[BLOG TOUR] Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC to read and review.

Everyone should read "Don't Read the Comments" because it highlights issues in the gaming industry, has great characters, and the story is so relevant to today. I loved this book more than I originally thought. The way Eric Smith weaves the story between Divya and Aaron's POVs was done really well, which made the story richer in idea and (reading) experience.

First we have Divya - D1V as she's known in the online streamers space - who unfortunately gets targeted for online harassment from an unknown (as usual) trolls. I think they target her because she's woman commandeering a large following in a "male only space." Based on what they were saying to her, it also seemed like the trolls used her gender as a scapegoat. Whatever the reason, the story brings up important issues faced by not only women in gaming but also toxic online bullies/harassers/trolls. Like everyone else, she is a person before she is a online personality.

Divya is a very caring and strong person. I loved the ways she tries not to become a victim and how she tries to protect her best friend, Rebekah, from reliving similar horrors. I genuinely love Divya's character for helping her mom live her dream while they are struggling financially.

Aaron I like yet I felt so bad for him. He doesn't feel his dreams are being supported by his mother and (kind of in a way) by Jason, the developer he's "working" for. He doesn't see his self-worth for much of the story until everything comes tumbling down. I didn't want it to come to that before he realized things. Through Aaron we also get another issue in the gaming (really any) industry; in essence, copyright and protecting one's work.

The author packs in a lot of pertinent issues (in work, gaming, home life, etc.) and sometimes that can be cause for confusion while reading. I'm impressed  by the author's ability to talk about so much but not let the reader feel overwhelmed by it all. And all the issues connect together under the same umbrella.

I felt more connected to both characters - Divya's noble nature and Aaron writing stories for games. They both stand up for what's right for the greater good. I'm glad the romance element between the two MCs wasn't at the forefront of what was going on or awkward. It was a sweet romance that slowly built beneath all the chaos.

"Don't Read the Comments" is was really really good. We need this important book in these increasingly advancing technological times. The issues brought up are things many people are facing today, especially with cancel culture and double standards. "Don't Read the Comments" is inquisitive and compelling - a must read for 2020.

Don't Read the Comments by Eric Smith is a fun quick read!

At first, I was concerned that this story would only appeal to gamers, with terms like doxxing, trolling, and streaming. (Doxxing--or doxing--means, according to Google: "searching for and publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the Internet, typically with malicious intent.") But even with gaming description and terminology, this story will appeal to all fans of young adult literature.

With diverse characters, a captivating plot, and unique settings, Don't Read the Comments kept my attention from the first to the last page!

I enjoyed almost all the characters, except for Divya's mom. She relied on Divya too much and had huge blinders on when it came to Divya's needs. And, actually, Aaron's mom, too, was not my favorite. I wanted at least one mom who encouraged and facilitated their child's dreams. But the story wasn't necessarily about the moms. It was about the teens who wanted to enjoy and pursue their online gaming experiences without being harassed by stupid Internet trolls. Seriously, don't those people have better things to do with their time?! They need a worthwhile hobby or a team sport to better utilize their energy! I do wish the characters had been developed a bit more with richer, fuller arcs. Specifically, I wanted Rebekah's inner demons resolved. Aaron, by far, was my favorite character!

The sections that feature gaming details read like a science-fiction novel. It was fun to have a sci-fi element embedded within a contemporary novel. For example: "With a hum, the landing pads extend, emitting a soft rumbling under my feet."

However, some of the gaming references and details felt like commercials for products. "...plugins courtesy of Samsung."

If language matters to you, there are a few f-words spattered throughout, but overall there are minimal cuss words.

There were sections that made me gasp. Such as the moment Divya realizes just how close the trolls have gotten to her in the real world: "I click it. It opens. And I see a photograph of my apartment building. My breath catches in my throat. How? How could this have happened?"

Overall, I highly enjoyed Don't Read the Comments by Eric Smith. The writing is terrific and the story is fun.

I really just adored reading Don’t Read the Comments, which manages to be both lighthearted, sweet, and funny at the same time as it examines some important issues that can be anything but lighthearted. It’s a perfect balance of a sweet, blossoming virtual friendship/relationship and bringing attention to prejudice faced by, especially, women and POC gamers. It’s a great choice for someone who likes to read about real-life issues but doesn’t want a heavy “issue book” (I enjoy them, but not everyone does).

The characters are great; Aaron is a sweetheart, a bit naive, and just wants to write stories behind role-playing games, and Divya is a strong, fierce young woman who has amassed a huge following by streaming her gaming adventures. My favorite secondary character is absolutely Aaron’s best friend, Ryan, who is funny as hell and also wise beyond his years. He is 100% behind Aaron, but he is also never afraid to call out Aaron for potential problematic behavior (e.g., the “need” to be a girl’s white knight).

