I initially DNFed this because I'm not that interested in YouTube or video gaming, but decided to give it another try recently. It was.. fine. I wanted badly to love this because of the disabled rep and asexual rep. Unfortunately, through no fault of the book, my indifference to the main topics - YouTube and video gaming - prevented me from fully loving this book. This is very much a "it's me, not the book" situation. I'm really glad this book is getting published and hope it finds a fanbase.

Play It Again is the story of Dovid Rosenstein, a blind Jewish YouTuber, and Sam Doyle, an Irish IT employee who makes Let’s Play YouTube videos. Dovid has a twin sister, Rachel, who has been looking for Let’s Players of Dire Straits, a survival-esque came, when she comes across Sam’s YouTube channel and is immediately hooked. When Rachel tells Dovid about Sam’s channel, he quickly develops a crush from how Sam interacts with his viewers and his rambles while he plays - which leads to Dovid plugging Sam’s channel during a video, leading to a sudden influx of subscribers for Sam and changes in his entire social media experience.

I really enjoyed this book and loved how soft it was. There really isn’t much in the way of angst and Sam and Dovid are super adorable in their interactions. Plus, I really loved Dovid and Rachel’s interactions - their love for one another is wonderful, and I’m finding I live for great sibling bonds. At first Dovid contacts Sam to thank him for thanking Dovid for initially plugging him and then Dovid helps Sam manage his social space and learn how to monetize his channel.

This book really delves into what goes into monetizing a YouTube channel and creating a Patreon, though without fully detailing all the steps. The relationship between Dovid and Sam really centers around YouTube for them, especially in the beginning, because Sam lives in Ireland while Dovid and Rachel live in Seattle, USA. The more they talk and get to know one another, the deeper their feelings become.

The biggest stress-y parts of the story center around Sam’s contentious familial relationship (his parents belittle him and make him feel he has little-to-no worth) as well as a scene where Sam is hit by a car and isn’t able to contact Dovid for over a week, which raises that fear of being ghosted, especially with the long distance aspect of their friendship. I really liked that the relationship itself was never a point of contention (Rachel especially is super supportive and pokes at Dovid for his mushiness) and they’re so soft and cute together.

Regarding the Jewish rep, I personally really liked it. I’d seen it mentioned that it’s very incidental, and it is that. Dovid and Rachel’s names are enough to guess they’re Jewish, but it is confirmed when Dovid is in Germany for a Europe tour and talks about going to the Holocaust museum, and then later they talk about him celebrating Hanukkah. I liked how it was just a part of who Dovid and Rachel are, and in several ways it felt similar to my own relationship with my Jewish identity.

I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a soft, low-angst romance. I loved the way Sam and Dovid made their long-distance relationship work and they were utterly adorable in their interactions. I also appreciated how Dovid’s blindness is definitely a part of how he interacts with the world. I can’t speak on how good that rep is, but it read very well and had great points about accessibility and how some people had fetishized Dovid’s blindness in the past. So, yeah, definitely enjoyed this book and definitely recommend!

While this is a fast-paced, low-commitment, adorable read, it suffers from sounding so dang juvenile. It became incredibly distracting and hard to follow. For others, I'm sure that won't be an issue - many reviews reflect that - and at its core it's a heartfelt story about friendship and falling in love. It just ended up very much not being for me, and made me beg for the editor to take one more pass.

“I think I always feel like being kissed by you...”


{2.5 stars} This was such a fast and soft read, I flew through it! Although it wasn't without its flaws, Sam and Dovid were nerdy-cute jellybeans. Also, !!!YES!!! for ace representation <3
______________

short and sweet Play it Again follows Dovid and Sam as they find each other through YouTube. Dovid is a blind extroverted YouTuber that documents restaurant reviews, vlogs and the lives of him and his sister, Rachel. One day, Rachel stumbles upon Sam's video gaming channel and soon enough, Dovid starts listening to him. Once Dovid and Sam start talking, they start falling for each other almost immediately.

