e-ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: April 15, 2025
Published by: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar
Read from: April 4-27, 2025
Stand-Alone
Source: Feiwel & Friends (I received a free e-ARC from the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Racism, Police Brutality, Medical Content, Car Accident
For Readers Interested In: Influencers, Realistic Fiction, Social Media, Romance, Contemporary, Racial Ethnic Diversity (Black), New AdultBlack college student Sydney Ciara navigates academics, love, and the online realm, in this Young Adult coming-of-age romance told through her blog posts, messages, social media posts, and more!
Sydney Ciara Warren is excited as she starts her first year of college, but also nervous. Her best friend Malcolm will be at a different university, so she’ll have to make new friends. And despite her interests in writing and fashion, she has no idea what path will ultimately be right for her—though they probably don’t involve law school, regardless of her parents’ wishes.
As Sydney Ciara tries to figure out her place on campus and in the world, she finds solace in blogging about her life, putting together outfits with meaning, and spending time on Twitter. It’s within the digital space that she connects with someone who goes by YoungPrinceX. She may not know “X” in real life, but that doesn’t stop her from developing a crush on him. Except things get complicated, as she also navigates her first romantic relationship with a sweet boy on campus named Xavier (who maybe could be X?).
Can Sydney Ciara not only make it through her first semester, but thrive in real life, as much as she seems to be thriving online?
Told through blog posts, tweets, messages, emails, and more, here is a love letter to Twitter, to Black girls who think they won’t get chosen, and to those who take too long finding the perfect words.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Not gonna lie, this was a little weird lol I’m being so for real when I say there’s some of everything. But I can say it was a little slow for my liking. It took entirely too long for it to set up. And as someone who’s not a fan of slow burns….
Ok so the plot of this was good, but it was a little non-existent in the beginning. I think it was the weight of the epistolary kind of writing style. It seemed to be just a stream of consciouness about her life at college. And then there’s another scene that seems to come out of nowhere. But I wasn’t exactly mad at that because that’s how it happens in real life. We think things might be changing and then another Black man/woman is murdered. I can’t lie, when it got to that part, my heart skipped a beat. It might have been slow, but at least it was realistic.
I also didn’t love the love triangle in here when this book is so short. Especially when one person is actually online lol And let me just say, I am not a fan of the person who she ended up with. I gotta say, if she had chose them, that was my fave trope and I was all excited thinking it was going to happen. And then when it didn’t, it hurt. Not only because of the trope thing, but because of the way she was a little cringe. She got mad at them for not being themselves, but with them being as close as they were, I just felt a way about her being with someone she didn’t even know. It was just weird lol Idk how to explain it.
The writing style of this was cool tho. As a blogger girlie and someone who has been on almost every platform with her blog, I related to this in so many different ways. And right now while so many things are under fire, I really related to her finding herself in her words. I also loved the work that she was doing and the questions that she brought up. And she definitely gave me some reading material. I haven’t read everyrthing that was listed in there, so I placed some holds on some of them for work.
This was ok, but I do wish we had more of the whimsical, romantic feel of her first book in this one. I can’t wait to see what else Stringfield has in mind for her future projects. Definitely a cool love letter to being chronically online. One that I felt deeply.
Overall, I give this