This book is like a love letter to gaming, and it’s pretty immediately clear that Eric is a huge fan. I am not and have never really been a gamer, though I know a very tiny bit about gaming via my husband and my 11-year-old son. I also wasn’t really in tune with “gamer-gate” at the time it was happening, though I’ve learned a lot about it since. But even though I don’t know a lot about actual gaming, I never felt lost, and I enjoyed every minute of reading this book. If you *are* a gamer, I think you will absolutely LOVE Don’t Read the Comments!

Thanks so much to Inkyard Press for letting me take part in their blog tour and tell you all about this fun new contemporary novel from Eric Smith. I hope you’ll pick it up, and let me know what you think!

Rating: 4 stars!

**Disclosure: I received an early e-copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part and reflects my honest rating and review of the book.

This was a sweet and surprising read, a modern take on gaming and the troll community surrounding it.

Divya is a top streamer on Glitch and works hard on it not for the fame and glory but to support herself and her mother after her parents rocky divorce. Diyva is of Indian descent and a girl gamer so naturally that makes her the perfect target for trolls on the internet who feel that she doesn’t deserve her success and are out to make both her online and real life hell.

Aaron lives in Philadelphia with his parents and younger sister and longs to write for games but his parents wish for him to become a doctor and will only pay for college if he chooses to follow in their footsteps.

Divya and Aaron’s paths collide on the online game Reclaim the Sun and they battle both anon hate and lurking monsters via oculus.

Absolutely loved this book. It was nerdy, funny, and could definitely relate to it in all kinds of ways. I’m not a streamer and my blog isn’t big enough to get hate comments but uh, I am pretty sassy on twitter and have been suspended once , twice, perhaps five times for bickering with the trolls so I get it. It’s never gotten to the point where I’ve been doxxed thank god but we all know about that and how crazy and hateful people can be.

Especially towards women and women of color. I really loved how this book remarked on that because it is true that women have it so much worse than men for no reason at all.

The dynamics of the characters were great and there were a lot of laughs in this as well. I throughly enjoyed myself.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This book is probably going to be very hit or miss for people. I’ve seen some people say if you don’t like gaming this isn’t for you – but I don’t like gaming and I loved it so much! So, as always, YMMV. Honestly, I couldn’t even believe this was written by a man because Divya was so well written. She’s this massive gaming star with sponsors that pretty much everyone in the gaming world knows. But she has a very difficult home life and when she begins to experience targeted harassment and bullying in the game world it’s too much for her to handle – and the way that is all expressed in the book felt so true to life from every experience I’ve had or seen of other women online.

Aaron has to deal with his familial expectations and working on a huge project he’s proud of, but can’t share with them because of those expectations. I thought that Smith brought Divya and Aaron together in the game in such a cute way and anyone who’s grown up with the internet can relate to their relationship grow purely online. This whole book felt like a major love letter to gaming but also to online friendships and to nerdery in general, and I really feel like that’s relevant to so many interests of my reader friends that I hope a ton of them check it out.

Actual rating: 4.5. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC!

I’d like to think I’m pretty down with the young people of today (even though I realize that sentence proves quite the opposite, lol). I’ve been teaching teens for over 27 years and I’m a mom of a twenty-two and a nineteen-year-old. I try hard to remember what it was like to be young (reading YA helps quite a bit in that department) and I’m good at viewing circumstances through the lens of a teen. But there’s one thing I just don’t get and I know I’m not alone in this. How is it entertaining to watch other people play video games??? What’s with these kids today watching YouTube for hours on end, just viewing their favorite gamers narrate while they play?? How is that fun? Wouldn’t you just rather play the game yourself? We Gen Xers just don’t get it. Well, after reading Don’t Read the Comments, I actually get it. You will never hear me ask those questions again. After reading Slay by Brittany Morris last year, I predicted we would start seeing more and better and better books written around the plot of gaming and here is Eric Smith DELIVERING. Don’t Read the Comments is freaking awesome and I can’t wait to put it in the hands of all kinds of teens (some adults, too)!