This was really cute but I really wish there was more of that! I felt like the romance in this book was sparse and very quick. It was definitely insta-love but even that can be done well, if the reader is captured by the characters enough. But unfortunately everytime I was interested in Sam and Dovid's love, something else took the spotlight. For example, the first 10% of the book was basically a restaurant review?? Also, I have never known so much about youtube and vlogging until this book, so if ever any of you need advice, i'm your girl ;) (I'm really not.)

The dialogue felt overly robotic and didn't follow a fluid rhythm I could get into. Dovid and Sam often shared the same voices so it was really hard to emotionally attach myself to the story at all. Although yes, this was indeed very cute and cuddly, I wanted more. I think this book could have so much potential if the characters were fleshed out and the story had more romance. There were some awesome representations in this book and the message was so relevant!

After reading the premise of this story I was expecting something super sweet. Unfortunately that wasn’t the reality and what I got was very different to the story I I thought I was getting.

Let’s start with the characters - of which there’s really only 3 in the whole book. We’re liekable enough, but They were so awkward, and the dialogue between them all was stiff and disconnected with a billion sorrys and no that’s okays.

The writing was very tell, with not enough show, I found it to be a bit flat quite emotionless, it’s supposed to be a romance, and I felt far from romantic. The time jumps were also confusing. Some sections were really drawn out, but in one chapter it’s Christmas and the next chapter it’s February with no indication that we’ve moved forward.

Overall this book piqued very little interest from me and I had to resort to skimming to just get through it. I almost DNF’d it, but I kept holding out for something to happen. I got something finally, but not until the last page.

Oh well, guess this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Aidan Wayne, Harlequin- Carina Press, and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored this book!
This has to be one of the cutest and most adorable books I’ve ever read.
These characters were so complex and sweet I instantly fell in love with them.
The writing was amazing I love the fast paced storyline.
Overall I have to give this books 5 stars because it made me so happy.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this other than I've never been let down by a Carina Press title.  Play It Again didn't disappoint me either.  Now, I have to say this much: not a lot actually happens during this story.  Dovid is in Seattle, Sam is in Dublin and most of their interactions are online or over the phone.  Honestly, I think it worked well in this context, but if you're looking for something steamy and exciting, with lots of action, this isn't it.  However, it's still an engaging and fun story that will warm your heart.

Play It Again was refreshing in so many ways.  Dovid is blind, but he's not by any means helpless.  His sister, Rachel, is there to help him, but she doesn't baby him in any way.  If anything, she is his driving force, encouraging more and more independence for him.  While not disabled like Dovid, Sam has an issue of his own - severe social anxiety that keeps him from making friends and doing many things other people do for fun.  It was fun watching Sam come out of his shell while talking to Dovid, learning to trust more and become less anxious. 

In addition to addressing differently abled persons as well as mental health issues, Play It Again also touches on the subject of non-heterosexuality.  Dovid is bisexual.  Rachel is sex-repulsed asexual.  Sam is homoromantic asexual.  I loved the way that Dovid helped Sam understand that not being interested in sex was normal and natural and nothing to be ashamed of, despite the fact that Dovid was very sexual.  It was also very reassuring to see Dovid so content with cuddling and kissing and not really missing being more intimate with Sam.  

This was one of the cutest books I've read in some time.  Sam and Dovid's enthusiasm for each other is sweet and infectious, I found myself rooting wholeheartedly for them to make it work.  The way the author worked all the mediums into the narrative - Twitter, YouTube, Skype - worked well to make it a modern, entertaining novel.  One thing I wish had been explained more, or at least maybe more clearly, is how Dovid navigated websites and the like.  You eventually discover he uses a voice to text application to translate text messages to audio, but I don't remember it having been explained how he would look at Sam's Patreon page or YouTube page.  That one minor thing aside, there wasn't much I didn't like about this very sweet and heartwarming story.

Play It Again had a cute premise - two YouTubers become friends then fall in love - but it definitely veered too far into cute. It was cutesy to the degree that reached cringeworthy. Especially in the IMs.

I felt like it overemphasised the “How To YouTube” and the IM messages were also pretty stilted. Once Dovid and Sam realised they liked each other the conversations got so cringeworthy I could barely keep reading.

