3.5✩

“You know,” I muse out loud, “if it weren’t for the fact that we hated each other’s guts, we’d probably make an impressive power duo.”
“Wait. We hate each other?”

cute YA read and will def be reading more by Ann Liang in the future! she executed the whole academic rivals to lovers trope flawlessly from the very beginning. the fact that despite their rivalry, henry is the first person alice goes to when she becomes invisible? perfection. the fact that henry has a picture of him and alice on his desk? perfection.

so the story is completely under alice’s POV. i would consider myself pretty dedicated to my academics and a bit of a perfectionist, but i pale in comparison to alice. alice is the biggest perfectionist and works incredibly hard. but unfortunately, her family is having trouble affording the elite school that she attends (and everyone else at the school but alice is rich af $$). suddenly alice starts turning invisible and she tries to find a way to make money off of this newfound power.

how alice starts becoming invisible and how (at the end) she stops becoming invisible is never explained, and imo it doesn’t need to be. alice has always been invisible at her school. no one has ever seen her or her family’s struggles with money, and her being able to become physically invisible actually serves as a nice metaphor.

the way the story escalates and unfolds was a little bit crazy and i was definitely yelling in my head at parts (inner thoughts: no! this is not going to end well if you do this alice!!). the plot was engaging. and i even choked up a bit when alice returns home and admits everything to her parents. that conversation was beautiful.

alice and her growth are mainly prioritized and focused on, but henry is there bantering with her every step of the way. they are both geniuses and one day they will probably have little genius babies who take over the world

This book was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed reading about our main character Alice and seeing what she did with her newfound superpowers. The way the story developed from lighthearted shenanigans to more intense and serious secret missions was really fun and helped me really feel for our main characters. There was a lot of relationship building in this book, both platonic and romantic and I enjoyed the even split between the two. I also really appreciated the themes explored in this book, from finding out what really matters in life, socioeconomic status, and the Chinese-American experience.

Overal this was a really fun story and would be great for those looking for an easy scifi/fantasy read.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for a review!

Alice is a student at an uber-prestigious international school who feels like an outcast because of her family background. So when she suddenly gains the power to turn invisible, she decides to use it to her advantage by blackmailing her fellow classmates. But when things escalate from petty secrets to dangerous plots, Alice is forced to decide her own limits.

Overall, great book! It was a very fun and fast read, and Alice was a great protagonist throughout. The academic rivals to lovers was incredibly well done and had me screaming at parts. I wasn't the biggest fan of how the invisibility was woven in. It felt pretty convenient at times and we never quite got an explanation for it. Honestly, was not really here for the main plot, just the romance part.

Imaginative and heartfelt, the cover initially drew me in and encouraged me to request this title, and I'm delighted that the plot delivered as well.

Alice is the only (low income) scholarship student at her elite Beijing boarding school. She works extremely hard (which, in turn, causes isolation from those around her) to maintain her grades and her standing as one of the top students. In the beginning of the book, her parents break the news to her that they can no longer afford to pay the remainder of her school tuition and next semester she must switch schools. Soon after, in the middle of an awards ceremony, she begins shaking uncontrollably and feels extremely cold and discovers that she cannot see her own reflection--she is completely invisible!

So she decides to seek out someone who is as cunning and genius as her. She seeks out her own nemesis, Henry. Together they develop an app to use this new ability to fulfill requests of their fellow students that only someone invisible could do. Of course, it takes some work to learn how to even master the invisibility, as it is something that comes and goes. But eventually, Alice earns enough money to...well, you'll have to read the book to see how the story ends.

I liked that there was such a climactic situation at the end that really threw a wrench in the whole story. All of the characters were very well written and this was a very unique story. Given the title I thought it was going to be a bit more flowery and profound, but I know the line in the book where the quote came from and it is significant.

Surprisingly a lovely read!! Its not what I expected but I love the academic rival to lover troupe in this book. It was well executed!! Both characters are also likeable, they are so cuteee. Highly recommend!!

I absolutely loved the commentary on class, status, privilege, and opportunity. The choices the main character has to make as a result of poor financial circumstances wonderfully illustrate how merit and intelligence often come second to money.