Divya (D1V) is one of the hottest streaming gamers. D1V She has thousands of subscribers and sponsors. That’s a good thing because she and her single mom have it rough. They rely on her sponsorships for food and to pay the bills. So it’s NOT COOL that trolls threaten not only her gaming but her livelihood. Because she is female and because she is an Indian-American female, the scumbags trolling her are a special kind of awful. They work hard enough to discover her name and address and things get dangerous. Aaron is all about gaming. He is passionate about writing games. He and his BFF (an artist) have spent countless hours creating a game with a local developer. This developer keeps putting off paying them and is getting sketchier and sketchier by the day. In the meantime, Aaron has to deal with working in his mom’s medical office since she INSISTS he go to med school. One day, while casually gaming, he ends up on the same planet as D1V. She doesn’t normally communicate one-on-one with players but she’s got a feeling about this guy . . . Divya and Aaron become online friends and the two become a lifeline for the other. All the trolls and developer tension culminates at Comic-Con in epic showdowns and I AM SO HERE FOR IT. I may have made many audible grunts and cheers while reading.

I read this book in two sittings and could easily read it again. In fact, I just discovered there’s an audiobook so it’ll be next in my queue of listens! It’s a no brainer for Gateway and any other state award list. You’ve never read a book quite like it.

I absolutely love this book and the message it sends out! I also loved how the author portrayed a women's struggle while still showing how awesome some guys can be. It was a perfect mix highly recommend!

Divya has the motto of not reading the comments for the lives she does for a new game. While her popularity grows, so do the haters, but she needs to keep going to help her mother with the house. That's when she meets Aaron, who just plays the game for fun but want to be a game developer one day even though his parents oppose it. Divya prefers to keep the internet world separate from her real life, especially now she's under the attack of cyberbullies, but it's Aaron, her internet friend, who'll prove to be one of her biggest allies.

This is one of those books I didn't notice it was written by a guy, save for very few moments. His portrayal of Divya was very good. And I think the whole gaming + streaming world also sounded verisimilar. At the same time, it should be relatable enough to those who aren't into streamers, at least it was for me. Because Divya is into keeping her privacy, she's not some famous internet celebrity and she gets to lead a normal life—as normal as her parents' divorce allows it. At the same time, there may have been some intense describing of the world of the fictional game they play that felt way too long and not that necessary; that I don't dig much but it's not bad and I'm sure lots of readers do.

Be aware, romance isn't the main thing here. We have some and the interactions between the two main characters are cute but they also take time to happen.

I'd say there were many great things about this book. First was diversity without the author putting it there, they're just diverse and that's how it is. Also, as I said the two are really cute together and also very different, round characters. The side characters were also well built to a point I was searching to find out if Aaron's friend's story came from a previous book so much it seemed like he had a whole other life we didn't know of (in a good way and not in a plot hole way). Last, the cyberbullying on Divya was super scary. I wasn't comfortable with their reason to do it, it sounded too much for too little, but aside from that, the writer knew how to build it all up to a point I confess I had a nightmare with it. It's not very easy for a book to get to me and this did.

This is a book for those who like romance but don't want it as the priority of the story.

I’m not even sure how to write a review that will properly do this fabulous book justice! I picked it up, knowing I had a blog tour review to write in the near future and expected to read a chapter here and a chapter there but as soon as I started reading I didn’t want to stop! To be honest, Young Adult books can be hit or miss with me, particularly the characters, but I absolutely adored Divya and Aaron. Smith managed to construct separate stories for each and subtly weaving Aaron’s presence into the background of Divya’s story rather than making him a staple. I loved that she had a chance to shine. It's not often when I get to read a book that apologetically celebrates all things geeky, nerdy, and game-y and this was perfect. The Mass Effect and Dragon Age references brought me so much joy.

Most important, however, is the topics Smith chose to explore through Divya’s story in particular. Being a gamer as a female can be frightening and even more so if you are a streamer like Divya is. Trolling and doxing received a lot of attention a few years back but it is still too relevant today.

This was such a delight to read and I’m eager to pass it on to some of my reader pals to see what they think! Reading this also made me desperately wish I had time to play games again… maybe in a few years!

This book totally drew me in with the title. Don’t read the comments. Ain’t that the truth? Reading the comments can a lot of times do more harm than good. The other thing that drew me in was the fact that it was young adult as well as a romance. Those two things coupled together were the ultimate book for me. I couldn’t wait to start reading.

Divya is an 18-year-old gamer. She streams and makes some money off it. The big thing that makes her money is wearing and then selling things that are electronic. She makes money to help support her mom. Her big credo is don’t read the comments. This all implodes on her in a big ball of uh-oh. This book was good but not fantastic. It felt forced and at times implausible. While I loved the story and the characters there were some things that just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t like how unsupportive and controlling Aaron’s, the other main character’s parents were. The mother was just too in control. While I understand that in real life there are parents like that she was just over the top with it in my opinion.

