I don’t know if I’m finally growing out of YA contemporary or what, but I almost HATED this book. It made me cringe so much with the try-hard lingo and social media references. I liked the plot point of the two main characters were chatting anonymously over the app Jack made and they got to know each other for who they really are and not who they pretend to be in school. That’s about all I liked. I don’t know how Jack and the whole school for that matter, had no clue that it was Pepper’s family who owned the (as described by the author herself) MASSIVE fast-food chain that was BOOMING and simultaneously harassing and stealing recipes from his family deli. It became even more unrealistic when they revealed that Jack’s dad and Pepper’s mom dated way back when. if Jack’s dad got wind of someone stealing their recipes, why would that not be the first person he thought of? Especially when she was involved in helping bring the deli up when it was first opened? 

Another plot point that annoyed me was the animosity between Pepper’s sister and mom that subsequently seeped into Pepper and her mom’s relationship. It was completely unnecessary and added nothing to the story. Her sister didn’t even need to exist quite frankly. Pepper’s mom could have been just as nuts and overbearing without us reading about how strained her relationship was with the eldest daughter. 

The one saving grace here for me was the nice, slow burn, realistic high school romance. Pepper and Jack (or Pepper-Jack *vomits*) were both awkward and nervous as hell. Just like most high school kids are around the person they like-like. They both help each other out and support each other in a really nice way that leads to them connecting both on the app, and in person.