When I first heard about Play it Again, I was beyond excited. The premise sounded exactly up my alley: A cute boy-boy romance? Star-crossed lovers separated by an entire ocean? And the diverse rep for someone who has lost their vision and became a huge YouTuber? Check, check, and check. The actual story, however, left a lot to be desired.
Here are the basics: Dovid and his twin sister Rachel are Seattle-based YouTubers who review restaurants regarding their accessibility for physically impaired clientele. Dovid, blind and in search of places that offer special amenities for people with disabilities, and Rachel, who is in charge of the camera are somewhat YouTube-famous with a following of six million. One day, Rachel mentions a minor YouTuber who plays games online and Dovid subsequently falls in love with Irish gamer Sam’s voice and starts up a conversation with him. And the story takes off from there. Or it doesn’t, if we’re talking about my reading experience.
While the premise sounded so promising, the execution was off. Certainly, the insta-love could be blamed here on a superficial level, but the real issue was with the characters Sam and Dovid who had no chemistry whatsoever. They were both just so – polite. It is never mentioned in the book how old either of these guys are, but judging from their level of self-confidence, speech patterns and overall consideration of every phrase they utter, I’d have almost confused this with a children’s novel.
To clarify, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being considerate. But when two characters cannot hold a conversation for more than two pages without apologizing multiple times for asking advice, paying compliments, keeping someone up for five minutes after eleven o’clock (yes, I wish I was kidding), or posting semi-emotional YouTube videos about the other one, it becomes tedious to the point where it is almost painful to follow these conversations. Both Sam and Dovid are so scared of offending anyone in the entire world that there is no room for conflict or tension to thicken the already weak plot of the novel. There is much to be said for being polite and friendly, but anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes on social media, typing out a reply on Twitter or Instagram knows that no one in their right mind would apologize four times (yes, I counted) for asking advice on how to deal with Twitter followers – especially when that advice was freely offered by the other party.
Awkward “sorry”-and-“thank you”-filled dialogue aside, there is the whole issue with the YouTube plotline. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but for this book to work, you’d have to have no preconceived notions of YouTubers, internet fame, or social media at all. Dovid and Rachel are famous to the point where they are apparently constantly shipped with other YouTubers the second they mention them in their videos. While this might be the case for today’s bigger YouTubers, I thought it was a bit unrealistic to say that with six million followers, everyone will want to know your relationship status to the point where they are harassing you in the comments. There was absolutely no need for Dovid or Sam to clarify their relationship status multiple times just because they mentioned they were friends. Who, for most of the storyline, aren’t even seen together. I’ve read my share of YouTuber stories (and fanfiction, let’s be honest) and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here, however, I felt like half of the time I was reading a how-to-guide on how to be successful on social media sprinkled in with some romance along the line to make it a story.
Lastly, the writing was a huge problem for me. Sam and Dovid’s “blooming romance” read like an instruction manual. The writing was stilted, unemotional and suffered heavily from the “tell rather than show” syndrome. There is no memorable description of places or people’s appearances. While this is a logical choice for Dovid’s POV seeing as he is blind, there is no excuse for why we can’t get any description from Sam’s side. Further, we’re never given any kind of indication of how Sam and Dovid are feeling; instead, we are told. Sam is happy about Dovid giving him a shout out. He is scared of becoming too internet-famous. He is in love with Dovid. How any of these emotional reactions come to pass (e.g. is he feeling pressured to reply immediately to everyone’s comments on his latest video, does he think his content is not worth all the views he’s getting, has he formed an emotional bond with Dovid through any conversation besides one filled with sorry and thank you and you’re welcome, does he think about quitting his day job to pursue YouTube full-time…) is never explored or even mentioned. Instead, we get simple sentences that explain away internal processes that might have added some depth to two very one-dimensional characters. This book was told in dual PoV, but the robotic dialogue and altogether emotionless and similar delivery of sentences made it difficult to figure out who was speaking.
Sadly, this meant that the romance didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t feel invested in the characters or their relationship because we don’t get to learn about their struggles, inner turmoil or dreams for the future. Instead, the reader is told that these two people fall in love with repetitive conversations about YouTube advice and beaten-to-death words such as “adorable” (for the use of which Sam apologizes) and “wet voice” which makes Sam realize Dovid actually cares for him (instead of the fact that Dovid actually says “I care about you” multiple times).
Overall, I’m disappointed because this book had so much potential, but ended up being one that is skippable. The diversity is what drew me into this book, but it was used more as a stamp instead of as actual traits of Dovid’s or Sam’s character. There was so much room for them to be more well-rounded and fleshed-out. Same goes for the romance. Ignoring the awkward writing style for a moment, there was true potential for a cute, heart-warming romance between a shy, adorable (yes, I’m stealing the word for a moment) Irish YouTuber with a voice anyone could pick out of a line-up and a funny restaurant critic like Dovid who wants to make the world more accessible for everyone.
Alas, if you’re looking for a queer romance with diversity and loads of laugh-out loud moments, you might be better off with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or Red, White and Royal Blue.
Play It Again is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read Play It Again? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The videos are fun.
But it’s the host who has him coming back for more…
When Seattle-based blind YouTuber Dovid Rosenstein finds Sam Doyle’s Let’s Play channel, playitagainsam, he’s instantly captivated by the Irish gamer. Everything about Sam is adorable, from his accent to his personality, and Dovid can’t get enough of his content.
Dovid’s glowing shout-out on Don’t Look Now, his own successful channel, sends Sam’s subscriber numbers skyrocketing overnight. He has more comments than he can read. And while the sudden surge in popularity is anxiety inducing, Sam decides it’s only right to dedicate his next episode to Dovid…which soon leads to a heart-pounding exchange of DMs.
They may have never met in person, but Dovid’s never felt this close to anyone before. What they have feels worth exploring—no matter the distance. But is it possible to already be in love with someone who’s half a world away?
