While this book covers a rather serious topic, it does so in a way that is fun and engaging, with some truly wonderful characters.

First off is Divya, aka D1V. She cares so deeply about her mom and her best friend, as well as the people she meets in the game. She is brave to a point initially, but is really scared and tries to hide from those fears, and to keep them to herself to further protect her mom and Rebekah. When it's only D1V being threatened, she lets it go, but once the people she loves are threatened, she shows just how determined and strong she can be.

Rebekah is incredibly supportive of Divya, but is more easily scared {justifiably so}, and isn't as ready to face the threats. Ultimately though, she has her back throughout. And while Divya's mom is concerned about the trolls she sees in the comments, she still fully supports Divya, whatever she chooses to do.

And then there is Aaron, who is just so incredibly adorable, you can't help but fall for him. He adores his family and younger sister, he has a great friendship with Ryan, and wants to protect D1V long before they ever meet in person. He believes in standing up for what's right, but he also believes that people will be good and honest, even when they aren't.

Aaron's parents, especially his dad, are also amazing. His mom just wants what is best for him, but lets past experiences cloud her reactions to his chosen path. And his sister Mira is just the cutest thing ever! As for the other people in his life, his best friend Ryan is supportive, but also calls him on his BS. The two of them support each other throughout.

There are two real villains in this book, Aaron's boss Jason, who is just a jerk and greedy and treats Aaron and Ryan as if they are stupid. And the Vox Populi who are evil in my opinion. They are essentially a terror group who feels like they have the right to do whatever they want to get rid of gamers, namely D1V, that they don't like.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book through Harlequin and Inkyard Press Blog Tours, in partnership with Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this one...I really did...but in the end I just couldn't get into it and I DNF'd the story at 25% in. It wasn't for me.

Divya Sharma is a queen. OR she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. To Divya, or D1V, this beautiful wasteland is more than just a game, she uses her fame for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay rent. ⁣
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For Aaron Jericho, gaming is his entire life. He spends his time writing storylines for new game developers, but his mother frowns upon it. She wants him to become a doctor and follow in her footsteps. So he escapes to Reclaim The Sun, with trillions of worlds to explore, where disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as D1V. At home they grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each others backs. ⁣
⁣
But when the internet trolls, who calls themselves the Vox Populi, begin not only virtually but real world harassing Divya, things get complicated. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone she cares about is on the line.. And she isn’t going down without a fight. ⁣
⁣
“Log on. Fight Back”⁣
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I was automatically drawn to this YA based on the synopsis. Little did I know that this would hit close to home. The Vox Populi specifically targeted Divya based on her being a female gamer. Their argument was that she was taking up sponsors that they deserved because they are male and girls should not play video games. Video games are becoming increasingly more popular to females these days. I mean.. I play! I enjoy it just as much as the next person. I loved that Aaron stood up for Divya, but knew that she didn’t need “saving”. This is a story that shows that females can do whatever they put their mind to! Such a powerful message! This was very “Ready Player One” but not set entirely in the video game or as futuristic. Overall I enjoyed this and found myself cheering Divya on to beat those trolls. I also thought that the romance between Divya and Aaron was super sweet. ⁣

First, trigger warnings! There is discussion of sexual assault, gender equality, racism, harassment/bullying, and doxxing.   


I first found out about this book via Twitter, as I somehow ended up following Eric on there after seeing some of his tweets retweeted by mutuals. Then one day his post about his book being set for publication popped up and I knew I needed to read it. Off to NetGalley I flew when I realized it was available. The title caught me first and I had no idea it was about gaming until I read the synopsis. I thought it was going to be more of a social media based romance. I ended up loving this storyline and the gaming aspects so much.

 
You do not need to be a gamer to like this book. Sure, it would appeal to you, but it's not necessary. I loved the premise of the main character being a female gamer who's just playing her way through games via online streaming to earn income to help her Mom. She's not out there to prove anything, she just loves gaming and makes the most of what she knows best. But once shit goes down, she wants to show everyone that she won't go down without a fight. That they can't get rid of her that easily. She's not just fighting for her gaming channel, but for other gamer girls too. 


While all of the doxxing and online bullying gets going, we see Divya meet Aaron randomly in her favourite VR game,Reclaim the Sun. They join forces to search the galaxy for resources and uncharted planets. As their online friendship grows, the attacking becomes extreme. Aaron has a history of always wanting to help "the girl" he thinks needs saving, but in this instance he changes his thought process and decides the girl just needs someone to remind her what truly matters and to support her instead of standing up for her. Their little online meet cute is adorable, though I feel like I would have liked a few more scenes of them interacting and chatting in their little pop-culture-referencing and flirty tone. 


