This review was written by Jenn (@lostingreatbook). This story was nominated in the Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category.

The summary:

Abigail Donovan has a lot of stuff she should be doing. Namely writing her next novel. A bestselling author who is still recovering from a near Pulitzer Prize win and the heady success that follows Oprah’s stamp of approval, she is stuck at Chapter Five and losing confidence daily. But when her publicist signs her up for a Twitter account, she’s intrigued. What’s all the fuss?  

Taken under the wing of one of her Twitter followers, “MarkBaynard”—a quick witted, quick-typing professor on sabbatical—Abby finds it easy to put words out into the world 140 characters at a time. And once she gets a handle on tweets, retweets, direct messages, hashtags, and trends, she starts to feel unblocked in writing and in life. After all, why should she be spending hours in her apartment staring at her TweetDeck and fretting about her stalled career when Mark is out there traveling the world and living? Or is he?

And here is Jenn's review:

As social media becomes more a part of our lives, it’s inevitable that it’s making its way into writing. There’s been a number of books that use social media constructs as a method of narration (YA books Tweetheart and iDrakula and the recent Japanese text message mini novels come to mind), but it’s still a twist to have book written using this format. While a good portion of Goodnight Tweetheart book is presented in ‘tweet’ format, there is some third person narration to break up the inherent staccato nature of 140 characters.

Abby is a novelist who has achieved some success with her first book, but is struggling with writer’s block with her second. She’s not entirely likable at the beginning; while her life is not easy, at times I just wanted to reach out and smack her upside the head for being so whingy. Her book deadline has long passed, she is struggling with the loss of her father and her mother is suffering an ongoing mental decline. As a result, Abby is lonely, and lacks ties with someone special in her life. Despite her frustratingly teenaged inability to deal with real life, overall this set-up worked for me because it explained why she might bond quickly with a stranger.

Mark is more of a mystery. While the two connect via Twitter and carry out their relationship via direct message (private) tweets, we are slower to learn much about him beyond his employment, his love of 80’s and 90’s pop culture and that he seems to be a decent and caring guy (notwithstanding a cringe-worthy introduction that would have him blocked in a nanosecond by most women). I really enjoyed reading the repartee between the two, and watching them develop their relationship by sharing their days with each other.

This is a story of two people who are need of connection, and they find each other in a uniquely modern fashion. The only thing that bothered me about this book was that they obviously liked each other, but they didn’t seem to want to connect beyond Twitter –no emails, no online chats, no Skype, etc. When Abby does suggest that they take the next step of talking on the phone, Mark is forced to reveal his Big Secret, and the tone of the book changes abruptly. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about that change in tone, but I enjoyed the ending and applaud the author for choosing to do something a little out of the ordinary.

Goodnight Tweetheart is a fun read, and definitely something distinctive.

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