Title: Don't Read the Comments
Author: Eric Smith
Release date: 01.28.2020
Review date: 12.22.2019
Review on Goodreads


I was provided a complementary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Divya Sharma-better known as D1V to her subscribers-spends her days playing the hottest game of the year Reclaim the Sun. She uses her sponsorships to help support her mother after her father leaves them. Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho's life. His mother wants him to follow in her footsteps and become a doctor but he just wants to design art for video games. They meet within the world of Reclaim the Sun and become friends. On the outside of the game though their lives are much different. Trolls are threatening Divya and her mother and someone Aaron trusts is trying to take advantage of his work. But they aren't going down without a fight.

I liked this one pretty good. I liked the characters. I'm not a serious gamer myself, but I did enjoy that most of the book was taking place within the video game. I really liked the side character of her best friend who was a book nerd and bookstagramer (like myself). And of course #angstarmada was something I would totally join simply for the name. I did feel like the end wrapped up too quickly though. Overall a good contemporary. Would recommend.

Don't Read the Comments is a story that tugs at your heartstrings the whole time that you are reading it. From Divya wanting the best for her mother to Aaron's parents wanting the best for him and everything in between, you'll be laughing and crying with these characters. I enjoyed the complexity of race, social class, and gender in the gaming world and how that impacts Divya and Aaron's relationship with each other and those around them.

The action scenes were written with a lot of heart and were what made me want to read more. I felt for Divya as she was harassed in the gaming world because she is a female and I laughed as Aaron first tried to come in as her savior. I loved the development of both characters as they grew with each other and come to their realizations about what this world means to them. It all reminds me of my mixed feelings of entering the gaming world and how I feel about being surrounded by men in that world.

Something else that I really enjoyed about this book was the fact that it was written in both Divya and Aaron's perspectives. Because of this you got to see both of their lives apart from each other and it was nice to see where their lives collided. I liked being able to hear Aaron's thoughts on everything going on and how he was experiencing things and then go to the next chapter and see Divya live through it all.

I thought this was such a great book. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I loved Divya and Aaron as main characters. Divya is a young woman trying to make ends meet and help her mom get through her last semester of grad school after her dad left them. To help with the bills she uses her platform on a streaming game called Reclaim the Sun to extra cash since she got a lot of followers and different people wanted to sponsor her. Aaron is a soon to be high school senior who wants to write video games for a living, but his mom wants him to be a doctor and work in the office for the summer. During his spare time he also plays Reclaim the Sun and meets Divya when they explored a planet. But in real life things are becoming serious. Online trolls try to threaten Divya and her friend because they think she is not a true gamer and things become serious when they attack her not just online, but in the real world. One of the topics that is talked about through out the book is how people who are way into gaming think that certain people should not play, but how female players are not really welcomed. How females are not true gamers. Which is a great debate to have because it is not fair to females who work just as hard and can play just as good as boys they are told they are not good enough. Playing games should be fun. Also a trigger warning for assault because it is mentioned and shown a little bit in the book. Overall I think Eric Smith did a great job on this and I can not wait to read from him in the future.

Don’t Read the Comments is such a nerdy, meaningful book for me, and it is one of my most anticipated reads for 2020. The story follows two different video gamers, Divya and Aaron. Divya is what would be comparable to a Twitch streamer, and Aaron is a casual video gamer. They both play a game called Reclaim the Sun. Divya receives sponsorships and has a pretty big following, but with popularity often comes internet trolls. With that in mind, Divya has one rule she lives by: don’t read the comments. Despite being a casual gamer, Aaron is trying to become a video game developer. His parents want him to become a doctor, but his passion is in video games.
The story is such a cute and dorky romance. It also focuses on the discrimination that is often associated with girls who play video games avidly. Being a video gamer myself, I’ve been in Divya’s shoes to a degree with the negative commentary on how well I play video games because I’m a girl, or how I shouldn’t be playing video games at all because they’re for boys. This book is accurate in portraying the disappointing treatment of women in the video game industry. Divya’s character is also amazing because of how she chooses to react to the negativity and trolling. Everything about this book, from the gaming community to the adorkable romance/friendship between Aaron and Divya has me recommending this book to any gamer that I know.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I honestly can't believe there aren't more YA books about online gamer fame considering the growing popularity of gaming/esports especially with The Youth. I felt as if the plotlines regarding Divya's harassment and Aaron's love for creating games were fairly strong and there were some interesting side points (how Divya's product placement deals give her the aura of wealth while lacking the actual support, Aaron's relationships with Mira and Ryan), but a lot of things felt fairly flat to me: Divya and Aaron's relationship developed - or, I suppose, didn't - in an unaffecting sort of way, the "cheating" plotline with Aaron's parents barely started before it ended (the idea of a parent having a similar passion that they suppress might have a little juice, but the way it was written seemed somehow overly dramatic and entirely boring), and a lot of Aaron's thoughts about Divya's experiences seemed so rote, as if it just needed to hit certain buzzwords.

