Love, Comment, Subscribe

Ponto Beach Reunion, Book 1

De: Cathy Yardley

Narrado por: Jenapher Zheng, David Lee Huynh

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?

©2021 by Cathy Wilson. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Alternating viewpoints are narrated by promising new narrators Jenapher Zheng and David Lee Huynh. Both performers are skilled with character voices and accents. Zheng captures the understated, calm demeanor Lily has cultivated for her audience.... Equally talented, Huynh brings Tobin's high-energy personality to life. Together, Zheng and Huynh deliver a delightfully entertaining production that listeners will find appealing.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“Yardley brings humor and humanity into the cutthroat world of online influencers, showing the realm’s pleasures and pressures. Both protagonists are delightfully flawed, and Yardley seamlessly weaves their backstories and details of their Asian American heritage into the fast-paced narrative. This smart, sexy tale of fame and friendship is a charmer.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“A fun, lively romance mines the insecurities common in people transitioning to adulthood.” (Kirkus Reviews)

My first Cathy Yardley read

One thing I love about being a prime member is that I get Amazon First Reads, which is a book that you receive a month before it's available to others which is how I grabbed my first ever Cathy Yardley book. I didn't have a chance to read it before the release but once I was able to sit and enjoy it I downloaded the audio version so I would be submerged into the world of Love, Comment, Subscribe and I'm so glad I did because .Jenapher Zheng and David Lee Huynh did a wonderful job of bringing Lily and Tobin to life.

This book is such a reflection of the times we are living in. You have bloggers and vloggers all trying their hardest to get noticed and believe me when I tell you it isn't easy. Lily and Tobin will show you just how hard it can be in this sweet and sexy read.

Lily Wang wanted to be popular in high school but she wasn't one of the cool kids, she was part of the Nerd Herd along with Tobin Bui. They each have their own vlogging channels on YouTube and are always looking for something new to do to entice new viewers to Love, Comment, and Subscribe to their channels. We are taken on the journey to not only find new followers but so much more.

I not only loved Lily and Tobin but all of their friends from their High School days that we have met and I am really looking forward to continuing this series.

If you enjoy New Adult Romances, Contemporary Romances, RomComs or Friends-to-Lovers Romances I would recommend this book to you.

Happy Reading!!!

fun but not steamy

I really enjoyed this read. There was good and bad, so definitely gonna have some mixed feelings that others may not have, but it was an entertaining read.

I loved the representation; Lily was American of Taiwanese descent and Tobin was British-White and American of Vietnamese descent. I didn't really feel much about their culture on the page, so at times it was hard to picture them. I didn't even know Tobin was biracial until over 50% into the book. SInce I know SE Asian surnames, I assumed, but I would've loved to know why he had to be half white.

I liked that they were influencers, especially very different ones, because it meant they had something to gain from one another. They needed to work together to widen their audiences, and while I appreciated all the work they showed on the page, sometimes it did take away from the romance of them getting to know one another.

Granted, they've known each other for over 20 years, as they used to be in the same social circle. But that also brings me to my point of how their voices felt a bit juvenile. Maybe the mistake was made showing them in high school first. Showing their voices as teenagers, highlighted how similar their voices were as 28 year olds versus 17-18 year olds. Tone wise, it almost felt like I was reading a YA romance, because while they weren't overly immature, they weren't mature either. Lily was still holding onto not being popular in high school??? Girl, you are a well-known, amazingly gorgeous influencer. I know she always wanted more for herself, but there were times where she honestly didn't feel relatable to me. Not a bad thing, because not every character can be. But I suppose I understood why she needed Tobin's relatability in the first place.

The book highlighted the exhaustion of having to always create, family not seeing it as a "real" job, and being pressured to always keep your numbers up. Again, that took away from the romance, but that part was interesting. Sometimes, even when you love to do something, it's a lot of work to have to do it on command.