Her BFF is funny and supportive, but with her past making flashbacks during all the new and recent harassment, she kind of steps back a bit and that's where I think the online friendship with Aaron starts to become extremely important to D1V. Especially since he never pushes her for more info about herself than she wants to put out there. 


I love how Divya has her own group of followers in the game and via her streaming channel. And their name is amazeballs - #AngstArmada. I want an Angst Armada pin! 


Aaron's story is a great crossover as it deals with the making of games. I adored his group of friends at the beginning as they seemed to have a bit of fun banter during their work meetings and enjoyed each others company. Things take a turn there, but the friendship between Aaron and his BBF, Ryan, stands strong. A great friendship if I ever saw one. 


I love that the POVs are from a gamer and a game maker. I love that they mutually respect each other's life choices, goals and are supportive during both positive and negative life events happen. All of this and they've never even met in person yet. It reminds me so much of the amazing online friendships that I've made over the years via book blogging and the social media platforms I use for it.  


Quick round up... 

-strong friendships 

-pop culture references 

-diversity with POC representation 

-light in the romance department 

-how it handled the discussion of a previous sexual assault 

-standing up for what's right no matter the costs/outcome 


I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good friendship group dynamic, anyone who loves pop culture references, or anyone who enjoys a "good standing up for what's right" vibe. 


I have no idea if I've done this story justice with my thoughts, but I sure hope that I did.

Sadly, this story was not for me. It sounded so good and from what I read, the writing was fantastic. I think personally, it just wasn't the book for me. I have told my students to purchase this book, and got my school librarian to also get it for the library. Thank you for the opportunity. Sorry that it didn't work out.

This was a timely contemporary on the dangers of being a public Internet figure and the injustices of being a woman in "man's world." D1V is a gaming streamer, with tons of followers and a lot of sponsorships, but instead of using this fame and (small) fortune to live the high life, she's using the money to help pay for her Mom's grad school and buy groceries. But when the trolls come out, for no apparent reason other than she's a girl, D1V has to learn to navigate the real world while being recognized (and sometimes even hated) for her online persona.

While I did enjoy this book, I would have liked to learn more about the Vox Populi and why they were out to get D1V. It felt almost anti-climactic, the way everything was wrapped up so quickly and easily at the end of the book, and we still don't really know why they targeted her so strongly. Was it really just because she was a girl? Was one of them turned down for the same sponsorships? Or maybe the intent could be construed as the unmitigated hatred and trolling on the Internet and isn't to be taken quite so literally as I would have liked to see it play out.

However, this wasn't a case of some "simple" Internet trolling. What was described was essentially doxxing and harassment. While I feel for the characters, it just didn't bring out the emotional response there could have been if there had been less actual game play description and more of an in-depth look at the different groups.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but it seemed to oversimplify a lot, to the point that I didn't really have strong feelings either way. The content is good, it was just missing something on the delivery for this mom. Although, perhaps a teen reading this would feel differently.

I think this book was written very well. I'm not sure if the genre was for me particularly. However, I think that the young-adult gaming lover is going to find a new love in this book. I don't have a lot of knowledge about the gaming community, but I don't think that it affected my review in any way.

First, I really enjoyed the characters. They were very much themselves and did not really care about how people felt about it. They were funny and nerdy which made the book as good as it was. They were unapologetically themselves and that was something that Eric Smith wrote really well. Divya was really one of my favorites in this book. She was so determined to make sure people saw that she wasn't going to succumb to any pressures that were put onto her online. I loved the fact that she was able to be read just as she was in the synopsis. It's one of the main reasons why I picked this book up.

Also, I really like that this book tackled a lot of serious topics like gender inequality and racism. It was very interesting to see Smith's point-of-view and how he interpreted it through his words. I liked how the characters developed through these topics as well. There was a good amount of development which I always love.

There wasn't a lot wrong with this book. It just didn't wow me. It was slow for me at times. It could be the fact that I'm not a gamer and couldn't really keep up with the references, but the book was written very well. I didn't fall in love with this book, but I think there are going to be plenty of people that will.

Thank you to Netgalley & Inkyard Press for providing me with a copy of Don’t Read the Comments in exchange for an honest review. However, this review is based on the final copy (audiobook) as I didn’t get a chance to read this until after the publication date.

As a content creator and a person who’s written for multiple gaming websites, one thing that I’ve learned is don’t read the comments. If your post gets traction, you will have tons of people arguing your points & it’s just a Mess. I had a freelance job where I’d write Top Ten lists about video games, and each time I’d get comments that read, “you forgot this & this!” Like, no? I just didn’t want to include them in my list.

