Not Your #LoveStory tells the story of Macy, a small town girl with a passion for cheesy romantic comedies and a love of sharing her reviews on her YouTube channel, R3ntal Wor1d. This is a standard example of everyday young people as we have our passions and our social media platforms that we use to promote ourselves and our passions. Every now and then, something or someone will go viral and that is what happens to Macy. While attending a baseball game with her “young enough to be her older sister” mother, she drops her hotdog and drink all over the shirt of the cute guy sitting next to her. Thanks to the photography of a lady in the row behind them, Macy’s world gets turned upside down as her “meet-cute” is plastered all over Twitter. Her YouTube channel has blown up and the Twittersphere are obsessed with the budding relationship between “flyballgirl” (Macy) and “baseballbabe2020” (Eric) and both parties seem to be benefiting from their instant fame. But going viral isn’t all that and Macy soon learns that some things aren’t all they’re chalked up to be.
Some trigger warnings that the author has mentioned in her Goodreads post includes death of a child, suicide ideation, drug and alcohol use, intimidation, violence, slut shaming, and mental health. In saying that, I found this book to be incredibly respectful and authentic around these topics and the author calls out the fact that they are not okay.
Not Your #LoveStory is a truly wonderful read that has so much to offer. It takes a hard hit at the power we give social media over our lives and comments on the lack of consent and privacy our society encourages because of it all. However, it also tells a heartwarming story with a friends to lovers romance and a wonderful cast of supporting characters including both friends and family. Oh and there is this adorable side plot about bunnies that the more I think about, the more it makes me want to squeal with delight.
Hartl takes a big swing at the complicated and messy reality of social media and what it really means to go viral. The internet is amazing and it keeps our society running and connected, but there are so many negatives to it as well. Our society has morphed into one where we think it is okay to take pictures and videos of people without their consent and then post these online and say whatever we like about them. It is not an aspect I think many of us consider when we hit the publish button on our posts, but Hartl shows just how problematic our society is in this regard. She also uses the narrative to remind readers that people’s online personas are only a front and the people behind them are more complex and are human with real feelings and lives.
This is a short book with less than 300 pages, but Hartl has done an incredible job of creating distinct and lovable characters throughout. Macy is the most prominent throughout the book since she’s the main character, but the supporting characters surrounding her are equally as developed. There are many relationships in this book that are wonderfully portrayed including Macy and her mother, her Grandma, her best friend, Elise, and Paxton. Macy and her mother have an interesting relationship as she had Macy when she was a teenager and it has resulted in her mandating a strict set of rules that Macy must abide by to prevent history repeating itself, including but not limited to no dating people you work with. While Macy does understand why her mum has these fears, it makes it hard for her to live her life at times.
The group of friends Macy surrounds herself with are conveniently all employed at the VHS rental store/repair shop with her and are a chaotic bunch who have found their people and would do anything for one another. Macy and her friends are eclectic and ready to leave their small town to make something of themselves and I was left with no doubt that they will achieve these goals together when the time is right. It was so refreshing to read a book with such a supportive family and friend group. The community spirit within these pages was a beautiful addition.
Friends to lovers isn’t my favourite trope out there in the literary world, I am more an enemies to lovers fan if I am being honest with you, but the romance that develops between Macy and Paxton really hit the spot for me. While I do wish there had been a bit more set up before it was introduced, the relationship developed easily and authentically and it really was a wonderful representation of friends to lovers. Paxton is such a wonderful character and the mutual love between himself and Macy was a joy to read. The fact that this handsome, strong teenage boy breeds show rabbits was an addition to the story that sounds ridiculous when you say it without context, but it made his character more human and precious.
Not Your #LoveStory is a really important book for young people to read as it makes clear that there is more to life than the internet and just because you can post freely doesn’t necessarily mean you should. It is an eye opening take on the internet and social media that makes you think about the way we use these mediums and the importance we place on them.
Not Your #LoveStory is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 1st 2020.
Will you be picking up Not Your #LoveStory? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
#PlaneBae meets Gilmore Girls in this hilarious and heartfelt story about the addictiveness of Internet fame and the harsh realities of going viral.
Macy Evans dreams of earning enough income from her YouTube channel, R3ntal Wor1d, to leave her small, Midwestern town. But when she meets a boy named Eric at a baseball game, and accidently dumps her hotdog in his lap, her disastrous “meet-cute” becomes the topic of a viral thread. Now it’s not loyal subscribers flocking to her channel, it’s Internet trolls. And they aren’t interested in her reviews of VHS tapes—they only care about her relationship with Eric.
Eric is overly eager to stretch out his fifteen minutes of fame, but Macy fears this unwanted attention could sabotage her “real-life” relationships—namely with the shy boy-next-door, Paxton, who she’s actually developing feelings for. Macy knows she should shut the lie down, though she can’t ignore the advertising money, or the spark she gets in her chest whenever someone clicks on her videos. Eric shouldn’t be the only one allowed to reap the viral benefits. But is faking a relationship for clicks and subscribers worth hurting actual people?