The idea brought up at the very end - of the value of online communities - might have been an interesting focus, but the overall way they focused on gaming didn't particularly pull me in. I wasn't really interested by the lengthy descriptions of battles and in-game exploration, but if they had to be included, I wish they could have made me understand why Divya had built such a following. Maybe I don't understand what's appealing about watching any gaming livestreams, but I guess I would have expected something more interesting to be included in either the narration or the gameplay. Snark or humor, daring, cutting-edge strategy...What is it that makes D1V exciting to watch and important to protect within the game? Why is the Angst Armada valuable to be a part of? The idea of gaming as a community didn't seem prioritized through most of the story, and the patness of the ending seemed to wave it off.

Might have more appeal to others, especially those actually interested in gaming, but overall struck me as another example of better plot idea than actual execution.

Divya, a popular streaming gamer, and Aaron, a video game writer, accidentally meet on an uncharted planet...while playing Reclaim the Sun. A friendship began to grow between them, but as Divya battled online harassment, doxing, and real-life assaults, she began to rethink her life online.

This was not the first book I have read, that tackled issues surrounding online gaming, but I do feel like it was one of the more immersive experiences for me. I would be hard pressed to learn that Eric Smith was not a gaming enthusiast, because the passages, where I was in-game, had that world springing from the page. Those pieces were so descriptive and dynamic, and they captivated even a game-dabbler, such as myself.

Though there was a lot of focus on the ills of life online, I liked that Smith highlighted some of the positive parts too. The sexual harassment, racism, and classism associated with the gaming world is well known, and an unfortunate part of it all, but when you can find your people, it can make a world of difference. There were several A+ moments, where we saw Divya's Angst Armada go to bat for her, both online and in real life. I loved how those virtual alliances were able to manifest off-line. Rebekah was another fantastic online friend, who became a very important person in Divya's world. She was not only her streaming partner, she was her best friend, and they offered a great deal of support to each other, as well as other girl gamers.

My favorite relationship Divya made online was with Aaron. Aaron's family wanted him to become a doctor and take over the family business, but he aspired to write video games. His storyline gave a peek into what it takes to develop an online game, which I found really interesting, but honestly, I just simply adored him. Aaron was so sweet and kind. He was the exact opposite of the toxic males, who were making Divya's life miserable. I loved that Smith wrote him to be sensitive. He loved his little sister and had a healthy relationship with his parents (who were wonderful). He had discussions about his feelings and would even hug it out when necessary. And, his interactions with Divya were pretty special and smile inducing. They were fabulous together, and I was shipping them hard.

Overall: A fun, yet honest, look at the world of online gaming, featuring family, friendship, and a little bit of romance.

I’ll be honest here and say that when I heard about this book and became interested it was because the author had tweeted something about it and that’s literally all it took. It must have been funny or relatable because I immediately went and requested the book and yay! I got to read it!

The synopsis really had me intrigued because though I’m not a gamer in any sense, I do love reading books related to video games. I dunno, there’s just something intriguing about it! And the fun part about this was that it centered around a video game but it was so easy to understand and become immersed into the story! I loved how the scenes were set and the one time I put the book down I had forgotten where I was because the book was just so entrancing!

This story was told in a dual POV and I literally love dual POV stories like this because they have their own separate stories but they also overlap and that’s just *chef’s kiss* PERFECT.

Like I don’t even know where to begin with how much I loved each of the characters. Divya was so fierce and relatable and I just really wanted to give her a big hug. Like when the “trolls” start taking their harassment to an extra level of terrible and Divya continues to be awesome?! GOALS.

Aaron trying to understand his parents and also trying to get his really annoying friend to pay him for his work was literally equal parts hilarious and also I wanted to fight alongside him.

There was one point in the book where I straight up wanting to march inside the book and fight (the bullies, not the good guys, obviously). Like, this book was addicting. I straight up only put it down once and then when I picked it up again and finished it, it was 2:30 AM because that’s how absolutely phenomenal this book was. The pacing was brilliant, clearly!

I loved the interactions between Divya and Aaron (duh). But what really had me invested was Aaron’s relationship with his parents. I literally LOVED reading the scenes with Aaron and his father. Divya had a few scenes with her mom which were equally as powerful (though under very different circumstances that made me gasp out loud a lot and want to scream because of the things that were happening).

