Review: Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros
The roller coaster car of Abby Donovan's career is beginning to slow down. She's already had her day on Oprah, and she can't get past chapter four in her new novel. Her publicist thinks Abby needs to get a Twitter account to boost her sales and help her connect with her fans.
On her very first Twitter day, Abby meets Mark Baynard, who says he's a literature professor from Ole Miss on sabbatical in Europe. Abby hasn't had much luck with love, she's suffering writer's block, and her editor isn't returning her phone calls. All those problems seem to fade away, however, when she exchanges tweets with Mark. Abby is counting the days until she can meet her Twitter buddy in real life.
Teresa Medeiros's Goodnight Tweetheart: A Love Story in 140 Characters or Less is mostly a conversation between Mark and Abby rendered as if the two were DM'ing (direct messaging) each other on Twitter. I didn't count, but presumably each tweet met the 140-character limit. Abby and Mark's banter is, however, a little more thought out than most Twitter conversations; for example, there are no funny typos and very few instances of dropped articles or other means of shortening the text to meet the 140 limit. In only one case does Abby mistakenly send a somewhat embarrassing private tweet to her public stream.
Goodnight Tweetheart is a quick, light read that would be perfect for travel or for the beach. Fans of pop culture will appreciate the many television, movie, book, and music references Abby and Mark work into their conversation. There is also a fair amount of gadget/technology name-dropping. Unfortunately, the Twitter gimmick doesn't quite work. You'll soon forget that the couple is communicating on Twitter, and you have the impression that Abby and Mark could just as easily be instant messaging, texting, or emailing.
Book clubs will appreciate the reading guide included at the back of the novel. Questions focus on the meanings behind some of the pop culture references, the idea of finding love online, and how truthful people are about themselves in a public forum.
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Published by Simon & Schuster / Gallery Books, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781439188156
YTD: 39
Source: Review (print & audio) (see review policy)
Rating: C
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)
13 comments:
I am not sure this book would work for me, but it does sound like it tells a cute story. I have not been all that involved with Twitter. Mainly because I just don't know how to get into the conversation!
I agree with everything you said. it's a cute book and a cute story, but the twitter part seems rather unreal. they were quite public with what they were saying in the beginning and Abby never seems to talk to anyone else on twitter. it did seem more like email/instant messaging/chat room than twitter.
When I first saw this, I thought: Yes! A book in twitter format, how awesome! But if you don't really notice that it is on twitter, I don't think I will add this book to my TBR, because that list is already a mile long ;)
If I didn't have ants in my pants to read at least a dozen books immediately, I'd think about it. Does it sound bad if I say that I don't have time for fluff? Shame on me.
Though this book isn't for me, the girl who lives next door would probably love it. I'll mention it to her.
This sounds really cute!
This sounds really cute and something to put on my summer reading list-even though I don't quite get Twitter.
I'm finding that I don't have a lot of time for reading right now. This one might be perfect.
I agree it sounds rather cute but even in the dog days of summer I want a bit mote than a cute gimmick
Its was a nice try to use pop culture as a theme but it falls short and rings untrue. Even if it could happen its a one in a million chance, but the story is cute I agree.But this book is not for me.
I mainly think that I would not want to read a book of tweets, but yes, if it isn't public, twitter is just like everything else.
Sounds like a cute book! I just joined Twitter so I'm still trying to get used to the whole 140 character thing.
Sounds cute but possibly too cute, if you know what I mean.
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