While Sam’s character development was nice, the ending just seemed a bit out of nowhere. Fine book, wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading but not really excellent.

PLAY IT AGAIN is a charming romance between a blind youtuber and an Irish gamer. The long distance between them and the fact that they don't know each other in person, isn't an impediment for them to fall madly in love for each other.

Dovid is a youtuber with a big number of followers. When he discovers Sam's Lets Play channel, he is captivated by the other man's personality and content and talks about him to his followers. Sam's popularity goes up to an unthinkable number, which makes him feel overwhelmed. He seeks help from Dovid and, what starts like a helping hand, begins to transform into something more than they could imagine, when Dovid and Sam can't stop thinking of each other.

I liked reading a main characters with a disability, without the story being centered only in that particular feature. Both main characters were adorable, even though they came across as a little bit younger than they're supposed to be. They both had interesting stories to tell. One of the things I felt a little underwhelmed by was Sam's anxiety issues. They seem to be a little bit bigger than they were actually portrayed, and I would love to have a little more spotlight on that subject. I also liked Rachel a lot. She wasn't only a nice character but she had an important role in the story.

The plot was interesting. I'm not particularly interested in games and social media, but there was a certain charm on the book description that got my attention. I loved reading it. My lack of knowledge about some of the subjects mentioned wasn't an issue to my overall entertainment. The only problem I had with it was that for moments it felt too slow-paced and with little things going on, but most of the time it was fun to read.

The romance was on the sweeter side. It had low heat level, which was coherent with the tone of the book. It was slow burn and, even with the distance between them, it felt realistic. Dovid and Sam share some lovely moments, whether it was face to face or long distance. I had a fantastic time reading the book. It was low in angst and high in sweetness. Anyone looking for a charming M/M romance will enjoy it.

I wanted so much to love this book. Dovid is adorable as is Sam. They have sweet chemistry from the beginning. I also appreciated that the author went into detail about the game influencer environment- sometimes in a bit too much detail. The details of Dovid's blindness really engaged me as a reader. The burn was way too slow for me. There was not enough sweetness to circumvent the lack of heat and the characters were in different countries for the bulk of the book. The courtship dance was just too long. I will say the characters were well written- I just needed to see more relationship development sooner.

I've been pleasantly surprised in the past by Aidan Wayne's novellas Loud and Clear and Counterbalance and was intrigued by the blurb for "Play It Again." However, this book just did not work for me, for a number of reasons.

Dovid and his sister Rachel are Seattle-based social media stars with a very popular YouTube channel "Don't Look Now" that provides restaurant and product reviews, as well as commentaries and interaction with their legion of subscribers. Dovid is blind so his restaurant reviews assess accessibility and he speaks to school children as well as charities about his life and overcoming challenges.

Rachel's random mention of an Irish gamer's Let's Play videos sparks Dovid's interest and after a shout-out, all of a sudden Sam's life is changed, with new subscribers and a lot of interest in his videos. Sam, who has social anxiety, reaches out to Dovid for support dealing with this new phenomena and slowly they become friends, exchanging DMs and eventually phoning one another. Over time they begin to look forward to speaking with each other and slowly, very slowly, realize they might be falling in love.

I'm probably not spoiling anything here, but Dovid and Sam fall in love, and eventually meet one another. Dovid is bisexual and helps Sam figure out that he is a homoromantic asexual so there is no on-page sex, but a lot of mutually agreed and enjoyed hugging and cuddling here which is sweet and very tender. However, the pace of the story is glacial because there are months and months of DMs, followed by months and months until they meet, and then months and months until the foundation is laid for their HEA. In addition, we learn a LOT of information about YouTube videos, planning and scheduling video downloads, monetizing videos, setting up a Patreon account and providing subscriber incentives, how to film and edit videos, lather, rinse, repeat.

I felt there was little character development of the two MCs other than a lot of "I love yous" and so much of the plot was focused on monetizing their respective social media endeavors that I came to a point where I considered DNFing this book. Personally, I felt this story would have worked much better as a brief and focused 100 page novella, rather than a bloated 288 page book. I've giving "Play it Again" 2.5 stars and cannot recommend it.

