I really enjoyed this book. Sonia Hartl is definitely a favorite YA contemporary author now, with books that showcase “real” believable female characters who are flawed and loveable and relatable. I appreciated the examples of class that show up in this book, something that is still pretty rare in YA. The romance was also written so well, with a intimate scene full of consent and humor and sweetness that is so important to see in YA. I will definitely recommend this book to my teens.

Once again, Sonia Hartl has made me love her work. Even more than her first book, this one made me laugh and fall in love with her writing. She knows how to create a compelling story that doesn't delve too deep in the dark. There's nothing wrong with darkness but there's something to be said about a story that makes you think and does so without going into the darkness. I think teens will find it cute, and definitely a good book to read in this ever-darkening year. Absolutely recommend this one!

I tore through this one. I loved every moment of it! Well, I loved reading it, but I was defintiely feeling emotions and frustration at the main characters during several parts, haha! It was a perfect blend of romantic comedy, warnings against viral online presences, as well as family and small town dramas. Highly recommend to anyone who needs a good read with a slight bit of fluff.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy!

Sonia Hartl is officially a go-to author for me. Both of Sonia's books have completely, 100% captured what it's like to be a teenager in small-town America. This book was super interesting and unique. I absolutely loved that Hartl forces you to think about the other side of those viral stories that people always love sharing on the internet. She makes you think about all the real people who's lives are totally turned upside down after becoming a series of tweets. This book was such a quick read because I loved Hartl's smooth and easy writing. Teens will adore the voice of the main character and root for the romance. An absolute must read for fans of Julie Murphy and Brandy Colbert

When Macy, a small-town Midwestern YouTuber, runs into Eric at a baseball game, her entire life begins to change. After dumping a hot dog into his lap, a bystander posts the whole interaction live to Twitter. The whole interaction eventually goes viral; however, it not only brings fans, it brings internet haters too. While scared this might impact her real-life relationships, she agrees to an online relationship with Eric in order to continue to grow her internet presence. But there comes a time when Macy has to choose between faking her online relationships and truly participating in her real-life ones.

Not Your #Lovestory perfectly portrays the current climate of social media and how it impacts a teenager's everyday life. The idea of a fake relationship meant solely for the internet is not entirely unconceivable, and is something that main character, and rising YouTube star, Macy and her meet-cute boyfriend partake in. I think that what the plot-line is trying to point out through a series of uncomfortable dates and Twitter posts is extremely relevant today. This novel shares a message with young adults to not let social media, and the internet as a whole, change who you truly are and impact your real life. With one almost-real relationship, and one online relationship, the reader is constantly on their toes, wondering what Macy will choose: fame and success, or happiness and integrity.

(Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing us with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change.)

Not Your #LoveStory tells the story of Macy, a small town girl with a passion for cheesy romantic comedies and a love of sharing her reviews on her YouTube channel, R3ntal Wor1d. This is a standard example of everyday young people as we have our passions and our social media platforms that we use to promote ourselves and our passions. Every now and then, something or someone will go viral and that is what happens to Macy. While attending a baseball game with her “young enough to be her older sister” mother, she drops her hotdog and drink all over the shirt of the cute guy sitting next to her. Thanks to the photography of a lady in the row behind them, Macy’s world gets turned upside down as her “meet-cute” is plastered all over Twitter. Her YouTube channel has blown up and the Twittersphere are obsessed with the budding relationship between “flyballgirl” (Macy) and “baseballbabe2020” (Eric) and both parties seem to be benefiting from their instant fame. But going viral isn’t all that and Macy soon learns that some things aren’t all they're chalked up to be.

Some trigger warnings that the author has mentioned in her Goodreads post includes death of a child, suicide ideation, drug and alcohol use, intimidation, violence, slut shaming, and mental health. In saying that, I found this book to be incredibly respectful and authentic around these topics and the author calls out the fact that they are not okay.

Not Your #LoveStory is a truly wonderful read that has so much to offer. It takes a hard hit at the power we give social media over our lives and comments on the lack of consent and privacy our society encourages because of it all. However, it also tells a heartwarming story with a friends to lovers romance and a wonderful cast of supporting characters including both friends and family. Oh and there is this adorable side plot about bunnies that the more I think about, the more it makes me want to squeal with delight.

