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sh3llr3ads's review
4.0
Reviewed by YA Books Central
An adorable story.
The story:
Lacey Robbins is a YouTube sensation. She's a makeup guru so when she's offered an internship at a magazine, she jumps at the chance. Joining her that summer is other successful Youtubers and also a guest editor - a bad-boy rock star trying to launch a solo career. The magazine's job is to clean up his image. Lacey's job is to not fall for him.
That would've been easy if he really was the aloof, jerk she'd met at first. When she learns there's so much more to this boy than a party past and a family he abandoned, her walls crumble into dust and she must decide if he's worth giving up everything she's ever wanted for.
What I loved:
Just about everything. Lacey is cute and bubbly, making her instantly likable. She's not perfect either, which I appreciate. She makes mistakes, makes a fool of herself and is genuinely charming to watch.
Tyler is broody in all the right places. They're so different, yet somehow they make each other better, more well-rounded. They're surrounded by good characters. Lacey's family who come through in the end. Her co-workers. The books is such an easy and entertaining read, I stayed up late to finish in one sitting.
What I didn't like:
Tyler changes into a different person around his family and it makes him kind of stupid. There was a point where I wanted Lacey to stay far away from him.
Final Verdict:
The kind of story that is entertaining but also makes the reader feel good reading it with laughter and smiles. Well-written. Fun. The kind of book anyone would enjoy.
An adorable story.
The story:
Lacey Robbins is a YouTube sensation. She's a makeup guru so when she's offered an internship at a magazine, she jumps at the chance. Joining her that summer is other successful Youtubers and also a guest editor - a bad-boy rock star trying to launch a solo career. The magazine's job is to clean up his image. Lacey's job is to not fall for him.
That would've been easy if he really was the aloof, jerk she'd met at first. When she learns there's so much more to this boy than a party past and a family he abandoned, her walls crumble into dust and she must decide if he's worth giving up everything she's ever wanted for.
What I loved:
Just about everything. Lacey is cute and bubbly, making her instantly likable. She's not perfect either, which I appreciate. She makes mistakes, makes a fool of herself and is genuinely charming to watch.
Tyler is broody in all the right places. They're so different, yet somehow they make each other better, more well-rounded. They're surrounded by good characters. Lacey's family who come through in the end. Her co-workers. The books is such an easy and entertaining read, I stayed up late to finish in one sitting.
What I didn't like:
Tyler changes into a different person around his family and it makes him kind of stupid. There was a point where I wanted Lacey to stay far away from him.
Final Verdict:
The kind of story that is entertaining but also makes the reader feel good reading it with laughter and smiles. Well-written. Fun. The kind of book anyone would enjoy.
tiffcopple's review
4.0
This is a great coming of age story . I loved how both characters are experiencing different problems on their lives. Lacy thought she had it all figured out but little does she know her perfect life can. Change at the drop of a hat. Then Tyler has a bad reputation , he is the bad boy rock star. Tyler wants a change and sometimes looks can be deceiving.
This was a great book .
This was a great book .
sebinsangel's review
4.0
At First Blush gave me so much more than I expected when I received this book for review. I have to say I'm pretty obsessed when it comes to Youtube, and since I don't have cable most of my time is spent watching Youtube videos of pretty much any kind. So when I heard what this book was about I knew I had to give it a try and sent it a request. What I didn't know what how good of a read it was going to turn out to be.
Lacey Robbins is an up and coming Beauty Guru on Youtube who scored a summer internship at one of the hottest magazines in the country. She's one of three Youtubers that gets the chance, and happens to be the smallest channel of the three as well. She sees this as being her big break to get a possible contract with Glass Cube, which is the company behind all the big Youtubers that offers people to help make your videos as well as a place to record them.
