Review: At First Blush - Beth Ellyn Summer

At First Blush 
Beth Ellyn Summer
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads
Reading Challenges: #ContRom2017, #DebutAuthorsChallenge2017, #NGEW2017, Alphabet Soup Challenge

Lacy lives for her YouTube channel and dreams of reaching that one million subscriber mark. She is one of three YouTubers selected for a summer internship at On Trend Magazine. Her job will be to rep the products from a sponsor selected by the magazine and to help with the image makeover for brooding pop star, Tyler. She wants her channel be the next big thing, but what price is she willing to pay?

I LOVE romances like this. When I was reading it, I kept getting that Jennifer E Smith vibe, and well, I adore all that is JES. So, definitely a good thing. The story was just so adorable, and I found myself suffering from endless smiles.

"It's sort of important to know when something's over."
"Maybe I didn't want it to end."

Lacy was a very likable MC. She was goal orientated, but very caring. She didn't want to step on others or exploit people to get what she wanted.  She had a desire to earn her accolades, and I totally respected and admired that. She also probably cared too much. Lacy was often weighed down by other people's problems or opinions, and realizing this was an important part of her journey as she defined herself during this story. I liked that she was a work in progress and grew so much during this book. She had to experience those missteps to grow and change for the better, as that is part of real life.

"No. You're the good kind of unexpected. Like when you smell that awesome sunblock smell in the deal of winter, or you eat a chocolate Easter egg in the fall."

There were quite a few characters, who contributed to this story's success for me. Tyler was complicated, but there were so many super-cute-sweet moments between these two. I think I giggled like a 13-year-old a time or two. I am just a sucker for this sort of stuff. I loved Kendall as well. She was a great mentor to Lacy, and was almost like her fairy godmother, in that she guided her, while also gifting Lacy with great opportunities. I consider both On Trend and Primetime Tonight characters as well. There was a certain energy associated with these two locals in the story, and there was usually something interesting and fun going on there. It is not surprising that the intern experiences have a certain depth and were captured so well, as Summer interned on both Fallon and Conan.

There was a lot of interesting social commentary woven in the book as well. This idea of fame and the trade-offs associated with that achievement, as well as this idea of compromising your ideals/selling your soul to attain that desired star-status. It was presented from both Lacy's and Tyler's perspectives, which were slightly different, and thus, gave me more to think about. Although there was stuff to think about, but this was by no means a heavy book. In fact, I loved the lightness of the story, as I am a big escape reader.

I am not a YouTuber, but I found all that stuff pretty interesting. I appreciated that way Summer depicted that it's a lot of work, because that is similar to blogging, and I thought she captured the way I feel when I get a comment.

The book blurb mentions The Devil Wears Prada, and I can see the comparisons, but I also feel confident comparing it to Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies. It had a similar feel, as LBDLWL was set in the fast-paced magazine world, but At First Blush was on the sweeter side, as it didn't have that cut-throat element that was in LBDLWL.

Overall: A fun, light, and totally adorable read, which put a perma-smile on my face.


**I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book

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