Anywho, our protagonist Divya lives by the same motto, don’t read the comments. She’s a Glitch (basically Twitch) streamer with a lot of followers and sponsorships. She’s caught the eye of the gaming community, and a lot of male gamers don’t like it. Enter Vox Populi.

Vox Populi is a group of trolls who harass Divya both online and in the real world. They manage to discover her location and plan attacks on her and her loved ones. This book is heavy with racism, trolling, misogyny, and doxxing. It takes on a really real subject for girl video gamers; from being called gamer girls to telling streamers to show more cleavage to actual death threats. There’s constant harassment in the community.

There are a lot of game and book references in Don’t Read the Comments, including ones I wasn’t expecting such as DontNod Entertainment’s Remember Me. I’m gonna be honest, I forgot that game even existed until reading this book. Personally, I’m a sucker for pop culture references in my reads, so this was golden for me.

As with most YA Contemporary plots, we are given young characters who want to go on a path different from the one their parents want them to go on. Let’s take Aaron for example, who wants to write for the gaming industry, yet his mother wants him to take over the doctor’s office. With this portion of the plot, there is nothing that makes it stand out from the rest of the YA Contemporaries.

I wasn’t moved by the romance at all; I didn’t feel any chemistry, and I rooted Aaron and Divya on as a platonic relationship. It really just seemed rushed and unnecessary.

To sum it up, there are some issues with Don’t Read the Comments. However, I did enjoy the main gist of it & the messages that it was sending out about the video gaming community.

Many of us want to be famous. Smith's book reminds us that fame isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Cruel comments are, any more, a standard part of reality. They're something we feel like we just have to deal with. Smith draws the line between bullying and criminal behavior. Bullying that leaves the cyber world behind and enters Divya's real world with physical attacks and threats. The reader is asked to consider at what point bullying crosses that line. That conversation alone makes this worth reading. So too is the conversation it prompts between characters about privilege. Wealth, race, gender, sexuality. We see the different kinds of privilege at platy and the ultimate conclusion that we can never fully understand another person's experience and challenges. While the plot is a bit predictable and Aaron's perspective sections felt unnecessary, its ultimately a solid read with a fair amount of heart.

3.5

This was a very hard book to rate. On one hand, it was a very enthralling read that I finished in pretty much one sitting. It was fast-paced and topical with great, diverse characters and important issues. Fun representation for the gaming world. And a cute romance (that takes a back seat to the main issues of this story). Really, the characters, the gaming backdrop, the writing, and plot were all superb.

On the other hand: this book was very HARD to read. Maybe it’s just me, cause I’m not seeing it mentioned in reviews much. But every step of the way there is something infuriating thrown in your face. Now, I’m a big fan of conflict in books and topical issues, but this was out of control. Content warning for cyber-bullying, sexism, sexual assault, and so much more. The main character and those closest to her never catch a break. It is one thing after the other and it just makes you want to scream.

Some would say that’s how you know it’s a good book. And yes. That is accurate. This book definitely gave me feelings. Just not feelings I was expecting to have today. Maybe I would feel better if there was a true happily ever after. While the ending for the characters is solid enough, just knowing that people like the Vox Populi still exist in the world of the story and IN REAL LIFE blows my mind. It’s just not something I want to comprehend.