And I can’t forget about Divya and Rebekah’s friendship! Rebekah was such a great character and honestly I wouldn’t be opposed to more with her because a) she’s a bookstagrammer! She referenced V.E. Schwab’s book and I freaked out it was awesome! b) she’s so strong and I really really needed to give her a big hug like… she had to deal with so much and *cries*.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys gaming, standing up to terrible bullies that have nothing better to do with their lives, feeling secondhand embarrassment during awkward chat moments, bookstagrammers (ayyy), wanting to be rightfully paid for your work, and being a part of a supportive community (aka the Angst Armada). If you like absolutely adorable nerdy boys and girls, super awkward sort-of-maybe dates, and the philosophy that you shouldn’t read the comments (but if you do… don’t let them stop you) then you’ll love this book! AND bonus points for a really awesome cop with a straight up iconic line that should be in movies, because that was seriously EPIC.

Well written with fun dialogue and lots of pop culture references, this book is for the super nerdy, and especially for video gamers. The characters are relatable, and the stakes are high. A very interesting, fun book.

Thank you to Inkyard Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the description of this book, it seemed like a great market currently not seen in the book world. A character who is a gaming streamer? Sign me up!

The problem is this: it's fairly clear right out the gate that the author doesn't have a firm grasp on the gaming or streaming worlds. As someone who plays MMORPGs, it's a knowledge gap I cannot ignore.

I was pretty excited to read about a Indian heritage female MC who also happens to be a gamer and this turned out to be quite a fun read. I’m not a gamer at all but I still enjoyed seeing Divya’s passion and was angered at all the harassment she was subjected to. The romance was also well developed and lovely to read.

But as an ownvoices reader, I just couldn’t get over the fact that there is hardly anything about Divya’s character that showcases her culture, or how she navigates her family’s feelings about her being a gamer. She could have just been a white character or any other POC and I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to the story. It’s always nice to see a young Indian teenager as the main character but totally leaving out any of her personal experiences with her culture seems a tad bit disrespectful.

If you don’t really care for the missing cultural elements, I think you’ll enjoy this much more than I did.

If you love gaming and sweet romance than this book will totally be for you!! I loved every page and can not wait for more!! This was a very fast story to read and it was so adorable. This was a perfect mix of struggle and awesome. Eric did very well with the female voice and if you were giving this title and not told that the author was male you would never know. The gaming aspects of this story were on point. I have a few friends that are addicted to the gaming world and after talking with them they said that this was all believable in the best possible way.


Go Into This One Knowing: Gaming, Struggle

Thank you to NetGalley for approving me for this ARC. I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I follow Eric Smith on twitter and he’s just someone I think I’d get along really well with, so I wanted to check out this book.
I loved D1V right from the start. She’s just a girl that streams her games and has ended up getting sponsorships and other sorts of things. She uses these things to support herself and her mom. Her mom’s trying to finish graduate school at night and is almost done. I loved that her motivation was to help her mom. It was so sweet. I also loved that she stood up for what was right and didn’t back down when she started to get attacked by the horrible Vox Popuoli. I also totally loved her best friend Bekah. I adored Bekah naming things in the game after popular YA books she loved (Like Heart of Iron and This Savage Song).
Then there’s Aaron. I liked that he sort of had a savior complex because it allowed his best friend to stand up and tell him to chill out and take his complex somewhere else. I also liked that he wanted to follow his dreams, even if that might be disappointing his parents. I hated his friends (other than Ryan). They were selfish and horrible.
I thought this book was nerdy and important. It talks about important things. The dangers of having a prominent place online. The things trolls will do and say to people they don’t like or that have a certain gender or skin color. I think it discussed these topics very well.
Overall, this book will be beloved by the nerd community. I can already see it. I loved the characters and their development. I loved the incredibly important topics it covers, from assault to cyber bullying, and it does it well. I think this book is going to be a hit, so, preorder it, request that your library buys it, because you don’t want to miss this one.

This tale is more intense than READY PLAYER ONE and quite a page-turner.
Divya, popular streaming gamer D1V, is playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest game. The sponsorships help her single mom make ends meet.
We meet Aaron, an avid gamer too. He plays for different reasons than Divya. Aaron’s mom wants him to follow her footsteps to be a doctor. His dad silently supports Aaron’s dreams. Aaron finds solace in Reclaim the Sun. Then, one day he is on the same remote planet as popular gamer, D1V.
The story hits full speed when trolls invades the VR world and in real life to take Divya down.
Will they do it?
It is a fun and fast read for all ages.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

<i>Don't Read the Commends</i> is a YA book that is incredibly timely, realistic, and well done.... but wow is it a hard read at times. Frankly, this book is a horror novel about what the internet and social media are like for women in this era of Gamergate and trolls. Don't get me wrong--I loved the book and I am absolutely adding it to my shortlist for the Norton Award for next year--but I also pushed through reading it as fast as I could because there's no denying it was triggery.

