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imstephtacular's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Misogyny
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Racism, Cursing, Classism, Bullying, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Biphobia
melaschnie's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Acephobia/Arophobia
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Biphobia and Bullying
Minor: Toxic relationship
blakeandbooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Feiwel & Friends + NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book centers around 2 college-aged, aroace friends, Sophie (she/her, Chinese American) + Jo (she/they, white) who are able to bond over their aroace identities and form a queer platonic relationship in the end.
I think that we need more books like this! Zhao did a great job of explaining how both Sophie and Jo feel—what aroace means and what it means to each of them. I love when they both discover they’re aroace, and they get so excited to connect and discuss with someone who understands 🥲
I loved how quickly they became friends and realized how much they enjoy each other’s company. When they created the aroace college group, I thought this was such a great addition to the story! All of the characters who came to be a part of it, and all of them able to connect and affirm each other was so awesome.
I believe this book is going to affirm so many people in their aroace identities, and I hope it continues to connect others!
This book centers around 2 college-aged, aroace friends, Sophie (she/her, Chinese American) + Jo (she/they, white) who are able to bond over their aroace identities and form a queer platonic relationship in the end.
I think that we need more books like this! Zhao did a great job of explaining how both Sophie and Jo feel—what aroace means and what it means to each of them. I love when they both discover they’re aroace, and they get so excited to connect and discuss with someone who understands 🥲
I loved how quickly they became friends and realized how much they enjoy each other’s company. When they created the aroace college group, I thought this was such a great addition to the story! All of the characters who came to be a part of it, and all of them able to connect and affirm each other was so awesome.
I believe this book is going to affirm so many people in their aroace identities, and I hope it continues to connect others!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, and Bullying
ashylibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was a phenomenal YA book celebrating aro/ace characters while also being funny and witty.
We need more books with aro and/or ace rep, and I am so happy this one exists.
I felt seen. I felt heard. I hope this makes many readers feel the same way.
I am hoping to get my hands on a physical copy to annotate and have a more thought-out review soon 😅
We need more books with aro and/or ace rep, and I am so happy this one exists.
I felt seen. I felt heard. I hope this makes many readers feel the same way.
I am hoping to get my hands on a physical copy to annotate and have a more thought-out review soon 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Bullying, Lesbophobia, and Biphobia
Minor: Transphobia and Toxic relationship
readingpicnic's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was such a fun and light read that I couldn’t put it down. It was so fast paced, and I live for the trope of people being rivals in person and friends online, so this reversal of that trope really intrigued me. I remember seeing the announcement that this book was acquired by the publisher years ago (I think?) with a brief description of the book, as well as the author announcing it on TikTok, and I was so excited to see aspec and arospec rep like this! Although I identify as aspec and not arospec, I loved the representation in this book and the reality of questioning yourself endlessly about your aspec/arospec identity. The excitement that Jo and Sophie experience when they find out that they’re both aroace was so heartwarming, as I remember when I accidentally moved into a cooperative living house full of other aspec and arospec college people by accident years ago and was so relieved to finally meet people who shared this identity with me in real life. The platonic friendship in this book reminded me a lot of Radio Silence by Alice Oseman with the friendship between Aled and Frances, which is the book that I always think about when I think of ace rep since it introduced me to demisexuality. I love a good teasing, platonic relationship, so Jo and Sophie made me very happy.
I do think that this book felt on the young side of young adult for a book that’s more new adult fiction, especially in the very unserious Instagram fights between Wanda and Wendy, but I suppose they are college freshmen, so I wasn’t torn up about it. The author had a message in the beginning of the book that she kind of wrote this book for fun during college, and you can tell that in a good way because it was fun to read and easygoing for the most part. However, this book was also good about being serious, such as interrogating ace discourse, Jo questioning their LGBTQIA+ identities, and Sophie grappling with her Chinese immigrant parents not understanding her asexuality and aromanticism and thinking it’s just a phase for her. This book was quite good and so necessary–we need more aspec and arospec books like this in the world! I’m so glad this exists!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Bullying and Misogyny
Minor: Transphobia and Toxic relationship
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This is both the funniest and most tender young adult story I have read lately!