Hartl takes a big swing at the complicated and messy reality of social media and what it really means to go viral. The internet is amazing and it keeps our society running and connected, but there are so many negatives to it as well. Our society has morphed into one where we think it is okay to take pictures and videos of people without their consent and then post these online and say whatever we like about them. It is not an aspect I think many of us consider when we hit the publish button on our posts, but Hartl shows just how problematic our society is in this regard. She also uses the narrative to remind readers that people's online personas are only a front and the people behind them are more complex and are human with real feelings and lives.

This is a short book with less than 300 pages, but Hartl has done an incredible job of creating distinct and lovable characters throughout. Macy is the most prominent throughout the book since she's the main character, but the supporting characters surrounding her are equally as developed. There are many relationships in this book that are wonderfully portrayed including Macy and her mother, her Grandma, her best friend, Elise, and Paxton. Macy and her mother have an interesting relationship as she had Macy when she was a teenager and it has resulted in her mandating a strict set of rules that Macy must abide by to prevent history repeating itself, including but not limited to no dating people you work with. While Macy does understand why her mum has these fears, it makes it hard for her to live her life at times.

The group of friends Macy surrounds herself with are conveniently all employed at the VHS rental store/repair shop with her and are a chaotic bunch who have found their people and would do anything for one another. Macy and her friends are eclectic and ready to leave their small town to make something of themselves and I was left with no doubt that they will achieve these goals together when the time is right. It was so refreshing to read a book with such a supportive family and friend group. The community spirit within these pages was a beautiful addition.

Friends to lovers isn’t my favourite trope out there in the literary world, I am more an enemies to lovers fan if I am being honest with you, but the romance that develops between Macy and Paxton really hit the spot for me. While I do wish there had been a bit more set up before it was introduced, the relationship developed easily and authentically and it really was a wonderful representation of friends to lovers. Paxton is such a wonderful character and the mutual love between himself and Macy was a joy to read. The fact that this handsome, strong teenage boy breeds show rabbits was an addition to the story that sounds ridiculous when you say it without context, but it made his character more human and precious.

Not Your #LoveStory is a really important book for young people to read as it makes clear that there is more to life than the internet and just because you can post freely doesn't necessarily mean you should. It is an eye opening take on the internet and social media that makes you think about the way we use these mediums and the importance we place on them.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this eArc.

I really couldn't get into this book. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't really my cup of tea. I think it will appeal to some YA readers and probably its target audience which I see as young people who enjoy teen romance stories, I think it dealt with some good teen issues of social media and relationships and it was good in that respect. I think overall it was an easy quick "beach" type read and I think it will appeal to a lot of young adults. I would still recommend it to students that enjoy this genre because I think they will really enjoy it.

I was SO charmed by Hartl's debut, Have a Little Faith in Me, that I couldn't help but to request this one for review when I saw it available on NetGalley. Unfortunately, this didn't pull me in nearly as much as her previous book and I am big sad about it. I loved her previous book because I felt like it really captured an authentic and fun teenage experience, but this one didn't really feel that way at all to me. This book revolves really heavily around social media, but all of the actual tweets that were in the book felt like they were written by someone who has never actually seen twitter before (#think #lots #and #lots #of #hashtags). With all that being said, this book wasn't terrible, it just.. didn't deliver the way that I was hoping it would after loving Hartl's debut and I am so bummed about it.

TW: slut shaming, domestic violence, violating a restraining order, child abuse, death of a child, severe guilt, suicidal thoughts

In theory this sounded like a me kind of book. Sadly we didn’t mesh well. There were things in it that just didn’t work for me personally. I did really like Paxton and some parts of Macy. But overall it just wasn’t a book for me. It’s a me thing not a book thing so I recommend making up your own mind. I will say it is a quick read.

I LOVED THIS.
It was so funny and heartfelt and just plain delightful! I loved the viral social media post setting/set-up and really enjoyed the delivery of the whole thing! It was so fun and I can’t wait for my finished copy to arrive.

Thank You Publisher for Sending me and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but just couldn't get into it. I think it could have been really fun but I just couldn't get into the writing style.