Really enjoyed, and would definitely recommend!

it's monday, and that means another review from the queue (tbh everyday of the week is fair game for a belated review, but here we are), this time for ann liang's ya novel 'if you could see the sun'. this book got really popular on #bookstagram when it first came out, but unfortunately this was just not my jam.

in short, the book follows alice, a girl from a poorer family on scholarship at an elite boarding school who suddenly finds herself able to turn invisible. seeing an opportunity to make some tuition money, she enlists the help of her classmate to create an app to monetize her new power, doing the dirty work of her classmates for a price. but as the tasks escalate to committing actual crime, alice must decide if continuing with this app is worth the high consequences.

this book overall felt like a rough first draft: the dialogue was very juvenile, and the plot felt very simplistic. none of the characters were particularly compelling, and the rivals-to-lovers romance that the book features left me feeling lukewarm. there was also no explanation for alice's sudden bouts of invisibility, and the reader was meant to just accept it at face value. it all just felt short-sighted, and the book could have used more time to develop its plot and characters.

This book is absolutely wild. Private school drama! Economic inequality! Random superpowers! I only wish the causes, etc. of the last one were better explained, as it seemed like there were some threads left unraveled. However, I haven't read anything quite like this before, and I really enjoyed it.

This book is full of twists a turns, it’s such an engaging and thoroughly entertaining story. The world building, the descriptions, these are just everything and makes the read so much more immersive, fantastic

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is one of those books that I had to put down and return to when I was in a better mindset for this particular story. Ann Liang has crafted a totally unique and wholly intriguing story that still has some tried and true tropes that make it accessible and familiar as well. I am a sucker for magical realism and it has been wonderful watching the teens I work with connect to this story and seek out more stories that feature magical realism! I am very excited for Ann Liang's future work!

This book has a really interesting premise but for some reason it didn't resonate with me. I had a hard time understanding the main character and her motivations and ultimately did not care about her very much which made the novel difficult to get through.

I was unable to provide review due to time constraints of me starting college. I look forward however to reading this book in the future simply as a fan, not a reviewer.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I love a good “academic rivals to lovers” - just enough tension! I liked that the book focused primarily on Alice instead of the romance. However, I wish there had been more being invisible hijinks - and I wish there was a clearer resolution to the invisibility thing.

A stunning and heartfelt work. Perfect for those looking for meaningful drama and young adult character growth. Would recommend to young high schoolers seeking to find their place in the world.

I enjoyed this book so, so much. The superpower, the way she uses it, the romance, the setting, the themes...it was all so so good. Can't wait to read everything Ann writes!

4.25* (⅘)

Rep: Chinese cast of characters

‘If You Could See the Sun’ by Ang Liang is a young adult novel about Chinese American Alice Sun. Alice goes to an elite boarding school in Beijing with a partial scholarship. She finds out her parents can no longer afford her tuition, so she is faced with two options; go back to the States or go to a public school in Beijing. She one day has the availability to turn invisible and she uses this availability to her advantage to raise money for her tuition. Alice works with her class rival, Henry, and her availability to cause shenanigans to their classmates and peers.

This book was an action packed, fun and fast paced read. It has an academic rival to lovers storyline. The main character, Alice, is a relatable character to those who are ambitious in academics, I often find myself rooting and feeling for her. The side characters are amazing and bring life to the story.

‘If You Could See the Sun’ is a fun and entertaining read and it is an amazing read.

It was an interesting enough concept but I just couldn't seem to get into it enough to finish. Possibly I might pick this up at a later date to try again.

This was a fast read about a girl, who is trying to make her way in the academic world. Where her Chinese parents are trying hard to provide for her, she uses her abilities to help them, but things get complicated when her business and business partner/frenemy. Readers will fly through this book and wish it was longer.

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang follows elite international boarding school student Alice Sun. She’s always felt invisible at school, especially since she is the only scholarship student. Alice’s parents break the news to her that they can no longer afford to pay for her to attend that school. One day, Alice actually starts to turn invisible. She decides to take this opportunity to monetize on her newfound power by discovering secrets. She does this with the help of her academic rival Henry Li. Things quickly escalate when discovering scandals turns to discovering actual crimes. All this goes down as Alice develops growing feelings for her rival.

This book is an utterly unique mix of contemporary fiction and urban fantasy elements. I liked how this book tackled classism, as since Alice was the only student on scholarship, she was treated differently than the others. I liked how Alice and Henry grew close because of this strange situation Alice was facing with invisibility. I think it’s awesome how she decided to monetize it!