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.

This was an extremely sugary sweet book. In theory, this should've been the book I've been waiting for all my life... but that clearly did not happen here.

I had a few issues with the book. Not gonna lie, it started off great! we have a super sweet Irish Lets player who people seem to think is very ADORABLE, and we also have this blind YouTuber who is A TWIN! and he seems like a genuinely nice guy who knows his food, isn't insecure about his shortcomings and is plenty independent. Yet, we could totally forget about his blindness if not for a few jokes thrown in there as a reminder.

Next, we have the fact that this started off LDR and I personally love these but this had just the introductory interactions with a few youtube mumbo-jumbo and then we skip two months... not usually I want these jumps so that I know that the characters built on their relationship even though it was off-screen/page, but that's when you have a good foundation that you witness or even like genuine interactions or texts. we didn't have those and however blind you may be, you do not fall in love with someone when most of your interactions are of you watching someone talk to themselves and concluding that they are adorable.

The book felt like it was sponsored on many occasions. usually, authors tend to skirt around displaying names and that was so not it with this book.

Also, if I was Sam and Dovid plugged me without my consent, id be MAD AS HELL? Sam let Dovid get away with too much. 6 mil people is not a joke and Sam seemed so passe and just went along with everything because he was nice? We also never had them talk about Sam's insecurities or his parents. no mature conversations about that, just Dovid going off on a spiel and Sam listening to him bad mouth his parents while having an internal monologue of the things he needed to tell Dovid. Communication is key and it was only all bark and no bite of that here.

????????HOW DID HE DECIDE HE WAS IN LOVE SO FAST???????

On the smut front, I needed a break and sam being asexual was perfect because cuddling is something our characters rarely do and THAT, at least, was refreshing for me.

Also, wish there was more about Dovid and his blindness in general. It had potential but it didn't measure up.

Would not necessarily recommend unless asked for diverse recs.

*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 received an advanced copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dovid Rosenstein and his twin sister Rachel are the creators behind the Seattle-based Youtube channel Don't Look Now. Their channel focuses mainly on reviewing the accessibility of various locations for individuals with disabilities, as well as Dovid's day-to-day life as someone living with blindness. After Dovid recommends the channel of Irish gamer Sam to his viewers, Sam is amazed, and a bit daunted, to find his followers count has risen rapidly overnight. Following a quick exchange of thank yous, the two soon form a quick friendship, as well as a mutual attraction. But can the two make it work with an ocean between them?

While I love an angst-ridden romance novel as much as the next person, sometimes what I really need is an incredibly sweet romance novel to escape into, and Play it Again was perfect for that. With enough sugar to give me a toothache, Wayne has written the perfect comfort read for rainy (or in my case, snow) days. The two main characters were completely lovable, but both were realistic and flawed, and had an undeniable chemistry. And, while, yes, this novel was very low angst, with an overall light feel, it did also touch on subjects such as anxiety, bullying, and verbal abuse.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading about Sam and Dovid, and would highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for an adorable contemporary romance. (Also! Ace! Rep!)

I'm excited to read more from the author!



4/5

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.

This story was SO CHARMING! I really appreciated how Aidan handled Dovid's blindness in a natural way that showed the reader the considerations Dovid needs to take into account each day. Sam was ADORABLE and the relationship between Rachel and Dovid was first rate. I also enjoyed the discussions of monetizing YouTube and other accounts because that was all new to me. A fresh, enjoyable romance novel!

This was a cute, fun book featuring blind rep that was truly amazing. The dialogue and chemistry between characters wasn't that great for me.

Full review to come on my blog closer to publication date!