This should’ve been right up my alley, but it was just SOOO social media-focused that I got bored after awhile with all of the technical details. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this First Reads selection actually is a true contemporary romance – it’s a slow burn, opposites attract love story that features some steamy scenes, has great representation, and feels VERY modern. So modern that it limits the audience in a big way – I’m not much older than the characters and I use social media on a daily basis, but even I felt ancient reading this. It’s a deep dive into the daily lives of influencers, complete with the stress and focus on numbers that goes into the profession. That makes it an interesting and unique read, up to a point. Then it just gets boring. After awhile, the focus on their careers felt tedious and kind of exhausting; I had already started disengaging emotionally before the romance kicked into high gear.
The story follows Tobin and Lily, two people who are professional influencers. These two total opposites grew up together – and were even kind of/sort of friends for awhile – but their social media accounts couldn’t be more different. Lily is career-driven, and she’s still trying to get in with the popular crowd while posting about makeup and beauty. Tobin has always been a prankster, and he’s made a career out of playing video games, joking around, and having a good time. Their careers are both stalling, so Lily and Tobin decide to team up on some videos – and find themselves falling in love in the process.
I would probably only recommend this to those who are already somewhat familiar with social media and influencers, because there is a LOT of focus on that. As I said before, I felt old reading it, lol. The tone does remain pretty light and rom com-esque throughout, though it touches on some heavier subjects. And there are some sexy moments to heat things up. I loved the childhood frenemies to lovers romance at the heart of this, and I also liked the writing style. It just gets bogged down by so much other stuff that it didn’t end up feeling overly romantic. Lily’s uptight personality and (unsuccessful) attempts to find a hookup to scratch the itch (after befriending Tobin again) did nothing to endear her to me, and there weren’t many tender, romantic moments. I wanted to love this, and I did love parts of it, but it ended up being somewhat unsatisfying.
Blurb:
From award-winning author Cathy Yardley comes Love, Comment, Subscribe, a fun, feisty romance about high school frenemies turned unlikely collaborators.
Back in high school, Lily Wang wanted to be popular, but she considered herself lucky to be part of a tight group of oddballs and honors students called the Nerd Herd. Now, at twenty-eight, she feels like she’s finally on the cusp of succeeding as a beauty influencer—if she can hit five million subscribers, brands will take notice and she could get her own makeup line.
Fellow Nerd Herd alum Tobin Bui has had a lot of success as a YouTube gamer. But the road to online stardom has been rocky. First, he disappointed his parents by dropping out of college, and now, after years of pranks, skits, and playthroughs, he’s struggling to come up with new content to satisfy his ever-growing fan base. His agents say he needs cross-audience appeal, a new twist.
When Nerd Herd frenemy Lily approaches Tobin about teaming up to do a video to bolster her brand and reinvigorate his, he agrees. But when their first collab video goes viral, their relationship heats up too. With the whole internet watching, will these two former misfits finally realize they’re perfect together?
Read Love, Comment, Subscribe one month early – and for FREE!
Love, Comment, Subscribe releases on October 1st, HOWEVER, it was selected as one of Amazon’s First Reads this month, so it’s available RIGHT NOW! If you’re unfamiliar with the program, it allows Prime readers to get specific books one month early – for FREE! The program is free too, so it’s a no-brainer.
If you’re a Prime member, you can check out the details on the product page: https://amzn.to/3yQJqXV
If you’re not a Prime member, you can grab a free 30-day trial here: https://amzn.to/3tlejlF
About the Author:
Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin’s, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and that sometimes being a little wrong is just right.
She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures, because she’s had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society of Creative Anachronism; she spent a New Year’s on a three-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert; she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles.
Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of East Seattle, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth of any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs (and one husband.)
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