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.

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.

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!

A book dipped in awesome sauce, rolled in glitter, and filled with precious cinnamon rolls. Too good and pure for this world. Five billionteen stars.

This was a sweet story that I felt leaned more towards a YA read than a romance. Refreshing in its approach 2 men Dovid and Sam connect online. Dovid along with his outrageous twin Rachel make their living doing a Youtube show. They have a huge following and are very successful. Dovid hears Sam doing an online gaming show and talks Sam up on his own show. Sams followers explode after Dovid's endorsement. My issues with this book was Sam felt almost too innocent. I just can't put it any other way. I felt at times a little confused with Dovid's fascination in Sam. I liked how the author handled Dovid's blindness but everyone seemed assigned a label. Maybe thats what life is but it felt a little forced. Should you read this? Yes I felt it was unique in its own special way. Just don't be expecting the MC's to set off any major fireworks. Not complaining but this is strictly a sweet tender story with heavy on the sugar. I felt for me it was A 3.5 overall.

There’s so much in this book, I’m not sure I even know where to start! Alright… let’s start with the characters.

The story opens with Dovid and Rachel filming their usual YouTube content. Their channel is called “Don’t Look Now”…why? Because Dovid is blind. As a result of a rare form of cancer, he had both of his eyes removed when he was young. He and his twin sister are roommates and coworker. Asexual Rachel is the videographer and Dovid is the personality… he reviews food! Dovid uses his talented palette and his experience as someone who is differently-abled to give well-rounded and usually comical reviews of restaurants.

The twins have millions of viewers and make their living from YouTube. One fateful day, Rachel introduces Dovid to a gaming channel by Irishman, Sam. Dovid binge watches hours of Sam’s videos! Okay…he listens to them…and he falls in deep-crush with Sam’s voice and how adorable he is. Because he and his sister are enjoying the gaming channel so much, Dovid shouts out the channel. Almost immediately, Sam is thrust into the spotlight. Thousands of people subscribe to his channel overnight and he’s shoved into a far brighter spotlight than he was expecting.

Dovid reaches out to Sam to give him some advice when he realizes what he’s done. They become fast friends, and then feelings develop between them. The relationship is a digital one…based on DMs at first, then some texts and eventually moving on the phone calls. Dovid’s feelings grow at the same times as Sam’s but they are both hesitant to be too forward.

There are a lot of ups and downs in this story. The banter is quite clever and amusing, and let me tell you, I learned more about being a content provider on YouTube than I ever expected to! There are parts of the book that read like a how-to manual. Finally, due to a sponsorship agreement, Dovid and Rachel make their way to Ireland and finally get to meet Sam.

The meeting is everything they hope it will be! But the two men are still learning about each other. Dovid is sexually experienced, bisexual and, of course, familiar with those who are asexual because of his sister. He has an inkling early on that Sam has little experience with men or sex of any kind for that matter.

There’s some great diversity in the characters in this book and it’s explained subtly enough that it doesn’t overpower the plot. If you’re not a child of the digital age – you might find some of this a bit over-the-top but it’s a great snapshot of what it must be like to be a content provider!

Play it Again is absolutely delightful and incredibly sweet and caring in how the relationship between Sam and Dovid develops. I really enjoyed the pace of his novel and how Dovid slowly begins to realize that his consequences have actions as an extrovert and how it can affect Sam and his life related t youtube.

The way they care so much for each other and respect each other. Instead of phone sex we get phone cuddles and that itself to me is beautiful and incredibly powerful. When they do finally meet and kiss it is with repeated consent and checking in that does not detract and only makes me love both of them even more. Because Dovid is the one with more experience but because he is blind he can't read Sam's body language so the consent is so incredibly important I loved the emphasis it on it and I wish more romances had a healthy focus on consent.