There is a downfall to Lacey's summer plans to rise to fame though and he goes by the name of Tyler Lance. Tyler is the big secret guest feature for the issue of On Trend that Lacey and the other Youtubers are working on. The magazine is busting it's butt to try and make is image better than the prior known drunk tool that Tyler had let his image become. So not only is Lacey stuck around him, but she's also stuck working with him to make videos on her channel.
Beth did such a wonderful job giving insight behind what a Youtubers life really is. It was so nice to see Lacey as a normal person and how much work she put in to her videos and how stress affected not only her life but even her Youtube channel. Seeing her ups and downs and BIG hic-ups along the way made it so easy to connect to Lacey even without being any part of the Youtuber community.
Not to put down Tyler as a character either. His development through the book really made it easy to feel for him, even if he was a big teenage heart throb. Seeing his interactions with Lacey slowly melted my heart and in the end I found myself yelling at Lacey for some of the decisions she was making with her life. But to be honest, she is just a teenage girl navigating life and trying figure out what she really wants, so I can't hold everything against her.
If you're looking for a good contemporary read with an interesting story that's something you haven't read before, I would highly recommend checking out At First Blush. It was a very nice fresh of breath air in the normal teenage contemporary genre and is definitely worth the read!
Lacey Robbins is an up and coming Beauty Guru on Youtube who scored a summer internship at one of the hottest magazines in the country. She's one of three Youtubers that gets the chance, and happens to be the smallest channel of the three as well. She sees this as being her big break to get a possible contract with Glass Cube, which is the company behind all the big Youtubers that offers people to help make your videos as well as a place to record them.
There is a downfall to Lacey's summer plans to rise to fame though and he goes by the name of Tyler Lance. Tyler is the big secret guest feature for the issue of On Trend that Lacey and the other Youtubers are working on. The magazine is busting it's butt to try and make is image better than the prior known drunk tool that Tyler had let his image become. So not only is Lacey stuck around him, but she's also stuck working with him to make videos on her channel.
Beth did such a wonderful job giving insight behind what a Youtubers life really is. It was so nice to see Lacey as a normal person and how much work she put in to her videos and how stress affected not only her life but even her Youtube channel. Seeing her ups and downs and BIG hic-ups along the way made it so easy to connect to Lacey even without being any part of the Youtuber community.
Not to put down Tyler as a character either. His development through the book really made it easy to feel for him, even if he was a big teenage heart throb. Seeing his interactions with Lacey slowly melted my heart and in the end I found myself yelling at Lacey for some of the decisions she was making with her life. But to be honest, she is just a teenage girl navigating life and trying figure out what she really wants, so I can't hold everything against her.
If you're looking for a good contemporary read with an interesting story that's something you haven't read before, I would highly recommend checking out At First Blush. It was a very nice fresh of breath air in the normal teenage contemporary genre and is definitely worth the read!
tessanie's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
thaictaff's review
3.0
One thing you might not know about me is that my favorite thing to read are fluff young adult books. So maybe my viewpoint on this book could be affected by that. Meaning, I absolutely loved this book so much because of all the unproblematic cuteness around.
Lacey is a teenage girl who has a successful youtube channel about make up tutorials. Her goal is to make a career out of it, and she finds herself closer to achieving that goal when she's picked as one of the three youtubers to intern at a magazine called On Trend. Her job this summer is to work alongside the other interns to make the cover boy, Tyler Lance, look good in front of his fans.
As someone who watches youtubers on a almost daily basis, I really enjoyed seeing the characters as one of them, it was fun and light, at times exaggerated though. I mean, I know it must be difficult getting backlash and you can't please everyone but I don't think it could get to that extend? Maybe that's just me being naive though.
I'm one of those girls, that like Lacey, loves make up and wears it everyday, and it's honestly so rare to find protagonists that are like that that I instantly connected to her, and of course, it made me start loving her. But seriously though, that aside, she was still such a good character, she's charming, fun and enthusiastic, I related to her more and more with every decision she made.