The one thing that I really thought was a good part of the book was online trolls. That is something that is very, very real in this day and age. Lots of times you don’t want to read the comments because it takes something that you think is wonderful and has you second-guessing and feeling horrible about it for no good reason other than someone’s opinion. Divya has trolls that somehow manage to track her down online, even though she is basically a ghost online, and begin to threaten her with photos of her house and even go as far as egging her mother at her place of work. This is something that can totally happen. While I didn’t love this book, I thought that it had a lot of angles that are things that need to be discussed. The other part that I loved was the fact that she goes to a GameCon at the Javits Center in NYC. I went there for BookCon and could see everything that she talked about in my mind. All in all, I would probably read more things by this author in the future.

From the get go, Don't Read the Comments is a story you just fall into. It's immersive, and adorable, and most importantly, impactful. Eric Smith doesn't shy away from hard topics, including assault and what happens (or doesn't happen) afterwards, doxxing, being taken advantage of by people we consider friends, and the struggles of families trying to get by and build a better future.

Whether it's how to establish boundaries for yourself or how to respect other people's boundaries, anyone who has an internet presence can learn something from Don't Read the Comments.

Read my full review here: https://loveyoshelf.com/2020/01/16/review-dont-read-the-comments-by-eric-smith/

Thanks to NetGalley and to Inkyard Press for sending me an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Divya is pretty famous on the Glitch streaming service for playing the new planet exploration game Reclaim The Sun as D1V. For Divya, streaming isn't just for fun, it's her livelihood and it's how she helps her mom pay rent every month. Aaron is an aspiring video game writer with a Frankenstein's monster of a computer whose parents are betting on him to take over the family business which includes him going to med school.

After D1V is attacked in Reclaim The Sun by a group of trolls that call themselves Vox Populi, the Popular Opinion in Latin, she loses all of her progress and is forced to start over. While trying to grind up some resources she crosses paths with Aaron who is a bit star struck after meeting one of his favorite streamers. The two strike up a friendship while everything else seems to fall apart.

This is a very important book for women and people of color, anyone who has anything to do with social media or the gaming community. It shines a harsh light on the reality of the scores of women who play video games. It shows the online harassment that could easily transition into real-life aggression, the dangers of having any presence on social media as a woman or a person of color.

Just as it shows how horrible people can be under the veil of anonymity, it also shows how great people can be as well. Even with all the darkness, it's a beacon of hope.

As a female gamer, this book really resonated with me. I loved all the references, I felt like I was understood. I'm not exactly in the age bracket that Divya is, but I was once upon a time when it was almost as bad to be a female gamer. I also went to school for game design so I understand Aaron's experience with an indie developer since I've had something similar happen to me. This book even made me want to go buy No Man's Sky since that's what Reclaim The Sun feels like it's inspired by.

That said. I loved it. Five stars.

*Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for providing me an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would recommend this book.

Great book.
Divya uses the online game, Reclaim the Sun, as a way to earn money to support her mom’s schooling, and pay for rent, groceries, and amenities.
Aaron uses Reclaim the Sun to escape from his mom who has his whole life as a doctor planned out. Aaron wants to write for video games and spends his free time doing so for a local developer.

I felt the characters were greatly fleshed out. Also, it was instant love the romance in the book developed well.

Love, love, loved this book! It talked about sexual assault in a way that made it natural to discuss. One character was gay, and the author didn't even discuss it, choosing to present gayness as a normal, everyday trait (which I loved!). Definitely recommend this book!! [Especially if you love the game No Man's Sky ;) ]

Favorite character: Mira
Mira is Aaron's 5-year-old sister, and I chose her as my favorite character because I think she is particularly well written, and her dialogue literally had me laughing out loud. She says things that are a total embarrassment to those around her, just like any 5-year-old does, and she wants others to treat her like she's older than she is. For instance, she insists on a whole piece of pizza, but she's really not ready for it, and the cheese slides off, landing in her lap. These are small little scenes, but if you have ever spent any time with a child this age, you know how much they ring true.

What I Loved

The gaming world is a mystery to people who do not play. The majority of the people who regularly play games, especially multiplayer online games, look at it healthily- as a hobby that they understand is just a game. But others use it to create a world where they can feel powerful and feed their self-esteem when the real world isn't so accommodating. Harassment is rampant, and sexism/sexual harassment happens disturbingly often. One of the things I love most about this story is its accurate portrayal of the gaming world, especially the problems that female players face within that world.

I also love the budding relationship between Aaron and Divya. It is so sweet and innocent. Sometimes, in this world of online dating, we lose the innocence that once was the norm. It is so refreshing to watch the pair as they slowly get to know one another and the smart way Divya puts the breaks on when she feels things are moving too fast for her comfort level.

