This was a little too much of a tech lingo driven novel for me to get into. I think it would be enjoyable to those that are interested and have some prior knowldge to the work and are looking for a sweet book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Xia has a dream of making her artificial intelligence app, Wiser, an app that everyone can use. To do this she applies to the Foundry. A school that fosters high school tech students and gives them an education and connections to create their apps and start-ups. If You, Then Me is a look into the tech world and how the genders are treated differently. While the premise of a school surrounding the cutthroat culture of tech and how that is intensified for women and people of color. Yet, this went too much into the social aspect of creating a company and networking. Leaning heavily into the naive bubble teens live in. In many situations, the actions seemed to be pushed too far and did not gel with the overall premise. What sorely lacked was the Foundry. When this is the basis of the book and the goal of the protagonist, the reader hardly spends any time in that world.

To be honest, I only got about 20% of the way through this book and wanted to stop. Not because it was incredibly bad; if anything, it seemed like it would have been a fun and cute, modern YA novel. However - it just felt too young for me to enjoy and give an accurate rating to. Since I didn’t have any strong feelings towards it either way, I’m giving it a 3-star rating because I believe it could have a good OR bad ending.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader of this book. This was a contemporary romance about a young computer programmer finding out about decisions, consequences and love. I enjoyed the nerdy side of this book and the whoiamireallywriting to mystery. This book was clean and had a good redemptive ending dispite bad choices. Overall a good read that I would recommend.

I adored this. It was so special. The author nailed it.
If I could go back and re read it with a fresh brain I would.

This book was so good. It had me laughing and crying all at the same time. The characters are so cute, and well written. The author did an all around amazing job with this book.

I really enjoyed how this novel portrayed the dark side of the tech industry. Innovation does not come without cost, and some people will do anything to get ahead. It felt different from a typical teen novel in that aspect; even compared to other "tech competition" novels like When Dimple Met Rishi, it's more jaded, and that definitely has an appeal to readers. Xia's vacillation between self-doubt and overconfidence truly did seem to reflect a teen genius experience. Also, the fact that she was from Worcester was a bonus for me! Nice to see sad New England cities get their due.

If You, Then Me follows Xia Chen as she is accepted into a school for exceptional programmers/developers and moves her life to California. While that's her literal dream, when she gets to school, she finds that expectation does not always match reality and that the people you meet online are not always who you think they are,

I did a bad job of explaining that this is a rom com, but it is, and it's a cute one! The comparison to When Dimple Met Rishi are apt, although Xia doesn't have Dimple's moxie or self-confidence. Xia, for all her very avoidable mistakes, is very relatable in her multiple insecurities. This is a fairly standard teen romantic comedy with a diverse main and supporting cast, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the genre! This book was a little bit too predictable for me, but that's more of a personal qualm with the genre than anything specific to this book. There are no surprises here, and I like to be surprised.

Anyway, this is a good entry into the ever growing teen rom com genre. I liked it, and I'll be recommending it to teens who also enjoy the genre. 3 stars on Goodreads - I liked it.

If You, Then Me by Yvonne Woon is a book about Xia Chen, a Taiwanese American teen who builds an AI named Wiser who gives her advice as though she is an older version of Xia. She then gets into a prestigious school in Cali meant to accelerate her growth as a businesswoman and Wiser as the product. Everyone there seemed to come there to build their skills and their apps, while Xia came to finally find a place where she belonged, where the people around her understands her. The stakes get higher when Xia runs into her idol at a party and she discovers her pen pal crush might have ended up at the same school.

This book had me on the edge of my seat down to the last page. It's so well written, I kept freaking out for Xia as the chapters went on! It sort of reminds me of The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and The Quantum Weirdness of the Almost Kiss by Amy Noelle Parks.

A quick romance read in the world of tech! I wish it were more obvious who the secret messenger was, and the pace to be a little quicker! Overall, an average read! 3/5 stars !!!

Xia is 16, lives in Massachusetts, and is a coder who created an app called Wiser. She doesn’t feel like she fits in within her small community, often lonely, with a mom who is an adjunct professor who is always busy with work. When she’s accepted to Foundry in Palo Alto, CA, Xia feels like the year-long program could be the answer to change her life. But Foundry is also rife with folks who Xia doesn’t seem to click with: rich kids, tech legacy, arch nemeses…and possibly her long-time online anonymous crush ObjectPermanence.

