MUST READ: I Hope This Doesn’t Find You

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You Book Review

Tropes:

Academic rivals to lovers, slow-burn romance, rivals-to-lovers, academica, fluff, brooding male love interest

Genres:  

Young Adult Romance, Young Adult Contemporary

Where I Found It:

I keep seeing this book on Pinterest. I also think I initially thought it was Ann Liang’s other book, If You Could See the Sun, which also has academica vibes. But I kept seeing I Hope This Doesn’t Find You around Pinterest and finally got it from my library.

Book Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Sadie Wen is perfect on paper. It’s a reputation she’s fought hard to earn at the highly prestigious Woodvale Academy, and one she’s determined to maintain until graduation. The trick to keeping her model-student-smile plastered on her face at all times? She channels all her petty frustrations into her email drafts. One for the math teacher who refused to round her eighty-nine-point-nine percent up to ninety; one for the girl who blatantly copied her science project and took the credit for it.

But most of her vehemently-worded emails are for her smug, infuriating co-captain, Julius Gong, who’s been the sharpest thorn in her side ever since they were kids. Sadie never meant for these emails to get out … but now her whole life is about to change…

Why I Recommend it:

I fell in love (no pun intended) with this book’s writing style from the first page…and the fluff. I am not one for fluff, but- Academic lovers. Australia. and Snark…sign me up.

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You was on my radar for the last year thanks to Pinterest. I’m not a fluff reader (give me angst, give me drama), but this book gave me the snarky, angsty academic rivals to lovers that I needed. I laughed a lot and gasped a lot.

Sadie Wen is a nice main character. Sadie Wen is a nice MC. She’s very high-strung but it’s reasonable. She also wants to do well for her family. I honestly loved her characterization as a relatable people-pleaser. She’s also just a normal YA character. Also, Julius Gong’s sarcasm was hilarious, and I wanted to know more about this background. I felt bad for him being compared to his older brother.

I enjoyed how the characters were normal and how competitive they were with school, which is so relatable for me. The story also emphasizes why Sadie and Julius are so tense and the reason behind their studious personalities. I find that other enemies to rivals or academic rivals to lovers stories don’t give the characters true personalization. And this book was so refreshing. These students were like students and acted like real teenagers who were young and clueless, which is again refreshing in this age of YA books.

The only thing is that it takes a while for Julius and Sadie to get a romantic moment. It’s a slow burn. So if you are a true romantic person, you’ll have to wait. But Sadie and Julius get tons of time together. They have to be around each other due to their captain duties.

I also felt like there should have been more emphasis on how Sadie’s emails were sent because I didn’t even remember that plot point until the very end when it was brought up again.

Overall, it’s a nice easy read. Perfect for those who love academic lovers.

I also listened to the audiobook a little and it was a nice performance, but the only thing I didn’t realize is that the narrator didn’t have an Australian accent. The story took place in Melbourne, Australia, which I found interesting and kinda disheartening. But the narrator did an amazing job portraying Sadie’s voice and tone.

TLDR: I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is perfect for YA readers who want an academic rivals-to-lovers novel that’s an easy and funny read.

Need more book recommendations? Check out more below:

• Young Adult Books