A long-distance romance between a new Youtuber and a Youtube celebrity, what could go wrong? This one did, unfortunately.

2.5, but it deserved being rounded up for the healthy message it includes, and the first part actually went well.

Dovid—not David!—is a Youtube sensation, mostly for his reviews on accessibility and the fact he's blind but can still joke about his situation. Sam is a gamer who's just starting on Youtube and is really happy to have his hundred followers to interact while he plays. When Dovid's business partner and sister finds out about Sam, she has to show it to her brother. The result is both siblings can't resist how adorable Sam is, and their followers agree. As Dovid helps Sam navigate through his newfound fame, their feelings also grow, despite the possible backslash they might get from their viewers and the distance between Seattle and Ireland.

I realize my summary sucks, I guess I'm not very inspired. It's just that even though that was the idea the author had, there's very little in the book you'd expect from the trope. Either if you got it for newbie falling in love with celebrity, or if you chose this for the penpals becoming romantically involved. I'm not saying this book lacked clichés, it's always great when writers try not to use them. What I mean is that the focus was different. It was borderline didactic. One can't say this author didn't make his research—I'm not visually impaired but I do follow Youtubers and everything he mentions seems accurate enough for both aspects.

Summing up, this book wasn't exciting. The beginning is cute, the thrill of imagining the moment their paths will cross was sweet too. But everything else doesn't live up to it. Which is a big pity, because both characters were nice. Okay, I was a little put down about how much Dovid worried about being politically correct—now I'm gonna be afraid of assuming people I'm in love with are sexual—, but he was overall okay. And as I said, the story is exciting too.

And then it becomes a tutorial. As if anyone reading is actually a starter Youtuber. And well, I think if I were, it wouldn't be in a m/m novel I'd be looking for advice. As if there wasn't schooling enough, because Dovid is so worried about acting right for Sam, sometimes the focus of the story was that Sam might be asexual—even though this had never been a problem for the person himself. All this evolves to how Sam's parents treat him, which wasn't a conflict in the beginning either. Yay for Dovid solving all of Sam's conflicts the readers never knew to be issues.

I'd edit out most of the "How to become a Youtuber" advices and what I just complained out, I'd actually make it be a problem from the start. As it is, the way the book presents it was too random for me to care.

I feel bad for going on so much about it all, because I kind of liked the book. If only anything big had happened... I'm sorry that I can't really recommend, but I wouldn't deny reading the writer's next work.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

First things first: I would die for Sam, full stop.

Now on to the actual review! This was the lightest, fluffiest, marshmallow goo book I've read in a while, and that is definitely not going to tick everyone's boxes. It actually wasn't really my cup of tea at first, because the writing and dialogue had a certain way of hand-holding the reader that I didn't altogether care for. That being said, the characters very quickly had my heart in knots. Dovid is a delightfully straightforward, heart-on-his-sleeve, star-of-the-show kind of guy, a seemingly stark contrast to the (yes, ADORABLE!) quiet, unassuming, and admittedly rather unhappy gamer he happens upon on YouTube. The two falling in love felt as easy as breathing.
I could gush for probably forever about how much I loved Sam, but suffice it to say I couldn't stop smiling every time he was on the page. On more than one occasion I had to throw my phone down and stare at the ceiling to get my squealing under control. I still don't know how Dovid can be in a relationship with him without having meltdowns every damn day over how PRECIOUS Sam is.
I'll admit this book wasn't perfect. Honestly, I think 4 stars might be a teensy bit generous given the writing. There was very little momentum or conflict in the book, and some of the dialogue felt a bit stilted. I kept waiting for the big plot twist to interrupt their happiness, but unfortunately for my drama-loving self, it never came. But the characters won me over so thoroughly that I can forgive this book a great many flaws.

Now to the important business: is there a Sam/Dovid protection squad yet and if so, how do I join?

I'm afraid I didn't have a lot of fun with this one. The characters were alright, I didn't get as attached to them as I would have liked. The story, in theory, sounded exciting but was less so in real -- I just couldn't get into it. The vibe I got from the guys was a little off and the story telling didn't capture my attention. I was a little bored with all the details of you tubing. I appreciate the time and effort the author put into creating this story! Sadly it wasn't for me. Thank you for the chance to read and review.

