Book Musings - Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

Image taken from Goodreads

Title : Love, Comment, Subscribe

Author : Cathy Yardley

Series : Ponto Beach Reunion #1

Genre : Romance, Chicklit

Read date : January 7, 2023 - January 8, 2023

Source : Kindle Unlimited

Blurb :

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?

Book Musings :

Is it any surprise that I picked up a romance as the year's second read? NOPE! Whoever knows me knows that romance is my second most favourite genre. I came across Love, Comment, Subscribe on Kindle while perusing for a good romantic book. I promptly picked it up since the synopsis sounded fun and I needed it after the thriller I had just finished.

Frenemies to lovers is one of the tropes I relish reading. Come on guys! Isn't it a very thin line between love and hate and this absolutely proves it without any issue every time. I was particularly thrilled to see a non mainstream pairing of characters. Frankly I was tired of the same repetitive protagonists. It was refreshing to read about different nationalities and career choices. I had a blast reading about it all. What I didn't enjoy was the slow burn. I agree the story was cute but so predictable and the pacing was not up to my speed. 

Character-wise, I felt Lily was the perfect foil for Tobin. It was like the author segregated their opposite traits and planned them to fit each other like a puzzle. It was entertaining and boring in turns. It has all the components of a good romance but the base barely held the story together. There should be a spark to generate fire among and with the characters which was sorely missing. Though it is a pretty decent read, it lacked the oomph I love in a solid romance. In short, it was an okay one time read at the end of it.

My one line review : Pretty decent story but sorely lacking the oomph of a great romance

My rating : 3/5

My reread factor : 2/5