Anyway, overall, I would definitely recommend this book if you’re interested in a diverse, quick-paced, gaming story. Just as long as you can handle FEELINGS. If you cannot handle feelings, then you, like me, will be left with mixed feelings. Still a good story, though. See? It’s hard.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I truly wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. It’s a stunningly accurate portrayal of the worst our society is when it comes to internet trolls and their ilk.
D1V is a popular gamer and live streamer on Glitch, she’s got her Angst Armada, and thousands of followers for her favorite game, Reclaim the Sun. She’s got some sponsorships and revenue coming in. Not a lot, but enough to help her mom with things like rent and groceries. Not bad for an 18-year-old girl.
Then it happens, one day while she and the rest of the Armada are out exploring, they’re ruthlessly attacked. D1V and a host of others are killed in game, losing all their possessions and upgrades in the process. But the worst part, it’s a concerted effort from a group called the Vox Populi, and their reign of terror has just begun. After she dies, a beep comes in and she’s received an email. It’s an email from this group, threats are issued, but the worst of all, they know who she really is, they’ve included a photo of the outside of her apartment building.
She’s extremely private though. No one knows what she looks like, where she lives, or even what her real name is and that’s exactly how she wants it. You see, not everyone likes D1V and they make it known in the comments. That’s why her mantra is, “Don’t Read the Comments”. With her best friend and video editor Reb(ecca), they make sure to stay as safe as possible in this digital world. So, when that image comes through, D1V is freaked. She doesn’t tell anyone though. Not until things start happening in real life, and not just to her.
The Vox Populi don’t stop there. They’re a concerted group of gamers who believe that D1V doesn’t belong in their midst. They don’t think she should have followers, and they definitely don’t think she deserves sponsors. They’re an ugly bunch of trolls that have turned into stalkers and hackers.
But, that’s not the only storyline. You’ve got Aaron, he’s a 17-year old gamer who also does work for ManaPunk games. His mom makes him work in her office during the summer and thinks that he should go to school to be a doctor like her and let his silly ideas of getting into the gaming industry go. She’s even threatened not to pay for college unless he goes into medicine. One day while playing his favorite game, Reclaim the Sun, he runs into D1V and is starstruck. A friendship grows from that chance encounter.
The writing in this book brought me to tears a few times. I was thoroughly immersed in this story. I truly believe it’s going to be one of the best books of the year and I can’t wait to purchase a physical copy for my 11-year-old gamer girl who wants her own youtube channel.
This book has a complex storyline that feels plucked from the stories of today, wonderful characters, and writing that just pulls you in. You become invested in both the characters and the plot. I can’t wait to read more from this author.
*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review

Don’t Read the Comments was such a great ode to video games, online connections and friendships while also addressing some hard hitting issues that are very relevant to the current day. Divya, better known as D1V to her online subscribers of her streaming channel, is just trying to scrape by. She uses every bit of income she gets from sponsers to pay for rent and groceries to help her single mother. As a popular female gamer, she comes under attack because she is just that: a female gamer and starts to get hateful messages not just online but things that start to seep into her real life that threaten her safety and her friends.


This is truly a very relevant issue – how often is it that we see people online get attacked? Receive terrible messages because it’s just so easy for someone to hammer something out from behind the safety of their computer screens? Not to mention the sexism and racism that seems to become even more prevalent when someone doesn’t have to look the person in the face. I really appreciated the portrayal of these issues and how people from the online community banded together to support Divya – because even among all the bad things that can happen online, true friendships are forged in that same space! The feeling of comraderie is authentic! I loved seeing that.


That’s why I loved seeing Divya and Aaron strike up a friendship as they explore and chat in the online game Reclaim the Sun. Gamers will love going along for the ride through their gaming sessions! As an occasional gamer (if only I had more time to play more games!) there were a lot of references and nods that made me smile! I just really enjoyed all the game talk and I could feel how fun it was to be a part of the Angst Armada – the group that plays the game together with Divya online. The online community is a very unique space where real life friendships can be maintained. It was so great to see the expeditions Divya leads with her group of followers and a lot of fun.


Aaron is super precious. I adored him. He is really passionate about gaming and the career he wants to pursue writing stories and dialogue for video games. He is just a very kind soul and such a genuine person! Seeing him and Divya gradually talk more and more made me so happy.


I wish there was just a tad more to the book! It ended a bit abruptly for my taste, I was really caught off guard when I realized it was over! I wish I got just a bit more of these characters – I really enjoyed all of them!

In Short:
Filled with memorable characters and video game goodness, Don’t Read the Comments will have you smiling as you remember nostalgic video games (Final Fantasy! Chrono Trigger!) and also enraged as you see the blatant online bullying and doxxing that is actually a very real occurrence. The support and outpouring of solidarity from the online community was great though and reminded me of the good that I still see in the online platforms that I am a part of. I really enjoyed this one and I highly recommend it!

Wow, I never really knew about the game streaming world until this book--it's pretty cool! It's very similar to blogging, which got me excited for everything possibly in store if your presence online takes off. The book also does an amazing job covering the negative aspects of the online world, some thing that is very important in the 21st century and more books should be written on. It was lovely to see Divya open up to Aaron and watch their relationship progress. Aaron is such a sweetheart--Divya is so lucky! :)

This is a great story about gaming and the dangers that can come along with it.

Divya is a famous gamer, who streams her game play with her friend Rebekah. She meets Aaron in the game and they become friends online. At the same time, Divya begins to be harassed by a group of guys who start attacking her in the game. It escalates to real life, with them attacking her and her mother at their home.

Many parts of this story were realistic. It can be dangerous to put your personal information online. Divya thought she was hiding her identity, but some other players still found her. Even when Aaron wanted to meet her in real life, she was careful about not giving away any real information.