Do you remember the #PlaneBAE story? The one where a woman one or two rows behind an unrelated man and woman concocted an entire romance out of their plane interactions, creating a huge sensation and then backlash? This book builds on that, moving the action to a baseball game.

The questions of privacy and how one chooses to live ones life online arise. There are some who try for some measure of fame but are willing to let it naturally grow, and there are others who want to use a scandal (or manufacture one) to grow their profile. There's also love and family relationships and friendship, and a group of great quilting buddies. As Macy works through what she does and doesn't want from life, and love, and the Internet, readers can empathize with her dilemmas and choices.

eARC provided by publisher.

I really couldn't get into this book. It wasn't BAD at all, but nothing about it grabbed me. I did finish it, because it was a really easy, fast read, and it had some good aspects. I liked the way it presented a healthy teenage relationship, and the lessons it gave on how toxic social media can be. In fact, I think this book had a lot of good lessons, especially for young readers. It just didn't grab me, didn't stand out in any way other than that. So while I didn't particularly enjoy reading it, and I doubt I'd ever read it again, I DO think it's a great book to recommend to others, especially teens and early twenty-somethings. I mean, that's who it's meant for, right? And that's probably why it just didn't speak to me. Which is totally fine, because I think it's a great book for its target audience.

This book is both funny and heartfelt while also making a strong statement about the perils of online "fame" for teens. Macy and her band of friends are believable in their banter and their friend disagreements. I highly recommend it.

<i> Not your #LoveStory </i> was a genuinely lovely read.

This is a story about a girl who grows up with social media. All positive and negative sides included. This is also a girl who feels trapped in her tiny hometown where everyone knows everything about everybody else. She is constantly subjected to her mother's own fears for her and her grandma and her friends. So there are opinions and advice coming from all directions. The lovely thing about that though, is that it is so very obvious how much everyone cares for each other.

I loved Macy and her love for old movies. I loved her group of friends, who were as chaotic and odd as she was and at a first glance, they didn't even necessarily fit together. But it worked. Paxton was charming through and through and I was just happy whenever he came on. Her mum and grandma and the entire sewing club were just a delight, honestly. The whole town (with a few exceptions) just felt like a community and I loved it.

The thing is this. As positive and amazing the internet is (I mean, I honestly love it for being able to share my love for books alone), it has it's dark patches. One of those is that we're all able to take pictures of anyone at anytime and for some reason it's become acceptable to post these on the internet. Publically. Without consent. (Remember Alex from Target? Imagine having someone take a picture of you at your work and posting it online. For whatever reason. #nightmare).
So I was all for this premise. I was all for being mad and being furious and I loved how this was dealt with. That it's deeply problematic how we as a society get roped into discussing the lives, actions and looks of people who have been photographed without their consent. Our ability to cyberstalk so well that someone will always find their house and their work and their school. It's deeply unsettling and this book dealt with it beautifully.

Because a false claim leads to turning this online love story into a tirade of slut shaming for Macy and it becomes very obvious how deeply she is affected. As she should be. As we all should be.

I think this is a very important book to read. Not only for the adorable love story which I enjoyed very much, but because it makes you think about our online culture in general.

I literally urge everyone to read this. And to have a think about how you personally behave online. It's what I did and I had to face some truths that were a little uncomfortable. So a huge thank you to Sonia Hartl for this unapologetically honest book. What a great read.

I can't say if it was because it was shorter than most books out these days or if I just secretly really loved it, but I finished this book in just a few short hours. It was unexpected, but I found I couldn't really put it down. Macy wants to run a successful YouTube channel on movie reviews in order to escape her small town. She loves her family, but a part of her doesn't want to turn out like her mother: pregnant and left alone at the age of sixteen. When an opportunity arises after a freak incident at a baseball game, she has her chance to be a viral success. Begrudgingly she takes the chance, even if it means she might ruin some of her relationships. It leads to instafame, but she soon begins to realize it might not be as worth it as she thought, especially if it means she might lose out on her newfound love.

