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?
Comment: I've read a positive review on this book and decided I'd want to try it myself. Although I expected a bit more from it, it wasn't too bad...
Dovid Rosenstein is a famous YouTuber who, along with his twin sister Rachel, have now reached quite a number of followers. What makes Dovid different is the fact he is blind, and part of their videos and channel are closely linked to this. One day Rachel checks out another channel and likes it, mentioning it to Dovid. When he listens, he can't help liking the voice of Sam Doyle, a young man who has videos where he relates his gaming steps in a specific game. After Rachel and Dovid mention him in their own channel, Sam's starts to get so many followers that it feels overwhelming. Dovid then reaches out to Sam, and they start exchanging messages... as time goes by, it seems they can be good friends, but could it be there more to it? There's also the issue of them being in different continents...
I've found the premise of this story quite sweet, especially in this age of so many things being online and that so many people have some sort of social media presence and so on. It isn't unheard of that people can bond over things even if they have not met personally and it is also very true this online "life" can take over the real one sometimes. I think this start up was well done by the author and I liked the fact Dovid and Sam start of as only two guys who like games and you tube.
Part of the plot is somehow advancing by having the two guys exchanging messages and confiding in each other, mainly Sam accepting Dovid''s advice and so on. I've seen some comments by readers saying that the conversation about how you tube works and how to do this and that took over and the story felt a little more like a tutorial and not a romance. I suppose I an agree in part, because to me all that information was new, for I have no idea about how you tube channels work besides the basic, but I can imagine that for those who do, this might have been rather boring.
The romance was slow, as one could expect, especially if they live in different places, Dovid is in America and Sam is in Ireland. Obviously, the plot makes it happen that they meet but even then, things develop very, very slowly. I'd say this happens because Sam is a person who is not very interested in the sexual side of things in a relationship and I think the author took this opportunity to kind of present that as a valid personality trait, which is great but yes, it also makes the romance seem more like friendship. I got the feeling this was fine for the guys, I'm just not certain how exactly it could work long term.
What I liked the best here was actually Sam's personality. I could identify with him in some things, namely the fact he prefers to do things on his own, work wise, and that he doesn't feel comfortable in big crowds or in places where he physically being looked at, or how he feels when someone brings him down. I think this side of him was quite well portrayed, certainly seems to justify some other options in his life and even, more or less, his intimacy preferences. I'd would go as far as to say that, since most of the action is told to us through messages, there is always a little bit of detachment in everything. Even the things I liked and that made me happy were still easily processed.
I think a bit more emotion (not necessarily drama) would have reinforced what was happening and how important some things were for them. As the story gets closer to the end, Dovid and Sam are now thinking of themselves as a couple and, as expected, they wish they could be together more often. I don't think it's a surprise how this plays out, but it still felt like the geographical distance was, after all, more like a prop and not a necessary plot requirement. Perhaps this is just my impression.
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