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lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book completely stole my heart. <3
It follows Sydney Ciara Warren, a college freshman trying to find her voice—offline and online. As she adjusts to life without her best friend and steps into the chaos of campus life, Sydney finds comfort in her blog, her tweets, and eventually... a certain someone online known as YoungPrinceX.
It follows Sydney Ciara Warren, a college freshman trying to find her voice—offline and online. As she adjusts to life without her best friend and steps into the chaos of campus life, Sydney finds comfort in her blog, her tweets, and eventually... a certain someone online known as YoungPrinceX.
But what really makes this story shine is how real it feels. Told through a mix of narrative, blog posts, and social media, it’s fresh, emotional, and deeply relatable. Sydney’s growth, her quiet strength, and her journey toward bridging digital confidence with real-world vulnerability? Beautifully done.
Ravynn K. Stringfield is officially on my must-read list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Medical content
Moderate: Car accident
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was my second Ravynn K. Stringfield novel and this book really solidified her as an auto-read author for me.
Told through blog posts, tweets, and text messages from the main character, Love In 280 Characters Or Less is a coming-of-age story about a college freshman learning to find her voice. But don’t let the cute title fool you; this book covers some important, serious topics from racial profiling, to the question of what defines activism and how much of Black artists’ work has to revolve around this activism.
I really enjoyed the format of this book. I thought getting the story through posts and messages was pretty original and it was surprisingly easy to follow along. The story moved at a steady pace and I felt invested in all of the characters. I also really enjoyed the commentary on art as activism and the various viewpoints of how people react following a racial profiling situation. These are such important things to talk about, especially at a high school / college level and I think Stringfield tackles these issues beautifully,
I can’t think of much that I didn’t like in this book. I think there were times the main character frustrated me, but I think this was by design. She’s trying her best to navigate her life and the things happening around her in a way that feels genuine to her with a ton of outside input. Sometimes all we can do is our best.
I really enjoyed this book and I would gladly recommend it. I’m very excited to read more of this authors work. And if you haven’t yet, check out her other book, Love Requires Chocolate!
*Thank you to Ravynn K. Stringfield, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and NetGalley for providing me with and advanced e-book of this novel in exchange for honest review*
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
7th & up
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thank you to MacMillan and NetGalley for an e-book ARC and Libro.Fm for an ALC.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. We see our female main character in her first year of college and she is taking a different path than people had planned for her and she’s discovering a lot about herself in the process. I love to see her growth and self discovery, both in person and in her digital life that’s a really big part of the story. I personally love emails, text, DM’s, letters, etc., so the digital part of this book I really enjoyed. I think that this would be enjoyable both on audio and in print.
There were a couple of points that the pacing felt a little off, and there were a couple of times where the seriousness of the book changed. I don’t necessarily think that these were bad things they felt genuine for someone’s first year first semester of college. I did find it a little annoying that I felt like a lot of what was going on was centered around the three guys that she had in her life. That was a big part of the story, but I would’ve loved to see more of her individual identity. I love to see the growth she had, I was surprised by some of the things that happened in the story, and I was so happy to see her stand up for herself and seek out a future that she really wants.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. We see our female main character in her first year of college and she is taking a different path than people had planned for her and she’s discovering a lot about herself in the process. I love to see her growth and self discovery, both in person and in her digital life that’s a really big part of the story. I personally love emails, text, DM’s, letters, etc., so the digital part of this book I really enjoyed. I think that this would be enjoyable both on audio and in print.
There were a couple of points that the pacing felt a little off, and there were a couple of times where the seriousness of the book changed. I don’t necessarily think that these were bad things they felt genuine for someone’s first year first semester of college. I did find it a little annoying that I felt like a lot of what was going on was centered around the three guys that she had in her life. That was a big part of the story, but I would’ve loved to see more of her individual identity. I love to see the growth she had, I was surprised by some of the things that happened in the story, and I was so happy to see her stand up for herself and seek out a future that she really wants.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
love in 280 characters or less follows a young black woman, sydney, through her first semester as a college freshman. it is a story of self identity and coming of age, told through sydney’s blog posts, tweets, and texts.
i think the way that ravyn stringfield chose to write the story through these online tidbits was such a good creative choice. as is referenced in the novel, so much of our digital life is intertwined with our real life and we find ourselves having to navigate how that works as we grow older. sydney is a relatable and likable main character, and i couldn’t help but root for her. my only real complaint with the story is that the texts/tweets, or i guess the voice of the characters themselves, didn’t feel necessarily like teenagers/young adults just out of high school. it felt more like written conversation forced into this “funky” format at times, but it didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the story.
thank you netgalley for the e-arc!
i think the way that ravyn stringfield chose to write the story through these online tidbits was such a good creative choice. as is referenced in the novel, so much of our digital life is intertwined with our real life and we find ourselves having to navigate how that works as we grow older. sydney is a relatable and likable main character, and i couldn’t help but root for her. my only real complaint with the story is that the texts/tweets, or i guess the voice of the characters themselves, didn’t feel necessarily like teenagers/young adults just out of high school. it felt more like written conversation forced into this “funky” format at times, but it didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the story.
thank you netgalley for the e-arc!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality
Moderate: Car accident
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Thanks to Macmillan for the free copy of this book.
- LOVE IN 280 CHARACTERS OR LESS is a lovely coming of age in the digital age novel. I loved Syd and identified deeply with how she was torn between following her dreams and doing what was expected of her.
- Without spoiling anything, I did find the love triangle piece of the story a little silly, as it was pretty easy to see what was going on. There are are a few things that felt like disconnects for me: Syd complains repeatedly of not being able to make friends while multiple people are actively making her their friend. Something happens to Malcolm’s roommate Jay, who Syd has met, and she barely acknowledges that it happened to Jay and instead fixates on how it could have happened to Malcolm.
- Regardless, I still enjoyed this book and hope to read more by Stringfield in the future.
- LOVE IN 280 CHARACTERS OR LESS is a lovely coming of age in the digital age novel. I loved Syd and identified deeply with how she was torn between following her dreams and doing what was expected of her.
- Without spoiling anything, I did find the love triangle piece of the story a little silly, as it was pretty easy to see what was going on. There are are a few things that felt like disconnects for me: Syd complains repeatedly of not being able to make friends while multiple people are actively making her their friend. Something happens to Malcolm’s roommate Jay, who Syd has met, and she barely acknowledges that it happened to Jay and instead fixates on how it could have happened to Malcolm.
- Regardless, I still enjoyed this book and hope to read more by Stringfield in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, Alcohol