It was too short to do the story actual justice. Dovid and Sam deserve a bit more space to grow into their relationship, and for the readers to observe their development both, as individuals but also as a couple.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of romance, healthy relationship, diversity in fiction and LGBTQIADP+ fiction. Seriously, this novel opened my heart and made me coo with the adorableness.