The conversation that Sam and Dovid have around sex is also important and incredibly nuanced. Yes it is a case of someone explaining to an ace person what asexuality is but it works here because Sam is so isolated from years of childhood abuse. When Dovid says “Not minding something and wanting to do something are two really different things” the consent between them increased because Sam doesnt have desire to have sex. There is no pressure on Sam to have sex no coercive behavior. He says maybe it might be something he might try in the future but never on page at all does Dovid pressure him coercively at all.

I felt for Sam deeply when it came to his truama arc. Sam begining to unpack his truama was handled well and respectfully in a manner that did not come across as heavy handed as he slowly realized his own sense of self worth as a person and gained self esteem. How just because they are his parents doesn't mean he has to stay in contact with them. Which is so incredibly important because a lot of times we see people who stay in contact with their abusive parents and this shows no you dont have to. Its okay to be estranged and distance yourself from those who hurt you. You have the right to do that even if other family members dont understand.

I really enjoyed the online creator element with how being a youtuber was handled and content creation and making patreons and was handled really well. I also thought that Dovids being blind was done well but I am not blind so take it with a grain of salt.

Overall this is absolutely an adorable and nuanced sweet story. It isnt totally perfect but it is definitely one i will be listening to again on audio

As someone who has found very important relationships online via going places where I have shared interests with others, I loved the premise of this book. That love can be found online (without some kind of dating app/website)

This is a cute read but the elements that make up this story are a bit of mess.

The two main characters, Dovid and Sam, are "adorable" and their love and understanding for one another is really very sweet. Their adoration and devotion to each other, even with the long distance, was wonderful.


There were misses by the author here though, which I think would've made this story really great.
-- Dovid is blind. But it's barely touched on how he goes about his day to day life, past making his youtube videos. This would've been a great chance to educate the reader a little, especially about how Dovid achieves all the activities he does even though he lacks one sense that most of us don't. I would've liked to know how he learnt to cook, how he navigates the internet/youtube, how he edits his videos etc etc. I think this is a missed opportunity to educate while being authentic and organic with the book. And this could be done without getting preachy and ranting and keep to the light-heartedness of the book.
-- There was a lot of "seeing" words associated with Dovid i.e. "he watched youtube videos". I'm not sure if this sort of language is common for non-sighted people to use in their everyday vernacular but as a reader it makes it confusing. Could have used alternatives like "he played youtube videos". This threw me quite a bit that it broke my reading to go "huh? What?" and think up alternative words so it made sense.
-- I've admitted in other reviews, I love the good use of secondary characters. They weren't really used very well here. It was almost like Dovid and Sam are in a bit of a vacuum. Passing characters got more page space than Sam's family. And the only secondary character who makes frequent appearances is not that likeable.
-- We get a lot of technicalities of the life of a YouTuber and all their filming but we rarely get any glimpses of the technicalities of the main characters actually living their lives. We got caught up in the dialogue of Dovid's/Sam's videos that we're robbed of the actual dialogue in their lives and to each other.
-- Possibly because of the point above, the pacing of the story, while having constant momentum, I think was a bit fluctuating, Some important points of Dovid and Sam's lives are only touched on in passing while other parts, like recording a video, lingered on for quite awhile. I could've used a little more time in their heads with their thoughts and a little less time reading about them playing games and testing food.
-- Sam finding his label on the queer spectrum kind of rubbed me the wrong way. There are so many books out there that show a lot more thought into this process without, you know, falling down the rabbit hole of constant questioning and drama. It doesn't need to be a huge thing but how it was done didn't feel right.
-- And surprisingly, I don't think I would ever say this because I'm not a fan of massively angsty moments, but this book could've had a touch more of angst. Only a touch.


If Dovid and Sam weren't so likeable that it made me invested in seeing their HEA, this book would have probably ended up on the DNF pile. Which is disappointing because there is so much potential here.

*Le Sigh* I really wanted to like this book much more than I actually did. : (

I've read a few YouTube star stories before and was pretty entertained, but here, although several things happened, very few truly "exciting" things made their way into this book.