It’s been a while, and I’m feeling rather rusty at the whole review thing so bear with me.

I feel bad giving this a 3.5 stars. I always believe generally 3 stars aren’t necessarily bad. I don’t want to give it a 3 star, but I can’t give it a 4 star. And I can’t pinpoint why.


Play It Again by Aidan Wayne has a long-distance relationship between a Gamer and a vlogger. I am all for Youtube stories, but I find that most book toe the line between explaining Youtube and creating this type of TV show segment. In the beginning, I love that we have Dovid, one half of a duo, he’s a blind Youtuber along with his twin sister. His sister, who starts watching Sam play Dire Straits. Rachel, Dovid’s sister, insists that Dovid has to watch Sam. Dovid is instantly smitten with Sam’s adorableness.

I especially liked how their beginning was written. One big Youtuber—Dovid—and a smaller channel—Sam—who gets a shout out from the big Youtuber. Especially since ever so often big Youtubers will do that, in real life, and it just shows how a little plug can help small channels. Then, it’s all about Sam and Dovid getting to know each other, becoming friends, and so on.

It was sweet, and cute, and adorable.

But, my biggest thing is that if you’re looking for a slice of a life, this is the book for you. Not much happens. There really wasn’t any plot. I feel like although we had information on Dovid and Sam, we didn’t really get to know them as people. At times, it didn’t feel fleshed out, even when finding information about them. It also felt like a guide to Youtube, but having that casualness of what Youtube actually is?

Plus, Sam and Dovid continued to walk on shells 80% into the book. There were times in which they spoke to each other as if they’re tentatively getting to know each other.

I did like how inclusive it was—with Dovid’s blindness, Rachel and Sam’s sexuality.

I guess I just kept asking myself what’s the end goal to the book? Where is the tension and resolution other than the long-distance?

Verdict? If you really like slices of life reads, then this is for you! Otherwise, you might get a bit bored after a while…

What a cute and fluffy read!

Dovid's whole life revolves around YouTube and the videos he and his sister, Rachel, make for their series "Don't Look Now". On camera, Dovid chronicles his life as someone who is blind and searching for accessibility in the world around him--with a good healthy dose of food reviews. For Sam, YouTube is just a hobby, a distraction from his unfulfilling job; recording himself playing video games is just a way to destress from a work week. So he doesn't have many watchers, he's fine with his own tiny nook of the internet. But when Rachel gets Dovid hooked on Sam's videos, it launches a series of events that shoots Sam to super-stardom... and much more.

Again, this is a super fluffy read, as we (and their YouTube subscribers) watch as Dovid and Sam start off as friends and grow to mean much more to each other. If you're looking for a short, sweet romance without any drama to read, this is for you!

Also, shout-out for the bi, ace, and aro-ace rep within this book!

* 2.5/5 *

Arf, je suis tellement déçue par ce livre ... Le résumé m'avait fait baver d'envie, je sentais un gros potentiel, et puis au final ... je n'ai pas du tout lu le livre auquel je m'attendais.

En fait, j'ai eu l'impression de lire un YA timide. Si ça avait été un YA j'aurais trouvé ça adorable et mignon (mais excessif de mignonittude), mais là, on a des mecs qui doivent avoir dans les vingt-cinq max, or ils agissent et parlent comme des ados qui vivent leurs premiers frissons et leurs premiers émois. Alors oui, ils sont mignons et touchants, mais à force, c'est un peu trop dégoulinant de sucre pour moi, et surtout ça ne colle pas avec l'âge des persos.

Même si je ne suis pas du tout une fan de youtube, et que cette espèce de 'culte' de la personnalité est quelque chose qui me dépasse complètement, c'est tout de même un aspect qui m'avait attiré, probablement parce qu'inconsciemment, j'ai dû repenser à ce roman que j'avais adoré, de cet.te. auteur.e qui est désormais blacklisté ... La dimension relation à distance, le côté épistolaire version 2.0 me faisait très envie. Sur ce point, les DM et autres conversations écrites sont bien présents, ce qui est cool, mais malheureusement, on retombe souvent dans un petit côté mièvre, qui est mignon au début, mais qui à force, lasse beaucoup.