This is a YA romantic dramedy told from Xia’s POV as she tries to find navigate her new life in CA and fit in upon meeting her long-time inspiration and Foundry graduate, Mitzy. But Xia is at risk of losing herself and her app, Wiser, while also trying to figure out if ObjectPermanence is at Foundry. Along the way, Xia literally makes all the wrong decisions, is at risk of failing academically, financially, and socially, and is painfully lonely throughout. She is a flawed MC, but so relatable in the decisions she makes. I kept smh at her choices (hindsight…I definitely didn’t make the best decisions when first away from home…) and was so heart-broken for her (read: second-hand embarrassed).

I’m glad the ending wasn’t a perfectly wrapped bow but I do wish there were more resolutions with Xia and her mom and a couple of the other Foundry students. A wonderfully diverse book with a the major lesson of owning and learning from one’s mistakes and growing from the decisions we make.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the author and publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: If You, Then Me

Author: Yvonne Woon

Book Series: Standalone

Diversity: Asian American lead and side character, Nigerian side character

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: young adults, contemporary, coding, romance, fail and rise again trope

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publication Date: July 6, 2021

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 416

Recommended Age: (Racism, Slight sex content, Slight Language, Bullying, Alcohol consumption by minors, Drug use, Being drugged, TW Sexual assault, Victim blaming)

Explanation of CWs: There are mentions of racism against the MCs ethnicity by the bully character. There are some small instances of some curse words. Alcohol is consumed frequently throughout the novel by underaged characters. There is 1 mention of drug use by the main character and a few small scenes and mentions of seeing other characters use drugs. The main character is drugged in that same scene. It is not a roofie, but she was slightly unintentionally drugged by the villain character. There is one scene where the main character is forcibly touched and groped. She is also blamed for the day incident later in the text.

Synopsis: What would you ask your future self? First question: What does it feel like to kiss someone?

Xia is stuck in a lonely, boring loop. Her only escapes are Wiser, an artificial intelligence app she designed to answer questions like her future self, and a mysterious online crush she knows only as ObjectPermanence.

And then one day Xia enrolls at the Foundry, an app incubator for tech prodigies in Silicon Valley.

Suddenly, anything is possible. Flirting with Mast, a classmate also working on AI, leads to a date. Speaking up generates a vindictive nemesis intent on publicly humiliating her. And running into Mitzy Erst, Foundry alumna and Xia’s idol, could give Xia all the answers.

And then Xia receives a shocking message from ObjectPermanence: He is at the Foundry, too. Xia is torn between Mast and ObjectPermanence—just as Mitzy pushes her towards a shiny new future. Xia doesn’t have to ask Wiser to know: The right choice could transform her into the future self of her dreams, but the wrong one could destroy her.

Review: I really liked this book! When I first started it I was concerned because the book features a lot of coding lingo and computer knowledge and if you've ever been to a hang out with my friends (who are all into the coding/computer/IT world) and I then you might be concerned too lol. I've spent many a hang out session with them disassociating because computer talk is it's own language (insert Java/Ruby/HTML joke here). But I understood the book and what I didn't understand I was able to by the context. I loved the world the author built and I love the character development. The writing was amazing and it made for easy understanding of the computer lingo and world of Silicon Valley. I guess you could call this my first dedicated post to my friends and my husband. I never realized how much there is in programming/coding/IT and now I do and I'm tagging one particular friend in here if you'd love to check her out to learn/see more into the programming world too. I also loved the plot of the book and I thought that the characters struggles were very much in tune with what modern teens might see today.

The only issue I had with the book is that I felt like it ended too soon, I wanted to see more of Xia and make sure she was ok. I also had a slight issue with what happened to a certain villain character at the end of the book. It felt too swift of an end for that villain and not enough justice.

Verdict: I absolutely adored the book and I'm definitely buying it today! I'd also love for the author to come out with a sequel because I want to see bosslady Xia at work.

