As befits the title and cover art, in Tweet Cute, two smart, attractive and socially insecure Manhattan teens meet cute online. In the real world, Jack and Pepper don’t like each other very much. Yet they have an easy rapport on the social networking app that's exclusively for and by kids from their school. With the freedom and sense of security that comes from anonymity, Jack and Pepper find that they a lot in common: both feel like outsiders in their swanky Upper East Side private school; both have a snarky sense of humor; and they both harbor a disdain of the more entitled classmates who have more family money than intellectual heft.

Unfortunately, as social media/ marketing whizzes who, unbeknownst to each other, use Twitter to boost their families’ fast food businesses, they’re also competitors. The premise is fine, but there’s an inherent challenge in a book that hinges on the wit and creativity of its protagonists: the text itself has to have original things to say and say them well. Novels about poets for example fall flat when the poetry disappoints. In Tweet Cute, the art is texts and tweets. The conflict between Pepper and Jack arises from a critical tweet by Jack about Pepper’s family account, a tweet that’s supposed to be so sharp it gets shared by a pop star, and goes viral. Rather than bask in his moment of twitter fame, Jack’s immediately consumed by worry that he’s going to be grounded for his impudence. The Tweet in question though is basic, rather than edgy: Pepper tweet brags about a new menu item at her family’s burger chain; Jack screenshots it with the comment “Sure Jan,” making fun of the larger company for being a copycat. As Twitter fights go, that’s as mild as it gets. So neither its virality nor the anxiety it inspires make much sense. and therefore the tension between the two feels pretty overblown and low stakes.

The Manhattan Pepper and Jack live in is essentially a wholesome, G-rated version of the one depicted in Gossip Girl with some of the sweetness of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Sometimes that’s just the escape we’re looking for as readers. Even though the conflict is tepid, the characters are interesting and refreshingly sweet. They care about each other, their families and their futures. There are subplots about bullying, sibling rivalry, academic stress, business ethics, and divorce. The plot gets a bit more complex with time, and I grew more invested in them as things progressed. While Tweet Cute may not be the kind of YA novel that holds a ton of crossover potential, it could and should appeal to its true, hopefully less jaded, intended audience, at least i hope so.

This was such a cute book! It felt like a modern "You've Got Mail", but still original. Pepper is a very relatable teen, and I want to strangle her mother throughout the entire book. Jack is absolutely adorable, and I love the two of them together. I can't wait to read more of her work!

As soon as I saw this book I knew I had to read it. This new take on You've Got Mail/the Shop Around the Corner was very entertaining and sweet.

One sentence summary: Pepper and Jack are seniors at a competitive Upper East Side High School who are dragged into their two families' social media spat, all while they get to know each other anonymously online and deal with standard growing-up issues.

I really liked Pepper and Jack, and felt for them. Both were well-developed, rounded characters. Though I'm no longer a teenager, I think a lot of the emotions they went through (disappointing people, stress, life confusion, jealousy) are relatable at any age. The other characters (Pooja, Paul, Ethan, Paige, etc) were less well-developed, and while I understand that the plot comes first, they felt a bit flat and one-dimensional. I would have particularly liked to see Ethan fleshed out a bit more- the twins' mutual resentment made sense, but I don't think we ever saw enough of their relationship to be invested in it. I realize we only have Jack's POV, but Ethan just kind of annoyed me. Speaking of annoying, don't even get me started on Pepper's mom...

A few more observations: 1. Monster Cake sounds absolutely delicious. 2. I'm not sure if the younger crowd will get some of the pop culture references (High School Musical, Gossip Girl, etc) but I hope they do! (Otherwise I'm just old). 3. [Spoiler-ish]- were there really no college-acceptance-repercussions from some of things that happened? 4. I liked the relative lack of drama caused by miscommunication. It was definitely there, but it wasn't endlessly dragged out.

Despite the few issues, I loved this book and will be enthusiastically recommending it to patrons and friends. Thank you to Netgalley, Emma Lord, and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

A very cute book, much like the description of “The Shop Around the Corner/You’ve got Mail.” Fun likeable characters that have your rooting for them throughout the story. I wish the parents storyline was fleshed out more.

You've Got Mail (itself an adaption) for the YA Twitter set. I liked the concept, but felt the story dragged fairly often and found the repeated dives into why the two MCs felt isolated was tedious and myopic. Related to this was the unnecessary and unrelenting bashing of wealthy prep school kids. It's hard to take that pathos of two kids with iPhones and a prep school education who whine about not being quite as wealthy as their fellow prep school kids very seriously.