Sophie (Wendy) & Jo (Wanda) create anonymous dating advice Instagrams for their fellow students at Wellesley College, but they differ in style, delivery, & seriousness. They begin passive aggressively commenting on each other’s posts & reposting messages about each other to their respective stories. It’s goofy, it’s petty, & it’s hilarious!
Meanwhile, they become friends offline & connect over their shared aroace identities! They revive an aroace student discussion group on campus & deepen their friendship. However, they don’t know the other is running the Wendy/Wanda advice column!!!
I loved the use of Instagram, the messy comments, the unserious advice, the cast of queer characters, & Sophie & Jo’s journeys. I especially appreciated how the author highlighted Jo's concerns about their friends getting romantically involved and inadvertently being left behind or forgotten about. It's a stark realization to think about the fact that your alloromantic & allosexual friends could be *your* person, but you may not end up being theirs (because theirs will be their romantic partners). I loved the journey that Sophie & Jo take towards realizing they could be each other's non-romantic partners instead, and that it was enough!
The sadness with with Sophie feels erased by her immigrant Chinese American parents was also so authentically portrayed, with the flippant comments of "You're just picky," or "You'll find someone eventually," being cast her way every time she spoke about being aroace.
This absolutely could be adapted on Netflix to be the next hit of a young adult/new adult coming-of-age tv series about friendship, exploration of self, & communication - this book was both informative and entertaining, and I think so many people will adore Sophie & Jo!
I highly recommend this & am so grateful I read it!
This is both the funniest and most tender young adult story I have read lately!
Sophie (Wendy) & Jo (Wanda) create anonymous dating advice Instagrams for their fellow students at Wellesley College, but they differ in style, delivery, & seriousness. They begin passive aggressively commenting on each other’s posts & reposting messages about each other to their respective stories. It’s goofy, it’s petty, & it’s hilarious!
Meanwhile, they become friends offline & connect over their shared aroace identities! They revive an aroace student discussion group on campus & deepen their friendship. However, they don’t know the other is running the Wendy/Wanda advice column!!!
I loved the use of Instagram, the messy comments, the unserious advice, the cast of queer characters, & Sophie & Jo’s journeys. I especially appreciated how the author highlighted Jo's concerns about their friends getting romantically involved and inadvertently being left behind or forgotten about. It's a stark realization to think about the fact that your alloromantic & allosexual friends could be *your* person, but you may not end up being theirs (because theirs will be their romantic partners). I loved the journey that Sophie & Jo take towards realizing they could be each other's non-romantic partners instead, and that it was enough!
The sadness with with Sophie feels erased by her immigrant Chinese American parents was also so authentically portrayed, with the flippant comments of "You're just picky," or "You'll find someone eventually," being cast her way every time she spoke about being aroace.
This absolutely could be adapted on Netflix to be the next hit of a young adult/new adult coming-of-age tv series about friendship, exploration of self, & communication - this book was both informative and entertaining, and I think so many people will adore Sophie & Jo!
I highly recommend this & am so grateful I read it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, and Bullying
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
4.0
As an aromantic asexual, Sophie Chi has come to terms with never falling in love. However, that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t enjoy talking about it. As a freshman at Wellesley College, she runs an Instagram account offering relationship advice to other students.
On the other hand, Jo created her advice-based Instagram account purely as a joke. But the account sparks an online feud between the two accounts. Despite their online feud, Jo and Sophie start to grow closer in real life. Bonding over the fact that they’re both aromantic and asexual, with similar interests. But what happens when they find out the truth about each other’s online presence?
Thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for an advanced copy of Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao to review! I love that we’re slowly getting more aromantic and asexual representation in YA lit. Also love a book that focuses on a platonic friendship rather than a romance. If you ask me, we need more of those kinds of books in the world!
