“I sit there on my bed, almost in disbelief happened in the mere span of an hour when it feels like it wasn’t in the bounds of normal time,” he narrates. When they finally start texting each other as friends, the effects it has on Jack lead to events that change their relationship again. On Weazel, created for students at their high school to talk anonymously, they talk more candidly without the pressure of knowing exactly who they’re sending messages to. Jack and Pepper behind their restaurant handles on Twitter are much bolder in order to fit in with the tone of the app. Instead, it allows Lord to show their personalities in a way that not all novels are capable of. It’s an important piece of the story, as it should be, but the focus remains firmly on Jack and Pepper, their relationship, and their character arcs. However, Lord doesn’t let the social media references take over the story or confuse readers.

From tweets and texts, to pop culture and meme references, the story is a perfect mix of Gen-Z culture, high school life and romance that whisks readers away to the Upper East Side and makes them dream about every kind of baked good or sandwich imaginable. “Tweet Cute” is part of the newest generation of young adult contemporaries that embraces social media and technology in its storytelling. Each step they take in their friendship feels easy and natural.

Lord doesn’t force her two narrators together, though. Jack is also lonely, though it is less obvious, as he is known for joking around and being mistaken for his twin brother, Ethan, but feels trapped by his family’s East Village deli that he’s supposed to take over. Pepper, who is at the top of their class and stays up late to help run her parent’s small-burger-joint-turned-international-franchise’s Twitter account, is lonely.

As they get to know each other in these different capacities, their relationship goes from classmates, to friends, to something more romantic. Released January 2020, “Tweet Cute” follows Pepper and Jack, two high school seniors in Manhattan who strike up a real-life friendship while unknowingly sparring on Twitter behind their respective family restaurant accounts and anonymously chatting on an app Jack designed, called Weazel. Featuring plenty of social media and pop culture references mixed between the perfect romantic-comedy vibes, Emma Lord’s debut novel, “Tweet Cute,” is ideal if you’re looking for something fun to read. As social media increasingly permeates daily life for many, it only makes sense that it’s become a prominent feature in fiction, as well.

Tweet cute emma lord