Ce qui m'a gênée et lassée aussi, c'est cette surabondance de' youtuberie', puisque nombre de vidéos mises en ligne sont en partie retranscrites, et au bout d'un moment, j'en avais assez. Ajoutons à cela un manuel du parfait youtubeur professionnel, et mon intérêt est de plus en plus retombé.

Alors oui, c'est une lecture ultra douce et choupi, mais je me suis ennuyée, et, encore une fois, j'ai trouvé que l'âge des personnages ne collait absolument pas avec leur attitude.

DNF at 50%. Very cute and readable, and it's nice to see a pretty realistic look at vlogging and doesn't make the YouTubers look like superficial twits. But. The characters are supposed to be in their 20s but they act like teens, and they're professing love when they're still in the sorry-oh-no-thank-you polite nicey nice stage. It just didn't strike the right chord for me.

I adored this romance. Very tender and funny. And just lovely.I am a huge nerd so I watch a lot of Let's Plays more on Twitch than You Tube but this long distance love story between a Vlogger and gsmer really worked for me. Dovid is charming and so is Sam is a much more sweet way. They both crush hard on each other and its so fun. They become friends and then the romance blooms. The connection is what this book is all about with some weaving in of consent culture, a disabled hero with full agency, and asexuality. Great secondary character in Dovid's twin sister. The book is about these wonderful heroes and I was charmed.I was given this book for my honest review. So there you have it!

Play It Again is so. freaking. adorable! Such a cute, fluffy, feel-good story with charming and totally relatable characters. No exaggeration: the story captivated me from the first page!

I loved how Wayne introduced us into Sam’s and Dovid’s world by showing them doing what they love – and incidentally also introducing us in the way how their audience can see them. Play It Again starts with Dovid and his twin sister filming a review for their channel and Sam is first introduced doing a recording for his Let's Play channel.

As someone who regularly watches YouTube videos - though I’m more for vlogs than gaming videos - I really enjoyed this aspect of the story immensely. I loved how it basically felt like I was watching Sam’s and Dovid's videos even though I was reading about them. Plus you could feel their enthusiasm for recording more videos and interacting with the viewers.

It's Rachel who finds Sam's channel and tells Dovid about it. Even though he is resistant at first he agrees to check out his channel and it doesn't take him long until he has binge-watched all available videos. When he notices that Sam has only about 400 followers he decides to plug him in one of his next videos - and this is how they meet. Over night Sam gains thousands of followers and when he investigates why the sudden influx in followers he becomes aware of Don't Look Now, Dovid's and Rachel's channel. They start chatting and while at first it's not a regular thing, soon they have a set time when they can best talk to each other about their life's, Sam's work, books and anything else.
I loved, loved, loved their interactions, the humor and playfulness between them and just seeing them getting to know each other. It was so cute and absolute pure. And with Dovid and Rachel being from Seattle/US-based and Sam being from Ireland, the long distance aspect of the story really was long distance.

I adored how Dovid became something like a mentor for Sam in learning to deal with the masses of followers, growing his YouTube channel; but I also really, really liked how you could see them falling in love as they got to know each other better. They even went on dates - which was so super cute! I loved how Wayne portrayed their closeness and intimacy, despite being thousands of miles apart. It was sweet and so beautiful and was a great example of a long-distance relationship.

Another aspect I really appreciated about Play It Again was how Wayne handled Sam figuring out that he's asexual. I loved how it happened naturally and that it was such a non-issue for either of the characters. We didn't have any of the usual "is something wrong with me"-angst. Sam just realised that label fit him and that was that. Additionally Dovid - once he knew about it - was careful and checking in with Sam about what he was comfortable with regarding their deepening relationship. As an ace reader this all made me super happy.

Play It Again is a mostly fluffy and very low conflict romance that totally left me with a few (happy) tears and a very big smile on my face. It really should be on your tbr if you are in the mood for a super cute feel good, story with adorable characters and just the right dose of romance!