Review: “Tweet Cute” by Emma Lord

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Two teens engage in a Twitter brand war online all while, unknown to themselves, they fall in love with each other in real life in this cute and fluffy debut that is sure to give readers all the feels!

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.

All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built.

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected

Toothachingly sweet!

That’s how I would describe Tweet Cute. This book is troupe heaven! Just think an updated version of You’ve Got Mail –rivals falling in love with each other – with a tinge of some Gossip Girl vibe on the side mixed with some overachiever and class clown pairing. It’s as soft and fluffy as you expect it to be!

But more than the obvious (and totes adorbs!!!) romantic plot, Tweet Cute packs more, tackling familial pressure, self-discovery, and charting your own path all while serving up some snarky, sassy banter and Twitter gold punny moments.

The story follows Pepper and Jack. Heiress and heir to their family’s respective food businesses, the two had to balance academics and extra-curriculars – not to mention college applications and interviews – wading through the competitive air of their swanky Upper East Side prep school with helping out their parents run their businesses’ social media accounts.

The summary pretty much covers the highlights of this book, but what it doesn’t mention is just how wonderfully Pepper and Jack’s (#TeamPepperjack! Get it? Pepperjack?!?) story unfold. These two characters’ relationship is easily my favorite thing about Tweet Cute. Their sniping and snapping on Twitter, fighting over who has the right to the pool for swim/dive practice, their exchanges on Weazel, and all of the little twists and turns they both take were what made this story so fun to read. They seemed so different at first, but as the story progressed, their similarities surfaced. Their high involvement with their families and their respective businesses was a common ground: Pepper, caught in between her mother and sister’s fight, pressured into handling Big League Burger’s Twitter account by her mom, and still expected to bring home straight A’s; Jack, feeling secondary to his twin, expected to take over his family’s deli, his parents – especially his father – oblivious to the fact that it’s not what he wants.

You just couldn’t help but feel for these two darlings, and I think a great part of that is because of Emma Lord’s solid work on these her characters. She built Pepper and Jack’s story layer after layer letting them grow as they face and solve the conflicts laid out on their path. Lord’s easy and flowing writing style, her expert handling of all the social media bits incorporated into this story (god, gimme all the memes!) also adds color to this already fun read.

I enjoyed this book so very much. It came at the right time when I needed and wanted something light and happy. Tweet Cute was fluffy and romantic and cheesy – everything I could ever as of from a rom-com. Dare I say, this is going to be among my favorite books of this year. Just, maybe, some warning before you go into this story: have food and drinks on hand because you’ll get hungry reading this (grilled cheese sandwiches, anyone?)

P.S. If you’re so inclined, I had the chance to ask Emma Lord a few questions about Tweet Cute. You can find it here.

about the author Emma Lord

EMMA LORD is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. TWEET CUTE is her debut novel.

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