There were parts of this book that felt too short while others felt drawn out. I felt I didn't get the whole picture of who Macy really was. Even after reading, I'm unsure if she was still in school or if this was the gap year she had talked about. However, the way she had described the gap year made it seem like they hadn't had it yet. While it was enjoyable to have a sex scene, it felt undeserved and too drawn out compared to other moments. I felt much could have been done between Eric and Macy that just wasn't and that relationships between characters could have been give more details. I don't feel as if I knew many of them as well as I should have. What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter is similar to this, but while Kanter gives redemption ARCs and great detail, Hartl fell short. On the contrary, the story idea was refreshing and handled with tact. There were several opportunities for it to fall apart or misread a situation, but it handled them well and it led to an overall enoyable story. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have devoured it in a day.

This had all the premise and structure to become a very good story with a good moral and everything.
It failed. For me.
I loved the synopsis and I was really excited to read it. A story about being viral online and then all of it that follows? Sounds really good, right.
But this - it was just too much of a teenage whiny dump. I'm sorry 😔
I liked Macy, no doubt. And I liked Paxton and her friends and her movie obsession. Even get family, they were loud and kinda weird but ok 🙈😂 but the writing was so messed up and sloppy and the subthemes kind of fell so bland. The characters were too one dimensional, I felt, and I couldn't relate to either. I wish the author had shown a bit more into how it was affecting Macy's mental health, you know? How bad the viral was the it started to mess with her. Instead it was turned into a romantic love triangle. I also wish Macy and Eric would have played more into the game. That would've been nice since we only saw them out once, and just a few tweets (which were so cringy omg kill me). It felt too less, like things only happened because it had to and happened only for once or twice to add to the plot. (Idk if this makes sense but ok).
I did like the hopeful ending though. It was good and strong, I believe. The theme was really good - how internet has both these bad and good sides, and how quick it is to judge people online. But otherwise, this book was a no-go for me.

Not gonna lie, this was a hooking premise. I really like the unique idea of a third party bystander faking a relationship between two random people, but this book let me down. First off, it feels like it was written by someone who lacks a basic understanding of social media. If Macy genuinely wants to make YoutTube her career, her way out of poverty, she needs to post more than reviews of fifty year old movies. I genuinely have never heard of anyone “making it” in YouTube by cosplaying as characters from Dirty Dancing. You can’t make that your career. Macy isn’t passionate; she’s just stubborn. She refuses to post things that will do well, but she also clings to the hope that her YouTube will magically become big enough to allow her to leave home and live in Chicago.
Second, if Macy wants to make her YouTube viral, she should take advantage of this newfound fame. Just because she went viral for a fake relationship doesn’t mean that everything she posts has to be about that one incident. It is difficult, but totally possible, to take one viral incident and launch a chole career (Danielle Bregoli, anyone??). Macy has no semblance of balance in her life; she is unable to take advantage of her opportunities without absolutely losing her mind. A pity, really.
The characters themselves are sweet, if extremely one-dimensional. Throughout the book, Paxton’s dark past is hinted at. It was a shocking reveal, but it didn’t exactly justify his visceral reaction to Macy’s internet fame. Macy’s coworker, Midnight, gets a dramatic past as well, but it just felt expected by the time we finally hear it. Eric is overly villianified, and doesn’t ever feel like a real person.
Overall, it was really hard to get behind Macy because she seems confused about what she wants. Her final decision also struck me as odd, and an absolute waste. Though the book is built off an interesting idea and the characters gel together very well, the plot was ultimately disappointing.

This a quick, fun, and easy YA romance read. At first, you're following aspiring YouTuber Macy in what looks like a love triangle of sorts between one complete jerk and two of her coworkers/friends, so it's a little unclear who the main characters are. The story is slow to start. It reminds me of a teen, YA version of "Girl Gone Viral" with the context of a bystander live tweets a supposed meet-cute, even if it turns out to be faked. But, of course, the truth isn't what it seems online. Eric is a cocky, slimy jerk who wants to capitalize on the attention. And, there we get the classic fake dating trope so the duo can get more exposure and website revenue. Then, there's a love triangle trope with Paxton, the sweetheart she's big-time crushing on. Macy is caught between ethics and money over if she should play into this Twitter narrative or note. But, her and Paxton are just so raw, vulnerable, and super cute. It's a quick, fun YA read.

Easily one of my favorite YAs of the year! Such a smart, feminist romance with the most endearing characters and a hilarious, authentic voice. Hartl is on my auto-buy list! Her books make my heart so happy.