The story is very entertaining and kept me moving quickly through the pages by masterfully using the element of suspense. The dialogue flowed easily and naturally. Due to the nature of the plot – a large percentage being online chat - I think this was the biggest and most necessary strength of the novel.

Divya appears not to be a fully developed character, but I could understand why she lacked dimension. It is a necessary part of who she is. Just as she shut out the people around her to protect herself, she also has the walls up to the reader. Since it is written in the first person, this makes sense. Other characters were sincere in their likability or justifiably unlikable.

What I Wish
I wish that the reader had a more omniscient view of Divya so we could have felt the sincerity of her feelings in all she was going through. Divya could be a very likable and relatable character if she had more depth and dimension.

To Read or Not to Read
YA fans will love this sincere and spellbinding tale of a girl who defeats the odds through the world of online gaming.

Thank you to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and a special thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Justine Sha for my spot on the blog tour.

You can sign me up for any book about MMORPGs. This was the sole reason as I had to read this book and I was not disappointed. Definitely a good one.

Please go out and read this book!

Don't Read the Comments is a fantastic and timely YA contemporary that tackles sexism and racism in gaming, doxxing, online harassment and bullying, and toxic masculinity. These are such important and relevant issues, and I am so glad that this book is making its way into the world! Plus it's a really sweet story about friendship, first love, and standing up for what is right no matter the cost.

Divya Sharma is a popular streaming gamer known publicly as D1V and she uses the money from her sponsorships to help pay for rent and groceries while her mom goes to school. When she becomes the target of a vicious group threatening to dox her (release her personal information publicly), she must decide how to respond.

Adam dreams of being a writer for RPG video games, but his immigrant parents are pushing him to become a doctor. He befriends D1V online while also dealing with the threat of racially driven mistreatment and being used by people he thought were his friends.

I won't say too much more, but I loved the way this story unfolded. The relationship between Divya and Adam is just so precious, and the author does a great job of uncovering why these issues are so serious and the misogynistic stereotypes that assume women aren't "real" gamers and have no place in that world. This is one well worth picking up and contains a very satisfying conclusion. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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This book follows our two main characters. Divya who is a big deal in the gaming community and Aaron who is wanting to create video games for a living.
Divya is doing the video games for money so she can help out her mom who is struggling between work and getting some college classes done for her degree. Divya gets harassed in the book due to the fact that she’s a female in the gaming community. She’s the prime target of the Vox Popli. They want to eliminate her from the Reclaim The Sun video game. They know where she lives and they do threaten her. They apparently egg her mom on her way home from work one day. Divya does fight back with people telling her ‘you sure you want to do this?’
Aaron wants to do video games and him and his mom don’t see eye to eye. His mom wants him to become a doctor but Aaron doesn’t want to. Aarons mom was always giving Aaron a hard time due to the fact that she didn’t want him to work extremely hard at something just to get little to nothing in return. She wanted to protect him from that because of what his father went threw.

There are some trigger warnings that are in this book. Like bullying, mentions of sexual assault and harassment along with doxxing. I didn’t like the whole video games aspect. This wasn’t my first book where video games play a major aspect in the story. I adored the Aaron and his sister moments in the book when they played.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Don’t Read the Comments is a cute, YA romance that manages to tackle a real, ever present issue without coming across too strong or heavy.

I appreciated the diverse characters in what seems to typically be a white setting. This book will be great for junior high and high school classroom libraries. It tackles sexism in the gaming industry, but it doesn’t feel so overloaded that reading the book feels emotionally draining. Instead, it gives the reader someone to root for and cheer on.

If this book doesn’t surge in popularity, I’ll be surprised. It’s extremely current and extremely tag worthy. “Log on, fight back” could easily become a power anthem.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the ARC! <3

Don't Read the Comments is a delightfully geeky book centered around an online video game and two of it's players. Divya is the absolute queen of Reclaim the Sun and Aaron is an avid gamer who wants to eventually write video games (and in doing so disappointing his mom). Each of them has their own personal issues- many due to family strain, so Reclaim the Sun ends up being an escape. That is, until the cyber-trolling starts.

As a female gamer, I really appreciated how realistic Divya's experience being a video game streamer was- with the misogynistic and racist comments and intent. The sheer level of fear and discomfort you can experience due to the hostile nature of the online gaming community- especially towards women- is highlighted boldly in Don't Read the Comments.

As well, I really appreciate how online bullying, trolling and doxxing where highlighted and brought to attention. The author really gives an accurate example of modern internet concerns and issues that some people almost forget to consider- especially those who are not as in tune with toxic internet culture.

This was a fun read.

4/5