REVIEW: It Started With a Tweet by Anna Bell

Title: It Started With a Tweet
Author: Anna Bell
Publisher: Bonnier Zaffre
Publication Date: December 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | Audible

Description: Can Daisy Hobson log off for love...?

Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. A marketing manager by day, she tweets her friends, instagrams every meal and arranges (frankly, appalling) dates on Tinder. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall . . .

Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria, that she just happens to need help doing up. Soon, too, Daisy finds herself with two welcome distractions: sexy French exchange-help Alexis, and Jack, the brusque and rugged man-next-door, who keeps accidentally rescuing her.

But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone?

My Thoughts: Can you imagine or, worse yet, actually knowing someone who is so riveted on their electronics and social media that they make the biggest blunder when they tweet something risqué on their employer’s account instead of on their personal account? The massive embarrassment, not to mention the loss of one’s job should be enough for said person to take stock and perhaps rethink what is actually important in life outside of social media.

Meet Daisy, marketing manager of a large company who is online for everything from instagramming meals and uploading photos with friends to trolling Facebook to see what everyone is up to. On her way to meet up with a Tinder date (she had actually forgotten about it so she wasn’t thinking clearly…so I will grant her a little grace here), she decides to tweet a message about perhaps getting lucky. Unfortunately, her tweet is put on her employer’s account and it goes viral overnight. Daisy now finds herself unemployed and her roommate Erica wants to take things to the next level with her boyfriend so Daisy is about to become homeless as well.

Daisy’s sister, Rosie, invites Daisy to accompany her on a digital detox retreat in Cumbria. I suspect Daisy thought it would be meditation, yoga, clean eating, maybe some massage, realigning her chakras but what Daisy gets is a mouse infested run-down farmhouse that her sister bought and wants to fix up and turn into a holiday rental. Rosie tells Daisy that if she will stay for a few weeks and work on the house with her, Rosie will do a digital detox with her. Besides, there is no Wi-Fi signal and cell phones are practically useless. Daisy agrees and Rosie chucks their phones down a well. Yes, you read that correctly, down a well.

What I really enjoyed about this story is the lengths Daisy is willing to go to find an internet signal and she isn’t above stealing or borrowing a cell phone to do it. Even if she has to slog through a bunch of mud in her suede espadrille boots to get to the top of a very tall hill to find a signal. Along the way she meets and befriends Jack, the grouchy neighbor, who doesn’t think very much of tourists. I loved watching their relationship blossom into a friendship and was rooting for them to get together.

I really enjoyed meeting Daisy and Jack and all the supporting characters. The author’s choice of a social media obsessed character and the unwelcome consequences it brings are very relevant in today’s society. People cannot drive their vehicles without looking at their phones. Their entire day to day lives are published online for all the world to see so the events that happen to Daisy after her goof, though extreme and horrific rings true. I was completely invested in how long Daisy could last without her phone or access to the internet.

My Final Verdict: I loved watching Daisy’s transformation from a self-obsessed social media zombie to someone who begins to realize the importance of relationships and connection face to face. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy women’s fiction and for anyone looking to unplug and get offline for a while.

Thank you to the publisher, Bonnier Zaffre, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.