The romance wasn't something overwhelming that I was totally into. I liked the idea of it, although it felt maybe insta-loveish from Tyler's side. I didn't really feel they had a lot of chemistry or connection. However, how it progressed was enjoyable and very cute. I'm conflicted over the fact that it wasn't something I kept wanting to see more of, I was more interested on how she was going to deal with her career and the choices she'd have to make then to see how she'd work things out with Tyler, and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.
Tyler was a fun character, I liked him overall, but he's at times somewhat gullible and a little naive when it comes to his family. So even though I liked him, he frustrated me to no end as well.
The writing was something I really enjoyed, the only thing I wish we could have seen more of is Lacey and Cynth's friendship, but other than that everything was really fun and cute to read, I loved it.
I received this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Review also posted at Read. Breathe. Repeat.
Lacey is a teenage girl who has a successful youtube channel about make up tutorials. Her goal is to make a career out of it, and she finds herself closer to achieving that goal when she's picked as one of the three youtubers to intern at a magazine called On Trend. Her job this summer is to work alongside the other interns to make the cover boy, Tyler Lance, look good in front of his fans.
As someone who watches youtubers on a almost daily basis, I really enjoyed seeing the characters as one of them, it was fun and light, at times exaggerated though. I mean, I know it must be difficult getting backlash and you can't please everyone but I don't think it could get to that extend? Maybe that's just me being naive though.
I'm one of those girls, that like Lacey, loves make up and wears it everyday, and it's honestly so rare to find protagonists that are like that that I instantly connected to her, and of course, it made me start loving her. But seriously though, that aside, she was still such a good character, she's charming, fun and enthusiastic, I related to her more and more with every decision she made.
The romance wasn't something overwhelming that I was totally into. I liked the idea of it, although it felt maybe insta-loveish from Tyler's side. I didn't really feel they had a lot of chemistry or connection. However, how it progressed was enjoyable and very cute. I'm conflicted over the fact that it wasn't something I kept wanting to see more of, I was more interested on how she was going to deal with her career and the choices she'd have to make then to see how she'd work things out with Tyler, and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.
Tyler was a fun character, I liked him overall, but he's at times somewhat gullible and a little naive when it comes to his family. So even though I liked him, he frustrated me to no end as well.
The writing was something I really enjoyed, the only thing I wish we could have seen more of is Lacey and Cynth's friendship, but other than that everything was really fun and cute to read, I loved it.
I received this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Review also posted at Read. Breathe. Repeat.
vickielou's review
4.0
This was so cute. I loved Tyler and Lacey’s story. I loved how cute they were and I loved Lacey’s development as a person. It was heartwarming to read.
bookmarklit's review
4.0
3.5 stars. That was cute! Definitely frustratingly dramatic at times (classic miscommunication, MC thinking she knows what's best for everyone when she doesn't, naivety re: people with ulterior motives, etc.), but overall enjoyable. I like celebrity/regular person romances sometimes, and the YouTube, makeup, and internship elements were fun aspects too (aka she wasn't really a "regular person" and had some element of celebrity as well).
popthebutterfly's review
5.0
Rating: 5/5
Genre: YA Contemporary/ YA Romance
Recommended Age: 13+
Favorite Quote: "I'm not totally sure when talking to myself stopped being weird. Maybe when half a million people started listening."
I received this book for free on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not change my opinions of the book in any way, shape, or fashion.
Do you have a Youtube channel? A bookstagram account? A huge twitter following? Any other social media that has gained you a few hundred, thousand, or million subscribers? Then you can relate to this story! This is the story of a girl named Lacey who creates makeup tutorials on YouTube to half a million subscribers every day. Her dream has become her reality: she's nearing a million subscribers, she's obtained an internship at On Trend Maganize, and she's so close to the Glass Cube and a sponsorship! But sometimes your dream job isn't what it seems and when Tyler Lance, a famous musician, comes into her life she'll have to decide between her YouTube life and her real life. Who is Lacey Robbins and where does LaceyBlushes end and Lacey Robbins begins?