The way that Jo and Sophie’s friendship develops in this book feels so realistic, especially for being set in the first year of college. They initially bond over their class, but eventually realize they have a lot more in common. Tension is created in the fact that as readers, we know they’re feuding, but they don’t know that. I think it makes the book feel less plot driven, but I absolutely didn’t mind that.
Though eventually, there is a pretty big cast of side characters, it didn’t feel like it took away from Jo and Sophie as characters. Jo and Sophie both had roommates that felt fully developed and added to the overall tension happening throughout the book. My only complaint is that sometimes, Sophie and Jo’s voices sounded too similar, and I would forget which character’s point of view I was in. They had distinct personalities, but their voices would definitely blend together at times.
However, teens will definitely be drawn to the fact that this focuses more on friendship than romance; often, the focus is on the fact that people don’t need to be in romantic relationships to be happy. When romance and romantic relationships are such a heavy focus in our society, it is honestly a breath of fresh air.
If you’re looking for a platonic, friendship love story, definitely pick this one up when it comes out in April!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Bullying
booksmellers's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
So this 3-star rating comes with some caveats, namely: I'm glad this book exists. As an aroace sapphic, I think there should be no shortage of representation, and I'm particularly glad this exists for teen audiences.
I'll start off with the things I did like:
- The Instagram feud
- The development of Jo and Sophie's friendship
- The framing of that friendship as a type of love story
- The setting was interesting and worked well for the story
Now, here are the things that didn't work for me. These aren't necessarily things I think need to be changed and they aren't inherently bad things, they just aren't a style I'm particularly interested in.
- Because this is an a-spec story, the plot structure and storylines were quite different from other things I've read. In some ways this was interesting to see play out, but overall I think in this case it made it so the stakes were too low and when conflict did come up it just felt kind of...silly? With this type of story structure, character becomes increasingly important and even though I liked the characters and their developing relationships, I still felt like there was something missing there.
- This book contains a lot of conversations between characters pertaining to a-spec identity. This will probably be a great thing for young readers and those unfamiliar with these terms, but as an a-spec person who's been on Tumblr since 2016 those conversations were kinda old potatoes. I'm sure those conversations will help lots of people, they just didn't hit for me.
- The plethora of pop culture references did get old after a while. I know it's to be expected in contemporary YA at this point, but it was just a little too much for me.
Anyway, don't let my 3 star rating deter you from reading this. It didn't fully work for me but there was still lots to love and I'm sure this book will help lots of people. Anyone who likes lighthearted stories about friendship will probably enjoy this, and I'll be interested to read Zhao's future work.
Thank you, NetGalley, for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start off with the things I did like:
- The Instagram feud
- The development of Jo and Sophie's friendship
- The framing of that friendship as a type of love story
- The setting was interesting and worked well for the story
Now, here are the things that didn't work for me. These aren't necessarily things I think need to be changed and they aren't inherently bad things, they just aren't a style I'm particularly interested in.
- Because this is an a-spec story, the plot structure and storylines were quite different from other things I've read. In some ways this was interesting to see play out, but overall I think in this case it made it so the stakes were too low and when conflict did come up it just felt kind of...silly? With this type of story structure, character becomes increasingly important and even though I liked the characters and their developing relationships, I still felt like there was something missing there.
- This book contains a lot of conversations between characters pertaining to a-spec identity. This will probably be a great thing for young readers and those unfamiliar with these terms, but as an a-spec person who's been on Tumblr since 2016 those conversations were kinda old potatoes. I'm sure those conversations will help lots of people, they just didn't hit for me.
- The plethora of pop culture references did get old after a while. I know it's to be expected in contemporary YA at this point, but it was just a little too much for me.
Anyway, don't let my 3 star rating deter you from reading this. It didn't fully work for me but there was still lots to love and I'm sure this book will help lots of people. Anyone who likes lighthearted stories about friendship will probably enjoy this, and I'll be interested to read Zhao's future work.
Thank you, NetGalley, for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Bullying
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