The "two" love scenes left a lot to be desired(girl almost turned down o*al; what?) but Cathy is more like a low steam author. It's a real slow burn, and the time it takes kinda underwhelms you. It was a fun read that didn't take long to read. I'd recommend it depending on the tone you're looking for, but if you prefer high steam like me, you may want to read it, but not rush.

So touching

Talk about a long and just right burn. I like (love), making my comment and subscribe to this. I won't post any spoilers but the epiphanies are definitely mind stirring. Made me reevaluate some things about my life and who I'm living it for.

Cute frienemies to romance

Love, Comment, Subscribe is a super cute story. It’s very contemporary and the slowest of slow burn. Friends/enemies to lovers sort of story set in the world of YouTubers.

“He was jazz. She was a military march . . . the kind where the band would get shot if they got a note wrong.”

Up and coming beauty influencer EverLily is uber-focused on her career and trying to add to her followers. A collaboration with former high school frienemy and gaming YouTuber, GoofyBui just might be the shot her channel needs to move it to the next level.

“I’m a dog, Lily.” …
“I’m silly, and happy, and mostly harmless,” he explained. “You, on the other hand, are a cat. You’re beautiful and finicky, and despite any attempts for a dog to play with you, you would probably hiss before clawing the hell out of me.”

Tobin has always had a bit of a crush on Lily but he has to help her realize that there is real life to be lived beyond the likes, comments and subscribers!
I listened to some of this story on audiobook and the narration was wonderful.
#NetGalley
-4 Stars-

Very current

I read this series out of order: 2-3-1 and that’s probably a good thing. High school reminiscing doesn’t appeal to me but in this case, I can understand as it’s a huge part of Lily’s growth.

The world of Influencers is something I am not familiar with and Ms. Yardley did a great job of introducing me to it.

Like how I felt about the two other books in this series, I loved the lifelong friendship of the Nerd Herd and totally enjoyed the scenes when they’re all together.

I had to play this at 1.5x speed because the female narrator had too long pauses in between paragraphs. Aside from that, they’re both good.

Decent Story

Not my normal review template but it will work.

The first 15% of the story nearly lead me to a DNF... Not because of the writing, but the content as it focuses on the minutia of influencers and YouTube-ers.

Parts of the story were fun but the bulk of the story followed an influencer who wants to prove her worth to the high school girls that made fun of her and a YouTube star who is rudderless but successful. They went to HS together and were part of a group called the Nerd Herd. He owned the title and she ran from it.

I am ambivalent about their future as he just has no desire to be anything but a person that does silly things on YouTube.

relatable for all adult ages and races

I really enjoyed this story. it brought back so many high school memories. the two narrators did a great job working the story and making you believe they were the characters.

Love love loved it

This is a book I absolutely want to hug. Tobin was just perfection. I am not a YouTuber, but I could understand this completely and the struggles they went through. This was just adorable and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

Cute

Love this story. Love how Lilly wants to fit in with the Vanessa’s of this world, the stuck up snobs in high school, but finds she is stuck with nerdy group anyways. Then 10 years later Tobin, her nemesis, has grown into a man and Tobin sees Lilly as this gorgeous Babe. Things change between them and their relationship of love/hate begins with a lot of love. Very sweet story and would recommend it if you like the more cleaner stories, definitely not erotica, except for a few moments of indiscretions.

Super Fun, Easy Listen

This is my second Cathy Yardley listen after Role Playing, which is a pretty new title. I enjoyed Role Playing so much that I decided to try this series.

This is a super cute story. It's fun and interesting without taking itself too seriously. The steamy parts are a real vibe. Lots of feels in this one without a lot of stress, which is exactly what I was looking for. It's not as mature as Role Playing, but the characters in this one are about half the age of the characters in Role Playing, so I think it makes sense. I'm excited to listen to the next book in the series! I'm a bit of a quirky nerd myself, so I really appreciate where Cathy's humor comes from.