This book is “When Dimple Met Rishi” on acid (minus the romance). Sixteen-year-olds given $150,000 to develop their project, with no supervision and no requirement that they attend class or even remain on campus. Parties with alcohol, hard drugs, and lecherous old men. If you’re a parent, be sure to read this book before allowing your minor child to.

This is an interesting and creative story, exploring the tech industry through the perspective of a high school student who created a promising new AI app. When the student, Xia, is invited to join a year-long school in Silicon Valley to develop her app and compete for the funds to turn it into a company, she jumps at the chance to move to California and take a chance on a new life. During her times there, Xia experiences the highs and lows of both being a tech founder and a high school student.

I really enjoyed all the elements of the story. Xia is a compelling main character, and both her personal and professional journeys, which often overlap, are compelling. Highly recommended!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Bored and lonely, Xia hoped her artificial intelligence application would be her ticket to bigger and better things. When she earned a spot at the Foundry, Xia found herself among the Silicone Valley elite. Struggling to navigate this world, she began to lose focus and must get back on track or risk losing it all.

THE GOOD

* I love seeing females winning in a male-dominated world. Xia was so passionate about her craft, and I wanted her to take full advantage of this opportunity.
* There were some quality friendships in this story. Xia had her bestie back home, her neighbor in the program, and her online crush. I was a fan of all these relationships and wanted more of this.
* The IRL romance was super cute too. This was a great pairing, and again, I wanted more of this.
* Talk nerdy to me! The book opens with Xia talking about her life in code. My former-programmer self absolutely loved it!
* When world collide. I enjoyed trying to figure out who Xia’s online crush was IRL. I loved that the Foundry brought them together off-line.
* Wiser was great. Wiser had great personality for an application.
* I appreciate the hard lessons Xia had to learn. All the terrible situations she found herself in contributed to her personal growth.

WHERE I STRUGGLED

When I read the synopsis for this book, an expectation was set. I was anticipating a cute and fluffy YA romance. There was a some romance in this story, however, a big chunk of it was Xia losing her way, hitting rock bottom, and discovering the ugly side of the tech world. It was much darker than I anticipated. I appreciate the exploration of the dark side of tech, but it wasn’t what I really wanted from this book. It was not bad, but rather a case of my expectations being incorrectly set.

Overall: This wasn't quite what I was expecting from the synopsis, but it was an interesting look at the challenges women in tech face. I loved that Xia had a dream, and though I was screaming at her as she lost her way, I was happy to see her grow and learn from the experience.

This one was interesting, dealing with the cut throat lifestyle of Silicon Valley this fast paced contemporary story was cute and smart. The love triangle was kind of meh. But the story itself was a great read. I will have to check out more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy for review. I enjoyed the story overall. It was a slow read for me. I am not super into technology so some terms mentioned didn’t really mean anything to me, but that didn’t effect my reading. I thought the very last scene felt forced with little buildup. It was a sweet coming of age story where a teen makes mistakes and finds out the consequences.

I LOVED this book! Such an interesting story that started off as a rom-com but then delved into important topics like pressure to succeed, what it's like in male dominated fields, and how young girls of color can be manipulated through capitalist gains. I thought the storyline was so interesting and was consistently kept on my feet about what would happen next. I really like the friendships formed throughout the story as well. I'm really excited for this book release because it's nothing like any other book I've read before.

If You, Then Me depicts a highly driven yet lonely teenage programmer striving to win funding for her AI program, "Wiser." While the emphasis on the struggles of women in technology were great social commentary, everything else fell flat for me. It was hard to be invested in the main character, Xia, nor to want her to succeed. She was self-serving, and the other characters also only served Xia's "growth." The story's problems were a result of Xia digging her own hole, and there was almost no reason to like or dislike any other character. The romance was more mysterious than I had given it credit for, at the beginning of the novel. But again, I wasn't particularly invested in it. Don't expect Asian American culture to be highlighted either; the mention of Xia's race only covers racism directed towards Asian-passing people and not the positives of being Asian American and/or mixed race. This book would be of interest to people who want to know the pressures of making an idea into a company, and could possibly serve to inspire teenaged readers to pursue their goals.