Let me just say I thought this book would be something else when I read the summary many moons ago... but I'm glad that my first assumption was completely wrong! This is a wonderful YA romance/contemporary book and I absolutely loved it! The pacing and plot development were both on point. The book was not too slow nor was it too fast. The chapters had adorable chat messages that made the reader feel like they were reading some of Lacey's online chat messages on her Youtube channel. The writing was wonderful and it really made the story come alive and the book was a very easy read. The author also had well developed characters for the most part and the book had a very important message about finding/discovering who you are especially in an age where almost every teen/preteen/child has at least one social media account and has more than family members following them. It's very important to know in this day and age that you can have the online persona and be the next Pewdiepie or the next Zoella, but it's of the upmost importance that you figure out who you are outside of Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. That's why a book like this is important to read. It doesn't lecture you on the dangers of the internet nor does it give you a horror story about someone selling their soul to the internet devil. It's a very cute, romantic tale about a young girl who is living the Youtube "dream life" and how maybe it's not the right fit for everyone.
In all honesty there wasn't a lot I was disappointed about because this book was so wonderful! Some of the characters like Felicia and Jordan could have been more developed and some more information on Lacey's parents and why they did the things they did could have been great, and I think that the author could have incorporated more of the online messages Lacey was receiving to bring more of that side to the story. Overall though this was a well-rounded book with an amazing message. It's a beautiful book and it should be a must read for anyone who wants to be an online persona or is already one.
Genre: YA Contemporary/ YA Romance
Recommended Age: 13+
Favorite Quote: "I'm not totally sure when talking to myself stopped being weird. Maybe when half a million people started listening."
I received this book for free on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not change my opinions of the book in any way, shape, or fashion.
Do you have a Youtube channel? A bookstagram account? A huge twitter following? Any other social media that has gained you a few hundred, thousand, or million subscribers? Then you can relate to this story! This is the story of a girl named Lacey who creates makeup tutorials on YouTube to half a million subscribers every day. Her dream has become her reality: she's nearing a million subscribers, she's obtained an internship at On Trend Maganize, and she's so close to the Glass Cube and a sponsorship! But sometimes your dream job isn't what it seems and when Tyler Lance, a famous musician, comes into her life she'll have to decide between her YouTube life and her real life. Who is Lacey Robbins and where does LaceyBlushes end and Lacey Robbins begins?
Let me just say I thought this book would be something else when I read the summary many moons ago... but I'm glad that my first assumption was completely wrong! This is a wonderful YA romance/contemporary book and I absolutely loved it! The pacing and plot development were both on point. The book was not too slow nor was it too fast. The chapters had adorable chat messages that made the reader feel like they were reading some of Lacey's online chat messages on her Youtube channel. The writing was wonderful and it really made the story come alive and the book was a very easy read. The author also had well developed characters for the most part and the book had a very important message about finding/discovering who you are especially in an age where almost every teen/preteen/child has at least one social media account and has more than family members following them. It's very important to know in this day and age that you can have the online persona and be the next Pewdiepie or the next Zoella, but it's of the upmost importance that you figure out who you are outside of Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. That's why a book like this is important to read. It doesn't lecture you on the dangers of the internet nor does it give you a horror story about someone selling their soul to the internet devil. It's a very cute, romantic tale about a young girl who is living the Youtube "dream life" and how maybe it's not the right fit for everyone.