Divya is a passionate teenage gamer with a streaming channel and social media presence. Her increasing clout have started to garner her much-needed promotional items and sponsorships, but also, trolls who don't want a girl--especially one of color--taking up space in 'their' world. When a troll mob ambushes Divya and her devoted Angst Army, that's horrible enough, but when the threats become physical in reality, that's something else.

Meanwhile, gaming is Aaron's whole life--or would be, if he didn't have to put in hours in his mom's medical practice. His real passion is writing the plot for a new game publisher-start-up (though it'd be nice if he could get paid) and playing loads of other games, too. When he and Divya meet in-game, they strikes up a friendship that feels absolutely genuine--even as troll attacks against Divya escalate and her life begins to unravel.

Smith really nailed every element in this book. Every character and relationship resounds with truth, from Divya and Aaron's adorably geeky connection to their love and exasperation for their parents. The gaming world comes across with 100% realism. As an old school gamer myself, I ADORED the shout-outs to old and dear favorites of mine like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III (with a necessary note that this is the original American Super Nintendo release), plus casual mention of things like roms to play old games. Some revelations about Aaron's dad were especially delightful.

Of course, part of the realism is the horror aspect: trolls, doxing, and the persistent harassment that women endure online. This is all sadly accurate, too, but I love how Smith brings everything together in the end with thoughtfulness and care. Nothing about this book is sugar-coated and easy, but there's still a spirit of hopefulness that is necessary in their world and in ours.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredible! A wonderful tribute to the love of gaming!

This book was a delightfully nerdy, refreshing read! I'll definitely be gifting a copy of it to my gaming reader friends!

From the gaming standpoint, I think this book does a good job of conveying the seriousness of online trolls a la Gamergate. The terror and anger I felt while reading the harassment Divya and Rebekah went through was palpable, though Divya's ultimate resolution seemed like she was giving up, conceding to what her harassers wanted. The romance was also pretty well done--Aaron and Divya's relationship was a nice, slow burn, and Aaron was a sweet and genuine foil to other shitty male characters like Jason and the Vox Populi.

My main problem was with the unresolved subplots. There were a lot of little events with Aaron's Dad and his online gaming, with Aaron's mom wanting him to be a doctor, with Divya's mom's education and financial situation, etc. that were only briefly mentioned or were not resolved. I also felt like Divya was whitewashed; there was no discussion of her cultural background aside from the fact that she experiences harassment as a non-white gamer, and her father (and her parents' separation) is only briefly mentioned. We also don't see much of her mother. Conversely, as other reviewers have mentioned, Aaron's family and heritage is more fleshed out.

This is such an amazing story. The writing was fantastic and I couldn't put it down at all the entire time I was reading it. I absolutely look forward to reading more from this author

Books about geek girls always end up on my TBR, so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this one so I could get ahead of the game. Don’t Read the Comments is about a female streamer struggling with how women are currently treated in the gaming community, so it’s still fairly timely and relevant. In theory I should have loved this book, and there were things I DID love. Smith clearly understands quite a lot about gaming culture and it showed. The world of Reclaim the Sun was fun to read about, and I loved seeing Aaron help make games…but.

The but is a lot of things that kept this book from being a five star read. First and foremost is how big and dramatic everything is. Certainly female gamers get harassed in real life but the levels Smith takes D1V’s harassment to so quickly makes it feel comical instead of serious. It doesn’t feel like this is a real thing happening to a real person by the end.

The same goes for Aaron’s conflict with Jason. Jason feels like an evil villain. He doesn’t feel like a well rounded character and the way the plot ends is just as ridiculous. It doesn’t feel like something that could happen in the real world.

The ending is perhaps what bothers me the most, it’s way too feel good. Situations like this in real life rarely tie up with a nice little knot the way this story handles all its conflicts. At the same time it doesn’t feel satisfying because no one really wins. Everyone is losing something major so you can’t even feel good about the ridiculous ending because even if evil is vanquished they sort of got what they wanted anyways. It’s complicated.

I also didn’t like the copious amount of subplots and random things going on. Aaron’s crush on Jason. Aaron not wanting to work at the clinic. Aaron’s dad having a secret folder. D1V’s mom struggling financially. D1V’s best friend struggling to recover from assault. There are just so many sidelines that none of them really get explored thoroughly and the ending feels like it’s rushing to tie everything up.

I think Smith had something here, but he just doesn’t quite hit it out of the park execution wise which is a horrible shame.

This novel accurately captures the zeitgeist of streaming culture (as I understand it) and some of the hurdles that women and girls in this industry are forced to deal with. Both Aaron and Divya are characters the reader will enjoy spending time with, and Aaron's dad in particular is a joy to read. The title alone is great advice, and is deployed to wonderful effect throughout the novel.