Instead, I found myself feeling as though I'd inadvertently stumbled into an informational seminar on how to deal with becoming an Internet celebrity, both the good and the bad.

With a bit of romance on the side. Which bored me and made me anticipate the words that I normally dread. The End.

Although we're never specifically told the ages of Dovid (#DistractingNameWasSuperDistracting) and Sam, it was sort of implied that they were both somewhere in their twenties; however, much of their interactions and level of self-confidence came across as almost high school-like.

I do read YA, so that wouldn't automatically bother me, but the dialogue between the two love interests was cardboard stiff at times and they continually were walking on egg shells around one another -- with 123 "sorry's" and 68 "thank you's". (Yes, it felt so frequent and awkward to me that I actually counted.)

I did find both MC's very likeable; however, every page felt a bit like it had been combed through with a Social Justice Warrior Master Handbook to be 200% sure that not a single word, phrase, or gesture might offend even the most triggerable of the Easy to Offend set.

So with the already-on-edge interactions between the MC's, the last thing that I felt that this particular story needed was to limit the physical interactions to only kissing and hugging, as the rest of the story wasn't that action-packed to begin with.

Yes, I'm all for including a homoromantic asexual MC, having loved, loved *LOVED* Casey from T.J. Klune's "How To Be a Normal Person", but in this story, the lack of any steam, combined with the lack of high-drama moments made the story feel... draining. : (

I guess I just really wanted the volume turned up a few notches now and again -- either through really interesting, genuinely-exciting moments or from a bit of steam, but I was left waiting for that, even by the last page.

For me, from a purely entertaining perspective, the story rated at around 2.5 stars, but I did find its well-written and edited. Just missing the thrill factor.

** Please note that several other reviewers loved this book. And I can wholly admit that the story may have just not worked for me in particular, so please read those other reviews before deciding one way or the other.

This was a really cute book. The characters are fun and interesting without being unrealistic. I know nothing about youtube culture so I can't speak for if that's a good portrayal or not, but it seemed to be to me. A great cast of unique characters and definitely recommended.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book!

Title: Play It Again
Author: Aidan Wayne
Genre: Contemporary romance
My rating: 4 stars
Trigger/content warnings: anxiety, bullying (past), emotional abuse by a parent
Representation: blind, Jewish and bisexual main character, homoromantic ace main character and aroace side character.

This story is told through dual narrative 1st person perspective by our two main characters, Dovid and Sam. Both are Youtubers, Dovid is a "Youtube star" whereas Sam is a relatively small Youtuber. But that all changes when Dovid plugs Sam's account on his own channel and Sam is suddenly flooded with fans and new followers. Sam and Dovid soon strike up a friendship, and later a romance, after this turn of events.

This book was absolutely adorable and so lovely to read. It's pure fluff and loveliness and I finished this in one sitting! The book starts off with Dovid and Rachel (Dovid's twin sister) filming a review video for a cafe called "The Sweet Spot". I loved the fact that accessibility for people with disabilities was talked about a lot throughout the book, but especially when Dovid reviews the places he goes. It's such an important thing that I feel is very overlooked, especially in books. So happy to see it discussed in this one!

The romance was so so lovely. One thing I really liked was the fact that Dovid never assumed that Sam would be into sex and that it wasn't a problem either way, he never pushed or pressured Sam and every time he wanted to initiate something, he would ask for Sam's permission first. The book also deals with a lot of talks about sexuality, especially Sam's sexuality. He is learning and discovering who he is throughout the book, and still has a long way to go, but he is definitely on the right track.

Overall, I loved this book, it was a breath of fresh air. I would 100% recommend reading this to anyone who likes sweet romance with a diverse set of characters.

I really, really loved this book more than I thought I would after starting it. I didn’t expect it to be so heavy in the actual YouTube aspect of things. It goes into pretty decent detail on how things work.

But Dovid and Sam were so lovable. 95% of this book is sugary sweet and I loved it. It wasn’t too over the top with anything. I wish Sam were real. I loved him so much.