The sexism and racism in this story was unfortunately realistic too. The guys were attacking her just because she is a woman of colour who likes to play video games. That should have nothing to do with her ability to play what she likes. I don’t understand how people can think the way they do, but it does happen in the gaming community.

I really loved this story!

Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book touched some emotional cords and brought back some memories of my net life.
Harassment of women on the net is as old as the first mailing list of newsgroup and it get worse.
I'm old enough to have been a member of various newsgroups and I remember it was not easy as the moment you started to be popular it was always the moment you started to be harassed by some troll.
It's even worse for women gamer as it is considered a male only world and you will always find the group of guys who think is great to use you as an outlet for their own frustrations.
These are the reasons I think this book should be read by kids who are online because it talks about a harsh reality that shouldn't be hidden and to help girls who are being harassed to feel empowered and react.
The story is realistic and I loved the description of the gaming world as it was well done and didn't play down or sugar coat what can happen.
Dyva and Aaron are two great characters, realistic and relatable. Same happens for the secondary characters who are all well thought and realistic.
The story flows and once you start reading you cannot put this book down as it's a gripping and enjoyable read that makes you root for the characters and cheers at the ending.
It was an excellent read, I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to Inkyard Press and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
It

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book a lot! It was super cute. I love that the protagonist is a female and a strong one at that. I feel we need more strong women as the protagonist in stories. Even though she is super strong, she is also incredibly relatable.

Cyber bullying is such a prominent thing these days and it is something we need to shed some light on.

I instantly fell in love with Divya Sharma, our main character, and her passion for family and to fight back in the face of social injustice. There really is nothing that I love more than a fiery, young female protagonist and Eric Smith did just that with Divya. Her love and loyalty to her mother is so raw and endearing. Then we have Aaron, a passionate young man who just wants to make a go of it on his own to pursue his passion of writing scripts for video games, even if it’s not what his parents want for him. The two family dynamics really made this whole story incredibly relatable. I really loved that Divya is a live gamer and has such a huge following, yet Aaron just does it for fun. The game that they play, Reclaim the Sun, sounds so amazing that I really wish it was real. I’d love to play it!!

Then enter the issue of cyber bullying. This is always going to be an ongoing issue in our society, especially because the internet makes it so easy for cowards and psychos to hide behind made up internet personalities so they can target minorities. The issue of the target being a young girl of ethnic background helps bring the issue to the forefront. I did feel that the detective was a little hokie with her speech on creating a task force to take care of it in the area, but the focus was on the kids and the cyber-bullying so it was a minor irk of mine. I absolutely loved the ending, and without giving too much away because no-one loves spoilers, it had me jumping onto my feet and cheering! As I finished the last page I had a cheesy grin on my face, which I would expect nothing less from Eric Smith.

This is a great story about how no-one should put up with bullying, regardless of where it happens or who it happens to. It is not ok, and you have every right to speak up and get help! It’s too easy now a days for instances like this to happen online, and I felt that Don’t Read The Comments was a great way to bring issues like this to light and to show that gamer chicks totally rock!

Don't Read the Comments is a solid YA title about teens and video games that turns into a story about dealing with expectations from family, friends, and complete strangers. The representation is excellent, with both our protagonists being teens of color. This book features timely references to video games as well as the bookish community such as bookstagram. These teenagers feel like teenagers. I think overall though this story is important for teens to read about the gaming community and how unsafe it can be for them, especially when the gaming community has vasts amounts of racism and sexism involved. Highly recommend this!!!

I loved loved loved Don't read the Comments. I loved the nerdiness that's apart of this book. I could relate to the characters because I love to game, go to cons, and my husband streams games online. I just want to know when Eric Smith is going to create the game that's in this book because it sounds so much fun!

Don't Read the Comments was an intense and gut-wrenching but romantic read. It delved deep into the issue of online harassment of female gamers, especially those of color, through the point of view of a popular gamer and streamer Divya Sharma. The struggles she faced were absolutely horrific but also utterly believable because they are things happening to real people all the time in today's world. Divya as a character was incredibly brave and empowering because of the way she persisted in doing what she enjoyed in the face of the attacks and stood up to her bullies and harassers publicly. Nobody should have to deal with the kinds of things she did, but she dealt with them like a true champion. I was anxious for her safety and eagerly anticipating her eventual triumph over the trolls throughout the book. Aaron's character faced less intense struggles but nonetheless had his own compelling arc in chasing his own dreams of writing for games despite his mom's disapproval, resisting exploitation by a supposed friend in the gaming industry, and doing his best to support Divya through her ordeal. Their friendship was sweet, and the transition to romance didn't feel too forced.