In all honesty there wasn't a lot I was disappointed about because this book was so wonderful! Some of the characters like Felicia and Jordan could have been more developed and some more information on Lacey's parents and why they did the things they did could have been great, and I think that the author could have incorporated more of the online messages Lacey was receiving to bring more of that side to the story. Overall though this was a well-rounded book with an amazing message. It's a beautiful book and it should be a must read for anyone who wants to be an online persona or is already one.
ashurq's review
4.0
I was not expecting much from this book but it totally blew me away! I am a full-blown convert to the YA Celeb Romance genre and this book totally delivered on that front. I liked the main characters quite a bit right from the start. Lacey seems like a really sweet girl and I love how she’s always thinking about her fans and subscribers. Tyler is a good character as well though we don’t really get to know him on as deep a level as we get to know Lacey since the book is in her POV. Their relationship was mostly good, but I didn’t feel that it was developed from Tyler’s side at all. He likes her almost right away but it’s never really explained why. Lacey’s a sweet girl and all, but how did she grab his attention? What drew him to her? He can have literally any girl he wants, so why did he choose Lacey? That’s not a knock on her, I just felt like I needed that additional information to fully believe their relationship.
The secondary characters were fine but were definitely secondary. Lacey’s fellow YouTubers helped to flesh out the story and made her time at the magazine more interesting. I really liked the make-up girl that Lacey ended up working with sometimes…I feel like her name was maybe Reagan? But I don’t remember. Sorry. Anyway, she was cool. Most of the secondary characters including the ones listed plus Lacey’s parents, Cynth, and Tyler’s bandmates all seemed pretty one-note, but that wasn’t too big of a deal since Tyler and Lacey really were the main focus of the book.
Plotwise, I saw some things coming and the main story line wasn’t anything mind-blowingly original. I thought that it was awesome how supportive Lacey’s parents were with her YouTubing, but the part of the plot that involved them at the end was a little much. It just didn’t feel all the way thought out or incorporated with the rest of the story. Then there was all the drama with Cynth too–I didn’t really like that. I didn’t feel that Cynth and Lacey’s relationship was that well developed in the first place, so then the drama just felt like too much when it happened.
Overall, I thought this book was really cute and fun! It made me a lot more interested in watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. On another note, I also had the realization that viewers, followers, subscribers, etc. are the worst. When Lacey starts doing things that her subscribers don’t like, they turn on her SO FAST. Even though this is just a story, that kind of thing definitely happens in real life all the time. I mean, just because a YouTuber chooses to put some of their life on the internet for our viewing pleasure does not give us the right to try to dictate how they choose to actually live. Do people realize that? Anyway…rant over. I just felt really sick about some of the people on the internet these days after reading this book. With that being said, this book is awesome and I definitely recommend it if you need something cute and light to read.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The secondary characters were fine but were definitely secondary. Lacey’s fellow YouTubers helped to flesh out the story and made her time at the magazine more interesting. I really liked the make-up girl that Lacey ended up working with sometimes…I feel like her name was maybe Reagan? But I don’t remember. Sorry. Anyway, she was cool. Most of the secondary characters including the ones listed plus Lacey’s parents, Cynth, and Tyler’s bandmates all seemed pretty one-note, but that wasn’t too big of a deal since Tyler and Lacey really were the main focus of the book.
Plotwise, I saw some things coming and the main story line wasn’t anything mind-blowingly original. I thought that it was awesome how supportive Lacey’s parents were with her YouTubing, but the part of the plot that involved them at the end was a little much. It just didn’t feel all the way thought out or incorporated with the rest of the story. Then there was all the drama with Cynth too–I didn’t really like that. I didn’t feel that Cynth and Lacey’s relationship was that well developed in the first place, so then the drama just felt like too much when it happened.
Overall, I thought this book was really cute and fun! It made me a lot more interested in watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. On another note, I also had the realization that viewers, followers, subscribers, etc. are the worst. When Lacey starts doing things that her subscribers don’t like, they turn on her SO FAST. Even though this is just a story, that kind of thing definitely happens in real life all the time. I mean, just because a YouTuber chooses to put some of their life on the internet for our viewing pleasure does not give us the right to try to dictate how they choose to actually live. Do people realize that? Anyway…rant over. I just felt really sick about some of the people on the internet these days after reading this book. With that being said, this book is awesome and I definitely recommend it if you need something cute and light to read.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.