Link :Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £8.66
Pepper is swim team captain, top grade student, and chronic overachiever. Jack is the class clown living in the shadow of his popular twin brother. When the two of them become engaged in an anonymous twitter war over their respective family businesses, they have no idea how far things will get out of hand – or how their lives are about to change.
Cute is exactly the right word for this book. Also, sweet, kind, gentle and fun. Emma Lord is a digital media consultant so she knows her way around the social media that forms a core element of the book, but has surgically removed the dark side of the internet to leave it as a source for communication and miscommunication, confusion via anonymity and poor guesses as to who is who – perfect for a romance.
The characters are individual and interesting, both the main romantic pairing and the people in their lives, and part of the positive message of the book is that a little more communication and a little digging for the truth usually reveals conflict to be based on misunderstanding. Underneath it all, people are basically good. So, it’s a fantasy. But it’s so lovely, the character’s so empathetic, their challenges so honest, and the story so delightful, that the softening of the edges of the internet (and being a student) don’t matter at all because the book is such a pleasure to read. I enjoyed every page of this romance, was thrilled when it was working for the young lovers and heartbroken when it was not, and when I reached the last page wished I could spend more time with them. This book is a perfect refuge from an imperfect time.
